Special Issues & Guest Editor Policy

Macaw Publications recognises that carefully developed special issues can advance scholarly communication by bringing together high-quality research on focused, emerging, interdisciplinary, or rapidly developing areas of academic enquiry.

Special issues are subject to the same principles of research integrity, editorial independence, scholarly quality, transparent peer review, conflict-of-interest management, and post-publication accountability that apply to regular journal content. Appointment of a Guest Editor does not transfer ultimate responsibility for the journal or its published record away from the Editor-in-Chief, permanent editorial leadership, or publisher.

Scholarly Relevance • Independent Peer Review • Editorial Oversight • Research Integrity

POLICY PURPOSE

Responsible Management of Special Issues

This policy establishes the principles governing the proposal, approval, organisation, editorial management, peer review, publication, and post-publication oversight of special issues and other guest-edited scholarly collections published in Macaw Publications journals.

The purpose of a special issue is to facilitate concentrated scholarly examination of a defined topic that falls within the established aims and scope of the journal.

Special issues must not be used as mechanisms for bypassing normal editorial standards, increasing publication volume without adequate quality control, manipulating citations or journal metrics, or compromising the independence of peer review.

POLICY SCOPE

Content Covered by This Policy

This policy applies to special issues, thematic issues, special collections, guest-edited sections, conference-related collections, supplements containing scholarly articles, and comparable curated collections published by Macaw Publications journals.

Special Issues

Collections devoted to a focused subject, emerging research area, interdisciplinary theme, methodological development, or other scholarly topic within the journal's scope.

Thematic Collections

Groups of articles organised around a clearly identified research theme whether published together or progressively under a continuous-publication model.

Guest-Edited Content

Scholarly content for which appropriately appointed external subject specialists participate in editorial coordination under the supervision of the journal's permanent editorial leadership.

Sponsored or Collaborative Collections

Collections associated with academic institutions, conferences, scholarly organisations, research programmes, or other collaborations, provided that editorial independence and journal standards are preserved.

ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY

Role of the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief remains responsible for the scholarly and editorial integrity of the entire journal, including every special issue.

Appointment of one or more Guest Editors does not transfer the ultimate responsibility for editorial standards, ethical compliance, peer-review integrity, or the quality of published content away from the journal's permanent editorial leadership.

The Editor-in-Chief, or an appropriately authorised permanent editor acting under the Editor-in-Chief's authority, oversees Guest Editors and may review, modify, override, reassign, or decline editorial recommendations where necessary to protect scholarly quality or publication integrity.

The Editor-in-Chief may discontinue a proposed or active special issue if editorial, ethical, quality, scope, operational, or integrity concerns cannot be resolved adequately.

JOURNAL SCOPE

Alignment with the Journal's Aims and Scope

Every special issue must fall clearly within the established aims and scope of the journal. A special issue should deepen, extend, or appropriately complement the journal's scholarly coverage rather than introduce an unrelated subject merely to increase publication volume.

The proposed theme should demonstrate a coherent scholarly rationale, identifiable academic relevance, and sufficient breadth to support a meaningful collection of independent research contributions.

Individual manuscripts submitted to a special issue must also fall within both the scope of the special issue and the broader scope of the journal.

PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS

Evaluation of Special Issue Proposals

A special issue should be formally evaluated and approved before manuscript solicitation or public announcement.

Proposed special issue title and clearly defined scholarly theme.

Explanation of the academic significance, timeliness, and relevance of the proposed topic.

Explanation of how the proposed collection fits the stated aims and scope of the journal.

Proposed article themes or subtopics sufficient to demonstrate scholarly coherence.

Names, current institutional affiliations, country or region, qualifications, research expertise, and relevant scholarly profiles of proposed Guest Editors.

Disclosure of relevant financial, professional, institutional, collaborative, or personal competing interests.

Proposed submission and editorial timetable that permits adequate independent peer review.

Information concerning sponsorship, institutional collaboration, conference association, or external financial support where applicable.

APPROVAL

Editorial Approval Before Launch

Submission of a special issue proposal does not constitute approval.

The Editor-in-Chief and/or designated permanent editorial leadership evaluates the scholarly rationale, scope alignment, Guest Editor credentials, potential competing interests, proposed editorial structure, and feasibility of the issue.

A proposal may be accepted, revised, deferred, or declined. Macaw Publications is not obligated to proceed with a proposed special issue solely because potential contributors, institutions, conferences, or Guest Editors have expressed interest.

GUEST EDITOR ELIGIBILITY

Academic Expertise and Professional Suitability

Guest Editors should possess academic expertise appropriate to the subject of the proposed special issue and sufficient editorial or scholarly experience to support responsible manuscript evaluation.

