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Times of the year when peer review is quicker/slower?

In our April "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Are there periods of time throughout the year when the journal peer-review process is either quicker or slower?

I suspect, at least anecdotally, that peer-review tends to be quickest during the summer, when many faculty do not have teaching duties, and slowest during the end of fall and spring terms (when people's grading loads are highest). But, of course, this is just anecdotal speculation, and moreover, there are substantial differences in when academic terms begin or end across different institutions, countries, and hemispheres. So, I'm not sure!

Does anyone have any helpful insights? It could be great to hear from journal editors and reviewers!

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One response to “Times of the year when peer review is quicker/slower?”

  1. Michel

    I try to avoid sending things around the Christmas holiday–so, from the last week of classes until sometime early in the new year.
    I may be wrong, but I figure that between all of the marking and the holiday (with its accompanying travel), people are slower to respond to referee requests, more prone to forget they’ve agreed, etc.
    I wouldn’t be surprised in June and July are generally slow months, too. But I suspect that if you catch referees just before they have an extended break–so, in April or May–then that’s probably the best time. They can look ahead to their long stretch of time and so are more likely to say ‘yes’, and are more likely to clear some time for it early in their break. Whereas once they’ve been off for a while, they’re out of the habit of responding promptly, are coming to the end of their break having done less of their own work than expected, etc.

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