Metrics for Original Research Articles in the AJR: From First Submission to Final Publication

The objective of our study was to evaluate manuscript metrics pertaining to AJR submissions, assessing the pathway from manuscript submission to publication, including the reviewer allocation time, decisions rendered, timing of decisions rendered, and time to publication.

Six hundred ninety-six unsolicited Original Research manuscripts submitted to the AJR between July 1, 2012, and December 21, 2012, were included in this retrospective analysis. Metrics pertaining to manuscripts' decision status and associated timelines were extracted by journal editorial staff and assessed using standard summary statistics.

For new submissions, decisions rendered were as follows: Accept, 0.3%; Minor Revision, 8.5%; Major Revision, 19.7%; Reject, 65.1%; and Reject Without Review, 6.5%. For first and second resubmissions, 40.0-55.2% of manuscripts representing a Major Revision and 91.5-94.7% of manuscripts representing a Minor Revision were accepted; 100% of manuscripts undergoing a third resubmission were accepted; 98.3% and 84.7% of manuscripts receiving at first submission a decision of Minor Revision and Major Revision, respectively, ultimately achieved acceptance. The time (mean ± SD) to review a new submission was 30.5 ± 43.1 days (Accept), 42.7 ± 27.4 days (Minor Revision), 39.4 ± 17.6 days (Major Revision), and 40.2 ± 20.3 days (Reject) and decreased with each subsequent resubmission to 6.3 ± 6.3 days (Accept) for third resubmissions. The mean days for authors to submit a first resubmission was 21.1 ± 15.3 days (Minor Revision) and 73.7 ± 65.1 days (Major Revision) and decreased with each subsequent resubmission to 9.8 ± 11.3 days (Minor Revision) and 27.0 ± 0.0 days (Major Revision) for third resubmissions. The mean time from acceptance to publication was 242.5 ± 47.5 days.

The observed metrics may provide valuable insights for authors and for AJR editorial staff in ongoing efforts to shorten turnaround times from manuscript submission to publication.