A special issue is a group of articles on a defined theme, assembled by one or more guest editors and published together. Peer Academics has published no special issue and none is currently open for submissions; the journal has not yet published an issue of any kind. Proposals are welcome now, and this page states how one is made, who decides, what a guest editor may and may not do, and the single rule everything else follows from: a special-issue article goes through exactly the same review as any other article, and is held to the same standard.
Proposing a special issue
Send the proposal to [email protected], with:
- a working title and a statement of the theme, in 500 words or fewer, saying what scholarly question the collection answers and why a collection answers it better than separate articles would;
- how the theme fits the journal's Aims and Scope, and which disciplines it draws on;
- the proposed guest editors — full name, affiliation, country, ORCID iD, a link to each one's publication record, and a statement of any relationship between them and the likely contributors;
- the expected number of articles, with a realistic minimum;
- how contributions will be obtained: an open call, invitations, a conference or workshop the papers come from, or a combination;
- a proposed timetable from call to publication;
- any funding, project, institution, or organization connected with the collection.
The Editor-in-Chief decides, normally within six weeks, and may accept, decline, or ask for the proposal to be reworked. Proposals are assessed on the scholarly case for the collection, its fit with the journal, the guest editors' standing and independence, and whether enough good manuscripts can realistically be expected. A proposal tied to a sponsor, or offering to bring a fixed number of papers, is declined; the journal accepts no sponsored content — see Advertising and Sponsorship.
Guest editors
Guest editors are appointed for the collection only, by written agreement that states their duties, and they work with a journal editor who retains responsibility for the issue. A guest editor is unpaid, as everyone working for the journal in an editorial capacity is, and receives no fee, waiver, or other benefit — there is nothing to waive, since the journal charges authors nothing.
A guest editor may: draft the call for papers; advise on scope; carry out initial assessment of submissions to the collection; identify and invite reviewers; read the reports; and recommend a decision, with reasons, to the journal editor. A guest editor may not: issue an acceptance or a rejection; see reviewer identities outside the journal's system or handle review by private email; select only reviewers from their own circle; or handle any manuscript with which they have a conflict of interest, as defined for editors in Publication Ethics. Final decisions on every manuscript in a special issue are taken by a journal editor.
Guest editors may write an introduction or editorial for the collection. That piece is not externally reviewed, is approved by the journal editor, and is labeled on the article itself as not peer reviewed, as the Peer Review Policy requires. A guest editor who wishes to submit a research article to their own special issue may do so, but is excluded from its handling entirely: the manuscript is assigned by the Editor-in-Chief to an editor unconnected with the collection, the guest editor has no access to its file or reviewers, and the independent handling is stated on the published article. Guest editors should not dominate their own collection; a collection consisting largely of its guest editors' own work will not be published.
Review of special-issue articles
- Every manuscript enters through the journal's submission system, is screened by an editor, and must meet the Author Guidelines in full, including anonymization.
- Review is double-anonymous, with at least two independent reviewers for every research article. Invitation to contribute is not a commitment to publish, and no manuscript is accepted because a collection needs filling.
- Reviewers must be independent of the authors and of the guest editors. The journal editor checks reviewer selection for each manuscript before invitations go out.
- All of the journal's policies apply unchanged — ethics, authorship, conflicts of interest, data, generative AI, preprints, and duplicate publication. Papers developed from a conference must state that origin under Duplicate and Redundant Publication.
- Nothing is charged to authors, to guest editors, or to any organizing body, at any stage.
Calls for papers, and calls that are not the journal's
Every genuine call for papers is published on the journal's own website and names the guest editors. Submissions are made only through the journal's submission system, never by email to a guest editor. Peer Academics does not send mass invitations to authors it has no connection with, does not promise rapid publication, and never asks for payment. If you receive a call claiming to be from this journal that does any of those things, do not respond to it; forward it to [email protected].
Oversight, delay, and cancellation
The Editor-in-Chief oversees every special issue and may at any time take over its handling, replace a guest editor, or cancel the collection — where the process has not been followed, where an integrity concern arises, where the timetable has lapsed, or where too few manuscripts meet the standard. If a collection is canceled or falls short, manuscripts already accepted are published as regular articles, and those still under review continue through the normal process; no author's manuscript is abandoned because a collection did not come together. Manuscripts declined for a special issue may be considered for the journal generally where the editor judges them within scope. While the Editorial Board is being assembled, the decisions described on this page as the Editor-in-Chief's are taken by the acting editorial management appointed by the Publisher, under the same rules; see Editorial Board.