Below are some of the personal rejections from literary journals I have received over the past few years. Response time is reported in days, which can also be found on their journal page if they happen to be a publication that fits our criteria. To be transparent, I have submitted to journals we are no longer recommending, not because of sour grapes (though sometimes them grapes are sour), but rather because we had not yet fully shaped the most efficient methods for submissions, nor our philosophy on which journals we should support.
For journals where I submitted multiple pieces, I have averaged their response times on the most recent entry.
I do have submissions out to some of these places presently, and in nearly every case, it will increase the average response time listed. Most of the submissions I have out were made before the holiday break, where journals regularly take a month off. That may be the culprit. Know that I am tracking these data to see if their response times lag across the holiday break.
I have submitted across every literary genre, as you can see. It is very often the case that there are different editors for different genres and possibly even a different number of readers for each genre. I have averaged response times pan-genre, but you will be able to see if one or another is faster/slower for whatever reason. As we gather more data from all of you, we will be able to tease out expected response rates by genre by journal. Hopefully. Some day.
The submission dates for offline journals represent the day I dropped them in the mail. Their correlative response dates represent the day I received their rejection. Thus, the offline submissions are a little faster than that on both ends from the drag of USPS; however, to the artist, these times represent the lag you are likely to experience, should you submit to these places.
If you are interested in the differences of Reject and Reject +, check out our details on Rejection Types.
| Genre | Journal | Submit | Response | Response Type | Response Time | Response Average |
| Fiction | A Public Space | 02/03/2018 | 05/25/2018 | Reject | 111 | |
| Non-Fiction | Agni | 09/14/2015 | 10/19/2015 | Reject | 35 | |
| Fiction | Agni | 09/03/2018 | 10/15/2018 | Reject + | 42 | |
| Fiction | Agni | 11/01/2018 | 01/28/2019 | Reject + | 88 | 55 |
| Poetry | Alaska Quarterly Review | 12/10/2018 | 02/08/2019 | Reject | 60 | |
| Poetry | American Poetry Review | 10/16/2017 | 01/30/2018 | Reject | 106 | |
| Fiction | American Scholar | 11/02/2018 | 12/05/2018 | Reject | 33 | |
| Fiction | Antioch Review | 11/02/2018 | 03/21/2019 | Reject | 139 | |
| Fiction | Arts & Letters | 10/15/2017 | 10/31/2017 | Reject | 16 | |
| Fiction | Arts & Letters | 12/09/2018 | 03/10/2019 | Reject | 91 | 54 |
| Non-Fiction | Barrelhouse | 12/09/2018 | 03/20/2019 | Reject + | 101 | |
| Non-Fiction | Bellevue Literary Review | 02/11/2018 | 05/15/2018 | Reject | 93 | |
| Fiction | Black Warrior Review | 01/24/2016 | 02/21/2016 | Reject | 28 | |
| Fiction | Black Warrior Review | 12/02/2018 | 12/08/2018 | Reject | 6 | |
| Fiction | Black Warrior Review | 12/09/2018 | 12/17/2018 | Reject | 8 | 14 |
| Non-Fiction | Blackbird | 02/11/2018 | 09/29/2018 | Reject | 230 | |
