Is peer review duration shorter for attractive manuscripts?

Abstract

Authors often ask how long the peer review process takes. Peer review duration has attracted much attention in academia in recent years. Existing research focuses primarily on the statistical characteristics of peer review duration, with few studies considering the potential influence of manuscripts’ attractiveness. This study aims to fill this research gap by employing attention economy theory. By analysing the peer review history of articles published in The British Medical Journal and 16 information and library science journals, we find a significant negative relationship between peer review duration and the Altmetric Attention Score. Overall, our study offers a new perspective on peer review behaviour and bridges the divide between peer reviews and altmetrics.