Special Issues: Terms & Guidelines for Guest Editors

The Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis (JCPA), Routledge, UK, welcomes proposals for Special Issues on a variety of topics and disciplines adhering to the Aims and Scope of the Journal. For submission of Proposals, please contact the Special Issues Executive Editor(s) Sonja Blum and Anat Gofen.

 

The topic, papers submitted, the quality and content of the articles, as well as timely submissions and resubmissions are primarily the responsibility of the Guest Editor. Final acceptance or rejection decisions are reached in consultation with the Special Issues Executive Editor, who has the final authority.

 

Manuscripts submitted for publication in the Special Issue are subject to all the rules and procedures of double blindfold peer review applied to all manuscripts submitted to the Journal.

 

The publication of a Special Issue is contingent upon the signature of an Agreement with the Guest Editor, which will be legally binding as confirmation of acceptance of the JCPA terms and guidelines below. Your Agreement confirms that you have read, fully understand, and adhere to the terms and guidelines below.

  • The prospective JCPA Special Issue Guest Editor(s) will provide a 500-word Proposal that includes the topic, its relevance, and its contribution to comparative public policy analysis (see Guideline for proposals).
  • The Special Issues Executive Editor will review the proposal and may suggest amendments. If accepted, the Guest Editor may propose already commissioned papers and/or will issue a Call for Papers and/or proffer to host a Workshop.
  • The Guest Editor will be in charge of compiling the articles and appointing an Advisory Committee of up to three reputed scholars in the field to assist in the desk selection of 7-10 papers of 8,000 words each for submission. The Special Issues Executive Editor will be consulted about the committee’s composition and articles selected.
  • All papers included must be comparative in nature, explicitly emphasize their contribution to comparative public policy analysis methodology and/or theory and discuss public policy implications or issues. They must strictly adhere to the Aims and Scope of the Journal.
  • The Guest Editor will provide an Introduction to the Special Issue, which will introduce the publication's scholarly focus and contribution. The Guest Editor cannot contribute to more than one authored or co-authored article in this Special Issue.
  • After acceptance of a special issue, the Guest Editor will request Routledge through the Special Issues Executive Editor to open a platform for the Special Issue article uploads and review process under Special Issue title.
  • The Guest Editor will be responsible for setting the dates for a 10-day window for all authors’ submissions/uploads to ScholarONE. After the set dates, the portal will close, and no late manuscripts will be accepted for review for the Special Issue. An exception is the Guest Editor’s special issue introduction, which may be submitted later at a date to be consulted with the SI Executive Editor.
  • The Guest Editor will also be responsible for setting a deadline for submitting the final revised and accepted articles and ensuring that they are forwarded to Production for publication.
  • Each Guest Editor will have an individual Special Issue account opened on Routledge’s ScholarONE system and a personal access code. Due to the sensitivity and confidentiality of the process, the code must be kept in confidence.
  • The Guest Editor will act as Lead Editor in charge of the double blindfold reviewing process of the articles submitted, as well as overseeing the timelines set by the JCPA. S/he will upload the names of four (4) reviewers per article, contact them within a week of manuscript submissions, and monitor reviewers’ responses, authors' revisions, etc. The Special Issues Executive Editor will oversee the anonymous blindfold review of the Introduction.
  • The Guest Editor will provide council to the authors and be in touch with the reviewers to enhance the quality of the articles as well as facilitate a cohesive and timely Special Issue.
  • The Guest Editor shall not communicate acceptance to authors of Special Issue papers until the Executive Editor’s final approval has been received.
  • The Guest Editor will process manuscripts in full accordance with the normal editorial policies of the Journal, adhering to the peer review and publication ethics policies of the Journal and Publisher.
  • The Guest Editor undertakes to treat all information accessed and received during the peer review process as confidential.
  • The Guest Editor undertakes to maintain the integrity of the peer review process.
  • The Guest Editor undertakes to submit all queries regarding the peer review process to the SI Executive Editor or her designate.
  • The Guest Editor will endeavour to have all accepted manuscripts submitted by the agreed deadline in a complete form and in good order, prepared according to the Journal’s style specifications.
  • The Guest Editor must keep the JCPA Special Issues Co-Editor informed of progress and, in particular, warn the JCPA Special Issues Co-Editor of any likely delays so that appropriate plans can be made.
  • The Guest Editor will use best endeavours to ensure that all contributing authors are aware of their own responsibilities regarding copyright and legal issues, and that authors are aware that, if their contribution is accepted, they will be required to sign a publishing license and warranty.
