Special issues
Propose a Special Issue
The Journal of Respiratory Diseases welcomes proposals for focused collections that address important questions in respiratory disease and respiratory health. Researchers with relevant expertise are invited to review the proposal requirements and contact the editorial office.
What it is
A collection, held to the journal's ordinary standards
A focused extension of the journal's remit
A special issue gathers work on one question or area within the journal's scope, so that related studies appear together and can be read against each other. Its subject sits inside the territories set out in the aims and scope, never outside them.
Reviewed on the same terms as everything else
Manuscripts submitted to a special issue undergo the journal's ordinary screening and peer review. Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
Guest editors, and where their authority ends
A guest editor shapes the collection and helps identify reviewers. Guest editors declare competing interests in the work they handle, and a manuscript authored by a guest editor is handled independently of them. Final responsibility for every decision rests with the journal.
Proposing
What a proposal needs to say
- The question or area the collection addresses, and why it warrants gathering work together now.
- How it sits within the journal's scope, and which territories of respiratory research it draws on.
- The proposed guest editors, their relevant expertise and their competing interests.
- The kinds of contribution you expect to attract, and roughly how many.
- A workable timetable for submission and review.
Send a proposal, or ask whether an idea would suit the journal, at [email protected]. Proposal guidance is also set out on the proposing a special issue page.