Special Issues in the Italian Economic Journal

The Italian Economic Journal (ItEJ) welcome the submission of proposal of Special Issues.

The articles included in a Special Issue should fulfil all the normal requirements in terms of quality, originality, and significance of any individual Italian Economic Journal (ItEJ) article, and should be of relevance to a wide international and multidisciplinary readership. Special Issue articles must not consist of overviews of the authors' previously published work or by-products of previous research. 

1.  Initial proposal and agreement in principle
All Special Issues must receive initial approval from the Managing Editorial Board before the papers are submitted.
Proposals should be emailed to the Editor in Chief (alessandro.sapio@uniparthenope.it).

There are two formats proposals can take:

1: Special Issue full proposal
A detailed proposal should include:

• Provisional title, proposed Guest Editors, date likely to be submitted;
• A brief CV of the proposed Guest Editors;
• A statement of the Special Issue rationale for the ItEJ (why a special issue as opposed to papers for normal issues of the journal?). A draft introduction is advisable.
• Titles and draft abstracts of each of the proposed articles and any draft papers that are available. Preferably, there should be at least 10 proposed articles to allow for possible rejections. Only 6/7 articles are going to be published.
• Brief details of contributors;
• Timing of the main steps and expected date of submission to the publishers.

2: Special Issue Call for Papers.
This proposal format must contain:

• The provisional title, proposed Guest Editors, date likely to be submitted;
• A brief CV of the proposed Guest Editors;
• A statement of the Special Issue’s significance for the ItEJ, and the likely content to be covered.
• A draft of the Call for Papers. The Editor in Chief (alessandro.sapio@uniparthenope.it) can be contacted for guidance and examples of previous Calls for Papers.
• Timing of the main steps and expected date of submission to the publishers

The Managing Editorial team will consider whether the initial proposal is of interest to the journal and the proposed Guest Editors will be informed whether or not it will be granted agreement in principle to proceed. The Editor in Chief will then appoint one of ItEJ Managing Editors to assume responsibility for the  Special Issue.  Guest Editors are expected to oversee the peer review process for the Special Issue but the final approval for each paper will be given by the sponsoring Managing Editor.

The sponsoring Managing Editor and the Guest Editors will point liaise directly among each other regarding progress of the Special Issue and any queries that arise throughout the process. In cases where a Call for Papers is issued, the Editor in Chief will liaise with the Guest Editors and the Sponsoring Editor to finalise and release the Call for Papers as widely as possible. Guest Editors will also be given full support and guidance regarding the use of the online submission and reviewing system used by the ItEJ. The Springer Staff will also give full support and guidance.

3.  The review process and editorial procedure

For special issue without a Call for Papers, the Guest Editors consider the articles and, when they are happy that they meet the appropriate standard of quality, originality, and significance, instruct the authors to submit their papers via the ItEJ online submission system. Guest Editors should make it clear to authors that being invited to submit a paper is not a guarantee of its publication. Authors should submit their papers to the appropriate Special Issue, from a dropdown menu within the system, when asked during the submission process.  The submitted papers will then be available within the online system for the Guest Editors to send out for double blind peer review. The Sponsoring Managing Editor is available to assist should there be any doubt about a course of action to take.

For proposals involving a Call for Papers, as submissions to the Special Issue arrive directly from Authors in the online submission and review system, the Guest Editors will be able to access and assess whether each paper is within the scope for the Special Issue. The paper will then either be rejected or should be sent out for peer review.  If a paper does not meet the criteria required for the Special Issue, Guest Editors may reject papers without them having been sent for external peer review. The Sponsoring Managing Editor is available to assist should there be any doubt about a course of action to take.

For all Special Issue types please note that:

• The Managing Editor may wish to take a first look at all papers submitted to a Special Issue and can reject papers without review on the basis of quality, originality, or significance, or ask for further revisions to be made prior to review.

• The double-blind peer review of each paper is carried out in the usual manner via the Journal’s online submission and peer review system by the Guest Editor. Once reviews are returned, the Guest Editor will need to take a provisional decision and this will be communicated to the Sponsoring Managing Editor for their confirmation of decision. Should the Sponsoring Managing Editor not agree with the acceptance decision proposed, the Guest Editor may appeal at this point if wished. In this case, the final decision is in the hand of the Editor-in-Chief.

• As articles are accepted the Guest Editor will be prompted to start preparing an introductory article (which will be original and not previously published) to be submitted no later than 2 weeks after the acceptance of the last article in the issue.  This introduction should set the scene and provide the premise for the special issue referencing the articles included within.

• It should be noted that during the review process, the Sponsoring Managing Editor can reject individual papers, or, in consultation with the Editor-in-Chief, the Special Issue as a whole, if it does not meet quality standards. If fewer articles than anticipated are accepted, a part-Special Issue may be proposed by the Managing Editor, or articles can be singled out and published without an introduction.

• As each article is accepted it will be published and be citable on ScienceDirect as an Article in Press until the full Special Issue is accepted and complete. Authors will be sent proofs to check during this time.

• The Editor-in-Chief will adjudicate on any disagreements that arise during the editorial process.

4. General information

Length
As a general guide, a full Special Issue should comprise of approximately 7/8 articles, including the introduction by the Guest Editors. Where the review process results in fewer articles than this, a part-Special Issue or individual articles can be published.

Timetable
Authors should work to clear deadlines set by the Guest Editors and Sponsoring Managing Editor, and be made aware that if they miss deadlines for submission, revisions or return of proofs then their papers may be excluded from the Special Issue so as not to disadvantage other authors.

Membership
The ItEJ cannot accept more that two Special Issues for every volume of the Journal.

For any further information please refer to the Editor in Chief (alessandro.sapio@uniparthenope.it).