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Accepted Manuscripts

Accept Decisions

There are two types of accept decisions: editorial accept and formal accept.

Editorial accept

Editorial acceptance means that the manuscript is provisionally accepted pending final checks for formatting and technical requirements. You will be notified of these requirements by email. See details of our final checks below.

The editorial acceptance date is the acceptance date that will appear on the published article.

Formal accept

Formal acceptance is issued when the final checks are complete. At this time, the manuscript will be sent to our production department.

Communication with authors

Communication about final checks will be sent to the corresponding author. However, all authors will be notified when a manuscript is editorially accepted and formally accepted. 

Final Checks

When a manuscript is editorially accepted, it will go through a final round of checks to ensure the formatting and content meet our technical requirements. Some of the manuscript elements checked at this stage include:

  • Author names and affiliations
  • Funding statement
  • Competing interests statement
  • Data availability statement
  • Figure and table formatting
  • File names for figures, tables, and supporting information


You can expedite the progress of your manuscript during this stage by reviewing our submission guidelines beforehand and by responding promptly to our queries.

When you receive a decision of editorial accept, this will be your last opportunity to correct any errors in your manuscript. Please check your files very carefully, because you will not be able to check or change anything after this point. 

Peer Review History

If your submission is accepted for publication, you’ll be invited to opt-in to publish the peer review history of your manuscript using a form in our submission system. The peer review history package includes the editorial decision letter for each revision, with reviews, and your responses to reviewer comments, including attachments. Read more about published peer review history.

Author Proof

To ensure prompt publication, your manuscript will not be subject to detailed copyediting and you will not receive a typeset proof for review. You will be able to review the final version of your manuscript when it is returned to you at editorial accept.

CrossMark

PLOS Journals participate in the CrossMark service, which is a multi-publisher initiative to provide a standard way for readers to locate the most up-to-date version of an article. By applying the CrossMark logo PLOS is committing to maintaining the content it publishes and to alerting readers to changes if and when they occur.

Clicking on the CrossMark logo will tell you the current status of a document and may also give you additional publication record information about the document.

Press and Media

Accepted manuscripts are under embargo until 2 p.m. Eastern Time, USA, on the date of publication. This is the time when the article becomes available online.

When is my manuscript considered “in press”?

A manuscript is considered “in press” when it has been formally accepted by the journal.

Every week, the journal will identify research to be featured in a press release. You may also choose to issue a press release yourself or through your institution. Read more about press releases.

Can I talk about my research before it’s published?

You may discuss your research prior to publication for scientific purposes only. This includes talking about your research at conferences and on preprint servers.

Please do not discuss your research with the press until after your manuscript has been accepted and assigned a publication date.

Reprints

All PLOS content is Open Access and you can print as many copies as you like for any purpose for free.