Subject Expertise

Demonstrable expertise and an appropriate scholarly record in the subject area of the special issue.

Current Affiliation

A current and verifiable academic, research, professional, clinical, governmental, or equivalent scholarly affiliation where applicable.

Research Record

Relevant publications, research activity, professional contributions, or equivalent evidence of competence.

Editorial Integrity

Willingness and ability to follow journal policies on peer review, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, ethics, and research integrity.

Independence

Absence of unmanaged relationships or interests that would prevent impartial editorial handling.

Accountability

Agreement to work under the oversight of the journal's Editor-in-Chief and permanent editorial leadership.

VERIFICATION

Verification of Guest Editor Identity and Credentials

Proposed Guest Editors are subject to reasonable verification before appointment. Verification may include institutional webpages, scholarly publication records, ORCID or other researcher identifiers, professional profiles, institutional email addresses, and other independently verifiable information.

Macaw Publications may request additional information where identity, affiliation, expertise, publication history, conflicts of interest, or editorial suitability cannot be established adequately.

A Guest Editor appointment may be declined or withdrawn if credentials are materially inaccurate, misleading, unverifiable, or incompatible with the responsibilities of the role.

TRANSPARENCY

Public Identification of Guest Editors

Guest Editors should be identifiable to readers, authors, reviewers, institutions, and external journal evaluators.

Full professional name.

Current institutional or professional affiliation.

Country or region of the stated affiliation.

Relevant academic or professional role where appropriate.

Persistent researcher identifier or institutional profile may be provided where available.

The special issue or collection for which the individual serves as Guest Editor.

APPOINTMENT

Guest Editor Appointment and Responsibilities

Guest Editor appointments are specific to an approved special issue and do not automatically confer permanent membership of the journal's Editorial Board.

Guest Editors are expected to understand and follow the journal's peer-review, publication-ethics, confidentiality, competing-interest, data, AI, correction, and editorial policies.

The appointment may define the scholarly topic, editorial responsibilities, reporting relationship, expected schedule, confidentiality obligations, conflict-management requirements, and circumstances under which the appointment may be withdrawn.

GUEST EDITOR DUTIES

Scholarly and Editorial Responsibilities

Promote the approved scholarly theme accurately and without misleading claims.

Conduct initial scholarly assessment of assigned manuscripts within the boundaries of the journal's policies.

Select appropriately qualified and independent external reviewers.

Assess and manage reviewer conflicts of interest.

Maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and editorial correspondence.

Evaluate manuscripts impartially according to scholarly merit rather than author identity, reputation, institutional prestige, nationality, financial status, or personal relationships.

Provide reasoned editorial recommendations based on the manuscript and independent review reports.

Report suspected research misconduct, peer-review manipulation, citation manipulation, or other integrity concerns to the permanent editorial leadership.

PEER REVIEW

Same Scholarly Standards as Regular Issues

Special issue manuscripts are not subject to a reduced or simplified quality-control process.

Research and substantive scholarly manuscripts submitted to special issues undergo external peer review according to the established peer-review model of the respective journal.

Unless a clearly stated and legitimate article-type exception applies under the journal's published policy, manuscripts should ordinarily receive evaluation from at least two independent reviewers with appropriate subject expertise.

Guest Editors must not accept manuscripts solely on the basis of invitation, personal familiarity with the authors, conference participation, institutional association, sponsorship, or the authors' willingness or ability to pay publication charges.

REVIEWER INDEPENDENCE

Selection and Verification of Reviewers

Reviewers should be selected because they possess appropriate expertise and can provide an independent and competent scholarly assessment.

Reviewer expertise should correspond to the manuscript's subject, methodology, or principal research questions.

Reviewer identity, affiliation, institutional email, and relevant scholarly profile may be verified where necessary.

Reviewers with material personal, professional, financial, supervisory, collaborative, competitive, or institutional conflicts should not be used where such conflicts could compromise impartiality.

Excessive use of reviewers from the Guest Editor's immediate institution, close collaboration network, or research group should be avoided.

Author-nominated reviewers may be considered where permitted by journal policy but are not automatically selected.

Fabricated, manipulated, or impersonated reviewer identities constitute serious publication-integrity concerns.

GUEST EDITOR SUBMISSIONS

Independent Handling of Guest Editor Papers

A Guest Editor must not control the editorial assessment of their own manuscript.

A manuscript authored or co-authored by a Guest Editor must be assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or another appropriately qualified independent permanent editor who has no material conflict with the manuscript.

The Guest Editor concerned must not select reviewers, access confidential reviewer identities beyond what the journal's review model permits, influence reviewer recommendations, participate in editorial deliberations, or make the publication decision for their own paper.

Articles authored or co-authored by the Guest Editor or Guest Editors of a special issue must collectively constitute no more than 25% of the articles in that special issue.

EDITORIAL CONFLICTS

Submissions from Editors and Connected Individuals

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board members, publisher representatives, Guest Editors, or other persons with a material connection to the journal must not receive preferential treatment.

Such manuscripts should be assigned to an independent qualified editor who does not have a relevant conflict of interest.

The same standards of external peer review, revision, scholarly evaluation, ethical assessment, and publication decision apply as for manuscripts submitted by other authors.

COMPETING INTERESTS

Disclosure and Management of Conflicts

Guest Editors must disclose interests that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the selection, review, recommendation, or publication of manuscripts.

Financial Interests

Relevant employment, consultancy, investments, patents, commercial relationships, sponsorship, or other financial interests.

Professional Relationships

Recent collaboration, supervision, institutional dependency, significant academic competition, or other relationships capable of influencing editorial judgement.

Personal Relationships

Close personal or family relationships that could reasonably impair impartial editorial handling.

Intellectual Interests

Strong advocacy, direct competition, or other circumstances where the Guest Editor's prior commitments could materially compromise objective assessment.

EDITORIAL DECISION

Final Decision-Making Authority

Guest Editors contribute subject expertise but do not possess unrestricted authority over publication decisions.

A Guest Editor may provide a reasoned editorial recommendation after considering independent reviewer reports and author responses.

Final acceptance authority remains with the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriately designated permanent editor in accordance with the journal's editorial governance arrangements.

The permanent editorial leadership may seek additional review, reject an inadequate review process, require further revision, or decline a manuscript where publication would not satisfy the journal's standards.

INVITED CONTENT

Invitations Do Not Guarantee Publication

Guest Editors may identify relevant researchers and invite potential submissions where appropriate.

An invitation represents an invitation to submit for editorial consideration. It does not constitute acceptance, guaranteed publication, preferential review, or exemption from the journal's normal scholarly and ethical requirements.

Invited research articles are subject to the same appropriate peer-review and editorial procedures as other comparable submissions.

MANUSCRIPT SOLICITATION

Responsible Communication and Marketing

Communication relating to a special issue should be accurate, professional, appropriately targeted, and non-misleading.

Invitations should identify the journal and special issue accurately.

Communications must not guarantee manuscript acceptance.

Communications must not guarantee Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, citation, impact-factor, or other external indexing or performance outcomes.

Applicable author charges should not be concealed or represented misleadingly.

Unsolicited communication should not be excessive, deceptive, or unrelated to the recipient's scholarly field.

AUTHOR CHARGES

APCs and Financial Independence

Publication charges must not influence editorial decisions in special issues.

Any Article Processing Charge or other mandatory author-facing fee applicable to special issue manuscripts must be disclosed according to the policy of the individual journal.

Macaw Publications does not apply one universal APC across all journals. Therefore, authors should consult the individual journal website for the current and authoritative fee or no-fee information.

The existence, amount, payment, waiver, reduction, or absence of an APC must not influence reviewer selection, reviewer recommendations, revision requirements, editorial judgement, or acceptance decisions.

SPONSORSHIP

Special Issues Associated with Academic Events

Presentation at a conference does not constitute acceptance for journal publication.

Manuscripts derived from conference presentations or proceedings must satisfy the journal's requirements for originality, scholarly contribution, disclosure of prior publication, scope, research integrity, and independent peer review.

Where a manuscript substantially develops earlier conference-published material, authors should disclose the earlier version and explain the nature of the substantive extension where applicable.

PUBLICATION TRANSPARENCY

Clear Identification of Special Issue Content

Readers should be able to identify when an article belongs to a special issue or guest-edited collection.

The special issue title should be displayed clearly.

Guest Editor names and affiliations should be publicly identifiable.

Articles belonging to the collection should be associated clearly with the relevant special issue.

Publication dates and normal article bibliographic information should remain accurate.

Any relevant sponsorship or collaboration should be disclosed transparently.

SCHOLARLY PARTICIPATION

Author and Reviewer Diversity

Special issues should seek scholarly participation appropriate to the subject and should avoid unnecessary concentration of authors, reviewers, or editorial participants within a single close academic network.

Where appropriate to the field, participation across institutions, geographical regions, disciplinary perspectives, methodologies, and research communities is encouraged.

Diversity considerations do not replace the fundamental requirements of relevant expertise, scholarly quality, independence, and journal scope.