| Fiction | Bluestem | 12/09/2018 | 02/28/2019 | Reject | 81 | |
| Non-Fiction | Boulevard | 12/16/2015 | 04/10/2016 | Reject + | ||
| Fiction | Boulevard | 04/29/2016 | 09/22/2016 | Reject | 146 | 131 |
| Fiction | Chattahoochee Review | 03/03/2016 | 05/13/2016 | Reject + | 71 | |
| Poetry | Cincinnati Review | 10/16/2017 | 02/23/2018 | Reject | 130 | |
| Fiction | Cincinnati Review | 09/06/2018 | 11/29/2018 | Reject + | 84 | 107 |
| Poetry | Conduit | 12/09/2018 | 02/21/2019 | Reject | 74 | |
| Fiction | Conjunctions | 11/02/2018 | 11/16/2018 | Reject | 14 | |
| Fiction | Conjunctions | 12/03/2018 | 12/15/2018 | Reject | 12 | 13 |
| Fiction | Crazyhorse | 10/15/2017 | 12/16/2017 | Reject + | 62 | |
| Fiction | Crazyhorse + | 09/03/2018 | 11/11/2018 | Reject | 69 | |
| Fiction | Crazyhorse + | 11/11/2018 | 12/20/2018 | Reject | 39 | 57 |
| Non-Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | 12/13/2015 | 03/29/2016 | Reject + | 107 | |
| Poetry | Denver Quarterly | 01/28/2018 | 04/12/2018 | Reject | 74 | |
| Poetry | Epoch | 12/10/2018 | 03/11/2019 | Reject | 91 | |
| Poetry | Field | 01/28/2018 | 03/09/2018 | Reject | 40 | |
| Fiction | Five Points | 01/30/2016 | 03/15/2016 | Reject | 45 | |
| Non-Fiction | Five Points | 02/11/2018 | 05/03/2018 | Reject | 81 | 63 |
| Fiction | Georgia Review | 12/01/2016 | 02/20/2017 | Reject | 81 | |
| Poetry | Georgia Review | 01/28/2018 | 06/01/2018 | Reject | 124 | |
| Fiction | Georgia Review | 09/03/2018 | 11/15/2018 | Reject | 73 | 93 |
| Fiction | Gettysburg Review | 12/01/2016 | 05/18/2017 | Reject | 168 | |
| Fiction | Glimmer Train | 11/20/2017 | 01/14/2018 | Reject + | 55 | |
| Fiction | Glimmer Train | 11/01/2018 | 12/27/2018 | Reject + | 56 | 56 |
| Poetry | Green Mountains Review | 11/12/2018 | 12/07/2018 | Reject | 25 | |
| Non-Fiction | Harvard Review | 11/09/2015 | 06/16/2016 | Reject + | 220 | |
| Fiction | Hopkins Review | 03/06/2018 | 12/11/2018 | Reject | 280 | |
| Fiction | Hudson Review | 11/01/2018 | 03/01/2019 | Reject | 120 | |
| Fiction | Idaho Review | 02/03/2018 | 06/04/2018 | Reject | 121 | |
| Fiction | Idaho Review | 12/02/2018 | 02/04/2019 | Reject | 64 | |
| Non-Fiction | Iowa Review | 09/14/2015 | 12/01/2015 | Reject | 78 | 93 |
| Fiction | Iowa Review | 10/15/2017 | 02/26/2018 | Reject | 134 | 106 |
| Poetry | jubilat | 11/12/2018 | 12/03/2018 | Reject | 21 | |
| Poetry | Kenyon Review | 10/16/2017 | 02/10/2018 | Reject + | 117 | |
| Poetry | Kenyon Review | 09/20/2018 | 02/27/2019 | Reject | 160 | 139 |
| Fiction | Massachusetts Review | 03/06/2018 | 06/25/2018 | Reject | 111 | |
| Fiction | Michigan Quarterly Review | 01/27/2018 | 06/11/2018 | Reject | 135 | |
| Fiction | Michigan Quarterly Review | 11/01/2018 | 03/06/2019 | Reject | 125 | 130 |
| Fiction | Mississippi Review | 12/17/2016 | 04/05/2017 | Reject | 109 | |
| Fiction | Missouri Review | 12/02/2016 | 01/26/2017 | Reject + | 55 | |
| Fiction | Missouri Review | 02/28/2017 | 06/22/2017 | Reject + | 114 | |
| Poetry | Missouri Review | 01/28/2018 | 04/02/2018 | Reject + | 64 | |
| Fiction | Missouri Review | 09/02/2018 | 10/01/2018 | Reject + | 29 | 66 |
| Non-Fiction | n+1 | 12/02/2018 | 01/31/2019 | Reject | 60 | |
