Proposal Guidelines

GUIDELINES FOR A SPECIAL ISSUE PROPOSAL

The OTESSA Journal of Education/Revue OTESSA has a standing invitation for Special Issues that relate to the focus and scope of the journal. Any Special Issue will have the opportunity to consider articles across our categories of discourse articles, research articles, and practice articles, although guest editors can propose a Special Issue that is dedicated to only one of those categories or suggest the creation of new categories as suitable for the call. Any proposed new categories will require approval by the Journal Editors. These articles are organized under a specific theme and introduced by the Guest Editor(s).

Submitting a proposal

Proposals are accepted in response to a “Call for Proposals for a Special Issue” and will include an identified deadline.  Please submit the proposal to the editors at journal [at] otessa.org and copy their institutional email addresses. The Editors will review and respond to all proposals.

Guidelines

  1. The proposal will include a rationale for the theme of the issue, gaps in theory/research and/or practice as applicable to the type of articles invited and their significance, a list of potential topics for the articles under a particular theme, and an indication of scholars who have committed to submitting. A draft special issue call for proposals, which is to be posted on the website, is to be included in the proposal for review along with a special issue management plan that addresses workload, division of labour, reviewers, etc.
  2. The articles chosen for publication must be from diverse perspectives, so the issue or topic is taken up in a way that shows a comprehensive understanding of the issue or topic from diverse perspectives.
  3. The guest editors will include a clear delineation of division of workload among the editors (e.g., what number of proposals and what number of invited articles will fall to each guest editor and what is the back-up plan should one or more guest editors become unavailable)
  4. The review process must be detailed to ensure a sound process, including how reviewers will be identified along with a list of suggested reviewers. Suggested reviewers for the special issue must be drawn from a variety of institutions, scholarly associations or special interest groups, and disciplines. Reviewers may not review more than two articles.
  5. The proposal must address the language(s) being supported in the call and what supports they will provide or what supports they will expect from the Journal (e.g., if they do not have a French guest editor, but wish to be inclusive of French submissions, that they seek collaboration with the Journal in accessing a French editor, translators, etc.)
  6. A timeline must be provided with proposal submission deadline, decision date, publication date, and ranges for each of the phases of the review. Note that the OTESSA Journal upholds an inclusive, flexible, and human-centred approach to the review process. Overall, our deadlines are typically open to some flexibility, so we encourage guest editors to be similarly open in how they interact with potential authors. While developing a proposal, the Guest Editor and their team should communicate with an OTESSA Editor to identify a target date that will work with other planned issues and should work together to backwards plan a timeline from the target issue date.

Timelines and workload

The workload for Guest Editors can be considerable, and the plan, including how the editorial role accords with any institutional workload policies, planned sabbatical leaves, and so on, should be included. The OTESSA Journal will provide the timeframe for the Special Issue publication in the Call.

Roles and Responsibilities

Guest Editors are responsible for the following:

  • Develop a theme for the issue clarifying a plan for the English and/or French submissions;
  • Submit a proposal with the following content:           
    • Name of each guest editor, their credentials, affiliations, and CVs
    • Rationale for the proposed issue (approximately 500 words)
    • Timeline for authors with clear due dates and anticipate issue date (develop in coordination with an OTESSA Journal Editor)
  • Provide a timeline from a call for papers to submitting reviewed manuscripts to the OTESSA Journal;
  • Issue an open or closed call for papers as well as secure commitments for submissions from at least 2-3 well-recognized scholars in the field. Guest Editor(s) are expected to communicate with OTESSA Journal Editors, who may provide assistance if they face obstacles, such as lack of diversity in author turnout for a call;
  • Once articles are chosen from the CFP and prior to notification of authors, Guest Editor(s) will submit to the Journal Editors an outline of a minimum of 5 proposed articles and a maximum of approximately 15. This should include working titles, author names and their institutional affiliations. Each article should include a brief statement about the topic, theory, methodology, and significance (about 100 words);
  • A description of the peer review process: Screening manuscripts, retaining/supporting at least two appropriate reviewers per article, ensuring overly harsh or inappropriate review comments do not get sent to the authors, overseeing article revisions, and delivering a minimum of five accepted articles to the OTESSA Journal;
  • Ordering the articles and preparing an editorial introduction to the issue communicating the organizing theme and explaining how the selected articles contribute to that theme or body of scholarship. Guest Editors should expect that all articles should plan for approximately a 4-week lead time to account for copyediting and production and understand that articles can be posted immediately individually as they are ready as our journal supports a continuous publication model so as not to hold up dissemination of knowledge; and
  • Publicizing the issue through social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, X/Twitter, etc.), the Web, email lists, and any other channels available. We encourage Guest Editor(s) to consider creative options for supporting dissemination and discourse, such as hosting a video session with authors to discuss their papers and to discuss ideas with OTESSA Journals in advance.

The OTESSA Journal is responsible for:

  • Assistance with screening of and decision-making about submissions;
  • Support in the use of the open journal system (OJS);
  • Support in identifying appropriate reviewers;
  • Support with submissions from a language outside of the guest editor’s fluency, including locating other editorial support in that language, translations, etc.;
  • Copyediting and layout of articles;
  • Stepping into Editorial role should a guest editor also be submitting an article; and
  • Uploading final articles and publicizing the issue through its communications channels.

Policies

  • All accepted Special Issues are required to meet the high editorial standards of the OTESSA Journal;
  • The OTESSA Journal recommends no more than two Guest Editors, but this is not a requirement;
  • The Guest Editors will work in conjunction with the respective Journal Editor(s), who will collaborate on all decision-making prior to final decisions; (timeline/acceptance/revisions/resubmit for review/rejection) being made;
  • Guest Editors are asked to be aware of potential conflict of interest situations with respect to author who are colleagues and to consult with the Journal Editors as appropriate; and
  • Authors and reviewers must represent diverse backgrounds (to support equality, diversity, and inclusion) to ensure relevance to the human population to which our scholarship ultimately serves.