RESEARCH INTEGRITY

Ethical Standards for Special Issue Content

Special issue manuscripts are subject to the same publication ethics and research-integrity requirements as regular journal submissions.

Appropriate authorship and contributorship.

Prohibition of fabrication and falsification.

Appropriate assessment of plagiarism and serious redundant publication.

Management of competing interests.

Appropriate human-participant, animal, privacy, consent, and other ethical oversight where applicable.

Prohibition of citation manipulation and coercive citation.

Protection against peer-review manipulation.

Appropriate data, image, and research-record integrity.

CITATION INTEGRITY

Relevant and Scholarly Citation Practices

Citations must serve scholarly purposes rather than metric manipulation.

Guest Editors and reviewers must not require authors to cite irrelevant articles merely to increase citations to the journal, special issue, Guest Editor, reviewer, publisher, institution, or another publication.

Suggestions for additional references should be based on genuine scholarly relevance to the manuscript.

Coordinated citation behaviour intended primarily to influence citation metrics or journal rankings is inconsistent with responsible editorial practice.

AI & GENERATIVE AI

Use of AI in Special Issue Editorial Activities

Guest Editors, reviewers, authors, and permanent editors are subject to the Macaw Publications AI & Generative AI Use Policy.

Confidential submitted manuscripts, unpublished data, confidential reviewer reports, or identifiable editorial information must not be uploaded to external generative AI services where doing so would compromise confidentiality, privacy, intellectual property, contractual obligations, or information security.

Human editors and reviewers remain responsible for editorial assessments, reviewer recommendations, factual statements, citations, and publication decisions.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Protection of Submitted Material

Unpublished manuscripts and peer-review communications are confidential scholarly materials.

Guest Editors must not disclose manuscript content, unpublished findings, reviewer identities where protected by the journal's review model, reviewer reports, or confidential editorial correspondence except where disclosure is legitimately necessary for editorial, ethical, technical, or legal purposes.

Unpublished information obtained through Guest Editor duties must not be used for personal research, commercial gain, competitive advantage, or other unauthorised purposes.

QUALITY ASSURANCE

Monitoring During the Special Issue

Permanent journal editors may monitor special issue activity throughout the editorial process to ensure consistency with journal policies and scholarly standards.

Appropriateness and independence of reviewer selection.

Quality and substance of reviewer reports.

Consistency between decisions and available review evidence.

Concentration of authors, reviewers, Guest Editors, or institutional relationships.

Unusual patterns of rapid acceptance or inadequate revision.

Citation patterns or other indicators that may suggest manipulation.

Compliance with the approved topic and journal scope.

Compliance with publication-ethics requirements.

EDITORIAL INTERVENTION

Removal or Replacement of a Guest Editor

Macaw Publications or the Editor-in-Chief may remove, replace, restrict, or reassign a Guest Editor where credible concerns arise regarding competence, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, peer-review integrity, ethical conduct, inactivity, scope compliance, misleading communication, or failure to follow journal policy.

Manuscripts already under consideration may be reassigned to permanent editors or other independent qualified editors.

Removal of a Guest Editor does not automatically determine the outcome of manuscripts under review; each manuscript should be evaluated according to its scholarly and ethical merits.

SPECIAL ISSUE CANCELLATION

Discontinuation of an Approved Special Issue

An approved special issue may be discontinued when continuation would compromise scholarly quality or publication integrity.

Grounds may include insufficient suitable submissions, inadequate peer review, material departure from journal scope, unresolved Guest Editor conflicts, suspected manipulation, serious ethical concerns, misleading solicitation, or inability to maintain normal journal standards.

Where feasible and appropriate, manuscripts already under legitimate review may be considered for transfer to the journal's regular workflow rather than being automatically rejected solely because the special issue is discontinued.

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE

Timeliness Without Compromising Review

Special issue schedules should allow sufficient time for initial editorial assessment, independent reviewer selection, peer review, author revision, re-evaluation, final decision, and production.

A special issue deadline must not be used to justify superficial peer review, inadequate author revision, or automatic acceptance.

Where editorial assessment cannot be completed responsibly within the planned schedule, scholarly quality takes precedence over an artificial publication deadline.

METADATA & DISCOVERABILITY

Accurate Identification of Special Issue Content

Special issue metadata should enable readers and discovery services to identify the article, journal, collection, authors, and relevant publication information accurately.

Journal title and ISSN information remain consistent with the parent journal.

Article title, authors, affiliations, and publication dates should be recorded accurately.

The special issue or collection title should be represented consistently where appropriate.

DOI and other persistent identifiers should be assigned and maintained according to journal practice.

