More research, faster publication – Papers in Press and Continuous Publishing

Posted on August 21, 2013   by Parita Patel

The rapid and wide dissemination of high quality research is the most important goal for authors and publishers alike. While digital publishing and open access has resulted in research reaching far wider audiences than ever before, the volume of work now being published means that the need to make content available as soon as possible has never been more vital.

The rapid and wide dissemination of high quality research is the most important goal for authors and publishers alike. While digital publishing and open access has resulted in research reaching far wider audiences than ever before, the volume of work now being published means that the need to make content available as soon as possible has never been more vital.

Enter ‘Papers in Press’ and ‘Continuous Publishing’.

The introduction of Papers in Press (also known as Author First, or Publish Ahead of Print) in recent years has meant that authors are seeing their work published much quicker following acceptance. With the author’s permission, this is typically the uncorrected and unformatted version i.e. before the paper has been copyedited, typeset or proofed and corrected. The final version, with full citation details, is published up to 8 weeks thereafter and within an assigned issue once this is ready for publication. The benefits? At the Society, authors can expect the author version of their paper to be published online within 3 working days following acceptance.

Online journals are without the limitations of set issues and so have the ability to publish final versions (i.e. the typeset, copyedited, proofed and corrected copy) of articles as soon as they are ready. The industry term for this is Continuous Publishing, and it means authors can see the final version of their paper published and ready to be cited much sooner. Instead of focusing on volumes and issues, publishers can now shift their attention to individual articles. The benefits? Articles feed into open issues, losing the delay caused by waiting for an issue to be full or complete before publication, resulting in faster publication times.

Both Papers in Press and Continuous Publishing are of great value to authors. The Society currently publishes its journal content with Papers in Press in place. As we look to grow our online offering of publications, and with print becoming less popular across the industry, the Society is looking at Continuous Publishing as a potential feature to add to our already successful portfolio of journals.

We welcome author and reader feedback on this.