Policy for Special Issue Publication
Policy for Special Issue Publication
in the Ethiopian Journal of Education and Science (EJES)
Jimma University
May 11, 2012
Background:
The Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences (EJES) was established in 2005 under the
faculty of education RPO with the general purpose of creating a scientific forum for
education and science sector adjoined by some sensitive issues like HIV-AIDS and the
University philosophy CBE.
The journal has been a peer reviewed publication right from its inception grounded with
vision and mission. In its progress towards up grading its standard it has passed through four
years ardent work to come to a level of reputable journal endorsed by senate on May 6, 2009.
The journal is gradually strengthening its working system and style disseminating the paper
in both hard copies and on line through AJOL and the University website. Apparently it is
now on the position of the need to extend its bi-annual publication by adding special issues at
the request of external and internal bodies (Institutions or team of researchers) in addition to
its own special issue initiation marking sensitive thematic areas and special societal or
academic events.
Thus the editorial board of the journal, based on the objectives listed below believed that the
journal is now at the stage of entertaining special issues along with the regular bi-annual
publication as the need arises. Therefore, it has become necessary to design a sort of policy or
guide line to implement this special issue publication process.
Rationale for a special issue
The need for publishing a special issue in addition to the regular publication are:
1. To increase dissemination and coverage
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2. To communicate important thematic areas of public importance in one piece so that
users can have easy access to knowledge and innovations in specific areas
3. To generate income to supplement the regular journal publication
4. To respond to presence of requests from different institutions and researcher teams
How to start a special issue
The ultimate decision to solicit manuscripts for a Special Issue resides with the EJES
Editor in Chief. The impetus for a Special Issue may come from:
1. The Journal’s editorial team or
2. Any member of academic or non-academic organizations (GO or NGO).
Special Issues may be solicited or unsolicited. Proposals begin as short written proposals
(up to 3 pages) which are considered once a year by the EJES editors.
Prospective special issue requester(s) submit a proposal to the EJES Editor-in-Chief (EIC),
outlining:
· their team and their credentials,
· the topic for the special issue,
· the importance of the topic and reasons for having a special issue in EJES,
· a brief summary of the literature, and a synopsis of previous special issues that
closely related to the topic (whether in EJES or in another relevant journal), or
any sequential series of articles on a connected theme that have appeared in
recent years in these journals.
Types and numbers of articles or proceedings for special issue
All articles or proceedings for a special issue should always be original works that did not
published on any other journals or books, etc.
The number of articles for a special issue should not be less than three with 50 or more pages
each.
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Special Issue Review and Publication Procedures
1. Any article or proceeding submitted for special issue publication must pass through
the regular article review process
2. Based on the thematic area of the issue, the editorial board of the journal could invite
a guest editor whose professional competency is inline with the thematic area
3. The special issue will be within the regular issue volume number of the year having
its own sequential number
4. No restriction on the number of special issues to be published per year
5. Agreement on related costs and distributions of the special issue must be worked
between the parties (Annex)
Special issue publication cost modalities
1. Costs for special issues initiated by the editorial board should be covered by the
journal
2. All costs of special issues initiated by other GO and NGO will be covered fully by the
requesting organization according to the agreement (Annex). These costs include
reviewers, editors and administration payments, college/university overhead, printing
and distribution costs
3. Logos of special issue of requesting GO and NGO might appear within the inside
cover of the journal as need be, with additional cost implication.
4. Though the cost of an issue depends on the number of articles, pages and copies
required, all costs associated to the special issue will be worked out with agreement
between the EJES and the requesting organization
5. The EJES will reserve at least 100 copies from the requested copies by the
organization for documentation
Copyright of the special issue
CopyrightÓ Ethiopian Journal of Education and Sciences, Jimma University
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The Special Issue Process
List of upcoming/special issues.
A special issue serves several purposes: it provides a well-defined location for
papers that relate to a common theme; it can serve as a catalyst for an
emerging field by providing that highly-visible forum for the topic; and it
encourages authors to submit high-quality work by providing them with a
focused review process and publication schedule. EJES is committed to providing
adequate space to regular submissions to the transactions, but EJES is also
happy to provide room for special issues of interest to the embedded systems
community.
A special issue may be instigated by the EJES editorial staff or may be proposed
by potential guest editor(s). The special issue associate editor works with the
EJES editorial staff to refine the special issue's call for papers and set a timetable
for submission and review. The call for papers is then publicized through a
variety of mechanisms: notices in EJES and other publications, Web sites, flyers
at conferences etc.
