How to fast-track (expedite) a paper and what are the benefits?

What is Fast Track?

Authors sometimes have to meet publication deadlines, e.g. for promotion & tenure, thesis defense, grant proposals, spending of research funds before a certain deadline, publication of follow-up papers, or because the findings are deemed important.

To facilitate a speedy turn-around when a rapid decision is required, JMIR offers a fast-track review and publishing track. 

The Fast-Track Fee guarantees the following:

• Expedited editorial processing: A rapid editorial decision for the 1st review round (and if sent out for peer review) within 20 business days (4 weeks excluding holidays within that period)* after submission and payment of the fast-track fee (FTF), and
• Expedited production to publication, if accepted: If the final paper is accepted, publication of your paper within 4 weeks** after acceptance and APF payment.

Fast-track should be requested within 24 hours after submission, but we also allow authors to expedite the submission at any time during the peer review process.

Important for authors

• Due to the expedited timelines, it is imperative that authors respond promptly to any editorial queries sent to the authors during the desk review and peer review process.
• Authors also are advised to provide 5-10 author-suggested reviewers at the time of submission. If an insufficient number of author-suggested reviewers are provided at submission, the JMIR Editorial team will reach out for additional suggestions
• Author-suggested reviewers must not have any conflicts of interest with the authors. Please review How does JMIR define a Conflict of Interest (COI)? before suggesting peer reviewers.
• Paying a fast-track fee does not guarantee peer review. An Editor always evaluates submitted manuscripts for an initial decision of whether the manuscript goes to peer review, or is rejected (i.e., desk rejection, or initial decision of rejection). Such decisions are made if the paper is out of scope or has obvious flaws. The FTF in non-refundable because this decision is made within the promised 4 weeks (20 business days).

Review timelines after Round 1 peer review

Although we aim for fast turnaround times in subsequent reviews, the decision time in round 2 peer review and higher depends on various factors, so we cannot guarantee a timeline for those. 

In order to take advantage of this, authors pay a non-refundable* Fast-Track Fee of $950 on top of and in addition to any other submission/publication fees (see Fee Schedule). 

* We do not refund or credit the FT fee if:

• the Editor makes a quick reject decision, even if it is without peer review (desk reject or initial decision of rejection); or  
• the author withdraws the submission; or
• the author submits an incomplete manuscript that is not ready to be sent out for peer review.
• the manuscript is rejected as a result of a research integrity investigation. This condition is applicable even if such a rejection occurs after the FT decision deadline.

* We only refund the FT fee if:

• We are unable to find a reviewer and make a decision within the guaranteed time for the initial decision. In these scenarios, we convert the paid FT fee to prepaid credits, that can be used later as FT fee or Article Processing Fees. Related information: How do prepaid credits work?
• In the event of a refund as prepaid credits, any bank or administrative fees will not be able to be refunded and the prepaid credit amount would be limited to a refund in the amount of the FT fee. 

Additional considerations

• We reserve the right to credit/refund the fast-track fee and process the manuscript in the regular submission track if we are unable to meet the deadline due to failure to find peer reviewers or other issues for which we have to assume responsibility.
• Bank holidays (US, Canada, Europe) are added to the 4 week initial decision timeline. Also, note that the JMIR Office is closed for statutory holidays annually between Dec 23-Jan 2 and these days do not count towards the 4 weeks.

To fast-track (expedite) a submission

Follow the link in the submission acknowledgment email, or go to your author manuscript center and look for the "expedite now" link next to your submitted manuscript title (see screenshot below).

Footnotes:

* Canadian, US and European bank holidays, and excluding the days in the period between Dec 23rd - Jan 1st (of each year).

** Not including the period between Dec 23rd-Jan 2nd. Days where we wait for a response from author(s) to copyediting or proofreading requests are also not counted. 

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Tip:

Are you looking for a rapid decision because you wish to cite your work in a grant proposal?

• Consider fast-tracking your paper (How to fast-track (expedite) a paper and what are the benefits?)
• Make your paper available as a Preprint (What are JMIR Preprints?). When you submit a paper to a JMIR journal, select "Open Peer Review" as an option (What is open peer review?). Your paper will then get a DOI and is immediately after submission citable as a Preprint, which many grant agencies such as NIH or MRC now encourage. 

Note that formative work, in-progress work, pilot studies, methods, and protocols should preferably be submitted to JMIR Research Protocols (Why should I publish my protocol or grant proposal?).

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Related links

• I can't find my submitted manuscript?
• Why is there an invoice for the fast-track/expedite fee? I didn't order this!
• How does JMIR define a Conflict of Interest (COI)?
• How do prepaid credits work?