Q: When could we expect to receive the proofs of the manuscript?

Firstly, congrats on having your article accepted! You (or ‘you all,’ as you mentioned ‘we’) must be feeling both happy and relieved, although there are some closing stages still to go.

So, it usually takes about 3-4 weeks after acceptance for the proofs to be sent. During this time, the journal is completing the copy-editing work on the article. However, the timeline can vary according to the journal. They would have specified this in the author/submission guidelines, and you can look them up to confirm. Alternatively, you could also view some recently published articles to see if relevant statuses for them (such as received, accepted, and published) are available. Finally, in case you don’t receive the proofs in the timeline mentioned above, you could write to the editor checking in on this.

In the meantime, for more information on the proofing stage, you could refer to these related queries by other researchers:

• How long does it take to receive the online proof of an accepted article?
• How do I enquire with the editor about the delay in the proof?
• What is the minimum number of comments to be included while proofing my paper?

All the best for the final stages on your manuscript. And again, a BIG congrats!!