On falling behind schedule

Journals inevitably fall behind schedule. The discrepancy between stated is sue date and actual date of publication creates confusion in researchers, f rustration in authors, and resistance to purchase in librarians. Publishers can restructure schedules in a number of ways to reduce the problems: by a dopting a schedule that more realistically reflects the work rhythms of the ir discipline, by moving to an irregular schedule in which publication is d etermined by content rather than by the calendar, or by reducing the number of issues per year to what is actually achievable.