Spatial-Temporal Pattern Analysis on Journal Paper Submissions

Research journals usually do not set the deadlines for submission. Therefore, when is the deadline for journal submission and how this deadline related to the date and spatial distribution arise an interesting problem. To reveal the reason behind the formation of research paper deadline could benefit the organization of review process. In this paper, we analyze the papers submitted to the open access journal database Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI). According to the 70,000 submission records from 1996 to 2016, the deadline for journal submission is highly related with time (weekends, end of the month and public holidays) and location (different country). Furthermore, a weekend index is proposed according to the paper submission numbers. This index reflects the hardness of researchers from different countries, which corresponds to the general understanding of people. The weekend index also reveals that the researchers are working harder and harder which leads to more paper published. According to the experimental results, weekend, end of the month and holiday effects can be considered as the key reasons that decide deadline of journal paper submission.