Research on the Submission, Acceptance and Publication Times of Articles Submitted to International Otorhinolaryngology Journals

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to provide insight into the acceptance and publication times of articles submitted to international otolaryngology journals. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was carried out by examining the top 37 journal titles returned in an online search for otolaryngology journals published from 1999 to 2013 that have an international status based on their impact factor. RESULTS: In total, 9,765 publications were examined. When journals were compared based on journal impact factor, statistically significant differences (p<0.01) were found. Comparisons of the acceptance and publication times for both original research and case reports revealed that these times have become shorter over the years. DISCUSSION: Journals with higher impact factors likely have larger workloads in terms of articles, and consequently, their acceptance and publication times might be longer. An implication from this study finding that these periods have decreased over the years is that these processes can be expedited by more intensive use of the Internet and increases in journal capacity and number of issues published. CONCLUSION: The expedition of these processes over time might result from journals’ ability to use technology more intensively or from increases in journal’s capacity and number of issues published.