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Open data · 2026 edition

Journal outcomes dataset (2026 edition)

How long journals take to accept a paper, what they report about acceptance and decision times, and what they require at submission. Every figure is sourced and tagged, and every layer downloads as CSV and JSON.

Updated September 25, 20262026 editionCC BY 4.0DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23001076DownloadsCodebookMethodChangelogCite

108journals with measured acceptance times
21publisher-reported observations
10submission requirements
0estimates in the downloads

What is in it

Four layers, each with its own download

LayerWhat it holdsEvidenceDownload
Journal acceptance times2026 edition, method v2Median days from submission to acceptance, with 25th and 75th percentiles, articles measured, acceptance to publication, deposit rate and PubMed coverage, for 108 journals.MeasuredCSV · JSON
Publisher-reported metrics2026.09.24-reported117 acceptance rates, shares sent for review and decision times for 6 journals, each with its statistic, period, caveat and source.Publisher-reportedCSV · JSON
Publisher metric ledger2026.09.11-evidence14 publisher metric observations across 2 journals, each with its definition, population, period and source. 32 more, from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages, are cited in the table below but not included in the download.Publisher-reportedCSV · JSONBoth layers in one file
Submission requirements2026.09.11-requirements110 article-type requirements across 3 journals: word, abstract, figure and reference limits, with the source section. 22 more, from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages, are cited in the table below but not included in the download.Publisher-reported

Downloads carry no estimates. A CSV opens with lines starting with #: title, version, licence, citation and a field-by-field codebook. Most spreadsheet and statistics tools skip them as comments. Earlier download links keep working; the changelog records what changed in them.

Layer 1 · Measured

Journal acceptance times

Across 108 journals, the typical journal took a median of 147 days from submission to acceptance for research articles published in 2024-2025; half of the journals had medians between 98 and 215 days.

Submission to acceptance (median days), research articles published in 2024-2025, measured from PubMed history dates; includes author revision time; not time to first decision; not an acceptance rate. The full table, with sorting, filtering and a row for each journal, is on peer review timelines by journal.

Layer 2 · Publisher-reported

Publisher-reported metrics, 2026

JournalMetricValuePeriod and caveatSource
PLOS BiologyAcceptance rate11% Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. Denominator not specified on the metrics page. PLOS describes the acceptance rate as an average percentage.PLOS (Public Library of Science)
PLOS BiologyFirst decision, paths not separated48 days (median) Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. PLOS first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified.PLOS (Public Library of Science)
PLOS PathogensAcceptance rate22% Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. Denominator not specified on the metrics page. PLOS describes the acceptance rate as an average percentage.PLOS (Public Library of Science)
PLOS PathogensFirst decision, paths not separated22 days (median) Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. PLOS first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified.PLOS (Public Library of Science)
Journal of Clinical InvestigationAcceptance rate9.5% Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. Manuscripts accepted in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
Journal of Clinical InvestigationSent for peer review23.1% Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. The page calls this the review rate: manuscripts undergoing peer review in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
Journal of Clinical InvestigationFirst decision without peer review5.4 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions editorially rejected without peer review.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
Journal of Clinical InvestigationFirst decision with peer review35 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions decided after peer review.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
Journal of Clinical InvestigationSubmission to acceptance279.3 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Accepted manuscripts, first submission to notification of acceptance.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
JCI InsightAcceptance rate20.2% Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions, including transfers from the JCI: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Physician-Scientist Development, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. Manuscripts accepted in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
JCI InsightSent for peer review26% Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions, including transfers from the JCI: Research, Clinical Research and Public Health, Physician-Scientist Development, Research Letter, Letter to the Editor. The page calls this the review rate: manuscripts undergoing peer review in the year divided by manuscripts submitted in the same year; not the same cohort.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
JCI InsightFirst decision without peer review2 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions editorially rejected without peer review.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
JCI InsightFirst decision with peer review35.9 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. First submissions decided after peer review.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
JCI InsightSubmission to acceptance246.3 days (mean) Publisher-reportedJune 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026. Accepted manuscripts, first submission to notification of acceptance.American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight)
eLifeSent for peer review35% Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. Submissions received in 2025. eLife reports 1,013 of 2,853 submissions sent for review and states the proportion as 35%; the two counts give 35.5%.eLife Sciences Publications
eLifeFirst decision without peer review8 days (median) Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. Submissions not selected for peer review.eLife Sciences Publications
Journal of ImmunologyFirst decision, paths not separated35 days (mean) Publisher-reported2025 calendar year. Submissions to The Journal of Immunology; review-path inclusion not specified.The American Association of Immunologists (The Journal of Immunology)

Sources are limited to PLOS (Public Library of Science), American Society for Clinical Investigation (JCI, JCI Insight), eLife Sciences Publications, The American Association of Immunologists (The Journal of Immunology): publishers whose reuse terms were read and permit it. 25 other publishers were not collected because their terms forbid it, could not be read, or their pages blocked the request. A share sent for review is not an acceptance rate, and a mean is not a median.

Layer 3 · Publisher metric ledger

Inspect each publisher claim

Sources checked 2026-09-11. Exported rows preserve definitions and limitations.

Inspect each publisher claim
JournalObservation and definitionPopulation and periodEvidence
Nature8 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature321 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Medicine4 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Medicine117 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Communications9 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Communications242 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Biotechnology4 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Biotechnology185 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Methods10 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Methods276 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Genetics11 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Genetics322 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Immunology5 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Immunology180 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Chemical Biology11 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Chemical Biology258 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Neuroscience9 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Neuroscience399 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology8 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology198 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Scientific Reports12 days. Editorial screening decision (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the editorial decision about sending a manuscript for review or not. Not a desk-rejection-only measure. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Submissions assessed for whether to send to formal review. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
Scientific Reports138 days. Submission to acceptance (median).
Definition and limits

Published submission date to final acceptance. Includes intervening steps and excludes unsuccessful submissions. Two different decision paths. The screening median is not a desk-rejection-only median; submission-to-acceptance describes accepted papers, not all submissions. No first decision after external review or acceptance rate is given in this table.

Accepted manuscripts. 2025 calendar year.Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA4%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets.

Research manuscripts received. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA10%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets.

All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA2 days. First decision without peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets.

Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA24 days. First decision with peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The page describes annual submissions but does not identify their calendar year. Research-only acceptance and all-submission acceptance use different article sets.

Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Oncology8%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Oncology3 days. First decision without peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Oncology32 days. First decision with peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Oncology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Cardiology8%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

All submissions. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Cardiology5 days. First decision without peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision for the path without external peer review. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

Submissions decided without external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
JAMA Cardiology37 days. First decision with peer review (median).
Definition and limits

Receipt to the first decision on the reviewed path, including time before reviews are returned. The publisher identifies all submissions for the rate but does not state a reporting year or cohort calculation on this page.

Submissions receiving external peer review. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.JAMA Cardiology: author information. Checked 2026-09-11.
PLOS ONE26%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table.

Denominator not specified on the metrics page. 2025 calendar year.PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
PLOS ONE32 days. First decision, paths not separated (median).
Definition and limits

The publisher's overall first-decision metric. Do not relabel it as time after peer review. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table.

Publisher's first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. 2025 calendar year.PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
PLOS Medicine4%. Acceptance rate (publisher-reported percentage).
Definition and limits

A journal-level percentage, not a forecast for an individual manuscript. Compare only with a compatible article set, period and denominator. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table.

Denominator not specified on the metrics page. 2025 calendar year.PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.
PLOS Medicine67 days. First decision, paths not separated (median).
Definition and limits

The publisher's overall first-decision metric. Do not relabel it as time after peer review. PLOS labels timings as medians and rates as average percentages. This page does not define the rate denominator or restrict first decision to externally reviewed submissions. Do not substitute the older 2023 journal-information table.

Publisher's first-decision dataset; review-path inclusion not specified. 2025 calendar year.PLOS: 2025 publication metrics. Checked 2026-09-11.

Compare only matching definitions and populations. Screening time is not desk-rejection time. Submission-to-acceptance time describes accepted manuscripts, not all submissions.

Layer 4 · Submission requirements

Inspect each submission rule

A purposive reference set checked 2026-09-11. This is not a complete submission checklist.

Inspect each submission rule
JournalArticle typeRequirementRule strengthPublisher evidence
NatureArticleMain text: About 2,500 words for 6 pages or 4,300 for 8 pageslayout guidanceNature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Articles; Text. Summary paragraph plus body; final print length is editorially determined. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation.

NatureArticleAbstract: Ideally at most 200 words; referenced summary paragraphrecommendationNature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Articles. Not a conventional unreferenced abstract. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation.

NatureArticleFigures and tables: 4 modest items with 6 pages; 5 or 6 with 8 pageslayout guidanceNature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Articles; Text. Figure size competes with text space. These are examples, not a universal cap. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation.

NatureArticleReferences: Typically up to 50 main-text referencesrecommendationNature formatting guide · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

References. Additional Methods and Supplementary Information references excluded. Stage: Publication formatting; initial submission is a separate step. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature CommunicationsArticleMain text: Ideally at most 5,000 wordsrecommendationNature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and figure legends. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature CommunicationsArticleAbstract: At most 200 words; no referenceslimitNature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article. Applies to Article abstract. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature CommunicationsArticleFigures and tables: Up to 10 figures and tables combinedconditional limitNature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article. For text under 2,000 words: no more than 4. Match display count to length. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature CommunicationsArticleReferences: No more than 70 as a guiderecommendationNature Communications: Article · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article. Not labeled an absolute limit. Stage: General formatting guidance; flexible initial submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

Scientific ReportsArticleMain text: 4,500 words recommendedrecommendationScientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Format of articles. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and legends; guide says most word/page limits are not strict. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation.

Scientific ReportsArticleAbstract: At most 200 words; unstructuredlimitScientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Format of articles; Abstract. No references or figures. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation.

Scientific ReportsArticleFigures and tables: At most 8 figures and tables combinedlimitScientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Manuscript. For text of 2,000 words or less, 4 or fewer is suggested. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation.

Scientific ReportsArticleReferences: 60 references; not strictly enforcedrecommendationScientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Manuscript. Do not recast as an absolute cap. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation.

Scientific ReportsArticleSupporting material: Submit alongside manuscript; separate filesprocedureScientific Reports submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Supplementary Information. Reviewed with the paper; not edited, typeset or proofed by the journal. Stage: Article preparation; checklist distinguishes mandatory limits. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS ONEResearch ArticleMain text: No word-count restrictionexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. Concise presentation is encouraged; abstract has a separate limit. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS ONEResearch ArticleAbstract: At most 300 wordslimitPLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Abstract. No citations; follow any study-specific requirements. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS ONEResearch ArticleFigures and tables: No restriction on number of figuresexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. The cited statement names figures, not an independent table allowance. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS ONEResearch ArticleSupporting material: No restriction on amount of supporting informationexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS ONE submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. File preparation instructions still apply. Stage: Manuscript submission. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS MedicineResearch ArticleMain text: No word-count restrictionexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. The journal encourages concise reporting. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS MedicineResearch ArticleAbstract: 300 words preferred; maximum 500conditional limitPLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Abstract. Structured: Background; Methods and Findings; Conclusions. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS MedicineResearch ArticleFigures and tables: No restriction on number of figuresexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. The source does not separately state a table cap here. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation.

PLOS MedicineResearch ArticleSupporting material: No restriction on amount of supporting informationexplicitly unrestrictedPLOS Medicine submission guidelines · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Style and Format: Length. Other submission and file requirements still apply. Stage: Manuscript preparation; format-free initial submission available. Effective date not established by this observation.

The BMJResearchMain text: No fixed word-count limitexplicitly unrestrictedThe BMJ: Article types and preparation · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Research: Word count and style. Reported main-text count excludes abstract, references, tables, boxes and figures. Methods are not excluded by this definition. Stage: Research article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

The BMJResearchAbstract: 250 to 300 words; up to 400 for CONSORT or PRISMA abstractsconditional guidanceThe BMJ: Article types and preparation · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Research: Structured abstract. Structured; use the study-appropriate headings. Stage: Research article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

JAMAOriginal Investigation: cohort studyMain text: At most 3,000 wordslimitJAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Original Investigation; Cohort Study. Excludes abstract, tables, figures, acknowledgments, references and online-only material, not Methods. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

JAMAOriginal Investigation: cohort studyAbstract: At most 350 words; structuredlimitJAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Abstracts for Reports of Original Data. Use headings for reports of original data. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

JAMAOriginal Investigation: cohort studyFigures and tables: At most 5 tables and figures combinedlimitJAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Cohort Study. Article-type requirement. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

