View source for Backlog (academic journals)

In [[Academic publishing|academic publishing]], the word '''backlog''' usually refers to the phenomenon that a [[Academic journal|journal]] has a number of accepted papers waiting to be published for a significant time.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robin Derricourt|title=An Author's Guide to Scholarly Publishing|url=https://archive.org/details/authorsguidetosc00derr|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/authorsguidetosc00derr/page/176 176]|jstor=j.ctv39x78v|year=1996|publisher=Princeton University Press}}</ref>
== Usage of the term ==
The backlog is usually described in months; for instance, a certain journal could have a backlog of 12 months, which means that on average it takes one year for the journal to publish a paper that has been accepted. This waiting time adds on top of the time between initial submission and acceptance of a paper, which can also vary.

Some journals have a backlog of more than a year, which is usually caused by the journal's editors' decision to accept more or longer papers than the journal publishes in a certain time interval.

The American Mathematical Society publishes a list of the backlog of mathematical journals each year in the November issue of the Notices.<ref>{{cite web|title=Backlog of Mathematics Research Journals|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/201910/rnoti-p1713.pdf}}</ref>

If a journal has a heavy backlog, this might have the effect that the journal is less likely to accept papers in the future, or even reject all manuscript submissions temporarily.<ref>{{cite web|title=Journal with two-year publication backlog refuses submissions|url= https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/journal-two-year-publication-backlog-refuses-submissions|date= 2018-08-20}}</ref>

== References ==
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[[Category:Academic publishing]]

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