How to Submit a Special Issue

To submit a proposal for Special Issues, the journal requests an official document that must include:

1) The title of the proposed Special Issue and the topic covered. A summary of the objectives of the Special Issue is also required to evaluate whether it falls within the aims and scopes of the journal. The journal also requires, whether possible, a list of titles or abstracts of the articles, if already collected, to evaluate the quality of the manuscripts before submission. A list of authors is required as well.

2) Submission deadline and publication deadline.

3) A list of Guest Editors, including their current affiliations, personal information and institutional emails, ORCID ID, brief résumé and prior publications and/or Special Issues and a possible list of reviewers with complete affiliation and email addresses.

The Editor in Chief and the editorial team will evaluate the suitability of the Special Issue in terms of quality and alignment with the aims and scopes of the journal.

Please, download the following form, which must be appropriately signed, filled, and sent to submission.europeanreview@verduci.it

Any incomplete Special Issue proposal will not be considered.

By signing this agreement, the Guest Editors accept and ensure to strictly adhere to the following responsibilities and guidelines.

 

Peer-Review Process Management

  1. Any submission of articles for the Special Issues must be finalized through our online system (Publishing Manager.org).
  2. The peer-review process is also managed through our online system.
    • Each manuscript undergoes a regular peer-review process as established by the journal’s guidelines and must be sent to two/three reviewers specialized in the field. In addition to the reviewers proposed by the Guest Editors, peer review is also conducted by the journal’s reviewers. Any disagreements among reviewers are managed in accordance with the journal’s policy. Decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts are based on the reviewers’ assessment. The Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board Members maintain oversight and may also participate in the decision-making process on specific occasions.

 

Guest Editors’ Responsibilities

  1. The Guest Editors are responsible for collecting manuscripts, contacting authors, and inviting possible researchers.
  2. Guest Editors propose a possible reviewers’ list, ensuring they comply with the journal’s COI policy. It is likely that Guest Editors appear as authors in contributions to the Special Issue. Note that as per the latest COPE and DOAJ guidelines, contributions from Guest Editors must be limited to the 25% of the total issue. Guest Editors cannot make decisions about any article on which they are named as authors or in which there are possible conflicts of interest. In these cases, the Editor-in-Chief oversees the manuscript and nominates independent and external reviewers for the peer review.
  3. The Guest Editors, along with the Editorial Board Members, oversee the review process by ensuring it follows the editorial policies and timely submissions from authors.
  4. The Guest Editors are responsible, together with the authors, for the final check and approval of the galley proofs before publication.

 

Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board Members’ Responsibilities

  1. The Editor in Chief or Editorial Board Members maintain oversight and ensure the absence of any real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest or peer-review irregularities.
  2. The Editor-in-Chief has the final right to accept or reject manuscripts for the Special Issue.
  3. The Editor-in-Chief has the right to cancel any Special Issue if any irregularity and unethical practices arise during the review process.
  4. The Editor-in-Chief nominates independent and external reviewers for the peer review of contributions in which Guest Editors appear as authors.

 

Ethical Considerations

  • By signing the agreement, the Guest Editors agree to follow the above-mentioned editorial guidelines and COPE Guidelines on Best Practices for Guest Edited Collections.
  • The manuscripts must be drafted following the journal’s guidelines as specified in the Authors’ Guidelines and must contain these statements.
  • The journal guarantees transparency as the submissions and review process of the Special Issue are managed on our online system, Publishing Manager.
  • Guest Editors, authors, and reviewers are required to keep confidential all details of the editorial and peer-review process on submitted manuscripts. The peer-review process is confidential and conducted anonymously; reviewers’ identities are not released. Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts as well.
  • Unethical self-citation is forbidden and may result in the rejection of a manuscript.

 

Conflicts of Interest

Any real, potential, or perceived conflict of interest related to the topic of the research must be declared by the Guest Editors during submission and by authors in each manuscript. The authors are also required to flag a disclosure of conflicts of interest during submission in the Publishing Manager online system. For more information, check our conflict of interest policy.

 

Publication Process

After final acceptance, Special Issues articles are not published as regular articles but are labeled as “special issue” or “supplement”, with a dedicated section on the website.

The Editorial Office sends the galley proof twice to the corresponding authors, who must approve it before publication. Any issues and/or requests (e.g., authorship changes, major corrections to the manuscript, and so on) are managed in accordance with journal policy.

 

Post-Publication Concerns

Post-publication concerns are managed in accordance with the journal’s policy. If concerns are raised after publication regarding Special Issue contents, the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board Members take the responsibility to promptly investigate any irregularities, as for regularly published articles.