JAMAOriginal Investigation: cohort studyReferences: 50 to 75 referencespublished rangeJAMA Instructions for Authors · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Cohort Study. Preserve the publisher's range; do not invent a 35-reference cap. Stage: Manuscript preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature GeneticsArticleMain text: At most 4,000 wordslimitNature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article: Format. Excludes abstract, Methods, references and figure legends. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature GeneticsArticleAbstract: At most 150 words; unreferencedlimitNature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article: Format. For Article, not Letter or Brief Communication. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature GeneticsArticleFigures and tables: At most 8 figures and tables combinedlimitNature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article: Format. Article-specific allowance. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature GeneticsArticleReferences: Typically up to 50recommendationNature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article: Format. Publisher describes this as a guideline. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

Nature GeneticsArticleSupporting material: May accompany the articleprocedureNature Genetics Content Types · checked 2026-09-11
Definition and limits

Article: Format. Check separate preparation instructions. Stage: Article preparation. Effective date not established by this observation.

A recommendation is not a hard limit. An explicit absence of a restriction is not a missing field. Recheck the live source for the exact article type and submission stage.

Codebook

Every field, defined

Journal acceptance times 27 fields

Columns of the acceptance-times CSV, in order. JSON rows carry the same values, with each interval nested as { median, p25, p75, n }.

slug
Manusights journal identifier. Also the row anchor on https://manusights.com/review-timelines (#slug).
journal
Journal title: the Crossref journal record's title when it agrees with the NLM Catalog title, otherwise the Manusights name for the journal.
issn
Print ISSN (or the only ISSN) from the NLM Catalog.
eissn
Electronic ISSN from the NLM Catalog; blank when none.
nlm_id
NLM Catalog unique identifier.
publisher
Publisher from the Crossref journal record (NLM Catalog when Crossref has none).
field
NLM Catalog Broad Subject Terms, separated by semicolons; blank when none.
received_to_accepted_median_days
Median days from the PubMed history 'received' date to the 'accepted' date, over sampled research articles with both dates (intervals of 1 to 1825 days kept). Includes author revision time. Not time to first decision; not an acceptance rate.
received_to_accepted_p25_days
25th percentile of the same intervals (linear interpolation, Hyndman-Fan type 7).
received_to_accepted_p75_days
75th percentile of the same intervals (linear interpolation, Hyndman-Fan type 7).
received_to_accepted_n
Number of research articles in the received-to-accepted statistics.
accepted_to_published_median_days
Median days from the 'accepted' date to the PubMed 'pubmed' date (else 'entrez'), 0 to 730 days kept. The PubMed entry date is a proxy for online publication. Blank when fewer than 30 articles carry both dates.
accepted_to_published_p25_days
25th percentile of the accepted-to-published intervals.
accepted_to_published_p75_days
75th percentile of the accepted-to-published intervals.
accepted_to_published_n
Number of research articles in the accepted-to-published statistics.
deposit_rate
Sampled research articles carrying both a received and an accepted date, divided by sampled research articles fetched. Published only at 0.60 or above.
pubmed_coverage
PubMed records (all types) in the window divided by Crossref journal-article DOIs in the window for the journal's ISSN, capped at 1.0. Published only at 0.80 or above.
pubmed_coverage_raw
The same ratio before the cap; above 1.0 when PubMed holds more records than Crossref lists as journal articles.
pubmed_coverage_basis
Denominator used for coverage: crossref_journal_article_count, or crossref_count_excluding_meeting_abstract_supplements when Crossref registers conference abstracts as articles.
research_records_in_window
PubMed research articles (publication type Journal Article, excluded types removed) with a publication date from 2024-01-01 to 2025-12-31.
sampled_research_records
Research articles sampled: up to 300, drawn at random within each publication month, in proportion to the month's size.
flags
Row flags, separated by semicolons. coverage_denominator_excludes_meeting_abstracts: the coverage gate used the Crossref count minus its estimated share of meeting-abstract supplements.
divergence_checked
publisher_reported when the median was compared with a publisher-reported median for the same interval (every published row was within 25%; rows beyond 25% are held for review); blank when no comparable figure exists.
evidence
Evidence tag for every figure in the row: measured (computed by Manusights from PubMed records, not a publisher's own number).
edition
Dataset edition.
method_version
Harvest method version.
license
Licence of the compilation.
Publisher-reported metrics 23 fields

