Special Issue Guidelines

A special issue represents a curated collection of articles centred around a specific topic or theme aligned with the journal's scope. Guest editors serve as the primary points of contact, responsible for organizing and facilitating interactions with potential authors for manuscript submissions related to the thematic issue. To become the guest editor, please send us email.

Typically, a special issue comprises 10-12 manuscripts. However, even if there are 3-5 high-quality manuscripts available, Scifiniti Publishing will consider publishing them as a mini-thematic issue.

I. Special Issue Policy

• The Editor-in-Chief oversees the Special Issue process, ensuring adherence to the journal’s editorial standards, ethical guidelines, and peer review policies.
• Guest editors are required to submit a special issue proposal (Download Template)  before submitting the full issue. Please provide the proposal as per the specified format.
• The special issue should have no more than five guest editors, and all guest editors must be reviewed and approved by the Editor-in-Chief, including verification of their professional credentials, publication history, and relevant expertise, before being appointed to lead a special issue. This ensures that only qualified experts manage thematic issues and uphold the journal’s editorial standards.
• While soliciting papers for the thematic issue, guest editors should promote broad diversity by ensuring authors come from various regions and avoid excessive overlap of authorship.
• It is not mandatory for guest editors to contribute a manuscript to the thematic issue, but if they are interested in contributing, they must not contribute more than one manuscript.
• The guest editor must contribute an editorial highlighting the importance of the thematic issue.
• All special issue proposals will be uploaded to our online manuscript submission system. The guest editor is requested to ask authors to submit their manuscripts online at https://scifiniti.jams.pub/login under the specific thematic issue.
• Guest editors are encouraged to conduct the entire process through our online system so that proper tracking and records are available to the editorial office.
• The Guest Editor may recommend reviewers for manuscripts; however, all recommended reviewers are assessed by the Editorial Office to ensure compliance with the journal’s criteria and absence of conflicts of interest. The final decision on reviewer assignment is made on this basis.
• The guest editors’ own paper is handled independently by the editorial office with the consultation of the Editor-in-Chief.
• Guest editors should prevent authors from being listed in multiple manuscripts, as ensuring a wide range of contributors enhances the impact of the thematic issue.
• The Editor-in-Chief takes the final decision on the manuscripts regarding acceptance or rejection.

II. Proposal Making Guidelines

Your proposal for a thematic/special issue must contain: 

• A tentative title that aligns with the aims and scope of the journal.
• Submission deadline for the thematic issue.
• Comprehensive details of the Guest Editor(s), including information outlined in the thematic issue submission form. If there are multiple guest editors, provide information for each.
• A summary of the special issue, including its main aims and scope, areas to be covered, and tentative titles of planned articles.
• Consider providing a list of potential authors who could contribute manuscripts to this thematic issue, including their affiliations, email addresses, etc.

Guest editors are strongly encouraged to ensure authors’ diversity by including articles from authors representing different regions.

III. Submission

Guest editors are encouraged to visit the Editorial Process page to gain a comprehensive understanding of how manuscripts are processed from submission to publication. All manuscripts, whether for a regular issue or a thematic issue, should be submitted online and not via email.

An Initial Decision on the Manuscript

A manuscript initially submitted will be reviewed by the guest editor for its suitability in terms of scope. The guest editor can decide to either proceed with the peer review process, reject the manuscript, or request revisions before forwarding it to the editorial office. When accepting a manuscript for review, guest editors are strongly recommended to consider the following criteria:

• Relevance of the article to the scope.
• Compliance of the manuscript with ethical standards and international guidelines.
• The quality of the manuscript.
• The absence of plagiarized material and unethical reference citations.

Peer Review

The peer review process for all articles submitted to Special Issues is handled independently by the editorial office, in the same manner as for regular submissions, ensuring reviewer independence, the absence of conflicts of interest, and appropriate expertise. The Editor-in-Chief makes final decisions on manuscripts. For further details, please refer to the Peer Review Process section.

Revision and Final Decision

The manuscript can be further processed by the guest editor for revision based on the review reports, but the final decision on the manuscripts will be made by the Editor-in-Chief. Guest editors are required to forward the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief along with the review reports for the final decision.

Publication

As soon as an article is finalized, it is uploaded to the relevant special issues section of the website without holding it till the finalization of other articles. The special issue page of the website contains guest editors' details, a table of contents, the submission deadline, author details, etc.

IV. Ethical Responsibilities of Guest Editors

Guest editors are strongly recommended to follow COPE guidelines. 

Artificial Citations Increase

Guest editors are strongly advised not to employ artificial means to increase the citation count of special issues. Instead, they are encouraged to promote their special issue within relevant communities, on social media networks, and among their colleagues using legitimate methods that could increase articles’ visibility and, ultimately, citations. In addition to this, references cited in the manuscripts must be relevant and not merely included to boost citations of guest editors or authors' own or an associate’s work. In short, irrelevant self-citations must be avoided.

Scope-oriented Articles

The guest editor must ensure that all manuscripts submitted under the thematic issue are within the journal’s scope and authors must be experts in the field.

Confidentiality

The guest editor must ensure that the confidentiality of content remains protected. Manuscripts submitted by authors should only be made visible to editors or reviewers. Reviewers' names and identities must also be kept confidential.

Conflict of Interest

Both guest editors and authors are obligated to diligently adhere to the journal's conflict of interest policy. They must promptly disclose any potential conflicts of interest within the manuscript, and this disclosure must be made to the editorial office for thorough consideration

Authors of thematic issue articles and guest editors must understand their ethical responsibilities in publication and adhere to the same rigorous ethical principles as regular articles. In cases of unethical practices, articles will be handled in a similar manner to regular articles, which may also lead to the cancellation of the entire thematic issue.

V. Responsibilities of Guest Editors

We expect our guest editors to maintain close communication with the Editorial team to promptly address any queries. They are also expected to ensure that manuscripts are submitted within the specified timeframe and adhere to the established timelines. In this regard, it is essential for them to initiate early correspondence with authors and maintain continuous communication until the manuscript submission process is complete. The Guest editors are responsible to: 

• Prepare a special issue proposal with the title, description, relevant keywords, and tentative deadline, etc.
• Arrange a list of potential authors, who are key experts in the theme, to contribute manuscripts to the special issue.
• Pre-screen manuscripts before submitting them to the editorial office for the Editor-in-Chief’s consideration.
• Ensure that authors have prepared manuscripts in accordance with international standards and recommended guidelines.
• Coordinate with the authors promptly to expedite the manuscript processing.
• Promote the special issue at conferences and on social media platforms.
• The guest editor is advised to arrange more articles than planned to be included in the thematic issue, as a few articles might get rejected during the peer review process.

The guest editor must submit an editorial relevant to the thematic issue. The Editorial Office will handle the review process of the editorial with the assistance of independent reviewers, and the Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision.