One of the most common questions authors ask is simply: how long will this take? The honest answer is “it depends” — but the process itself follows a fairly predictable sequence of stages. Knowing what each stage involves helps you plan around conference deadlines, funding cycles, and job-market timelines.
Stage 1: Manuscript Preparation (Weeks to Months, Before Submission)
This is entirely in your hands: finalizing the analysis, writing and revising drafts, formatting to journal specifications, and having colleagues review the work. Rushing this stage is the single biggest predictor of a rocky review process later.
Stage 2: Submission and Initial Screening (Days to a Few Weeks)
Once submitted through the paper submission page, an editor screens the manuscript for scope fit, formatting, and basic quality before deciding whether to send it out for review.
Stage 3: Peer Review (Typically 6–12 Weeks)
Reviewers are assigned and asked to evaluate the paper’s contribution, methodology, and clarity. This is usually the longest stage, since it depends on external reviewers’ availability and workload — and it’s largely outside the editor’s or author’s control.
Stage 4: First Decision (Days After Reviews Are In)
The editor synthesizes reviewer feedback into a decision: accept, minor revisions, major revisions, or reject. Major revisions is a common and often encouraging outcome — it means the editor sees enough promise in the paper to invest further review time in it.
Stage 5: Revision (Author-Controlled, Often 4–8 Weeks)
You revise the manuscript and prepare a detailed response letter addressing each reviewer comment. Taking the time to respond thoroughly here — rather than rushing back a minimal revision — usually shortens the number of review rounds needed.
Stage 6: Second Review Round (2–8 Weeks)
Depending on the extent of revisions requested, the paper may go back to the same reviewers, a subset of them, or straight to the editor for a final call.
Stage 7: Acceptance and Production (4–10 Weeks)
Once accepted, the manuscript moves into copyediting, typesetting, and proofing before publication — either online-first or in a scheduled issue.
A Realistic Total Estimate
From first submission to final publication, most economics and management papers take somewhere between four months and a year, depending on the number of revision rounds and reviewer availability. Papers requiring only minor revisions move faster; those needing two or three major revision rounds take longer.
How to Plan Around This
- Submit well ahead of any hard deadlines (tenure files, grant reports, job market packets)
- Use the review period productively — start your next paper rather than waiting idle
- Respond to revision requests as promptly as your schedule allows, since delays on your end simply extend the total timeline
- Ask the editorial office about expected timelines if you have a genuine scheduling constraint
Understanding this timeline up front turns an anxious waiting game into a plannable process.
For a broader look at how publication timelines vary across the academic publishing landscape, Elsevier’s guide for reviewers and authors offers useful context on how review cycles are typically structured across journals.
Start the clock on your own submission — review the journal’s scope and submit your manuscript via the paper submission page.