As the World Turns…
Waiting for Responses
Even in the electronic age, when journals can send manuscripts to multiple reviewers with a simple ‘send’ command, the peer review process takes time. Reviews can take anywhere from a month to a year, depending on the complexity of the topic, the number of reviewers involved, and the editorial calendar of the publication.
Most journals will give you some idea of how quickly you can expect a response to your submission. Be sure to record this information on your journal profile form. If you haven’t heard back from the editor within this period of time, contact the journal office to see where your manuscript is in the process.
When you do receive a response, note on your journal profile how long it actually took to receive your feedback.
The hard part for me is any part that requires waiting. When I'm working on the article, whether it's researching, writing, or editing, then I can keep things moving at my pace.
-- Cindy Shamel, author
How long does it usually take you to respond to a query?
Journals can be terrible, but generally after six weeks the author has the right to contact the journal to determine how it is going. The average time to return an article is about six weeks (other journals take three months or more).
-- Elizabeth Cooperman, peer reviewer and author

