Woman having to prepare for publication before end of March (5)
I believe the answer is:
edith
'woman' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'to prepare for publication before end of march' is the wordplay.
'to prepare for publication' becomes 'edit' (I've seen this before).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'end of' says to take the final letters.
The last letter of 'march' is 'h'.
'edit'+'h'='EDITH'
'having' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for edith that I've seen before include "- Cavell, WW 1 heroine" , "- Cavell, nurse executed in 1915" , "Dame - Sitwell, English poet (Facade)" , "Woman's name" , "Female name" .)