Analysis of Traceability and Initial Editorial Response Time in Scientific Journals Based on Open Journal Systems

Abstract

Open Journal Systems (OJS)-based journal management generates editorial decision metadata that can be used for administrative audits, but not all records provide traceable action-time pairs. This study aims to measure the traceability of the earliest editorial decision observed in OJS exports and analyze the variation in its recording interval across journals. A retrospective audit was conducted of 3,286 submissions from seven journals from March 2023–September 2026. Decision label and decision date pairs were examined to select the earliest valid timestamp that did not predate the submission. Traceability was analyzed using Chi-Square and Cramér's V; the duration distribution in the traced subset was tested using Kruskal–Wallis and a Send to Review-specific sensitivity analysis. A total of 1,494 submissions (45.47%) had an earliest traced decision, with a median interval of 2.68 days. The proportion of traceability differed across journals (χ²(6)=100.38; p<0.001; V=0.175), as did the distribution of durations in the traceable subset (H(6)=107.23; p<0.001). Since 54.53% of records were untraceable and the first decision type was predominantly Send to Review, the duration figures cannot be interpreted as the time of first response to authors or the time of final decision. The study resulted in an audit framework based on explicit extraction criteria to support monitoring the completeness of editorial metadata.