What is the right way to organise a special issue?
Category:
For editors
Date of publications:
18.10.2024
Views:
101
Special issues are a great tool for the development of the journal. They can be used to highlight a particular topic in the journal's field, to showcase specialised content, to invite new authors or editors to collaborate, and to increase the credibility and reach of the journal.
Special issues are often delegated to guest editors who are not members of the main editorial board and unfortunately cannot always maintain the standards of the journal.
What are the consequences of publishing problematic content in special issues?
Firstly, regular monitoring and tracking of special issues by the editor-in-chief is definitely required. How thoroughly this should be done depends on the credibility of the guest editor, but general issues should always be monitored. Secondly, it is still better to send submissions to the Editor-in-Chief first and then to the Guest Editor, and to leave final decisions on publication to the Editor-in-Chief, thus ensuring that he or she has the opportunity to review all material to be published in the journal.
Here are some common signs of poor preparation and design of special issues:
1. Special issues can either be commissioned by the journal or a proposal is submitted by a potential guest editor. In both cases, it is very important to make sure that the guest editors are who they say they are and are reputable, as there have been known cases of fraud in the organisation of special issues.
2. Even if you have confidence in the guest editor, make sure he or she is aware of the signs of problem content. Does he or she know how to evaluate and question content and make critical judgements when necessary?
Do you supervise the work on the special issue, does the guest editor properly manage the content received and recommend appropriate solutions? Is the guest editor going to submit manuscripts himself, and if so, is he or she clear about how they should go through the review and decision-making process? If you have concerns, do not ignore them - discuss them with other members of the editorial staff.
3. Materials submitted for a special issue may not correspond to the theme of the issue or even to the journal itself. There may also be a problem with the title of the article not matching the content of the article itself. Usually, the mismatch with the theme is only one of many problems, but it can be an obvious indicator. In some cases, authors may have affiliations that do not match the topic of the article. This should also be questionable and requires appropriate action. We expect a conscientious guest editor to notice this and reject the paper without review. If while overseeing the preparation of a special issue, you notice a title that does not match the scope or content that does not match the title and it is at some point in the review process or has even reached a favourable decision, this is a red flag and may indicate a guest editor who is promoting poor quality content.
4. Another problem encountered in some papers is text generated by artificial intelligence, e.g. using GPT-2 or GTP-3 programmes or the ChatGPT tool. Their use should be declared by the authors. Such tools can generate new text or paraphrase existing, previously published text. While these tools can be useful with careful and moderate use, in other cases the generated text may be completely meaningless, contain garbled phrases, or contain characteristic phrases of AI text generators.
These problems can range from the obvious to the very difficult to detect. Guest editors should be aware of this possibility and check for such texts themselves or by reporting them in review reports. Manuscripts often have other problems, such as stolen or fabricated data, plagiarism, or manipulation of graphs and figure images.
A conscientious guest editor will notice the most obvious cases and take any concerns of reviewers seriously, dismissing them if necessary.
5. Even if the manuscript is appropriate for the special issue and the text itself is in order, there may be problems with misuse of references. Citation cartels and inaccurate citations are a problem for all scientific publications and if not prevented can lead to consequences such as exclusion from key abstracting and indexing services for journals. When reviewing references used in an individual manuscript, key questions to ask include:
(*note: Citation cartels consist of authors or journal editors who have joined together to increase the citation of their articles by disproportionately citing articles by cartel members more than other articles in a particular subject)
6. Influencing the review process can occur when fake reviewers are invited or otherwise provide poor quality reports. This usually occurs when guest editors use reviewers suggested by the authors themselves. These can be either completely fictitious individuals, fake ones mimicking real researchers but using a different email address, or real researchers who are part of a cartel of reviewers. The Guest Editor should keep this in mind when selecting reviewers and avoid using those suggested by the author.
The Editor-in-Chief overseeing the special issue should check:
Special issues can greatly improve a journal if used correctly. By carefully choosing topics and guest editors, and monitoring progress throughout the cycle of preparing and publishing a special issue, you can only reap the benefits without jeopardising the reputation of the publication.
Special issues are often delegated to guest editors who are not members of the main editorial board and unfortunately cannot always maintain the standards of the journal.
What are the consequences of publishing problematic content in special issues?
- Poor quality content may be uncovered by other research groups, peer review after publication, which will affect the credibility of the publication and the and scientists.
- Significant time and effort may be required to investigate and take action on articles already published.
- Corrections and retractions may be required for individual articles or even entire special issues.
- Reputational damage to a journal will affect many aspects, including abstracting and indexing, as well as attention from news agencies.
