Publish with us
Publish with us and make an impact in your field!
Guest Editing and Submitting to Special Issues:
What You Need to Know
Special Issues are curated collections of articles that delve into cutting-edge research topics within the journal's scope. These issues serve as a platform for exploring emerging trends, spotlighting key sub-disciplines, and showcasing innovative interdisciplinary applications.
A Special Issue is a collection of articles that concentrates on a topical research area within the scope of a journal.
These Issues provide a venue for research on emerging areas, highlight important subdisciplines, or describe new cross-disciplinary applications.
The following sections explain the benefits and responsibilities of running a Special Issue as a Guest Editor and the benefits of submitting your manuscript to a Special Issue as an author.
Becoming a Special Issue Guest Editor
If you would like to run your own Special Issue, the following resources will guide you through the process, from assembling your Guest Editor team and writing your proposal, to advertising your Call for Papers and managing submissions, to celebrating your published Issue.
Benefits of being a Guest Editor
The Guest Editor team as a whole receives three APC waivers which they can use to submit a maximum of three research and/or review manuscripts to their own Special Issue. The team can also use the APC waivers to commission research or review articles from experts in the field for their own Special Issue.
Once all manuscripts have passed peer review, we ask the Guest Editor team to write an Editorial that introduces the Special Issue; this article type is exempt from an APC.
To ensure an impartial review process, submissions to the Special Issue by the Guest Editors will be handled by members of the journal’s Editorial Board. Please see this section for more information.
In recognition of the Guest Editors’ efforts, and to provide full transparency about the journal’s review process, the name of the Guest Editor who accepts a manuscript will be included in the published version of the article.
Additional benefits of being a Guest Editor include:
- Improving your academic profile and marking you out as influential within your discipline
- Increasing the visibility and impact of work published in the Special Issue thanks to Red Flower Publication’s Open Access
- Being at the forefront of scientific communication
- Exerting creativity in the inception and development of a topic
- Assembling and working with a strong team of Editors
- Networking with like-minded colleagues and forging new contacts
- Handling manuscripts close to your professional interests
- Seeing articles from your Special Issue cited in future articles
- Feeling you have contributed to the development of the journal
Proposing a Special Issue
Many of our journals publish Special Issues – dedicated collections of articles that highlight emerging areas of research within a field, or provide a venue for a deeper investigation into an existing research topic.
As the Lead Guest Editor of a Special Issue, you can be at the forefront of scientific communication, encouraging continued research in important areas while gaining editorial experience and improving your academic profile. There are many other additional benefits to being a Guest Editor.
The sections below will help you in writing and submitting a Special Issue proposal, as well as understanding what will be required of you as a Lead Guest Editor or a Guest Editor of a Special Issue if your proposal is approved.
If you have an idea for a Special Issue that you would like to propose for one of our journals please follow the link below.
List of our journalsYou should choose a topic close to your own research interests. The topic of the Special Issue should be of increasing interest within your field.
Ensure that the topic of your proposal is within the scope of the journal you are submitting it to. The scope of your Special Issue should be broad enough to attract a reasonable number of submissions but narrow enough to provide a cohesive collection of articles.
We strongly recommend that you look at the open Special Issues in the journal before submitting your proposal. This will help ensure that there is no overlap.
Your Special Issue proposal should take the form of a Call for Papers, which will be submitted to the Editorial Board of the journal for assessment.
The Call for Papers should be concise (max 400 words) and structured like this:
- Write a succinct title (max 10 words).
- Provide a summary of your chosen topic and its context.
- Explain the main challenges in your topic area.
- State the aims and scope, including encouraged submission types.
- List 10–15 bullet-point topics authors may submit on.
Each topic should be more descriptive than a keyword and linked to the Special Issue’s scope.
Special Issues are led by a Lead Guest Editor and a team of 2–5 Guest Editors. Responsibilities include:
- Managing peer review of submitted manuscripts
- Making final editorial decisions
- Liaising with the Content Development team
- Assigning manuscripts to appropriate Guest Editors
Proposals should list full names and affiliations of potential Guest Editors. Diversity in institutions and countries is recommended.
