- Special issues
- Proposals welcome
- ISSN 2638-4469
Propose a Special Issue
The Journal of Advances in Plant Biology welcomes proposals for focused collections that address important questions in plant biology. Researchers with relevant expertise are invited to review the proposal requirements and contact the editorial office.
Who can propose
Proposals are welcome from researchers and groups with recognized expertise in the proposed topic, including members of the journal’s Editorial Board. A guest-editor team usually brings together complementary disciplines, institutions or regions, and names one lead guest editor as the contact for the editorial office.
A special issue should address a defined question within the journal’s Aims and Scope, which covers all of plant biology, from molecular and cell biology to physiology, crops and ecology, with applied crop science included.
What a proposal contains
A concise proposal covering the items below allows the editors to assess the topic, the team and the plan for the collection.
Title and summary
A working title and a short description of the collection.
Rationale
Why the topic merits a focused collection now, and its relevance to plant research or practice.
Scope and topics
The questions the collection will address, with illustrative topics.
Guest-editor team
Names, affiliations, ORCID iDs and a brief statement of each guest editor’s expertise.
Competing interests
A declaration of any financial or non-financial interests relevant to the topic.
Plan for the call
How contributions will be invited, the article types expected, and a proposed schedule for the call.
Safeguards for guest-edited collections
Same peer review
Special-issue manuscripts follow the same editorial screening and peer review as regular submissions. Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
Independent handling
Manuscripts authored by a guest editor, or by authors with whom a guest editor has a conflict of interest, are handled by an independent editor of the journal. The guest editor takes no part in their review or decision.
Labeling and authorship
Guest-edited content is clearly labeled as part of the special issue, with the guest editors named.
Decisions and fees
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Special-issue articles follow the journal’s standard article processing charge terms.
From proposal to publication
- Proposal. The lead guest editor sends the proposal to the editorial office.
- Assessment. The editors assess scope, rationale, team and plan, and may suggest changes.
- Call published. An approved special issue is announced on the journal website with its call for papers.
- Peer review. Each submission is screened and reviewed under the journal’s standard process.
- Publication. Accepted articles are published open access under CC BY 4.0 and labeled as part of the collection.
Send a special-issue proposal
Send the proposal, or a short outline for initial discussion, to the editorial office.
- [email protected]
- Publisher
- Open Access Pub, openaccesspub.org
- Regular submissions
- Call for Papers