Special Issue Policy

Special issues must meet the same scientific, ethical, editorial, and peer-review standards as regular issues.

The Editor-in-Chief retains responsibility for all special-issue content.

Guest Editors must:

• have appropriate academic expertise;
• possess relevant research credentials;
• disclose conflicts of interest;
• maintain confidentiality;
• comply with journal policies; and
• ensure independent external peer review.

Guest Editors must not make decisions concerning their own manuscripts.

Special issues must not be used to bypass peer review, guarantee acceptance, artificially increase publication volume, create inappropriate citation patterns, or publish content outside the journal’s scope.

Related Policies:
Peer Review Process | Conflict of Interest | Editorial Process