The "new realities" of peer review.

THE EDITORS OF THE Journal of Neurophysiology are committed to the rapid and constructive peer review of manuscripts. The average processing times (from submission to first decision) for new papers submitted in 2016 are indicated in Fig. 1. In this figure, each of the major article types published by the Journal (Innovative Methodology, Neuro Forum, Rapid Reports, Research Articles, and Review Articles) are represented in a separate column. Figure 1 shows that processing times for manuscripts varied tremendously, particularly for Research Articles (the time from submission to first decision ranged from 0 to 63 days). Although the median processing times were relatively short for most papers (25 days for Innovative Methodology, 15 days for Neuro Forum, 14 days for Rapid Reports, 24 days for Research Articles, and 23 days for Review Articles), a few authors had to wait up to two months for an editorial decision. This variability in article processing times was the impetus for an analysis of the root cause of delayed editorial decisions, with the intention of eliminating the problem.