  • The Guest Editor is aware that if the Special Issue is the result of a SCPA sponsored Workshop for which a fee has been paid, or part of an Institutional Membership, or that the authors are individual members - there is no fee required for the Special Issue submission and Free-Access publication for the Non-Open access articles. The Guest Editor is responsible for ensuring these terms are fulfilled and provided to the JCPA Executive Director (jcpaexecutive@gmail.com) before the uploading of the Special Issue articles on ScholarONE.
  • The Guest Editor must sign the agreement clause at the end of this document and forward it to the JCPA Executive Director before the submission of the Special Issue.
  • It is standard procedure to publish five to six accepted papers per issue. In the event that one or two papers do not make it to the publication finish line, they can still be published in a JCPA General Issue.
  • Note that Special Issues will, unfortunately, have to be dissolved, and the accepted papers published in general issues if more than 6-8 months have passed since the submission of papers to the full acceptance of the Special Issue for publication as a whole. In exceptional cases, an extension of a maximum of no more than 1.5 months can be considered.
  • Please make sure that the authors are clearly made aware that an article must not exceed 8,000 words and that each issue should not exceed 112 printed pages due to the additional cost per page. If the Guest Editor wishes to increase the inclusion of contributions, an arrangement for additional pages may be made at a per-page cost determined by the Publisher. We are happy to accommodate such a request to advance scholarly knowledge.
  • The papers should be of the highest scholarly standards and adhere to JCPA’s Comparative Aims and Scope. In particular, as expected by the JCPA readership, the articles must be explicitly comparative in perspective, stressing theoretical and/or methodological applications or development.
  • To this end be sure to include the terms comparative/comparison in the article title and the keywords section. For supplementary material, see https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/
  • The Guest Editor is advised to encourage authors to engage in a dialogue, both within the Special Issue and with other authors who have published in the JCPA, to exchange ideas and outline added knowledge.
  • Guest Editors who are faculty of a Member Institution or convene a Special Issue Workshop will not incur a Special Issue registration fee.
  • The Editorial Office undertakes to assist the Guest Editor in conducting peer review and ensuring that all procedures are properly followed.
  • The JCPA Special Issues Executive Editor undertakes to inform and advise the Guest Editor as necessary on all matters relating to the Special Issue and on the editorial policy of the Journal in general. The Editor-in-chief and the Special Issues Executive Editor, rather than the Guest Editor, make the absolute final editorial decision on all of the manuscripts being considered for possible publication in the Special Issue.
  • All subscribers to the Journal will receive a copy of the Special Issue at no additional cost to the subscribers.
  • The Publisher will, unless prevented by circumstances beyond their control, at their own risk and expense, produce and publish the Special Issue.
  • The Publisher will have the entire control of publication, and the paper, printing, binding, jacket, and embellishments, the manner and extent of advertisement, the number and distribution of free copies for review or otherwise, and the price and terms of sales of the Special Issue on the open market will be at their sole discretion.
  • The Publisher will prepare and publish the Special Issue in the Journal, reserving the right to make such editorial changes as may be necessary to make the Special Issue suitable for publication and reserving the right not to proceed with publication for whatever reason. In such an instance, the copyright in the Special Issue will revert to the Guest Editor.
  • The Publisher reserves the right to postpone or cancel publication of a Special Issue should there be failure to meet an agreed deadline.
  • The Guest Editor hereby warrants to the Publisher that s/he has full power to enter into this Agreement.
  • The Guest Editor hereby warrants that included in the text of the Special Issue will be an appropriate statement should the Guest Editor or any of the contributors have a financial interest or benefit arising from the direct applications of the research published in the Special Issue.
  • In consideration of the publication of the Special Issue, the Guest Editor assigns to the Publisher with full title guarantee all rights of copyright and related rights in the Special Issue. This includes the right to publish the Special Issue in all forms, now known or developed in the future, including electronic and digital, for the full legal term of the copyright and any extension or renewals, and to sub-license to others. The contributors will retain the right to use the substance of their article contributions in their own future works, including lectures, press releases, and reviews, provided that they acknowledge their prior publication in the Journal in accordance with the Author Rights policies of Taylor & Francis.

Our agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England.

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