Special issues

Special issue information

Guest Editors, Article Collections, and Special Issues

Occasionally, the Journal of Communication in Healthcare: Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health (JCIH) invites editorial board members or outside experts to serve as guest advisors for article collections or guest editors for special issues on a topic within the Journal's scope. Article collections include 4-5 articles and are featured in one of the regular issues of the Journal. Special Issues can either replace one of the Journal's regular issues or be compiled as an additional issue (Supplement). Supplements (additional issues) are considered only for sponsored or grant-funded special issues. Article collections are more common at JCIH.

Guest Advisors and Guest Editors are always invited by JCIH as the Journal does not accept unsolicited proposals for special issues and article collections with the exception of those generated by its editorial board members.

Guest Advisors and Guest Editors play an essential role in soliciting relevant articles and other content and authoring/co-authoring a guest editorial or commentary. They also collaborate with the Editor-in-Chief and the editorial team to frame the scope of the special issue or article collection.

Guest Advisors and Guest Editors – Overview 

All manuscripts submitted to Article Collections or Special Issues undergo desk assessment and peer-review as part of the Journal’s standard editorial process. The editorial responsibility for the Journal and all final editorial decisions on papers submitted to Article Collections or Special Issues are with the Editor-in-Chief.

The role of Guest Advisors (for article collections) and Guest Editors (for special issues) is primarily advisory/consultative. Guest Advisors and Guest Editors may provide advice on manuscripts if solicited by the editorial team, but they are not always involved with final decisions nor the decision to send articles to peer-review. All submissions that the Journal receives toward an article collection or special issue (including those that may have been solicited by Guest Advisors or Guest Editors) are not guaranteed acceptance/publication.

The role of Guest Advisors (for article collections) and Guest Editors (for special issues) is different and highlighted below.

Guest Advisors 

Guest Advisors are invited by the Journal only to participate in Article Collections and not in Special Issues. Guest Advisors:

1) draft or provide input on the call for papers, including the collection's title and scope;

2) solicit relevant articles;

3) review 1-2 submissions as peer-reviewers;

4) recommend reviewers with expertise on the topic;

5) author/co-author a guest editorial or commentary that will appear within the collection; and

6) publicize the article collection on social media and within professional networks.

Guest Advisors are not involved in handling the peer review process of the manuscripts submitted toward the collection but may be asked for advice on select abstracts as related to potential significance and novelty. In addition to authoring a guest editorial or commentary, Guest Editors' contribution is also recognized on social media, and within the editorial by the Editor-in-Chief in the issue where the collection is published.

Guest Editors

Guest Editors/Co-Editors are invited by the Journal only to participate in Special Issue and not in Article Collections. The role of Guest Editors includes all responsibilities highlighted for Guest Advisors of Article Collections. In addition, Guest Editors

1) manage the peer-review process for a minimum of 3-4 manuscripts;

2) work closely with the Editor-in-Chief and Senior Editorial Assistant on manuscripts they have been handling for peer-review; and

3) solicit and participates in editing opinion pieces for the non-peer reviewed sections of the Journal (Letters, Commentaries, and Patient Voices) as related to the topic of the special issue.

The contribution of Guest Editors of special issues is recognized with the same modalities as for the Guest Advisors of article collections.

Competing Interest Disclosure

Guest Editors are required to comply with the general competing interest policy and code of conduct by Taylor & Francis (see the policy here) and recuse themselves from advising on and/or handling any manuscript for which a competing interest may exist.