Overview of the Journal Publishing Process

Congratulations on having your paper chosen for publication in the Journal of Gerontology or The Gerontologist. The editor has accepted your paper for publication and sent it the Publications Department here at The Gerontological Society of America. We will manage your article from here on out.

Publications Department Staff

The GSA Publications Department consists of three people: Director (journal editor liaison, point of contact for printer and typesetter, contact for advertisers, copyeditor); Associate Managing Editor (author liaison, copyeditor, proofreader, point of contact for printer and typesetter, page layout); and the Assistant Production Editor (currently in hiring process; author liaison, copyeditor, proofreader, administrative duties).

Copyediting

In the coming weeks, your paper will be sent to a copyeditor. (GSA outsources most of its copyediting.) When your copyedited manuscript is returned to GSA, Beth will send a copy of it to you for review with queries highlighted in yellow. She will also send a Copyright Transfer Agreement.

When you receive the copyedited manuscript in the mail, please review it carefully. Mark all changes in a colored pen (do not use a colored pencil) directly onto the highlighted manuscript. Do not revise your manuscript on disk, incorporating the copyeditor's changes into a "corrected" file. (It is the typesetter's job, not yours, to incorporate all of the copyeditor's changes into the electronic file.) Please print legibly.

Restrict your changes to those that satisfy the highlighted copyediting queries and that address typographical, grammatical, statistical, and factual errors. Review all data in the manuscript, tables, and figures at this time. If you believe the copyeditor’s rewording has changed your meaning, make the necessary correction at this time. Once the article has been typeset, you will not be permitted to make changes in wording. If you want something changed throughout the paper, you must mark it each and every time it appears.

Be sure to address each of the copyeditor's queries. Pay special attention to queries regarding the spelling of other authors' names, the expansion of acronyms and abbreviations, and the format of the reference list. Be sure to update any references that were "in press" at the time the article was written.

Please print completely and legibly all information exactly where and how you wish it to appear in your article.

Pay special attention to the due date in the accompanying letter. Return your manuscript, the yellow copy of the Copyright Transfer Agreement, and your revised artwork (if applicable) to Beth Ciha's attention by FedEx, UPS, DHL, or Priority Mail to ensure everything arrives in time.

At this time, you will also be asked to make any necessary revisions to your artwork. Revise the art as indicated by the copyeditor and send crisp laser printouts of the revised figures along with your copyedited manuscript.

Adding in the Author's Corrections

Once your manuscript is returned to the GSA office, Beth will go through your highlighted manuscript page by page against the original copyedited manuscript. She will insert your answers into the original manuscript and make any other appropriate changes that you request. She will also double-check the reference list and do a quick check of the manuscript to make sure there are no glaring errors. If you do not respond to a highlighted query, or if she discovers additional inconsistencies in your reference list or anywhere else in your manuscript, she will e-mail you for further information.

Typesetting

After the author corrections have been added to the manuscripts, manuscripts are sent in batches to the compositor for typesetting. It is in this stage that the typesetter incorporates all the copyeditor's changes into the electronic file, formats it according to journal style, and scans in the artwork. (Note that since we send manuscripts to the typesetter in batches to cut down on costs, it is important that you respond to our queries right away to avoid delaying an entire batch of manuscripts.

Proofreading

Once your article has been typeset, the printer will send you a copy of your page proofs. Please review your page proofs carefully, looking for spelling and grammar mistakes or any factual errors. Because the printer charges GSA for all changes made at this stage, only typographical, grammatical, and factual errors are corrected; revisions to wording and style are not made.

The printer often writes queries directly in the margins of the page proofs. Queries that begin with "ED" are for GSA staff and do not require any action on your part; those that begin with "AU" or "AUTHOR" are for you. Be sure you address each of the author queries. Mark any changes clearly and legibly in a colored pen.

Return your page proofs to us by fax, FedEx, or UPS within 48 hours to avoid a delay in publication. If you have minimal changes, you may send an e-mail describing the necessary changes, or you may telephone Candise or Beth to discuss the changes over the phone. If there are no changes to be made, you must still call or e-mail us to confirm that fact.

An identical set of page proofs is sent to GSA. Beth or Candise will proofread your article carefully, looking for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. When we have finished proofreading, we may contact you by phone or e-mail for clarification or additional information. As our production schedule allows us only one week for the proofreading of an entire issue, you must respond promptly to any and all proof queries. Failure to do so may delay the publication of your article to the next issue.

Other Questions or Concerns

We at GSA want you to have a positive publishing experience. Please do not hesitate to contact Candise at (202) 842-1275 if you have further questions or concerns.