Journal publishing statistics

Editorial decision-making

Statistic	Definition	Notes
Acceptance rate	In a given calendar year, the percentage of final editorial decisions that were ‘accept’, as opposed to ‘reject’ or ‘withdrawn’.	We count final decisions in a given year, irrespective of when the submission was originally made. We do not count decisions on submissions that were not complete. If a submission undergoes multiple rounds of evaluation, we only count the final decision.
Rejection rate	In a given calendar year, the percentage of final editorial decisions that were ‘reject’, as opposed to ‘accept’ or ‘withdrawn’.	We count final decisions in a given year, irrespective of when the submission was originally made. We do not count decisions on submissions that were not complete. If a submission undergoes multiple rounds of evaluation, we only count the final decision.
Average reviews received per article	In a given calendar year, the median number of expert reviews received per research article that undergoes peer review.	We count all the distinct reviews received, including from the same reviewer where more than one round of review was requested.
Average time to first decision	The median number of calendar days from a completed submission date to the date when, in the given calendar year, an editor takes a decision to reject the manuscript or send it to peer review.	By ‘completed submission date’, we mean the date that an author first approved their article for editorial consideration. Some journal submission systems conduct initial technical checks that may identify problems with submissions and require authors to complete or correct them before allowing the author to submit the article for editorial consideration.
Average time to first decision after peer review	The median number of calendar days between an editor deciding to send an article to peer review, and the decision to accept the article, require revisions, or to decline the article.	This statistic only applies to submissions that were sent to peer review.

While we endeavour to provide editorial decision-making statistics for all the journals we publish, this is not always possible. One reason statistics may not be available is if a journal does not conduct its editorial activities in an online editorial management system, or in another manner that allows us to collect the data necessary to calculate these statistics. Statistics also may not be available for journals that have recently moved to Cambridge University Press, where we do not have access to all the journal's relevant historical data.

Article publication times

Statistic	Definition	Notes
Average time from submission to acceptance	The median number of calendar days from a completed submission date to the date when, in the given calendar year, the article is passed to the production team for publication.	By ‘completed submission date’, we mean the date that an author first approved their article for editorial consideration (see also Average time to first decision without review, above). Between submission and acceptance, articles can undergo one or more rounds of consideration by the journal editorial team, peer review, and author consideration or revision. The amount of time a given article spends in each step can vary greatly between journals and between articles within a journal.
Average time from acceptance to publication	The median number of calendar days from the date an article is passed to the journal production team to the date when, in the given calendar year, the article first appears online with a DOI.	For most journals, the article that first appears online is the final published version. This includes FirstView articles that have not yet been formally assigned to a journal issue. For some other journals, the accepted manuscript is published online on the journal’s website before the final published version.

While we endeavour to provide article publication times for all the journals we publish, this is not always possible. In particular, statistics may not be available for journals that have recently moved to Cambridge University Press, where we do not have access to all the journal's relevant historical data.

Article counts

Statistic	Definition	Notes
Total number of articles last year	The number of articles published in the last calendar year’s journal volume(s).	This count is based on when articles are published in a journal volume rather than when they first appear online.
Number of OA articles last year	The number of articles published in the last calendar year’s journal volume(s) as Gold Open Access.	This count is based on when articles are published in a journal volume rather than when they first appear online.
Number of articles last year supported by subscription revenue (non-OA articles and OA articles without funding)	The number of articles published in the last calendar year’s journal volume(s) which were not supported by an APC.	This count includes articles that were published as Gold Open Access but for which no APC was paid, for example because a waiver was applied.

In order to reduce subscription prices in line with the transition to open access, we use article counts to determine the extent to which journal volumes are becoming open access. We count articles based on when they are published in journal volumes, rather than when they are first published online, because subscribers pay to access journal volumes irrespective of when articles are published online. Subscription price changes for our journals are calculated as described by our transparent journal pricing policy.

We also provide annual data to cOAltion S as a part of the Plan S Transformative Journals programme. Please see our Transformative Journals page for more information and to download the data we provide to cOAlition S.

Further notes on article counts:

For newly-launched journals, article counts for the previous calendar year will be zero.
In some cases journals that do not generally offer an option to publish Gold Open Access will have a small number of Gold Open Access articles, for example when exceptions are made for research that is strongly in the public interest.