Special Issue Proposals

Instructions for Prospective Special Issue Editors

Submitting a special issue proposal

Prospective editors of special issues should submit a proposal to the NJAS Editorial Board. Proposals should be submitted, as with all articles, via the OJS platform. Choose “Special Issue Proposals” as the section for submissions.

The NJAS editorial board will consider the proposal and make a decision within one month or less. We will contact you with the decision and any comments or questions we might have.

Contents of a special issue proposal

The special issue proposal should be 1–4 pages long and should include the following information:

Publication timeline considerations

Please be realistic in allowing enough time for papers to be submitted and reviewed: these processes often take longer than expected. Allow at least four months for review, while aiming to have the review process completed more quickly. 

NJAS publishes four issues per year, with publication dates in March, June, September, and December.

Special issues that do not meet their proposed deadlines will forfeit publication priority, which might entail significant delays. The most important deadlines in the process are submission and review deadlines; if they are not met, we will likely deprioritize the special issue. We need sufficient time to plan for a regular issue if special issues are not ready in time.

NJAS needs at least two months prior to the publication date for the copyediting and formatting processes (plan for more if the formatting is complex or other issues are anticipated).  

Division of labour and funding

If a proposal for a special issue is accepted, NJAS can fund (light) copyediting, reference check, and layout for up to four articles, plus an introduction. For longer proposed special issues, please contact the editors-in-chief to discuss funding possibilities.

As a general rule, NJAS can publish a maximum of 1–2 special issues in lieu of regular issues per year. After that, special issues may be published outside our regular publication schedule, but funding and timing issues will have to be agreed on with the Editor(s)-in-Chief.

Editors of special issues are responsible for the editorial process, including finding reviewers for articles and making the final decisions on article publication. Like all articles published in NJAS, special issue submissions must undergo double-blind peer review and be evaluated by at least two reviewers, with final publication decisions made by special issue editors, who are ultimately responsible for the issue’s contents. Any exceptions to this process must be decided in consultation with the Editor(s)-in-Chief, and will be noted on the published article.

NJAS provides access to our OJS platform for the review process; completely free, permanent open-access to all the articles; and free copyediting and layout services for up to four articles. We are available to consult with special-issue editors on any issues that may arise, and we oversee the editorial process to ensure that it follows our journal’s guidelines. However, the review process itself (finding reviewers, making recommendations for revisions, and making final publication decisions on the submissions) is the responsibility of special issue editors.

It is common for special issue editors to also submit papers to the special issue. These papers must still undergo double-blind peer review, and the submission’s author(s) may not have access to the review process. In these cases, other editors of the special issue may handle the review process, with the oversight of NJAS Editor(s)-in-Chief or Subject Editors, to ensure both subject-area expertise and fair editorial oversight. If this is impossible because all special issue editors are authors of the same submission, the Editorial Board will oversee the review process.

Acceptance of a special issue proposal means that the NJAS Editorial Board is committed to seeing it through to publication. However, we reserve the right to reject special issues at any stage if severe quality issues arise, if the process has unreasonable delays without clear communication with NJAS editors, or if ethical guidelines are violated.

Special issue editors are expected to adhere to the NJAS code of ethics.  Papers should also conform to NJAS submission guidelines and  formatting and reference guidelines. We can only publish special issues that follow these guidelines, and not following them will result in publication delays.