Call for JSSE Special Issue Proposals

2023-03-10

The JSSE is looking for innovative research topics and ground-breaking ideas in the field of social science education, civic education, and economic education. We particularly aim to promote the development of new ideas and areas of research and to contribute to a dynamic scientific agenda setting in the field. This aims to encourage international teams of younger scientists to set topics together and to initiate a conversation about current challenges and issues. We therefore welcome submissions on any topic within the social science education that fit the academic profile of the journal, see here https://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/about . We are particularly interested in receiving proposals that consider topics from an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective.

The following short guide outlines the process for proposing a special issue and gives an overview of what to expect should your proposal be accepted.

If you have further questions after reading this guide, or are ready to submit a proposal, please contact us: managing.editor@jsse.org

Preparing a special issue proposal: The first stage in submitting a special issue is to draft the proposal document that is then pre-reviewed by a group of editors before a final decision on our board is made. Your proposal should also explain how the special issue fits with the profile and objectives of the JSSE, see https://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/about for details.

Type A: Independent collection of papers

We especially aim at issues compiled from a collection of papers, i.e., from a research group or a research project. Please present to us

  1. Details of the research event or group, including: the name of the research group, its affiliations, and details of key contacts.
  2. A description (300-500 words) of the research question being addressed.
  3. A list of the proposed papers for the special issue, including full author contact details, affiliations, and abstracts. (a minimum number of 5 papers required)
  4. Details of proposed peer reviewers, their affiliations and contact details.
  5. Details of the guest editor(s): Academic short CVs should be included.

Additional Notes:

  • If you have already published the research presented at the conference as conference proceedings, we cannot consider your proposal. Equally, if an author you wish to include has published their research in another journal, then we cannot publish this work. This also applies if the work is published in a language other than English.
  • If the review has already occurred, and you are looking for a publication home for your research papers, please contact the editorial office directly: We will request copies of all peer review reports prior to the acceptance of any manuscript in the journal, and our standard quality checks will be run on all manuscripts.
  • Please note that if your proposal is accepted, we do not guarantee the publication of any paper in the submitted list unless it has met our peer review standards.

Type B: Special issues via open call on JSSE’s platform

If you want to present an open call for a special JSSE-issue, please present to us:

  1. Details of the proposed guest editor(s), including affiliation and email address, and link to online profile where possible. Copies of academic CVs should be included.
  2. A description of the proposed special issue, including relevant sources. The description should explain the importance or value of the proposed special issue. (400-500 words)
  3. A draft open call for the special issue, including the description and prompts for potential suitable themes for the special issue.

We suggest including a deadline for submissions in the open call. Please additionally refer to the section above (Type A) if you wish to include specific papers in your special issue.

The Guest Editorial Team

Please nominate one person as the guest editor ‘in chief’. He/she will be responsible for handling papers within the manuscript submission system, as well as the primary correspondent with the Editors’ board. He/she is responsible for the careful processing of the manuscripts in the editing system (following our technical guidelines).

Guest editing a special issue

Once your proposal has been accepted, you will be asked to fill in a special issue information form by the managing editor (the individual responsible for the administration of the journal). You will be asked for certain key details about the work and the proposed timeline, to allow us to organize the JSSE agenda. The entire process is handled via the Open Journal System (OJS), which the JSSE uses to organise and document its work.

Tentative timeline:

  • Submission of full manuscripts (12 weeks from acceptance of proposal)
  • First round of review (8-12 weeks)
  • Revision (6 weeks)
  • Second round of review (8-12 weeks)
  • Revisions/Submission of final manuscripts.

Peer review requirements

Please ensure the following peer review requirements during the preparation of a special issue:

  • All manuscripts should be controlled by the guest editors to ensure they satisfactorily meet scientific standards before being sent for peer review. Manuscripts which are not satisfactory should be returned to authors at this stage, either as a desk reject decision with no opportunity of submitting a new version or as a rejection with the offer to submit a reworked version.
  • All manuscripts which all texts that have successfully passed this first phase of the scientific quality check must be double-blind reviewed by at least 2 external reviewers.
  • We anticipate that all manuscripts will undergo at least one round of revision, though two is common. If manuscripts have been reviewed in some form before being submitted to the journal, we may request copies of the reviews.
  • All decisions will be checked by the managing editor before being finally approved.
  • If the guest editor has a paper in the special issue, then the managing editor will plan the peer review of the manuscript. If there are multiple guest editors then it may be that another guest editor oversees the decision, or another solution if required.
  • Editorials do not require external peer review but will be read by the managing editor, subject editor or publisher before publication.

Please make sure that manuscripts are consistent with our author guidelines, see https://www.jsse.org/index.php/jsse/about/submissions