Q: How much time does it take for the online status to change on the journal site?

Hello Alka – Welcome to the forum! And first of all, congrats on the acceptance! Don’t worry, despite the discrepancy in time, your manuscript has been accepted. :-) If you have received a mail from the editor – be it the Associate Editor (AE) or the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) – stating that it’s a provisional acceptance, the status remains. The discrepancy is probably due to a glitch in the system, or if it’s manual, then due to the editor not having yet updated the status. It’s actually great that they mailed you before updating the status. :-) In fact, the status may have been updated since you sent this query and since we replied. But in case it hasn’t yet changed, you can mail the editor to check.

Now, as the editor has said, the manuscript will go for editing, after which it will come to you for proofing. So, you can begin preparing for this stage, which is probably the last action you’ll need to take on this manuscript. To help you with this task, we have linked some resources below that you may find useful.

• What is the minimum number of comments to be included while proofing my paper?
• Can I correct an error in citation at the page proof stage?
• Can I replace an image at the proofing stage before publication?

All the best for the proofing – and again, congrats on the acceptance!