Guidelines for the Publication of Special Issues

In the following, you'll find the guidelines which apply to the publication of a special issue and which the guest editors are kindly requested to observe:

The proposal for the special issue must contain the following information:

1. The guest editors send a proposal to the managing editor, Christian Bell, (cgbell@starlingscience.com). The expertise of the proposed special issue topic and involvement in relevant communities of the guest editors is a key to a high quality special issue. Also, all related topics are required to be covered by the group of reviewers in order to guarantee high quality reviews and excellent selected papers for the special issue. Finally, to attract a variety of submission from quality researchers, an appropriate plan for the distribution and promotion of the call for papers is important for a successful special issue.

2. Only guest editors who have either published at least one article in journal or who have published at least 7 articles which are listed in either CiteSeer or ISI Thomson or who are members of our journal editorial board will be accepted as guest editors.

3. A guest editor can only submit one proposal at a time. A new proposal can only be submitted after the citation frequency of the previous special issue edited by the same guest editor has been evaluated. Lack of citations can lead to a rejection of the proposal.

4. Proposal

• Guest editors: a short biography of the guest editors with a focus on the expertise of the proposed topic and the involvement in relevant communities
• Deadlines: appropriate schedule stating the major dates including paper submission, acceptance notice, etc.
• Topics: the most important topics related the proposed special issue must be listed
• List of reviewers: a list of the reviewers of the special issue (their names, links to their their homepages and areas of expertise). It is mandatory that all related topics of the issue are covered by the group of reviewers
• Distribution and promotion: a plan for the distribution and promotion of the issue and to attract quality submissions
• Resubmission of proposal: Due to the great number of special issues proposals and the high interest in organizing special issues, only one resubmission for a proposed special issue is accepted

5. Call for papers: A call for papers (which is a modified version of the proposal) must be submitted together with the proposal.

6. If the special issue includes extended versions originally presented at a conference or a workshop, a public call for papers must also be made and the issue must contain at least two papers that originate from the public call for papers. The extended version of papers originally presented at a conference or workshop must contain about 50% new material and the title of the extended version must clearly and unmistakably differ from the title of the article presented at the conference.

7. The papers can only be accepted for publication after a rigorous review process. Each paper must be reviewed by at least 3 reviewers. All three reviews of the accepted papers stating the names of the reviewers and the final versions of the articles must be sent to the journal office for final approval. A summary of the reviews is not accepted. The authors can be informed about the acceptance of their papers only after the decision has been confirmed by the journal office.

8. As a means to secure and increase the impact factor of the journal, it is expected that the authors consult journal prior to the publication of their articles and quote relevant journal publications in their articles. This measure is in the interest of the authors since it is a contribution to the reputation of the journal.

9. Only 35% of the authors may originate from one country.

10. The guest editors may only be authors or co-authors of 1 paper at the most. Preferably, the guest editors should rather consider submitting their articles for publication in a regular issue.

11. Each author may publish only two papers in one issue (as sole author or co-author).

12. A special issue may contain a maximum of 8 papers.

13. The length of a paper may not exceed 20 pages.

14. The guest editors inform on a regular basis the journal office about the progress of the preparations as well as the number of submitted, rejected and accepted papers.

15. The guest editors take care of the review process so that only final versions are sent to the journal office. The final versions of the papers must be submitted in journal style.

16. The authors must sign a copyright transfer statement for their paper.

17. The guest editor provides an introduction to the issue (at least one page long).

18. The guest editors vouch with their names and academic reputation for the quality of the papers.

19. All published articles appear yearly in a printed archive edition and are assigned a DOI. Because of the increased number of publications (particularly special issues), the costs of the printing have risen considerably. For this reason, journal charges a fee of 1500,- Dollars for the publication of a special issue to help the journal carry the costs not only of the printing but also for the DOI registration fees. Often, the budget of a conference allows a small sum for such purposes. All other publication costs are carried by the publisher. The issue can only be published after the fee has been paid.