Results showing major improvements at two of the Society's journals.
Members may be familiar with developments over the last few years at the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society and Journal of the London Mathematical Society (BLMS and JLMS, respectively).
Recap
Our aim has always been for the Society’s journals to be your first choice when publishing your research. But when the LMS Publications Committee asked your views, you told us that these journals took too long to make decisions, and you expressed frustration that good papers were being rejected because of limitations on the number of pages and articles allowed in the journals.
We are pleased to share some key statistics to support the claim that the changes made to the BLMS and JLMS over the last 2 years have addressed these issues.
The shared BLMS and JLMS Editorial Board now operates in seven different sections, each led by a Section Editor with the authority to accept papers. In turn, those seven Section Editors are overseen by four Managing Editors (two for each journal), whose role is to set the strategic direction and maintain the editorial standards of the journals. We have found this to be a much more efficient structure for managing submissions, and combined with some behind the scenes changes to processes, it has significantly improved peer-review times for both journals, particularly for JLMS.
Results
The median time from submission to first decision for BLMS has dropped from 37 days in 2023 to 29 in 2025 (year to date) and for JLMS from 51 to 38 days. The submission to acceptance times for both journals have improved as well, most notably for JLMS, which is down from 321 days to 265 days.
But where we have made the biggest difference is in reducing the times for the long tail: those articles which for some reason or another take longer than average. The number of days for 90% of submissions to receive a first decision has been cut by more than 25% for BLMS and by more than 30% for JLMS. And for JLMS, the time for 90% of ‘accept’ decisions to be reached has fallen by over 200 days.
We are happy to say that there are no longer any limitations on the number of pages or articles that can be accepted in a year, meaning that the journals are now publishing every paper that meets our rigorous editorial standards. As both journals cover a broad range of mathematics, all papers are expected to have a motivating introduction that sets the work in context and can be understood and appreciated by researchers outside the immediate specialism of the paper. We fully recognise that the main body of most mathematics papers written today is primarily read by subject specialists.
Although more work remains to be done, these steps represent significant progress. We want to extend our deepest thanks to all our editors, reviewers, authors and readers, without whom the journals could not succeed.
We encourage all members to share the news of these improvements to the journals with your colleagues and peers.
Support the LMS by publishing in LMS journals
Remember that publishing your research in one of the Society’s journals directly supports the charitable work of the London Mathematical Society. Fully 100% of the Society’s publishing profits are reinvested in mathematics, supporting mathematicians and mathematics research in the form of research grants, conference grants, prizes, initiatives for early career researchers and the promotion of mathematics.
To learn more about the LMS journals, visit our website.
Niall MacKay
Publications Secretary
Minhyong Kim, Caroline Series, Stuart White and Julia Wolf
Managing Editors
Simon Buckmaster
Head of Academic Publications