Delays in article production?

In our July "how can we help you?" thread, a reader writes:

I've got a paper that has been accepted for publication but has now been 'awaiting publication checklist' for three months without any contact from the journal. Is this normal? Should I follow up at all to see where it has got to, or will this just annoy the editor when they are just waiting for the right time to publish? This is a journal that does online first publication so I don't see why it would get held up for this time.

I've experienced significant delays in article production post-acceptance, particularly after the COVID pandemic. So I don't think this is unusual. But, by all means, if you're concerned, feel free to reach out to the journal! 

Do any readers (particularly journal editors) have any other insights to share?

Comments

[Elizabeth]

I've only published 7 articles, but I've never waited more than a couple weeks before production started OR I was told by the editor that production wouldn't start until x time (they don't do online first). So I would probably reach out politely just to check nothing has gotten lost.

[Andrew]

Greatly depends on the journal. I've got about a dozen journal articles and time from acceptance to actual publication has varied from days to years.

[Michel]

Doesn't seem all that unusual to me. When does the journal publish? If it's once or twice a year, I'd expect a pretty long delay. If it's three or four times, then I'd expect some delay as the stuff slated for prior issues gets prioritized.

Your article might not be slated for the next issue, but for the issue after (especially if the journal doesn't publish very frequently). So I'd expect it to go into production shortly after the first issue published after your acceptance is published.

[ed]

I do not think that 3 months is so long for some journals. I think Nous used to take some time, and others as well. Recently with Philosophy of Science it took a long time - I do not know whether this was because the journal was moving from University of Chicago Press to Cambridge University Press, or whether it was just standard practice there.
Will it irritate an editor if you follow up ... of course, because it involves more work. But if there is a genuine problem editors need to know. Make of that what you will.

[academic migrant]

There can be production delays for various reasons. I've heard that editing an accepted paper can require demanding skills and takes time. The people who do the actual editing may for various reasons, such as illness or family commitments, be unable to work, especially if they are unpaid. It's also possible that the paper just fell outside of someone's inbox (happened to me once).

All that being said, sending an email won't hurt insofar as you do so civilly.

[Typical]

As the British say, wrapping together a surprising range of empirical and normative views into a single word: "typical".