Columns of the reported-metrics CSV, in order. JSON observations use the same values in camelCase.

id
Stable observation identifier: journal, metric, source and population.
journal_slug
Manusights journal identifier.
journal
Journal name.
metric
Metric key: acceptance_rate, sent_for_review_rate, first_decision, without_review, with_review or acceptance_time.
label
Metric name in words.
value
The figure as the publisher states it.
unit
% for rates, days for durations.
statistic
percentage, median or mean, as the publisher labels it. Means are not medians.
population
Who the figure covers, in the publisher's terms (for example first submissions, accepted manuscripts).
denominator_count
Number of manuscripts in the denominator when the publisher states it; blank otherwise.
reporting_period
The period the publisher's figure covers, as stated on the page.
definition
What the metric measures, and what it does not.
note
Caveat recorded for this observation (for example a rate whose numerator and denominator are different cohorts).
publisher
Publisher of the source page.
source_title
Title of the publisher's page.
source_url
URL of the publisher's page, on the publisher's own domain.
source_location
Where on the page the figure appears.
page_last_updated
The page's own update date when it shows one; blank otherwise.
observed_on
Date Manusights read the page.
limitation
Limits of the source page as a whole.
evidence
Evidence tag: publisher_reported (the publisher's own number, transcribed).
dataset_version
Version of this layer.
license
Licence of the compilation. The source pages remain under their publishers' terms.
Complete ledger (publisher metric ledger and submission requirements) 20 fields

Columns of the complete ledger CSV. Record Type says which layer a row belongs to; fields that do not apply to a layer are blank.

Record Type
publisher_metric for a publisher metric observation, submission_requirement for an article-type requirement.
Claim ID
Stable identifier of the observation.
Journal Slug
Manusights journal identifier.
Journal
Journal name as used on Manusights journal pages.
Article Type
Requirements only: the article type the rule applies to.
Submission Stage
Requirements only: the stage of preparation or submission the source section covers, in the source's words.
Observation
The metric or requirement in words.
Value
The figure or rule as the source states it.
Unit
Metrics only: % for rates, days for durations.
Statistic or Strength
For metrics, the statistic (median, mean or percentage). For requirements, how binding the rule is: limit, conditional limit, recommendation, conditional guidance, layout guidance, procedure, published range or explicitly unrestricted.
Population or Scope
Who a metric covers, or the conditions under which a requirement applies.
Definition
Metrics only: what the metric measures, and what it does not.
Reporting Period
For metrics, the period the figure covers. For requirements, the date the rule took effect, or "Effective date not established".
Source Title
Title of the publisher's page.
Source URL
URL of the publisher's page.
Source Location
Where on the page the figure or rule appears.
Observed On
Date Manusights read the page.
Limitation or Condition
Limits of the source for metrics; the rule's scope for requirements.
Dataset Version
Version of the layer the row comes from.
License
Licence of the compilation. Source pages remain under their publishers' terms.
Submission requirements (separate export) 16 fields

Columns of the submission-requirement export on the submission specifications page and in the requirements table above.

Claim ID
Stable identifier: journal, article type and field.
Journal Slug
Manusights journal identifier.
Journal
Journal name as used on Manusights journal pages.
Article Type
The article type the rule applies to.
Submission Stage
The stage of preparation or submission the source section covers, in the source's words.
Requirement
What the rule governs: main text, abstract, figures and tables, references or supporting material.
Value
The rule as the source states it.
Rule Strength
How binding the rule is: limit, conditional limit, recommendation, conditional guidance, layout guidance, procedure, published range or explicitly unrestricted.
Scope and Conditions
Conditions under which the rule applies, and what it does not cover.
Source Title
Title of the publisher's instructions page.
Source URL
URL of the publisher's instructions page.
Source Section
Section of the page that states the rule.
Observed On
Date Manusights read the page.
Effective From
Date the rule took effect when the source states it; "Not established" otherwise.
Dataset Version
Version of the requirement layer.
License
Licence of the compilation only; the source pages remain under their publishers' terms.

