Online systems, which authors can consult for themselves, are one way of achieving this. It is not always possible to publish accepted articles immediately, whether for editorial or budgetary reasons, but it is only fair that the author knows approximately how long he or she will have to wait. Date of Acceptance One of the main reasons why speed is so important to authors is the question of priority. This also helps authors to estimate in advance the likely interval between acceptance and publication. Editing of articles Editing of the author's article is invaluable in clarifying expression, standardising nomenclature and units, and checking references.
Authors are, however, understandably uneasy about editing which changes their work substantially.
It is always good practice to check anything other than minor copy-editing changes with the author unless the speed of publication makes this absolutely impossible. Dissemination Authors and, indeed, publishers want their work to be available to, and read by, the maximum number of people. This is achieved not only by traditional marketing, but also by making sure the journal is listed in all the secondary sources which the appropriate readership uses, such as abstracting and indexing databases. In the electronic environment publishers should ensure that links between secondary sources, the primary literature, libraries and their readers operate in a seamless and effective manner. It is important that all published works are properly archived.