[What determines the time-lag for publications in Revista Médica de Chile?]

The number of manuscripts submitted for publication in Revista Médica de Chile has increased steadily. Consequently, the number of external experts that generously contribute in the peer review process has also been enlarged. When the manuscripts return to the authors with specific requests to be improved, according to the criticisms raised by their reviewers or the editors, more time is added until a corrected version is received and accepted. After acceptance, the manuscripts are programmed by the editors to be included in future monthly issues of the Revista. The number of manuscripts that can be included in an issue is limited by the number of pages accorded between the publishers and the owner institution. Therefore, an additional time-lag occurs: research articles and case reports may be published 6-8 months after they were finally accepted, while reviews and special articles have to wait even more. As experienced in prestigious journals worldwide, a computational program to handle the editorial process through the Internet is needed, but it is not yet available in Spanish language. Although it should fasten communications and facilitate the authors a rapid insight in the stages of the editorial process where their manuscripts are, the increasing number of submissions, the current acceptance rate and the limitation in space will still retard the publications once they are accepted.