Boffin Access Limited - Special Issue Guidelines
Special issues are meant to supplement a journal regular issues by focusing on topics that may be under-researched or leading-edge developments in the field that require attention. It is important that the theme of a special issue and its constituent papers form a coherent narrative while staying relevant to the scope of the publishing journal. Papers considered for publishing in a special issue tend to be of very high-quality, usually authored by renowned experts in the field. Editors must take extra measures to guarantee that the selected papers are up to par.
A request to start a special edition can be opened by an expert in the field as a guest editor or an existing editor of the journal. To run and organize a special edition the editor should follow the following guidelines.
- Special edition topic should be within the scope of the journal and be of interest to a wide audience
- Special edition can be organized and edited by a maximum of 3 editors, the senior editor will be referred to as the principal editor and the others as associate editors.
- Principal editor is responsible for describing the aims and scope of the special issue and choosing associate editors if necessary
- Principal editor is responsible for the selection of papers and reviewers
- Editors may also act as reviewers for the manuscripts
- Journal's editor-in-chief will screen accepted manuscripts for quality
- Principal editor can decide the size of the issue, more than one edition can be released if there are more papers
- Editorials or opinions are welcome for each special edition and must be written by the principal editor or the associate editors
- Principal editor must adhere to ethical code of conduct and select papers based on scientific merit
- All editors must disclose and declare any conflicts of interests to the journal's editorial board
- Principal editor is accountable for setting up a timeline and sticking to publishing deadlines
- The deadline to complete a special edition is 90 days, which can be extended up to 120 days upon request by authors/editors/reviewers.
- A special edition that is not completed within the stipulated timeline will be discarded.
- An independent web page will be created for each special edition with complete details of editors, aims and scope, issue timelines and accepted manuscripts
- Guest editors are requested to adopt the publishing journals editorial and review policies to make the special issue a success
- Publisher offers benefits to the guest editors on case-by-case basis, which we request to be kept confidential