List of journalsRed Flower Publication’s Content Development Team first checks proposals for structure, scope, and editorial team credibility.
Then the journal's Editorial Board evaluates the proposal. Feedback may be provided to help improve your submission.
Final approval is decided by both the Content Development Team and the Editorial Board.
Note: If there's significant topic overlap with an existing open Special Issue, your proposal may be delayed.
This process typically takes 2–4 weeks from submission.
Curating a Special Issue
Once a Special Issue is approved, it will be made available online and open for submissions through the journal’s website. This page provides information on the various responsibilities of Lead Guest Editors and Guest Editors to help ensure their Special Issue is successful.
Publishing Special Issues
Once approved and finalized, the Special Issue will be open for submissions and the Call for Papers will be posted on the journal’s Open Special Issues page. A promotional PDF version of the Call for Papers will be available and can be shared via email, social media, and other platforms.
Our marketing team will also send the Call for Papers via email to researchers and promote it on our website and social media channels.
Promoting Your Special Issue
Red Flower Publications’ marketing team will conduct outreach by emailing the Call for Papers to researchers in the field. The most successful Special Issues are promoted actively by Guest Editors.
- Share the Call for Papers directly with researchers using the provided PDF.
- Add a short description and link in your email signature.
- Include a slide in conference presentations inviting participation.
- Use social media and tag @Red Flower Publications for broader reach.
- Maintain contact with interested authors and provide support as needed.
Handling Submitted Papers
Special Issue articles follow the standard peer-review process. Guest Editors select reviewers and make final decisions based on reviewer feedback. Red Flower Publications’ staff assists with administrative tasks like reminders and author notifications.
Key Editorial Policies
Submitting to Your Own Special Issue
Guest Editors can submit up to 3 articles plus an Editorial. However, such papers are handled independently by the journal's Editorial Board to avoid conflicts of interest.
Being Aware of Conflicts of Interest
Editors must avoid handling submissions from recent collaborators or colleagues. If a conflict exists, inform the Editorial Assistant immediately so another editor can be assigned.
Reviewer Conflicts
Editors must ensure selected reviewers do not have conflicts of interest with the authors.
Avoiding Citation Manipulation
Do not request unnecessary citations to your own or related works to manipulate metrics. This can result in sanctions.
Article Publication & APCs
Articles are published immediately upon acceptance. The Special Issue remains open for 4 months from Call for Papers to final submission. Guest Editors are encouraged to write an Editorial once all manuscripts are published.
Authors typically pay Article Processing Charges (APCs). Guest Editors may sponsor APCs if declared in advance and noted in the Conflicts of Interest section.
Submitting to a Special Issue
A Special Issue is a collection of articles that concentrates on a topical research area within the scope of a journal. Special Issues are targeted, timely, and insightful collections, meaning that they are often very well received.
Red Flower Publications actively promotes Special Issues to relevant researchers across multiple channels and discovery platforms, including email, social media, and search engines. This ensures your paper will be highly discoverable and shared widely with readers around the world.
By submitting your next manuscript to a Special Issue, you can contribute to the discussion amongst peers in an area of high interest and maximize the visibility of your research.
This page provides further information and a short overview of the process of finding and submitting to a Special Issue.
Special Issues offer more focused and specialized topics with high current interest within the scope of the journal in which they are published.
To find the most suitable Special Issue for your manuscript, start by finding the best journal for your manuscript.
Once you have found the right journal for your manuscript, check the "Open Special Issues" section on the journal’s page to see the full list of Special Issues accepting manuscript submissions.
Submitting a paper to an unsuitable journal is a key cause of article rejection. When selecting a Red Flower Publications journal, take the time to review a journal’s aims and scope to confirm that it is suitable for your manuscript. The sections and questions below will help you make the best choice when deciding where to publish your research.
Journal focus
Does the journal cover a wide range of topics or is it more focused?
For subject-specific journals, only relevant manuscripts will be considered for publication. If your article is cross-disciplinary or covers multiple topics, then a broader-scoped journal will be more suitable for the publication of your article. You can easily find the aims and scopes of our journals on their websites and these will provide you will a clear understanding of what kind of research will be considered.