| Fiction | Narrative | 01/27/2018 | 03/05/2018 | Reject + | 37 | |
| Non-Fiction | Narrative | 11/02/2018 | 12/19/2018 | Reject + | 47 | 42 |
| Poetry | New England Review | 10/16/2017 | 11/20/2017 | Reject | 35 | |
| Fiction | New England Review | 09/03/2018 | 03/20/2019 | Reject | 198 | 117 |
| Poetry | New Ohio Review | 11/12/2018 | 02/25/2019 | Reject | 105 | |
| Non-Fiction | New Orleans Review | 11/02/2018 | 01/14/2019 | Reject + | 73 | |
| Fiction | Noon | 12/10/2018 | 01/10/2019 | Reject | 31 | |
| Fiction | One Story | 01/27/2018 | 05/17/2018 | Reject + | 110 | |
| Fiction | One Story | 02/04/2019 | 03/10/2019 | Reject + | 34 | 72 |
| Non-Fiction | Orion | 09/14/2015 | 03/12/2016 | Reject | 180 | |
| Fiction | Oxford American | 06/22/2014 | 09/30/2014 | Reject | 100 | |
| Fiction | Paris Review | 11/02/2018 | 03/11/2019 | Reject + | 129 | |
| Non-Fiction | Pinch | 02/11/2018 | 04/27/2018 | Reject | 75 | |
| Fiction | Pleiades | 12/02/2018 | 12/17/2018 | Reject | 15 | |
| Poetry | Ploughshares | 10/16/2017 | 12/08/2017 | Reject + | 53 | |
| Fiction | Ploughshares | 11/01/2018 | 12/03/2018 | Reject + | 32 | |
| Fiction | Ploughshares | 09/03/2018 | 10/11/2018 | Reject + | 38 | 41 |
| Poetry | Poetry | 10/16/2017 | 06/01/2018 | Reject | 228 | |
| Poetry | Poetry Northwest | 09/20/2018 | 10/16/2018 | Reject + | 26 | |
| Fiction | Post Road | 11/01/2018 | 01/10/2019 | Reject | 70 | |
| Fiction | Prairie Schooner | 01/27/2018 | 05/15/2018 | Reject | 108 | |
| Fiction | Prairie Schooner | 11/01/2018 | 02/28/2019 | Reject | 119 | 114 |
| Poetry | Raritan | 12/10/2018 | 03/22/2019 | Reject | 102 | |
| Poetry | Rattle | 09/20/2018 | 01/16/2019 | Reject + | 118 | |
| Non-Fiction | River Teeth | 11/02/2018 | 01/06/2019 | Reject | 65 | |
| Non-Fiction | Ruminate | 12/09/2018 | 03/13/2019 | Reject | 94 | |
| Fiction | Santa Monica Review | 12/10/2018 | 02/26/2019 | Reject | 78 | |
| Fiction | Sewanee Review | 12/09/2018 | 01/28/2019 | Reject + | 50 | |
| Fiction | Shenandoah | 10/01/2014 | 11/02/2014 | Reject | 32 | |
| Non-Fiction | Shenandoah | 01/30/2016 | 03/05/2016 | Reject | 35 | |
| Fiction | Shenandoah | 09/03/2018 | 10/30/2018 | Reject | 57 | |
| Fiction | Shenandoah | 11/01/2018 | 12/19/2018 | Reject | 48 | 43 |
| Fiction | Southern Review | 11/18/2015 | 05/17/2016 | Reject + | 181 | |
| Fiction | Southern Review | 09/03/2018 | 10/11/2018 | Reject | 38 | 110 |
| Fiction | Southwest Review | 02/03/2018 | 01/31/2019 | Reject | 362 | |
| Fiction | StoryQuarterly | 12/09/2018 | 01/28/2019 | Reject + | 50 | |
| Poetry | Sugar House Review | 02/11/2018 | 03/26/2018 | Reject | 43 | |
| Fiction | The Sun | 10/15/2017 | 11/22/2017 | Reject | 38 | |
| Poetry | The Sun | 09/20/2018 | 11/13/2018 | Reject | 54 | 46 |
| Fiction | The New Yorker | 11/08/2015 | 08/04/2016 | Reject | 270 | |
| Fiction | The New Yorker | 11/01/2018 | 01/31/2019 | Reject | 91 | 181 |
| Non-Fiction | The Point | 11/02/2018 | 11/20/2018 | Reject | 18 | |
| Fiction | TriQuarterly | 11/01/2018 | 02/25/2019 | Reject | 116 | |
| Fiction | Virgina Quarterly Review | 10/07/2015 | 12/15/2015 | Reject | 69 | |
| Fiction | Yale Review | 11/02/2018 | 03/01/2019 | Reject | 119 |