Journal Operations Report for 2012

As part of a commitment to transparency in journal operations and in an effort to shape the expectations of current andpotential authors when submitting manuscripts to the Journal of School Psychology, I have vowed to publish a summary of journaloperations each year (see Floyd, 2012). The following results address the volume of manuscripts submitted to the journal in 2012,action editors’ time to decision when processing these manuscripts, and the rates of manuscript acceptance and rejection.

Manuscript Volume

The total number of submissions for 2012 (including new submissions and resubmissions of previously rejected manuscripts)was 269. This number is only 6 fewer than in 2011 (275), but it is substantially higher than in previous years: 229 (2010), 199(2009), 219 (2008), and 179 (2007).

Time to Decision

The time to editorial decision for manuscripts submitted in 2012 and distributed for full review (not including Reject Without FullReview)was 57.3 days (8.2weeks) on average (SD=11.3 days/1.6weeks). This result reflects a somewhatmore efficient reviewprocessand a decrease relative to that from the past four years: 62.6 days (2011), 65.2 days (2010), 62.3 days (2009), and 60.5 days (2008).

Acceptance and Rejection Rates

The percentage of manuscripts rejected without full review (32.0%) was almost identical to the percentage from 2011 (32.7%)and more than twice that from 2010 (15.7%) and 2009 (14%).

The percentage of manuscripts accepted for publication (12.3%) was higher than in 2011 (9.5%), 2008 (8.5%) and 2007 (8%);lower than in 2010 (16.6%); and approximately the same as in 2009 (11%). The percentage of resubmissions of manuscripts thatwere initially rejected but ultimately accepted for publication was 57%—and almost exactly that from 2011 (58%).

Decision Status for 2012 Submissions Number Percentage

Accept & Accept Contingent on Revision 33 12.3%Reject (all categories) 236 87.7%

Reject Encouraging Revision 42 15.6%Reject 108 40.1%Reject Without Full Review 86 32.0%

Resubmissions (following Reject Encouraging Revision): 49Accepted for Publication: 28 57.1%

I hope that this information is useful to authors interested in submitting to the Journal of School Psychology and that it serves asa model for other journal editors in school psychology to replicate or extend. Please contact me at rgfloyd@memphis.edu withquestions or discussion points.

ReferencesFloyd, R. G. (2012). A golden anniversary: Celebrating successes and establishing a vision for the future of the Journal of School Psychology. Journal of School

Psychology, 50, 1–6.

Randy G. FloydEditor

The University of Memphis

Journal of School Psychology 51 (2013) III

doi:10.1016/S0022-4405(13)00046-0

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Journal of School Psychology

j ourna l homepage: www.e lsev ie r .com/ locate / j schpsyc