Corrections or retractions affecting special issue content should be reflected appropriately in article metadata.

POST-PUBLICATION INTEGRITY

Responsibility Continues After Publication

Special issue status does not limit the journal's responsibility for the published scholarly record.

Concerns raised after publication are considered under the same Publication Ethics & Research Integrity and Post-Publication Corrections & Retractions policies that apply to regular journal articles.

Appropriate action may include author clarification, independent assessment, correction, Expression of Concern, retraction, or another proportionate editorial response.

Guest Editors may be asked to cooperate with a post-publication investigation but must not independently control an investigation involving their own conduct or a matter in which they have a material conflict.

COMPLAINTS & APPEALS

Independent Review of Editorial Concerns

Authors may raise a reasoned complaint or appeal concerning the editorial handling of a special issue manuscript according to the journal's established complaints and appeals procedure.

A complaint involving a Guest Editor should not be decided solely by the Guest Editor who is the subject of that complaint.

The matter may be referred to the Editor-in-Chief, another independent senior editor, or the publisher as appropriate.

Appeals should address substantive scholarly, procedural, factual, or ethical matters rather than simply disagreement with an unfavourable editorial decision.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Publisher and Editorial Board Responsibility

Responsibility for the quality and integrity of a special issue ultimately remains with the journal and publisher.

Guest editing is a delegated scholarly role carried out within the journal's established editorial governance framework.

Neither the existence of a Guest Editor nor external collaboration removes the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief, permanent Editorial Board, and Macaw Publications to maintain appropriate editorial oversight.

Published special issue content should demonstrate in practice the standards and procedures declared in the journal's public policies.

INDEXING TRANSPARENCY

No Guaranteed Indexing or Citation Outcome

Approval or publication of a special issue does not constitute a guarantee that individual articles or the collection will be indexed, retained, or separately identified by Scopus, Web of Science, DOAJ, or another external service.

Decisions regarding inclusion, coverage, classification, citation processing, or continued indexing are made by the respective independent organisations according to their own policies.

Macaw Publications will not represent a special issue as having indexing status that has not been officially confirmed and independently verified.

REFERENCE FRAMEWORK

Standards Informing This Policy

This policy is informed by recognised principles of transparent, ethical, and accountable scholarly publishing and by current journal-evaluation expectations relevant to special issues and guest-edited content.

DOAJ

Directory of Open Access Journals criteria concerning special issues, Guest Editor oversight, independent peer review, conflicts of interest, editorial responsibility, author charges, and transparency.

DOAJ Guide to Applying

Principles of Transparency

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing concerning editorial governance, peer review, ethics, fees, business practices, and special content.

Principles of Transparency and Best Practice

Web of Science

Web of Science Core Collection journal evaluation requirements concerning editorial transparency, Guest Editor affiliations, peer review, scope alignment, website accuracy, and accountability for special issue content.

Web of Science Journal Evaluation Criteria

Scopus

Scopus journal selection principles concerning peer review, editorial policy, publication ethics, scope conformity, editor and author distribution, journal quality, and continuing publication standards.

Scopus Content Policy and Selection

Reference to DOAJ, Scopus, Web of Science, COPE, or other external organisations does not imply membership, indexing, accreditation, endorsement, certification, or approval by those organisations unless such status is separately stated and independently verifiable.

POLICY CONTACT

Special Issue and Guest Editor Enquiries

Publisher-level special issue enquiries

Questions concerning a particular special issue, manuscript, or Guest Editor should normally be directed first to the editorial office of the relevant journal.

Publisher-level enquiries concerning special issue governance, Guest Editor conduct, peer-review integrity, competing interests, or unresolved editorial concerns may be directed to:

Macaw Publications
H.No. 4-123/8/172, Road No. 1, Indraprastha Colony,
Hathiguda, Hayath Nagar, Hyderabad,
Telangana – 501505, India

Email: publisher@macawpublications.com

Correspondence should identify the relevant journal and special issue and provide sufficient information to enable appropriate editorial assessment.

Policy version: 1.0 | Effective date: 09 August 2026 | Review cycle: Periodic review and revision as required

SPECIAL ISSUE INTEGRITY

Focused Scholarship. Independent Review. Accountable Editorial Oversight.

Macaw Publications is committed to ensuring that special issues strengthen rather than weaken the scholarly standards of its journals. Guest-edited content is therefore governed by the same expectations of independent peer review, editorial responsibility, research integrity, transparency, scholarly relevance, conflict management, and post-publication accountability that apply to the journal's regular scholarly content.

Expertise • Independence • Integrity • Accountability