Faster manuscript publishing: a case study

A study of the time needed for each step in the editing and publishing of research reports at one laboratory revealed 16 steps that could benefit from efforts to speed up the publication process. Strategies for improving publishing times were reviewed after 3 to 5 years. Strategies applied by the editorial staff members to their own in-house operations were usually successful, whereas strategies applied to the operations of outside publishers were not. It is suggested the tailoring of management strategies to address specific slow procedures is the key to timely publication. Tighter deadlines and the monitoring of manuscripts through each step of the publication process led to significant reductions in the time required for publication.<>