Method

How each layer was built

Journal acceptance times, method v2

Journals checked
286 journal entries from our journal pages and review-time guides; 284 after merging duplicates in the NLM Catalog; 280 matched to a PubMed journal.
Research articles only
PubMed publication type Journal Article, publication date 2024-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Excluded types: Letter, Comment, Editorial, Review, Systematic Review, Scoping Review, News, Newspaper Article, Published Erratum, Retraction Notice, Retracted Publication, Expression of Concern, Case Reports, Practice Guideline, Guideline, Interview, Biography, Portrait, Autobiography, Personal Narrative, Lecture, Address, Introductory Journal Article, Clinical Conference. Every fetched record is checked against the same rule again.
Sampling
Up to 300 articles per journal, drawn at random within each of the 24 publication months in proportion to the month's size (seed 20260924). Journals with fewer articles use all of them. 30,853 articles were sampled for the published journals.
Intervals
Received to accepted, kept from 1 to 1,825 days; accepted to PubMed entry, kept from 0 to 730 days (the PubMed entry date stands in for online publication). Median, with 25th and 75th percentiles by linear interpolation.
Gates
A journal is published only when PubMed holds at least 80% of the articles Crossref lists for it in the window, at least 60% of sampled articles carry both dates, and at least 30 articles are measured. For 3 journals whose Crossref count includes conference abstracts, the coverage denominator excludes the estimated abstract share; those rows are flagged.
Held for review
6 journals where the received date appears to be the revised-submission date (a fifth or more of intervals under 14 days, or two separate peaks), and 2 that differ by more than 25% from a publisher-reported median for the same interval. 11 journals had such a figure. A planned comparison with an independent per-journal site could not be run because that site refused automated requests; divergence was checked against publisher-reported figures only.
Outcome
108 published, 8 held, 168 suppressed. Suppression reasons overlap: fewer than 30 measurable articles (148), deposit rate below the gate (139), PubMed coverage below the gate (114), no research articles in PubMed for the window (36), not in the NLM Catalog (4). The journals left out are listed on peer review timelines.
Validation
20 published journals drawn at random (seed 20260925) were recomputed from the raw PubMed records with separately written parsing, filtering and statistics. 20 of 20 matched exactly on the number of articles and the median.

Publisher-reported metrics and the ledger

Included
Values and requirements transcribed from named official publisher pages, with the source location and conditions needed to interpret each one. The 2026 reported layer takes only publishers whose reuse terms were read and permit it, and only pages on the publisher's own domain.
Excluded
Search snippets, aggregator sites, anonymous estimates, undated impact metrics, generalized editorial advice, fit scores, and unsupported historical directory fields. Metric and requirement figures from Nature Portfolio pages, whose terms restrict compiling their content into a database, and from JAMA Network pages, whose terms could not be read, are cited on this page with links but left out of every download, PDF and embeddable view.
Coverage
A purposive reference set. The layers have different journal coverage and are not representative samples.
Maintenance
Evidence expires after 90 days. A changed or inaccessible controlling source blocks the dependent claim until it is reviewed again.

Changelog

What changed, and when

  1. Ledger edition 2026.09.25-evidence4: Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network requirements cited on the pages only

    Requirement figures from Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network pages (22 observations for 5 journals) now remain on the pages as linked citations only. They are no longer in the complete ledger, the submission-specifications download, its evidence brief or its embeddable view. The workbook, the timeline brief and the acceptance-rate note were regenerated with worked examples from PLOS, the JCI and eLife only, and the two embeddable metric views now show PLOS, JCI, JCI Insight and eLife figures.

  2. Nature Portfolio and JAMA Network figures removed from the downloads

    Removed 32 publisher figures from the downloadable data (the complete ledger, the timeline and acceptance-rate downloads, the table exports and the two embeddable views): 22 sourced from Nature Portfolio pages, whose terms restrict compiling their content into a database, and 10 sourced from JAMA Network pages, whose terms could not be read. The figures remain cited, with links, on the pages that use them.

  3. Measured acceptance times, method v2

    The PubMed layer returns with 108 journals. It replaces the July 2026 v1 harvest, which counted letters and other non-research items and sampled only the most recently added records. v2 keeps research articles only, samples across every month of 2024 and 2025, gates each journal on PubMed coverage and date deposit, and was validated on 20 journals.

  4. Publisher-reported metrics, 2026.09.24-reported1

    17 acceptance rates, shares sent for review and decision times for 6 journals, each transcribed from a publisher whose reuse terms were read and permit it.

