International Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Special issues
A Special Issue of the International Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases is a focused collection on a question the field is actively working on, led by guest editors and reviewed to the journal’s ordinary standard.
Proposals Welcome year-round Led by Guest editors Review Same standard as regular submissions Decisions Independent of guest editors
01 · Propose
Propose a Special Issue
International Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases welcomes proposals for focused collections that address important questions in sexually transmitted infection research. Researchers with relevant expertise are invited to review the proposal requirements below and contact the editorial office.
A Special Issue works when a question is genuinely open and a coherent set of studies can answer part of it — a resistance mechanism moving through a region, a diagnostic technology at the point where implementation evidence is needed, a prevention program with results from several settings. It works less well as a general theme, because a general theme is what the journal already publishes.
02 · Requirements
What a proposal should contain
- The question. The scientific question the collection addresses, and why it is open now: what changed, what the current evidence does not settle, and what a set of papers together could establish that one paper could not.
- Fit. Which of the journal's research domains the collection addresses and the STI-related contribution each study would make. Qualitative, behavioral and implementation work is welcome with methods and evaluation suited to its question.
- Guest editors. Name, current affiliation, ORCID iD and a short statement of relevant expertise for each proposed guest editor, with published work in the subject.
- Scale and shape. The expected number of contributions, the article types envisaged, and whether any are already written or committed.
- Timeline. A realistic window for submission and review, which the editorial office will confirm or adjust before anything is announced.
- Competing interests. Any commercial, funding or institutional interest held by a proposed guest editor in the subject of the collection.
The editorial office reads proposals as they arrive and replies with a decision or with the questions that need answering first. A collection is announced on this page only once its guest editors, scope and dates are agreed, so that a call published here is one an author can rely on.
03 · Governance
How a Special Issue is governed
A Special Issue is part of the journal, not a separate publication with its own standards. The safeguards below are what make a themed collection worth the same as a regular issue to a reader, an indexer or a promotion committee.
- Same review, same criteria
- All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review. 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.
- Same decision criteria
- Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal. Belonging to a collection is not a criterion.
- Guest editors do not decide on their own work
- A guest editor who is an author on a contribution takes no part in its assessment; it is handled independently, and the guest editor has no access to reviewer identities or to the decision.
- Final decisions rest with the journal
- Guest editors coordinate the collection and advise on reviewers. Acceptance and rejection are the journal's, and a collection may publish fewer contributions than proposed.
- Competing interests are declared
- Guest editors declare competing interests on the same terms as editors, and those declarations are held with the collection record.
- Charges are unchanged
- The article processing charge for the article type applies as it does to any submission, falls due only after acceptance, and has no bearing on the decision.
04 · Meanwhile
Submitting outside a collection
Regular submissions are accepted throughout the year, across the approved STI remit and the manuscript formats described in the author instructions. A manuscript does not need a collection to belong here, and the call for papers states the research the journal is inviting now.
05 · Routes
Where to go next
- Call for papersThe research the journal is inviting now.
- Aims and scopeEvery research domain with a worked example, and the boundary.
- Editorial boardWho provides scholarly oversight, and their recorded expertise.
- Editorial policiesReview, ethics, integrity, corrections and retractions.
- ArchiveEvery issue and every article the journal has published.
- Submit a manuscriptThree routes to one editorial office.
International Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (IJSTD) · ISSN 2994-6743 · Crossref DOI prefix 10.14302 · published open access by Open Access Pub under CC BY 4.0. Editorial decisions are independent of any fee, service, membership or role.