Special Issues are collections of articles advancing a novel debate, idea or field. Ideas for new Special Issues may come from a variety of sources, like suggestions of the Editorial Board or scientists working in the field. Scholars who are interested in publishing a Special Issue with us are advised to consider the following guidelines.
Guest Editor is asked to prepare a proposal for the Special Issue which should contain the following information:
The editorial office will assess the proposal and officially release the Special Issue online if approved by the journal office and the Editor-in-Chief.
Guest Editors are expected to:
Authors who are invited or intend to publish in a Special Issue should pay attention to the following items:
Regarding Special Issue paper, after passing the initial check of the Managing Editor, the manuscript will be successively assigned to the Assistant Editor, Guest Editor, and then to the Editor-in-Chief, or the Executive Editors in the case of conflict of interest for the Editor-in-Chief to review. The Editor-in-Chief, or the Executive Editors may reject manuscripts that they deem highly unlikely to pass peer review without further consultation. Once the manuscript has passed the editorial assessment, the Assistant Editor will start to organize peer-review.
All Special Issue articles are subject to rigorous and impartial peer-review like other regular submissions. Guest Editors are welcome to recommend reviewers for submission before peer review. For more information of OAE editorial handling, please refer to Peer Review Guidelines and Editorial Process.