GUEST EDITORS


1. Background

Information Systems aims to have between 1 and 3 special issues per year.

Typically a special issue would be 4-8 papers (depending upon length) 
and a special section 2-3 papers alongside regular papers.

A special issue may either be:

Open call: This has the advantage of capturing that special paper 
written by that special person whom we have not heard of  (this could 
include an advert in IS).  The method has the disadvantages of 
perhaps resulting in a rather unbalanced special issue (from the 
point of view of topics) and requiring substantially more work on the 
part of the guest editors.

Soliciting papers: Here the guest editor(s) prepare a list of 
desirable topics and prospective (well-informed and articulate) 
authors.  Given this list, the recommended procedure is sending all 
the prospective authors on the list an invitation to submit a paper 
on their topic (again for peer review) at the same time sending them 
a list of all the topics and all the prospective authors being 
invited.  This can have the effect of giving prospective authors a 
look at the anticipated quality of the end result and, usually, the 
prospective authors do not want to be left out.
We may want to mix the two.



2. Responsibilities of the Guest Editor

* agree on a timetable and refereeing procedure with co-editor
* seek submissions either by CFPs or by direct invitation or both
* arrange independent reviewing
* provide final versions of papers according to normal journal 
requirements (hardcopy + electronic) to the overseeing Editor 
including an editorial and the ordering of articles.



3. Ground rules

* other than in exceptional circumstances there should be a minimum 
of 3 reviews per paper.  These reviews should be conducted knowing 
that the paper is under consideration for the journal, as opposed to 
for a workshop/conference.
* papers should be of a suitable standard for an international, 
archival research journal.
* papers should not have normally been published elsewhere but could 
be extended or refined versions of conference papers, most likely 
where the conference proceedings are not formally published or are 
hard to obtain.  It is necessary to ensure papers originating from a 
conference are of a suitable style and standard to warrant journal 
publication.
* guest editor restricted to an editorial (can be an extended 
editorial eg to provide some background or tutorial information)


4. Process

The prospective guest editor submits a proposal that should detail:

* the theme and indicative content including target number of papers
* how the papers will be solicited and a list of potential authors 
and topics (where relevant)
* how the papers will be reviewed
* a timetable showing when a CFP will be distributed, the submission 
deadline, reviewer deadline and revision deadline for revised papers. 
NB 4 months should be allowed for the production process

The proposal will be circulated amongst the editors in chief who will make a 
joint decision taking into account other special issues that in the 
pipeline.


Further information concerning the journal can be found at 
http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/is
http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/faculty/shasha/papers/authorinst.doc