What Happens After Acceptance?

Rockwood Medical Writing Agency
Jul 29
4 min read

For many aspiring scientists, receiving an acceptance email from a peer-reviewed journal is a moment of celebration. After months or years of research, careful writing, revisions, and responses to reviewers, the manuscript has been approved for publication. While acceptance is a significant milestone, it is not the end of the process. Once the editor confirms acceptance, the manuscript enters a series of post-acceptance steps before it becomes a published paper.

Understanding what happens after acceptance will help you anticipate the timeline, respond promptly to editorial requests, and avoid delays in publication.

The Transition from Manuscript to Publication

Acceptance means that the scientific content has been approved, but it does not mean the manuscript is ready to appear in the journal exactly as submitted. The post-acceptance stage focuses on preparing the manuscript for publication in its final form. This involves editorial checks, formatting, proofing, and often some administrative steps such as copyright agreements.

Editorial Checks and Formatting

Once accepted, the manuscript typically undergoes a final editorial review to ensure it meets the journal’s technical and formatting requirements.

Key checks include:

Consistency of references with the journal’s citation style.
Verification of figures and tables for clarity, resolution, and labelling.
Review of supplementary materials, such as appendices or datasets, to ensure they are accessible and correctly linked.
Confirmation that all required declarations are included, such as conflict of interest statements, acknowledgements, and funding disclosures.

These steps are not intended to question the science but to ensure that the paper meets the publication standards of the journal. Promptly providing any additional materials requested at this stage will help keep the process on schedule.

Copyediting

After formatting checks, the manuscript is passed to the copyediting team. Copyeditors focus on improving clarity, consistency, and adherence to the journal’s style guide.

Common areas addressed during copyediting include:

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Standardisation of units, abbreviations, and terminology.
Ensuring that figures, tables, and captions are correctly numbered and referenced in the text.
Checking for consistency between the abstract, main text, and conclusions.

Copyeditors may make changes directly or flag questions for the authors. These queries often relate to ambiguous statements, unclear terminology, or potential errors. Responding to copyeditor queries carefully is important to avoid introducing mistakes at this stage.

Proof Preparation and Author Proofing

Once copyediting is complete, the manuscript is typeset into the journal’s publication format. This process transforms the document from a word-processed file into page proofs that resemble the final article.

The proofs are then sent to the corresponding author for review. This is the author’s opportunity to check the article carefully before it is published.

Key points to check during proofing include:

Accuracy of all figures, tables, and equations.
Correct formatting of references.
Spelling of author names, affiliations, and acknowledgements.
Consistency of headings, subheadings, and numbering.

Proofreading is not the time for major changes to the text. Most journals only permit corrections that address errors introduced during typesetting or that fix clear mistakes in the manuscript. Substantive changes to the content are discouraged unless absolutely necessary.

Online First or Early View

Many journals publish accepted articles online before the print or final issue is assembled. This stage is often referred to as “Online First,” “Early View,” or “Ahead of Print.”

At this stage:

The article is given a digital object identifier (DOI), which makes it citable.
The version is usually identical to the final published article, although occasionally minor corrections may follow.
The paper becomes discoverable through indexing services and can be read and cited by other researchers.

Online First publication ensures that research is available to the scientific community as soon as possible, rather than waiting for a scheduled issue.

Final Publication

Once the article has been through Online First, it will be assigned to a specific issue of the journal. This may involve:

Placement in a themed issue if relevant.
Final pagination and indexing in the journal’s table of contents.
Linkage with other related articles or editorials.

The article at this stage is considered the version of record. It is the official, permanent, and citable form of the publication.

Post-Publication Considerations

Acceptance and publication are not the end of a paper’s journey. Once published, an article becomes part of the scientific literature and can attract attention, commentary, and scrutiny.

Some key post-publication considerations include:

Dissemination

Authors are often encouraged to share their work through academic networks, conferences, or institutional press releases. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn or ResearchGate can also be useful for increasing visibility.

Corrections

If errors are identified after publication, journals may issue a correction or erratum. Authors should notify the journal promptly if they discover a mistake that affects the accuracy or interpretation of the work.

Post-Publication Peer Review

In some fields, discussion continues after publication. Readers may write letters to the editor, commentaries, or responses that are published alongside the article. Authors should be prepared to engage with these discussions professionally.

Tracking Impact

Researchers often track the impact of their work through citation counts, Altmetric scores, and other measures of readership and influence. While these metrics should be interpreted cautiously, they can provide insight into how the work is being received.

Author Responsibilities After Acceptance

Even after acceptance, authors have responsibilities to ensure that the publication process runs smoothly. These include:

Responding promptly to editorial queries.
Reviewing proofs carefully and on time.
Completing copyright or licence-to-publish agreements.
Ensuring that all co-authors approve the final version of the article.
Maintaining clear communication with the journal if there are any changes in contact information.

Being proactive at this stage helps to prevent unnecessary delays and maintains a good relationship with the journal.

Conclusion

For aspiring scientists, acceptance is a milestone worth celebrating, but it is also the beginning of the final stage of the publishing process. From editorial checks and copyediting to proofing and final publication, each step contributes to ensuring that the article is accurate, professional, and accessible to its audience.

Understanding what happens after acceptance helps researchers anticipate the timeline, respond effectively to journal requests, and avoid unexpected delays. By managing this stage with the same care as the earlier parts of the process, authors can ensure that their work moves smoothly from acceptance to publication, making the research available to the scientific community as quickly and accurately as possible.

Acceptance is a significant achievement. Seeing your work appear in a respected journal, cited by colleagues, and contributing to the field is the ultimate reward for the effort invested in research and writing.