Q&A: Speeding up the publication process

I recently received the following question from a reader (anonymized of course):

Dear Professor Eva,

I hope this email finds you well. I am currently pursuing my PhD at an XX university and have written an article on YY. Due to time constraints, I need to publish this paper as soon as possible.

I am reaching out to inquire if you could assist me in expediting the publication process, particularly if you have any waivers for fast publication journals such as ZZ. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your support.

Here’s my answer:

Dear Reader,

Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, I do not have any influence on the publication process, as it depends on a number of people and factors, and it would also not be ethical to influence it. You can check the average time to publication on the websites of most journals, and make a decision based on this aspect.

Best regards,

Eva

In other words: there is no way to influence the speed of the publication process. As an editor, I could invite reviewers of whom I expect that they will be able to provide me with a review within a short amount of time – but typically, I would only do this is I get the last paper for a special issue that we still would want to include, or if there is any other time constraint from the publisher.

Journals who promise a speedy publication can be predatory, so be careful with those who promise things that seem to be good to be true.

And for the rest, all I can wish authors is for the patience they need to wait for the comments of the reviewers.