We explored how long it takes for papers to be processed in psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic journals. From the publication history of 210 papers, the following data was extracted: dates of initial and subsequent submissions to a journal, dates and type of the decisions made by the journal, characteristics of the authors and the paper, and date of publication. Cox regression was used to compare the time spans between the journal types.

Together, the papers had undergone 518 submissions to 231 journals (31 of the submission were to psychoanalytic journals). The period between the initial submission and the first decision ranged from 0 days to 1 year with a median of 96 days for psychoanalytic journals and 31 days for non-psychoanalytic journals (adjusted hazard ratio (HRadj) 0.4; p=0.003). The time between the initial submission and the journal's final decision following all review rounds ranged from 0 days to almost 2 years. The median was 129 days in psychoanalytic journals and 54 days in non-psychoanalytic journals (HRadj 0.6; p=0.03). Acceptance rates were 55% and 39% for psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic journals, respectively.

In conclusion, although submissions to psychoanalytic journals more often end up being accepted, they also require considerably more time for processing.