Update: My withdrawal request was accepted and I was also offered to be published in the immediate issue of the Journal. I took back my withdrawal request.
Edit : Mentioning Journal
I have an accepted paper. But it is slated to appear in 2021. And both print and online versions appear around same time. I was hoping online would appear much faster than that, but its not the case. According to copyright I cannot host it on my website also for an embargo period of 12 months. So it's not even sharable, let alone citable. I have a followup paper already being written, and more ideas in pipeline that are built on top of this. This publication wait period defeats my whole purpose of publishing as I cannot share it with others and I cannot cite in furthur works. I cannot use it for advancing my career too. I also have plans to seek research positions or phd fellowships. I am kind of stuck. I cannot withdraw it now as it is already accepted. Is there anyway I can negotiate to get it out much before than the slated time?
Edit:
An excerpt from the copyright.
Retention of Rights
The Author/Editor may deposit an Author-created version of the Article on Author’s/Editor’s funder’s or funder’s designated repository at the funder’s request or as a result of a legal obligation, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after official publication. Author/Editor may not use the Publisher’s PDF version, which is posted on www.publisher.com, for the purpose of that deposit. Additionally, the Author/Editor may deposit the Publisher’s PDF version of the Article on Author’s/Editor’s own website or Author’s/Editor’s institute’s designated repository, provided it is not made publicly available until 12 months after official publication. Furthermore, the Author/Editor may only post the Article provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published Article on Publisher’s website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: “The final publication is available at www.publisher.com”. The Author/Editor is requested to use the appropriate DOI for the Article.
Update : I have made a gentle and polite withdrawal request citing delay as reason, to which I got a one line reply, "Thank you for your message". I don't know how to interpret this one line reply. Does it mean that they will get back to me on this? or I should assume that it's been withdrawn?