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Special Issue Guidelines
Definition of a Special Issue: Special Issues are collections of papers centered around a subject of special interest and are organized and led by subject experts who take on the role of Guest Editor of the Special Issue. A Special Issue is not an issue of the journal. All submissions follow the same peer review process as regular papers and are published in the regular issues of the journal when they are accepted, but are additionally labelled as belonging to a Special Issue and are discoverable within the collection.
Benefits and Advantages
- Enhanced visibility: Papers featured in Special Issues enjoy increased visibility and higher citation rates compared to those individually submitted to the journal, owing to the interconnectedness within the compilation of articles.
- Simplified browsing: Grouping articles around particular themes assists researchers in effortlessly exploring the extensive content of journals with a wide-ranging focus.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal’s social media for the relevant subject areas to increase visibility.
- Stringent peer-review process: Articles featured in Special Issues undergo the same thorough and impartial peer review as standard papers and are included in the journal's regular issues. These articles are typically overseen by a Guest Editor, a prominent researcher in the field.
- Expand research network: Special Issues can to find new collaborators among the authors of other manuscripts published within the collection of articles.
Special Issue Proposals
-Submitting a Special Issue Proposal
The Journal Editorial Office typically extends invitations to scholars to serve as guest editors for Special Issues, focusing on subjects that resonate with the scientific community. We also encourage our readers and authors to proactively submit proposals on topics within their realm of expertise directly to us. The journal's Editorial Team, along with the Editor-in-Chief, will manage the selection of Guest Editors and the evaluation of Special Issue proposals, assessing the relevance of the content and confirming its appropriateness for the journal's scope. If you have an idea for a Special Issue, please fill in all the required information to submit the proposal here and send it to the editorial office(office@caijournal.com).
-Detailed Guide on Special Issue Proposals
The information below will help guide you through important points that will support the success of the Special Issue. The Special Issue proposal must include:
- The Special Issue’s tentative title: The title should clearly reflect the subject of interest and is within the scope of the journal.
- Submission deadline.
- List of Guest Editor(s): Names, affiliations, email addresses, websites, research interests, and social media accounts (optional), ORCID (optional). Guest editing requires time and may become demanding; therefore, most Special Issues are led by a team of Guest Editors. Please feel free to invite 1–3 scholars in this field to co-edit the Special Issue with you if needed.
- A summary of the Special Issue and relevant keywords: Briefly describe the Special Issue, the main topic and areas covered.
- Optional - Information for planned papers or a list with the potential authors (Following the peer review process, not all planned papers may be suitable for publication. We recommend to take this into account and propose more planned papers than you would expect to have included in the Special Issue).
- Optional - The plan to promote the Special Issue. Please let us know how do you intend to advertise your Special Issue and attract potential contributors.
Guest Editor Responsibilities and Ethics
- The Guest Editor is responsible for ensuring that the content published in the Special Issue aligns with the journal's title and scope.
- The Guest Editor should not request authors to include references solely to boost citations of their own work, that of their associates, the journal, or any other journal with which they are affiliated. Adding irrelevant references is highly discouraged.
- The special issue may publish contributions from the Guest Editor(s), but the number of such contributions should be limited, to ensure the diversity and inclusiveness of authorship representing the research area of the Special Issue. Any article submitted by a Guest Editor will be handled by a member of the Editorial Board.
- The Guest Editor should protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal. This includes all communications for Editors only and the identity of reviewers.
Conflicts of Interest: All participants in the peer review process are required to thoroughly evaluate and disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may arise during the decision-making or publication stages. Any relationships or circumstances that could influence, or be perceived as influencing, the impartiality, objectivity, or integrity of the review and decision-making process must be openly declared. Even if an Editor believes that the existence of a conflict of interest, or several conflicts of interest, will not impact the decision-making process, the Editor should remove themselves from the process to avoid the perception of a conflict of interest. In such cases, a replacement Editor will be appointed to ensure fairness and transparency.
Declaration of Competing Interests: Any potential editorial conflicts of interest should be declared to the publisher in writing prior to the appointment of the Editor and then updated if and when new conflicts arise.
Guest Editor Duties
- Preparing the Special Issue’s title, summary, and keywords to introduce this issue to authors and readers;
- Providing a list of potential contributors and inviting investigators in the field to contribute;
- Making decisions about new submissions in their Special Issue;
- Promoting the Special Issue at conferences if the opportunity arises or on social media and on other relevant platforms.
Guest Editor Benefits
- Guest Editing is an ideal opportunity for networking and communication with scholars in the research community;
- You will help accelerate the dissemination of science around the world and initiate new collaborations;
Promotion Methods
Publications in a Special Issue are generally gathered by an invitation from the Guest Editor(s) or a wide call for papers from the Editorial Office. Nevertheless, submissions from the wider community to any Special Issue should not be neglected. Examples of effective promotion from the Guest Editor’s side include, but are not limited to, the following:
Expand your email signature, Social media(post on Twitter and LinkedIn), homepage of your website to increase visibility, academic events, etc.
Editorial Procedure to the Special Issue
The Guest Editor(s) can select one of the following actions in response to a submission: accept, reject and when making an editorial decision, you are expected to verify:
- Overall suitability of the manuscript to the Special Issue;
- Manuscript adherence to high-quality research and ethical standards;
- Standards of rigor to qualify for further review.
- The adequacy of reviewer comments and author response;
- The overall scientific quality of the paper.
Special Note: If there are conflicts of interest between the Guest Editor(s) and authors, or in the case of unresponsiveness to the Editorial Office regarding matters of acceptance or rejection, we will invite another Editor from the journal’s Editorial Board with an appropriate research background to check and make decisions; Any article submitted by a Guest Editor(s) will be handled by a member of the Editorial Board.
