[Duration of the editorial process of the Atención Primaria journal]

To quantify how long the different steps in the process of editing the manuscripts received by the journal Atención Primaria took.

Retrospective, descriptive study.

The journal Atención Primaria.

Manuscripts submitted for publication in the sections Original articles, Short articles and Letters to the Editor between January 1 and June 30 1997 (6 months).

Retrospectively, information was collected on the dates of receipt, of sending out to referees, receipt of their views and comments, sending back to the authors, receipt of their modified text or reply, of final decision on acceptance or rejection, and of publication if accepted. Of the 132 original and short articles received, 22 (16.7%) were awaiting a final decision. Of the remaining 110, 53 (48.2%) had been rejected and 57 (51.8%) accepted. The length of each step in the editorial process was less than 30 days for half the manuscripts. The time elapsed from receipt to editorial decision was less than 45 days in half the cases and 60 days on average. The time from acceptance to publication was 137 days on average.

How long each step in the editorial process took can be considered acceptable, although the wide variability in the times taken by authors to modify their manuscripts is striking. Mechanisms must be sought to avoid the excessive delay in the publication of research, by increasing the speed of the referees' reviews and of authors' modifications.