Are delays in academic publishing necessary? Comment on Leslie (AER, 2005)

Leslie (AER, 2005) shows that both submission fees and time delays at top-tier journals can maximize journal quality by discouraging long-shot submissions. He concludes that delays in academic publishing are not necessary, and argues that journals should increase submission fees in an effort to minimize delays. We show that his conclusions depend crucially on the assumption that submission costs affect all authors equally. With heterogeneous authors, maximizing journal quality requires a combination of moderate fees and moderate delays. Minimizing delay or not charging a submission fee will benefit some authors, hurt others, and strictly decrease journal quality.