Firstly, regular monitoring and tracking of special issues by the editor-in-chief is definitely required. How thoroughly this should be done depends on the credibility of the guest editor, but general issues should always be monitored. Secondly, it is still better to send submissions to the Editor-in-Chief first and then to the Guest Editor, and to leave final decisions on publication to the Editor-in-Chief, thus ensuring that he or she has the opportunity to review all material to be published in the journal.
Here are some common signs of poor preparation and design of special issues:
1. Special issues can either be commissioned by the journal or a proposal is submitted by a potential guest editor. In both cases, it is very important to make sure that the guest editors are who they say they are and are reputable, as there have been known cases of fraud in the organisation of special issues.
2. Even if you have confidence in the guest editor, make sure he or she is aware of the signs of problem content. Does he or she know how to evaluate and question content and make critical judgements when necessary?
Do you supervise the work on the special issue, does the guest editor properly manage the content received and recommend appropriate solutions? Is the guest editor going to submit manuscripts himself, and if so, is he or she clear about how they should go through the review and decision-making process? If you have concerns, do not ignore them - discuss them with other members of the editorial staff.
3. Materials submitted for a special issue may not correspond to the theme of the issue or even to the journal itself. There may also be a problem with the title of the article not matching the content of the article itself. Usually, the mismatch with the theme is only one of many problems, but it can be an obvious indicator. In some cases, authors may have affiliations that do not match the topic of the article. This should also be questionable and requires appropriate action. We expect a conscientious guest editor to notice this and reject the paper without review. If while overseeing the preparation of a special issue, you notice a title that does not match the scope or content that does not match the title and it is at some point in the review process or has even reached a favourable decision, this is a red flag and may indicate a guest editor who is promoting poor quality content.
4. Another problem encountered in some papers is text generated by artificial intelligence, e.g. using GPT-2 or GTP-3 programmes or the ChatGPT tool. Their use should be declared by the authors. Such tools can generate new text or paraphrase existing, previously published text. While these tools can be useful with careful and moderate use, in other cases the generated text may be completely meaningless, contain garbled phrases, or contain characteristic phrases of AI text generators.
These problems can range from the obvious to the very difficult to detect. Guest editors should be aware of this possibility and check for such texts themselves or by reporting them in review reports. Manuscripts often have other problems, such as stolen or fabricated data, plagiarism, or manipulation of graphs and figure images.
A conscientious guest editor will notice the most obvious cases and take any concerns of reviewers seriously, dismissing them if necessary.
5. Even if the manuscript is appropriate for the special issue and the text itself is in order, there may be problems with misuse of references. Citation cartels and inaccurate citations are a problem for all scientific publications and if not prevented can lead to consequences such as exclusion from key abstracting and indexing services for journals. When reviewing references used in an individual manuscript, key questions to ask include:
- Do the references support the idea of the article? Are they relevant to the topic being discussed? Are redundant or irrelevant references not coming from the authors themselves?
- Are excessive citations coming from reviewers or guest editors (could be a sign of a cartel)?
- There may be nuances here, as authors should reasonably cite their own work in the field or that of relevant groups. However, in the case of excessive or repetitive citations, this can become problematic.
(*note: Citation cartels consist of authors or journal editors who have joined together to increase the citation of their articles by disproportionately citing articles by cartel members more than other articles in a particular subject)
6. Influencing the review process can occur when fake reviewers are invited or otherwise provide poor quality reports. This usually occurs when guest editors use reviewers suggested by the authors themselves. These can be either completely fictitious individuals, fake ones mimicking real researchers but using a different email address, or real researchers who are part of a cartel of reviewers. The Guest Editor should keep this in mind when selecting reviewers and avoid using those suggested by the author.
The Editor-in-Chief overseeing the special issue should check:
- Have the reviewers suggested by the author been invited? If so has a second reviewer from an independent (not suggested by the author) source been invited?
- Are the reviewers appropriate for the manuscript and are they sufficiently experienced in the field?
- Has the identity and contact information been verified? (Is the the email address used is consistent with the published work (Scopus, PubMed) and the institution's website).
- Do the submitted reports raise specific issues rather than generic statements, and are they consistent with the content of the manuscript?
- When reviewers recommend additional citations, are they appropriate?
- Did the authors actually make the changes listed in their response?
Special issues can greatly improve a journal if used correctly. By carefully choosing topics and guest editors, and monitoring progress throughout the cycle of preparing and publishing a special issue, you can only reap the benefits without jeopardising the reputation of the publication.
Share post