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Journal submission planner

Plan your submissions against your deadline — free. Based on how long each journal took with the articles it accepted; everything is calculated in your browser.

1. Your dates

Manuscript ready to submit Need an acceptance by

Assumptions you can change

Days until a rejection decision Days to reformat and resubmit elsewhere

Public data only covers accepted articles, so the time to a rejection is your assumption. 30 days is typical of a desk rejection; a rejection after peer review usually takes much longer.

2. Journals, in the order you would try them

Before each submission

Re-read the journal's aims and scope and two recent articles like yours.
Format to the author guidelines: word limits, abstract structure, reference style, figure files.
Prepare the statements journals ask for: ethics approval, funding, conflicts of interest, data availability.
Write a cover letter that says why the paper fits this journal, not just what it found.
Check whether the journal allows preprints and how it handles suggested reviewers.

Get the free Journal Submission Go/No-Go Checklist

The pre-submission checks from Write and Publish a Scientific Paper: journal fit, formatting, cover letter and reviewer suggestions. We’ll email you the download link.

Get Write and Publish a Scientific Paper

Data sources. Submission, acceptance and publication dates: Courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (PubMed, entries through Sep 15, 2026). NLM does not endorse Journal Clock, and these figures may not reflect the most current PubMed data. Journal fees and open-access listing: DOAJ (CC0, retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Fees paid by institutions: OpenAPC (Open Database License, retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Retractions: Retraction Watch Database via Crossref (retrieved Sep 16, 2026). Journal identifiers and topics: OpenAlex (CC0). Currency conversion: ECB reference rates (Sep 15, 2026). How these numbers are calculated · For organisations.