  5. July PubMed measurements withdrawn

    The v1 PubMed measurements came out of the downloads until the method could be fixed.

  6. Ledger edition 2026.09.15-evidence3

    36 publisher metric observations and 32 submission requirements, each with its source. The historical 57-journal directory, impact factors and estimated rates are not distributed.

The next edition of the acceptance times is planned for September 2027.

How to cite

Cite the dataset

Acceptance times on Zenodo (DOI)

Manusights (2026). Journal acceptance times from PubMed history dates, 2026 edition (Version 2026.1) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23001076

The measured acceptance times and the 2014-2015 comparison are archived with a DOI; cite this for those figures. The formats below cite the whole dataset.

Text

Manusights (2026). Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition [Data set]. 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4. CC BY 4.0. https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence

BibTeX

@misc{manusights_journal_outcomes_2026,
  author       = {{Manusights}},
  title        = {Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition},
  year         = {2026},
  version      = {2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4},
  publisher    = {Manusights},
  howpublished = {\url{https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence}},
  note         = {Data set. Licensed CC BY 4.0}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Manusights
TI  - Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/25
ET  - 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4
PB  - Manusights
UR  - https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence
N1  - Licensed CC BY 4.0
ER  - 

Licence and sources

Free to reuse with attribution

The compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0: copy, adapt and redistribute it with attribution to Manusights. The acceptance times are computed from PubMed history dates, which are public NCBI records, and Crossref metadata. Publisher figures and requirements are facts transcribed with a link to their source; the source pages remain under their publishers' terms.

Nature Portfolio: 2025 peer review metrics

2025 Peer Review Metrics table; journal-name row. 2025 calendar year.

Open official source

JAMA: author information

Editorial Information; Prompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.

Open official source

JAMA Oncology: author information

Prompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.

Open official source

JAMA Cardiology: author information

Prompt Decisions and Rapid Publication Timelines. Reporting period not stated; page updated July 2026.

Open official source

PLOS: 2025 publication metrics

Journal and article-level metrics; named journal panel and footnote. 2025 calendar year.

Open official source

Evidence boundary. Publisher instructions control. Metrics are descriptive observations, not manuscript-level forecasts. Requirement observations do not cover every article type, policy, file, declaration, reporting guideline, or submission-system prompt.

Original Manusights compilation: CC BY 4.0. Third-party source material remains under its original terms. No publisher endorsement is implied. Report a correction or review the maintenance policy.

Workbook and complete ledger

Take the ledger to a journal-choice discussion

Use the workbook for a journal-choice discussion or download all 14 publisher metric and requirement observations with their source conditions. No login is required.

Use the ledger

Make six decisions, in order

A number is decision support only after it survives a definition check. The workbook turns these checks into a record a lab, librarian, or writing center can reuse.

1. Match the manuscript

Name the journal, exact article type, audience, and contribution model. This dataset does not determine fit.

2. Match the definition

Keep editorial screening, first decision, reviewed decision, and final acceptance distinct.

3. Match the population

Check whether the denominator is all submissions, research manuscripts, accepted manuscripts, or an unstated publisher dataset.

4. Match the period

Record the reporting period separately from the date Manusights checked the source.

5. Match the package rule

Preserve whether an instruction is a limit, recommendation, example, procedure, or explicit lack of restriction.

6. Record the unknowns

Do not fill a coverage gap with an estimate, a search snippet, or a remembered policy.

Sources and scope · Guide reviewed September 25, 2026
Coverage
108 journals with measured acceptance times; 17 publisher-reported observations; 14 ledger observations
Source basis
PubMed history dates, publisher metrics pages and article-type instructions

Prepared by the Manusights editorial team. Publisher and institutional instructions take precedence.

Cite this resource

Citation formats

Free to use and cite, with attribution. See the reuse policy for what you may republish.

APA
Manusights (2026). Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition [Data set]. 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4. CC BY 4.0. https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence
MLA
Manusights. "Journal Outcomes Dataset, 2026 Edition." 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4, September 25, 2026, https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence.
Vancouver
Manusights. Journal outcomes dataset, 2026 edition [Internet]. 2026 edition: acceptance times method v2; reported metrics 2026.09.24-reported1; ledger 2026.09.25-evidence4. 2026 09 25. Available from: https://manusights.com/resources/journal-intelligence