On the call of articles announced for a special issue, authors submit their special
issue contributions to the EJES Web site or in hard copy. Authors must be sure
to use the EJES format when articles are submitted and should also put the
special issue name on the first page of the submission.
Submissions to the special issue must be accepted on the same procedures that
the EJES following for regular articles, through two peer reviewers and a third
one when tie occurred. The special issue articles could also be accepted with
either minor or major modification, or rejected depending on the peer reviewers
comments and recommendations as usual.
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To Guest Editors
In agreement with the two parties, guest editors could be assigned as per their
academic status towards research work to assist the regular editorial work.
If one is interested in organizing a special issue, the best way to start is to send
the editor-in-chief a brief summary of the special issue:
· a one-page draft of the call for papers;
· a suggested timetable;
· a list of potential contributors to the special issue (you need not contact
these people in advance).
Both the guest editor and the editor-in-chief can then refine the proposal.
The call for papers should clearly define the special issue's topic or theme. The
special issue's title should be chosen to clearly and succinctly convey the theme.
The body of the call could include a historical motivation for the topic. The call
should definitely summarize in a paragraph or so the major defining
characteristics of the theme. It might include a non-exhaustive list of paper
topics that would fit into the theme.
The timetable takes into account the complete review and production process.
Here is a typical timetable:
|
- Submission deadline: |
two months after announcement originally |
|
- Review results: |
three months after submission deadline. |
|
- Final copy deadline: |
two months after review results. |
|
- Publication: |
three to six months after the final copy deadline. |
|
Guest editors are not allowed to extend the deadline for the special issue. Any |
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The publication date depends on EJES' total publication flow and is not a
guaranteed date.
The special issue associate editor functions as an associate editor for the
duration of the special issue. He or she assigns reviewers to the special issue,
ensures that a sufficient number of reviews is received for all submissions,
evaluates the reviews, and recommends to the editor-in-chief the disposition of
each submission. Only papers that can be accepted based on the first round of
review are eligible for the special issue (though the guest editor may request
some changes that will be checked by the guest editor but not by the reviewers).
The guest editor may suggest that some papers be considered as regular papers
by going through a second round of reviews that will be managed by the guest
editor. Some papers may be rejected without a suggestion for revision and
resubmission.
The special issue will not go into production until two things happen: the
associate editor provides recommendations for all submissions to the special
issue; and final versions of all the accepted papers have been received by EJES's
publication office. The associate editor is responsible for ensuring that both of
these criteria are fulfilled. The EJES editorial board believes that authors deserve
prompt and high-quality reviews; this principle is as important for special issues
as it is for regular submissions.
Please have also a look into our guidelines.
To Contributors
You submit your contribution to the EJES Web site. Just submit the paper as a
normal paper, but mention in the "Author's Cover Letter"-field the name of the
special issue. You should also put the name of the special issue on the cover
page.
If you have forgotten to mention, that your paper is for a Special Issue, your
paper will be treated as a regular paper/issue!
Important: Please check following before submission
· no security settings set
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· do not use Type 3 Fonts
· Page limit: 30 pages. Since the pagelimit is set to 25 pages, it is
recommended to format your submission in paper in the style of ACM
publications. You will find the template and formatting instructions here.
Otherwise your paper cannot be downloaded by the reviewers from manuscript
central and therefore your paper cannot be reviewed.
Only papers that are accepted on the first round of review will be published in
the special issue; this should encourage you to submit your best work to the
special issues. Some papers may be suggested for further review and
consideration as a regular issue paper.
Don't even think about asking for an extension of the deadline. The special issue
associate editor is not authorized to grant extensions and the editor-in-chief will
not grant extensions. All submissions compete on a level playing field only when
they must meet the same timetable.
Special issues are reviewed and published on a fast schedule. It is important
that you reply promptly to any requests and that, if selected, you prepare the
final version of the paper quickly.
The Special Issue will be published if all final versions were submitted. After that,
the publication date depends on EJES' total publication flow and is not a
guaranteed date.
To Reviewers
Reviewers are critical parts of the special issue process (as they are of the entire
transactions process). Reviewers don't get enough thanks for what they do, so
we would first like to say thank you for your hard work.
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Special issue papers are accepted based on at least two rounds of review rather
than the as usual depending on the progress of the revision of the authors. As a
result, these papers must be of the highest quality. You can request minor
changes that could be checked by the guest editor before publication. If a paper
is interesting but not quite ready for publication, you can suggest that it go
through a second round of review for consideration as a regular paper.