Journal content
What type of content has the journal published previously?
As a reader, would you expect to see your article alongside the existing articles? Are they articles that you might have read during the course of your research? It is also worthwhile to check if a journal publishes Special Issues that are relevant to your area of research - these targeted, timely, and insightful collections of articles can give a very good indication of the kinds of content a journal publishes.
Journal metrics
How long does it take to receive decisions on a submission to the journal?
It is important to know the average time it takes a submission to receive a final decision or how long it takes after an article has been accepted being published. Knowing this information about the publication process means that you will understand when you can expect to hear from a journal editor or when your paper will be published. It is also important to understand what proportion of submissions are accepted by a journal so you can have the best idea of the likelihood or your article being accepted for publication. All of our journals have all of this information clearly displayed so you can make the most informed decision about where to publish.
Journal impact
What is the impact of the journal?
The Impact Factor of a journal is a consideration for authors, but many journals without Impact Factors are also important. The Impact Factor is generally skewed towards certain disciplines or types of publication and often journals without an Impact Factor are much more relevant to practitioners or very specific readerships. To help you make the best choice you may want to consider alternative statistical metrics, such as the Eigenfactor or Citescore, in your decision-making. Readership is also an important indicator of impact, and all of our journals now publish article-level metrics, such as usage statistics to help you better understand an article’s impact.
Discoverability
Will the right readers be able to easily find your articles?
Consider where a journal is distributed and whether it is indexed in the services that you use to discover articles. Journals indexed in major databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed are likely to receive more downloads and citations as a result of their improved discoverability.
Journal cost
What are the costs of publishing?
Like many other Open Access publishers, Red Flower Publications charges an article processing charge (APC) to cover the cost of publishing. This allows us to make the articles we publish freely available to all readers. We are committed to a transparent pricing structure, and you will always be able to find the current costs of publishing in our journals before you submit your manuscript. If you meet certain criteria, you may also be eligible for a waiver - making it completely free to publish in one of our journals. See our guide ‘What are article processing charges?’ for more detail on APCs.
Once you’ve chosen a journal that meets your needs, you’re ready to begin the submission process! See our ‘Ready to submit?‘ page for guidance on submitting your manuscript.
Special Issue articles follow the same peer-review process as other articles in Red Flower Publications’ journals.
Guest Editors serve the same function as Academic Editors for submissions to the Special Issue.
We only publish articles that have been approved by highly qualified researchers with expertise in a field appropriate to the topic of the article.
For more information, visit: to be decided
All papers submitted to Special Issues are subject to an Article Processing Charge (APC) if the manuscript is accepted for publication after peer review.
For more details on article processing charges, please follow the "Article Processing Charges" section of the associated journal for the Special Issue.
Manuscripts submitted to Special Issues are published upon acceptance regardless of the Special Issue publication date. They will immediately be made available online on the relevant Special Issue page and the table of contents on the journal website.
Manuscripts published in Special Issues are indexed in exactly the same way as articles published in the regular issue of the journal. They will appear in the relevant databases in which that journal is indexed.
We allow four months from the initial Call for Papers to the final submission deadline. After the deadline, the Special Issue will no longer accept new submissions, but new articles will continue to appear in the Special Issue as manuscripts make their way through the review process.
All completed Special Issues can be found under "Published Special Issues" within the journal website.
Should a Special Issue be cancelled, all under consideration and published manuscripts within the Issue will be transferred to the regular issue of the journal.
Special Issue Proposal Submission
Thank you for the interest in proposing a special issue to the Red Flower Publication Journal. Before submitting a special issue proposal, ensure that it meets the scope of the journal and our editorial guidelines. You should also verify that there is no overlap with the current special issue as it could delay the start of your special issue if accepted.
If you are submitting a conference issue, please include the word "Conference" in the title of the proposal and the details of the conference in the text of the proposal, including a link to the conference website.
We will contact you as soon as possible about your proposal. If you have any questions, contact us directly at author@rfppl.co.in