A reader writes in:
I’m wondering what the reasonable amount of time is to expect a paper to be published after it’s been accepted. I did a search on the cocoon website, but didn’t find anything; but I’m thinking surely you’ve tackled this before?
Good question. My experience is that most journals publish things pretty quickly after acceptance (usually as 'Online First' articles). However, I had a paper accepted at a journal that informed me that it won't be published until about a year from when it was accepted (which I'm fine with), and I've heard stories of some journals not publishing articles for a few years (which seems too long to me). But in any case, I'm not sure what's "reasonable" here. What do you all think?
In my experience, it's usually a couple of months, but it can be up to a year.
What's reasonable? I'd say a few months.
Posted by: Michel | 05/27/2022 at 09:46 AM
Some journals do not publish online first and they can sometimes take 2 years since there is a backlog. Journal of the History of Philosophy is an example. Is this reasonable? It’s not ideal, but what can you do?
Posted by: Evan | 05/27/2022 at 11:20 AM
There are journals that take two years to go from On-Line First to a print issue - Synthese and Episteme come to mind. At some places, publications only count when they are REALLY published (in a volume of the journal). So these things matter. I suspect that Philosophy of Science is also running a long time now.
Posted by: Parish | 05/27/2022 at 12:10 PM
I've had anything from 18 months (with no ahead of print online version either!) to 2 months.
I think any time frame under 2 years is reasonable as long as they post it online ahead of print. If they don't do that... maybe 6 months?
Posted by: Ahead of Print | 05/27/2022 at 03:17 PM
I think this can be heavily influenced by the publisher, and if they do 'online first.' My experience is that Springer, with online first, is about 2 weeks. Cambridge, with online first, is about a month. Taylor & Francis, with online first, also around a month. Other journals without online first? Closer to a year.
Posted by: Tim | 05/27/2022 at 07:48 PM