Accepted Manuscripts
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.
Once a manuscript has been accepted for publication, the files are sent to our production department. The manuscript is copyedited by a professional copyeditor who will correspond directly with the author about revisions to the manuscript and any text in figures (e.g., axis labels).
Please note that supporting information files are not copyedited and will not be typeset.
Once the article has been typeset, a PDF proof is sent from the typesetting vendor to the author for review.
PLOS permits the following types of corrections to the PDF proof:
- Errors in author names or affiliation
- Errors of scientific fact that would cause misunderstandings to readers
- Printer’s (introduced) errors
Correction requests beyond these items can result in a publication delay of a week minimum, possibly longer depending on the request. There is one round of proof review, and this is the last time you will see your article before publication, so the corresponding author should review the proof carefully and collect all author input at that time.
You can expedite the production process and avoid publication delays by giving prompt attention to both the copyedited article and the proof and striving to request any significant changes during the copyedit stage, rather than during proof review.
Note that when your proof is ready, you will receive an email to download it from the ProTrak production server. Please monitor your inbox for this message, which will be sent from noreply@apexcovantage.com. To ensure delivery, add noreply@apexcovantage.com to your address book.
Early Version
PLOS Biology will publish an early version of your manuscript in advance of the final article. This will be published at the same time that you receive your author proof. The date that the early version is posted will be your article’s publication date. The final article, which will include any changes made during the proof stage, will be published to the same URL and have the same DOI as the early version. The early version will remain accessible to readers. If you do not want to have this early version published, you can opt out at each submission and resubmission.
Linking to Preprints
If you chose to forward your manuscript to bioRxiv or medRxiv for consideration for posting as a preprint and you received confirmation of its posting, then the preprint will automatically link to your article when it appears online. Read more about preprints at PLOS.
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.
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.
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.
Indexing and Archiving
All published articles will be deposited in PubMed Central. Read about our other indexing and archiving services.