Analysis of publication speed of anesthesiology journals: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Publication speed is one of the critical factors affecting authors’ preference to a journal for manuscript submission. The publication time of submitted manuscripts varies across journals and specialty. OBJECTIVES: Several bibliometric studies in various fields of medicine, except in anesthesiology, have addressed the issue of publication speed and factors that influence the publication speed. We aimed to identify factors affecting the publication speed of indexed anesthesiology journals. METHOD: Overall, 25 anesthesiology journals indexed in MEDLINE database were retrospectively analyzed for the time required during different stages of publication process. A total of 12 original articles published in the year 2018 were randomly selected from each journal based on the number of issues. Time periods from submission to acceptance and from submission to publication were noted, and their association with impact factor (IF), advanced online publication (AOP), and article processing charges (APCs) were evaluated. RESULTS: The median time from submission to acceptance and from submission to publication for the selected journals were 120 (IQR [83-167]) days and 186 (IQR [126-246]) days, respectively. Publication speed was not found to have any correlation with IF and APC. However, journals with AOP required significantly lesser time for publication than those without AOP 138.5 and 240 days, respectively, (p = 0.011). Moreover, the IF of journals with AOP was significantly higher than that of journals without AOP (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The study provides an overview of total time required for peer review, acceptance, and publication in indexed anesthesiology journals. Researchers should focus on journals with AOP for expediting the publication process and avoiding publication delays.