Evaluation of the time interval between completion of research, and final publication research papers in dental research journals

Long delays in getting a paper published in a medical journal may affect motivation for research. The aim of this study was to evaluate the duration of the research, and the average interval between the completion of a research project and the publication of the research article in dental research journals.

In this cross sectional study, all eligible articles were collected and adjusted based on the reported intervals according to the month of publication. In this study, delay was defined as the interval between receipt of the paper and final modification >6 months, final modification and final approval >3 months and the time between final approval and publication >3 months. Name of the journal, authors, type of design, quality of materials (type and time of source, number of sources in English, Farsi, whether books or articles) and the project sponsor, were assessed to determine if any of these factors were associated with delay.

In this study, 7 journals and 509 articles were evaluated. 14.6% of the papers were delayed. Delay between receipt and final modification was noted in 31.2%, between final modification and final approval was observed in 3.3% and between final approval and publication in 11.2%. In 54.3 percent of papers, this data was not available. At all stages, type of journal had a significant role especially in the time between approval and publication.

Significant delays have been observed between receipt of papers and their publication in dental journals.