The publishing cycle

Abstract

As I prepare this editorial during the last week of January, I am aware that it will not be published and therefore read until June 2002. It is remarkable to think that when this issue is distributed some of you will be fortunate enough to be on your way to Stockholm for the 13th World Congress of Occupational Therapists. I plan to take the opportunity to attend a meeting of international occupational therapy journal editors while there. This meeting will provide an opportunity for the editors to discuss the common issues relevant to maintaining a high quality professional journal. One of the major problems we are encountering here in Australia is the time taken for manuscripts to be published. This results in frustration for authors and also the Editorial Board, and means that, at times, published research has become less current. Part of the problem is due to the fact that we have such enthusiastic and prolific authors and, because of high costs of publishing, a limited page allocation per issue. This year, due to increased membership, we have gained an extra eight pages per issue, equivalent to one feature article. Because of the demand for space, we are currently investigating the feasibility of publishing more issues per year. It is important for readers to know why there is such a long lead-time when publishing a quarterly journal. As the journal is a peer-reviewed publication, this contributes to the length of time from submission to acceptance for publication. The process is as follows. Following submission, as Editor I select two referees for anonymous peer review of the article, these referees then have six weeks allocated to review the manuscript and return their comments to the editorial office. We have found over the last 12 months that the referees have been very efficient, with few reminders being required. If minor or major changes are recommended, the manuscript is then returned to the author with the referees’ reports. Manuscripts which are not of the required standard or relevance are also returned to the author with a covering letter. It is at the revision stage that delays appear to be occurring, with authors taking a long time to return their amended manuscripts. If a major rewrite is required, then the manuscript is reviewed again by the referees, and the process is repeated until the paper is accepted for publication. There are many stages involved in the editorial process once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, this is the Production Process. For example, for this current June issue, we began planning in December 2001. Articles were selected based on a variety of criteria, and sent to the Production Editor by mid January, any queries were then emailed to authors by early February with replies required within 10 days. The authors then received proofs by email in late March, with corrections being required by early April. The Synergy online publication date for the June issue was 23 May, and the June issue was dispatched to subscribers at the end of May. As can be seen, the production process takes time and a great deal of hard work by the editorial staff and the authors. There are many reasons for the length of time taken for manuscripts to reach the publication stage. However, with all the due processes in place and carefully adhered to, it ensures that we have a high quality and well-respected journal. As occupational therapists have now become more involved in research, the dissemination of their findings becomes essential: to provide evidence, for the sharing of information and to generate further areas of research. Through presentation of research at professional meetings and conferences, and publication in professional journals we will increase the occupational therapy research profile and add to the evidence base of our profession. In addition to research findings, theoretical and feature articles, we have other sections in our Journal, such as book and media reviews, ‘In Practice’ and ‘Viewpoint’, which, we hope, provide a wide range of topics to stimulate the interest of occupational therapists in their many areas of practice.