Instructions for Special Issues

Publication of Special Issues

VISUAL Review is open to the publication of Special Issues, which bring together the results of relevant research projects proposed by prestigious guest editors. The process to follow on the publication of Special Issues consists of three phases (described below).

 

Phase 1: Submission of the proposal

Those interested in the publication of a special issue should submit to the Scientific Director a proposal for a thematic issue containing detailed information on the following points

• Title of the proposed special issue
• Name and affiliation of guest editors
• Number of specific contributions
• Justification and coherent description of the proposed issue, including references if necessary.
• Proposed reviewers, double-blind

Content of the Special Issue:

• Title of each contribution/article.
• Name and affiliation of authors and brief description of their current position and research interests.
• An abstract of each contribution, presenting the main topic and relevance of the study, as well as an overview of the methods used and the main results (150-200 words).

The Scientific Director, along with the Scientific Committee, will judge the relative merits of the proposal and communicate the decision to the Guest Editor(s) together with an estimate of the publication costs based on the number of articles in the special issue.

 

Phase 2: Review process

The guest editor(s) will coordinate the refereeing process following the guidelines provided on the website for articles.

If articles receive a negative report from any of the reviewers, they will be considered unacceptable for publication. If a reviewer fails to respond in a timely manner, expresses reservations as to the author's "friend" status, or if the report evidences a lack of quality, another reviewer may be selected.

 

Stage 3: Decision of the Editorial Board

Once the refereeing process has been completed, the guest editor(s) will send all evaluation files together with the details of the associated reviewers to the general editor to assess the quality of the process and the final version of the processed special issue. Guest editors are required to keep all related correspondence with authors and reviewers for a period of 2 years.

If the Special Issue is not authorised for publication, Guest Editors will be offered the possibility to resubmit the Special Issue within 6 months. If Guest Editors do not wish to proceed with the resubmission, they may submit articles that the Editorial Board deems acceptable for publication in future issues.