Submissions Over Time

With our decades of experience running Duotrope, we've seen a lot. When Duotrope first started, most submissions were still sent via post, or email if the publisher was cutting-edge. Then came the rise of the submission manager, and submission fees seemed to become increasingly common. Then came the pandemic. How much have response times changed throughout all this? How much more common are submission fees? Are publishers less responsive now than they were? How much have submission methods changed? Let's take a look to see if our perception matches the data.

Quick Links: Avg Response Times Response Types Submission Fees Submission Method

Submissions Over Time

Neon sign reading 'Time is Precious' — Time is Precious. Photo by Justin Veenema.

Average Response Times Year to Year

Year	Avg Response	<30	<60	<90	<120	<180	<365	More	Total
2005	67 days	33%	26%	17%	8%	8%	6%	1%	1,783
2006	64 days	39%	24%	14%	8%	9%	6%	1%	10,514
2007	68 days	39%	22%	13%	8%	10%	7%	1%	26,899
2008	71 days	38%	22%	14%	9%	9%	7%	2%	40,245
2009	67 days	41%	22%	13%	8%	8%	7%	1%	62,120
2010	63 days	44%	21%	12%	8%	9%	6%	1%	90,187
2011	66 days	43%	20%	12%	8%	8%	7%	1%	109,475
2012	63 days	45%	20%	13%	8%	8%	6%	1%	133,093
2013	68 days	41%	20%	14%	8%	9%	7%	1%	113,121
2014	72 days	39%	20%	13%	9%	10%	7%	2%	119,355
2015	69 days	40%	19%	14%	9%	9%	6%	1%	128,999
2016	74 days	39%	19%	14%	9%	10%	7%	2%	136,344
2017	77 days	37%	20%	13%	9%	11%	8%	2%	132,996
2018	79 days	36%	19%	14%	10%	11%	9%	2%	131,728
2019	78 days	36%	20%	14%	10%	10%	8%	2%	134,082
2020	76 days	38%	19%	13%	9%	10%	9%	2%	144,659
2021	76 days	39%	19%	13%	9%	11%	8%	2%	155,892
2022	80 days	36%	19%	13%	10%	11%	9%	2%	148,631
2023	85 days	36%	18%	13%	10%	11%	10%	2%	144,912
2024	78 days	37%	19%	13%	10%	11%	9%	2%	147,050
2025	75 days	39%	18%	13%	10%	10%	8%	2%	85,735

Type of Response Year to Year

Rejections

Acceptances

Non-Responses (submissions reported lost or never responded)

Withdrawals

Year	Rejection	Acceptance	Non-Response	Withdrawal	Total
2009	84.0%	6.9%	4.1%	5.0%	62,120
2010	84.8%	6.5%	4.1%	4.6%	90,187
2011	83.8%	6.6%	4.1%	5.5%	109,475
2012	85.4%	5.7%	3.7%	5.1%	133,093
2013	84.3%	6.2%	3.7%	5.9%	113,121
2014	84.5%	5.8%	3.8%	6.0%	119,355
2015	84.2%	6.1%	3.5%	6.3%	128,999
2016	83.8%	6.3%	3.2%	6.7%	136,344
2017	82.6%	6.4%	3.4%	7.6%	132,996
2018	83.1%	6.5%	3.3%	7.1%	131,728
2019	83.1%	6.6%	3.2%	7.1%	134,082
2020	82.0%	7.2%	3.5%	7.4%	144,659
2021	81.1%	8.0%	3.3%	7.5%	155,892
2022	81.0%	7.9%	3.6%	7.5%	148,631
2023	80.5%	7.8%	4.3%	7.4%	144,912
2024	79.6%	8.7%	4.3%	7.3%	147,050
2025	80.0%	9.1%	3.6%	7.4%	85,735

Note: In our first four years, our Submission Tracker did not offer all the response type options it offers today, so that data is not comparable and not included here.

Submission Fees Year to Year

Percentage of Submissions with Fees

Average Fee Amount

Year	Pct Fees	Avg Fee	Total
2018	16.7%	$8.28	39,859
2019	18.0%	$8.42	133,776
2020	19.3%	$7.73	143,620
2021	20.5%	$8.11	151,581
2022	22.2%	$7.87	145,684
2023	24.1%	$7.93	137,270
2024	23.7%	$7.95	142,615
2025	23.7%	$8.59	83,650

See our Submission Fees Report for an in-depth look at the state of submission fees now.

Note: We did not start tracking fees until September 2018, so we're only looking at reports made after that addition. This report also only includes submissions fees paid in US dollars. Finally, be aware that fee reporting is an optional component of our submission reports, so these figures are likely to be underestimated.

Submission Methods Year to Year

Average response times for each submission method (in days)

Legend:

Postal

Electronic*

Submission Manager*

Duosuma*

Submission method use year to year

Year	Postal		Electronic*		Submission Manager*		Duosuma*		Total
2005	84 days	63.1%	51 days	36.9%	-	-	-	-	1,413
2006	85 days	41.6%	48 days	58.4%	-	-	-	-	9,717
2007	93 days	34.7%	55 days	65.3%	-	-	-	-	26,182
2008	97 days	28.1%	62 days	71.8%	-	-	-	-	39,909
2009	95 days	20.3%	60 days	79.7%	-	-	-	-	62,120
2010	98 days	14.0%	57 days	86.0%	-	-	-	-	90,187
2011	96 days	9.3%	62 days	90.7%	-	-	-	-	109,475
2012	102 days	6.0%	61 days	94.0%	-	-	-	-	133,093
2013	102 days	4.8%	66 days	95.1%	-	-	-	-	113,121
2014	107 days	3.7%	70 days	96.2%	-	-	-	-	119,355
2015	108 days	3.1%	68 days	96.7%	-	-	-	-	128,999
2016	108 days	2.5%	73 days	97.0%	-	-	-	-	136,344
2017	114 days	2.0%	80 days	86.8%	43 days	11.2%	-	-	132,996
2018	108 days	1.5%	86 days	52.4%	70 days	46.1%	-	-	131,728
2019	116 days	1.2%	78 days	43.8%	77 days	55.0%	-	-	134,082
2020	157 days	0.7%	71 days	43.4%	80 days	54.1%	24 days	1.9%	144,659
2021	-	-	72 days	44.3%	83 days	46.8%	51 days	8.5%	155,892
2022	-	-	76 days	45.0%	87 days	47.0%	65 days	7.5%	148,631
2023	-	-	80 days	44.0%	87 days	45.7%	88 days	9.9%	144,912
2024	-	-	78 days	43.2%	85 days	42.0%	58 days	14.4%	147,050
2025	-	-	76 days	39.3%	86 days	38.4%	50 days	21.9%	85,735

Notes: "Electronic" can include any electronic submission method, but usually indicates email or an online form. Duosuma is Duotrope's submission manager which was launched in August 2020. "Submission Manager" is for any submission manager that is not Duosuma (Submittable, Moksha, etc.). If a method accounts for less than 0.5% of the reports that year, we are not including that data. Also, this does not include reports where the submission method was unknown (it was optional in the early years of Duotrope).

Note: These statistics are calculated once a day. Last compiled: 16 July 2025 5:55 PM UTC (12 hours, 3 minutes ago).
For the Submission Fees report, the year indicates the date the submission was sent. For all other resports, the year indicates the date the submission was finalized, not when it was sent. Also, each submission is only counted once, even when it includes multiple pieces. Outliers are excluded.

If you have any suggestions on how we can improve this report, please let us know.