The Production Process and Timeline

After your article has gone through peer review and been accepted, it will enter the production phase of the publication process. In the production phase, your original manuscript is styled, copyedited, professionally typeset, and then proofread. 

After all these steps are complete, you will receive page proofs of your article, along with a list of questions that have come up over the course of the production process. This process is necessary to ensure the quality of your published article, and can take some time. Here we will give you an idea of what to expect as far as the time between these steps.* 

Please Note

Your article will not begin the production process until you have supplied all outstanding forms and other post acceptance requirements (e.g., permissions documents, copyright transfer forms, etc.). Please respond to all requests for materials as quickly as possible to avoid potential delays.

Copyediting, Typesetting, and Proofreading
8 Weeks

The vast majority of the production steps go on behind the scenes, and you typically will not need to be involved in these initial steps. They include copyediting, typesetting, and proofreading your article. The journal production team may contact you if they have questions during this phase. Nearing the end of this phase, you’ll receive an e-mail telling you to expect your proofs within 23 weeks. That brings us to our next step.

Author Review and Revisions
1 Week

After your manuscript has been styled, edited, and proofread, you will be sent page proofs for review and revision. You’ll be given 5 days from the time the proofs are sent to complete your revisions and answer queries (if you need extra time though, please just let the production team know). The best way to provide revisions is by annotating the PDF of the article that you were sent by the production team. Luckily, we have a useful guide to help you with just that.

Applying Revisions
2 Weeks

After you’ve uploaded your revisions, the ASHA Journals production team will apply your edits and have the final version of the article typeset. This will take approximately 2 weeks, depending on the amount of revisions being applied. The ASHA Journals team will contact you if they have further questions during this phase. Once revisions are complete, the manuscript is ready for advance online publication.

From Acceptance to Advance Online Publication
12 weeks

Note on Overall Publication Timeline

The production phase represents the final portion of the publication process, and does not include peer review. The timeline from submission of your manuscript to the beginning of the production process is variable and depends on the nature of the revisions requested during peer review. To learn more about what to expect during the review process, please visit the What to Expect in Peer Review page.

*Please note that these times are ideal but not always possible. Delays may occur due to high manuscript volume or other unforeseen circumstances. Additionally, articles that go straight to issue rather than advance online publication (i.e., those included in special issues, forums, or special content collections) may have a slightly different publication timeline than the one provided here.

Handling Proofs

Using the ASHA Journal Production System

Downloading Proofs

Before you receive your proofs, you’ll receive a production update e-mail once your article has been proofread, which notes that your proof will be available in 2–3 weeks.

When your proof is ready for your review, you’ll receive an e-mail notification.

Click your personalized link to our journal production system to access your proofs. Please respond within 72 hours. If you need more time for review, please respond to the e-mail to confirm receipt.

Once on the Initial Proof Review screen, download your article proof by clicking the link, “Click here to download the proof PDF.”

Uploading Proofs

Read through your edited article carefully, addressing any Author Queries listed at the end of the PDF.

  • If you do not have any revisions, select “No changes needed. Publish proof as it stands.” Then, click “Submit Proof Response/Files.”
  • If you have changes, select “Changes needed (must provide comments below).” You may provide your corrections in an annotated PDF or as a detailed list of specified revisions. Under the Upload Corrected Files section, select “Choose File” to upload files with your response. Provide comments in the Response comments section. When you’re done, click “Submit Proof Response/Files.”

Once submitted, you’ll receive an e-mail confirmation saying that your responses have been received. If any questions remain, you’ll receive an e-mail detailing these remaining questions. Use the steps above to respond to any additional queries.

Contacting the Journal Production Staff

Incoming Communication

E-mails regarding journal production will come from ashajournals@msubmit.net. You may simply reply to incoming communication or use the e-mail tab in the ASHA Journals Production System to reply to these messages.

Contact Us

Questions, comments, and other communications regarding the four ASHA scholarly journals can be sent to the ASHA Journals Production team at journals@asha.org.

Questions, comments, and other communications regarding Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups can be sent to perspectives@asha.org.

Answering Author Queries

Several weeks after your article has been accepted into the ASHA Journal Productions System, you will be contacted by the production team and provided with a styled, PDF version of your manuscript. You will be given 72 hours to answer a series of questions that have arisen during the initial stages of production. We highly recommend responding to these queries by annotating the PDF proof, preferably in Adobe Acrobat. As such, we have provided an in-depth guide to annotating a PDF proof in Adobe Acrobat.

Common Queries and Corrections

APA Style opening query

All PDF proofs will come with this query, even if there are no further questions: This article has been edited for grammar, APA style, and usage. Please use annotations to make corrections on this PDF. Please limit your corrections to substantive changes that affect meaning. If no change is required in response to a question, please respond “OK as set.” This query is simply asking that you review the provided proof, keeping in mind that changes at this point in production should be kept minimal and substantive.

Request for an acknowledgment section

If you have not provided an acknowledgment section in your manuscript (see Writing and Formatting Your Manuscript page for information on the acknowledgments section): Authors typically use an acknowledgment section to specify grant or funding information. If applicable, please add this information here. If you decide an acknowledgment section is appropriate, provide it with your annotations. If not, simply reply “Okay as set.”

Unused or missing references query

Often times, the most common type of author query is one related to missing or unused references. That is to say, references that are cited in the text but do not appear in the reference list, and references that appear in the reference but are never cited in the text. The query will likely look like this: Smith, et al. 2016 is listed in the references but is not cited in the text. Please add citation or remove from the reference list. Respond to this query by providing the in-text citation location, or indicate that the reference should be removed from the list. For missing references, provide the full reference with your query responses, or indicate if the citation should be removed.

Queries about revised figures

You may receive a query telling you that your figures need adjustment. If so, update the figure to address the requested changes and make sure it meets minimal resolution requirements. Optimally, print ready figures should be 300 dots per inch (DPI) resolution. If you are unsure how to provide higher resolution figures, attach the most original copy of the figure to your query responses (e.g., if you made a figure in Microsoft Word, provide the original .doc or .docx file) and the production team will be able to retain as high of a resolution as possible from the original file.

Questions about additional query types?

Always feel free to contact the ASHA Journals production team should you find yourself unsure of how to answer a query. E-mail us at ashajournals@asha.org.

Corrections and Retractions

To help preserve the accuracy, reliability, and permanence of the scholarly record, the following types of corrections are used by ASHA.

Erratum

A correction of any sort. ASHA has in the past made a distinction between a correction notice and an erratum. The former was for errors made by the production office but not of a substantive nature, and the latter was for substantive errors made by either the author or the production office. In keeping with guidelines from National Library of Medicine, this distinction is no longer made by ASHA. An error is an error, and its correction will take the form of an erratum regardless of its source or characteristics.

Retraction

Rejection or disavowal of published work because of fraud, plagiarism, ethical breaches, or other such scientific malfeasance, or because one’s work is rendered invalid as a result of the malfeasance or misconduct of another author’s work on which one’s article is based. A retraction containing explanatory information is published and bidirectionally linked, and the original article online is clearly and permanently marked as having been retracted (e.g., by a watermark on each page).

Removal

Deletion of content from the scholarly record (extremely rare). Bibliographic information will remain a part of the scholarly record, but the actual article content will be removed in the event of a court order to do so; if there is a clear risk of legal liability to the author, publisher, or copyright holder or if the content poses a danger to the public.
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