The median publication lag has increased fourfold between 1980 and 1999. The trends in the three
types of publication lag are depicted graphically in Figure 1. The period from submission/receipt of a manuscript until the publication of an article (Lag1) has increased from 200 days in 1980 to around 800 days in 1999. The lag from acceptance to publication (Lag3) rose initially in the 1980s but has subsequently stabilized to around 250 days since 1990, while the lag from submission to
acceptance (Lag2) has risen steadily over the past 20 years.