General Instructions

The editors of International Journal of Computational Science (IJCS) welcome proposals for special issues on topics that fall within the scopes of the journal. To guarantee the quality of the journal, the editors will seek to identify the proposals of the highest quality for publication.

Objectives of Special Issues

Special issues of IJCS should offer

    •  either an authoritative review of current thinking and debates in a particular area of

         computational science, that at the same time takes these debates forward;

    •  or a presentation of state-of-the-art analysis within an area of current approach and

         academic interest, that thus informs approach debate in this area.

They should

    •  promote understanding of topics in the computational science;

    •  provide pointers to future trends and challenges.

Preparing a Proposal for a Special Issue

Each special issue is the responsibility of guest editor(s). Those wishing to guest edit a special issue should prepare a proposal as outlined below, then send this to ijcseditor@gmail.com. On the basis of the proposal, the editor-in-chief will decide whether or not the guest editor(s) should proceed with preparation of the special issue. Proposals should:

• Set out the importance of the area and topics that the special issue will focus on;
• Explain the anticipated contribution of the special issue in advancing understanding in this area;
• Identify papers and authors for possible inclusion in the special issue, with a brief description of each paper. (These papers do not need to have been written at the time that the proposal is presented, although our assumption is that most will be based on work already in progress). When a given author has published extensively on a subject already, it is necessary to have some indication of the new contribution to be made by the proposed paper for the special issue;
• Indicate the time-scale in which the special issue could be produced (paper writing, reviewing, and submission of final copies to IJCS assuming the proposal is accepted.

A special issue of IJCS should be 60,000-65,000 words long, meaning a maximum of then to thirteen papers if these are on average 5000 words long (including abstract, appendices, tables etc). Special issues with fewer, longer papers are also possible. Proposals should include more possible papers than can be included in the eventual issue. This is so that the refereeing process can select the best 10-13 papers for final inclusion in the issue.

Most special issues will include some form of overview paper that sets out the key policy issues in the area concerned (with appropriate reference to existing literature) and summarizes the contribution of the special issue to furthering understanding of them. All papers within the special issue should address explicitly one or more of the policy issues highlighted in the overview paper. It should not just be left to the overview paper to draw out the policy implications of the assembled papers.

To assist the editors in understanding how the papers in the proposal would contribute to a coherent special issue, the proposal should include a matrix that:

• Lists the key policy issues that the special issue intends to address
• Shows which papers will contribute to our understanding of which policy issues.

This matrix can also act as a useful tool during the preparation of a special issue, by showing authors the overall context of the issue and how their paper is supposed to contribute to this.

Editing a “Successful” Special Issue

Once a proposal has been approved in principle by the Editor-in-Chief, it is the responsibility of the Guest Editor(s) to deliver the soft copy of entire issue to IJCS within the agreed time-scale. Guest Editors must organize a double-blind reviewing process for all papers submitted for inclusion in the special issue, so as to:

• Identify those papers to be finally included in the special issue
• Strengthen these papers, so as to ensure the highest standards for the issue.

The editors of IJCS require to see copies of all correspondence between reviewers and Guest Editors at the time that the completed draft of the special issue is submitted to IJCS.

Guest Editors should keep the Editor-in-Chief of IJCS informed by e-mail of progress in preparing the special issue and in particular alert them in advance if agreed deadlines are likely to slip.

Once the final selection of papers has been made and final versions of all these have been received, the Guest Editors should send electronic copies (e-mail attachment) to Editor-in-Chief. The final papers should be submitted as MS word file or Latex file in the format of IJCS(every type need an additional PDF file). At the same time, they should send copies of the correspondence with reviewers to the Editor-in-Chief and also request all authors of selected papers to send completed hand-signed IJCS copyright form to editorial office or email box: ijcseditor@gmail.com.

The Editors reserve the right to request a third review of papers and, if necessary, to request modifications to an issue before approving it for publication. However, the procedures set out above are designed to minimize the need for such measures.

Special Sections

The editors of IJCS also welcome proposals for special sections within an issue of the journal (a total of 3-5 papers, including a brief introductory piece). The procedures for preparing proposals and editing “successful” special sections are the same as for special issues, with the exception of the number of papers involved.