“I feel the need – the need for speed” How publication speed has become a key differentiator in attracting and retaining authors

Three steps we are taking to improve speed and support for our authors

1. Optimizing turn-around times in Editorial Manager and developing technological infrastructure

Editorial Manager (EM) is a highly configurable workflow management system built to streamline editorial processes and communications, and most Elsevier-published journals use this platform. It offers a variety of options to help editors identify and evaluate, invite, retain and reward peer reviewers. We have been making a concerted effort to enhance these settings to improve publication speeds while supporting a first-rate author, editor and reviewer user experience. In 2021, over 200 journals adopted a best practice EM configuration, with additional support from journal managers to monitor workflows and help maintain timelines. We saw editorial speed improve by two weeks across these journals while maintaining rigorous peer review standards.

This year, we developed additional configurations, each with a group of optimized timelines and settings. These have been adopted by a further 500 journals, with plans to ensure as many journals as possible benefit from improved publication times in the future.

We have also improved our technological infrastructure by using state-of-the-art process-mining tools on these journals to map each step of the publication process, identify delays, and collaborate with editors to resolve issues.

2. Removing “legacy” practices

Where appropriate, we have been reviewing editorial and production practices that have been based on historical practices such as determine the running order of journal issues or delaying the publication of certain types of articles to influence impact factor (this is extensively researched, and there is no evidence that this practice influences the Impact Factor in a material way).

Over the last few years, we have been working to reduce the number of corrected proofs that have not yet been assigned to an issue, as we have seen that some journals keep a stock of these articles for no particular reason. All authors benefit from having their article published fully citable as soon as possible after acceptance and no longer have to wait at this stage, where the article does not have a definite volume and page (or article) number yet. Articles using a workflow that bypasses this stage reach final publication within two weeks after acceptance, while authors whose article sit as corrected proofs have to wait on average more than three months.

We are also helping journals to eliminate the requirement of editors checking covers and prelims and full issue proofs after issue compilation, which often delays publication and can also be done beforehand if required.

3. Implementing Article Transfer Services

To facilitate smoother and faster publication, we have introduced various Article Transfer Services for our journals, in which article submissions are transferred between related journals in a more systematic fashion. This approach helps authors find the right journal for their manuscript, where they are most likely to be accepted for publication quickly and easily. Not only does this save the author time and effort, but it also reduces the amount of work required by others during the editorial process. By guiding submissions to suitable alternative journals, Article Transfer Services ensure we are saving authors time while also consolidating the efforts and expertise of editors and reviewers.