Guest Editor Information for Magazines
Deadlines for Special Issues
Because the schedule gives us only five months to complete the peer review process for special-issue (SI) submissions, from start to finish, we strongly encourage you to follow this review schedule closely:
Week 0: Manuscript submissions due, ScholarOne checklist complete.
Week 1: Guest editor (GE) assigns reviewers to all submissions (rejecting some prior to review as needed). Guest editors may not serve as reviewers.
Weeks 4-6: Reviewers submit their reviews.
Week 7: GEs submit their recommendations (via ScholarOne Manuscripts) to the EIC.
Week 9: Editor in chief (EIC) makes decisions, triggering decision emails to authors.
Week 10: Publications coordinator sends decision letters to authors, with revision recommendations as required.
Weeks 11-13: Authors submit revised articles.
Week 14: Publications coordinator or EIC sends revised “major” submissions back to the original reviewers.
Week 16: Reviewers submit new reviews.
Week 17: GEs review the revised articles (accepts, minor changes, and major changes) and make recommendations to the EIC regarding what to include in the issue, the number of pages allocated to each article, and what (if anything) the authors still need to address during the staff editing cycle.
Week 18: EIC makes final decisions; publications coordinator sends out decision letters.
Week 20: Final files uploaded to ScholarOne.
Do not accelerate this schedule without the concurrence of the EIC and the staff editor.
Creating a Special Issue/CFP
- Your CFP will be posted on the magazine website and you’ll be given the URL for dissemination.
- A group email alias will be created, which all guest editors will use to shepherd papers through the peer review process.
- The special issue will be opened in ScholarOne Manuscripts and you’ll receive an email with login instructions
Solicitation Process
Solicit from authors original work that has not been published elsewhere. Papers that have appeared in a conference proceedings may be submitted but must undergo our detailed technical review process. To be accepted, a significant portion of the content must be new. Tell submitters that you cannot accept any manuscripts; you recommend them to the editor in chief, who makes final decisions.
Solicit reviewers—as many qualified ones reflecting the international community as possible and the number of submissions each is willing to review—before submissions arrive. (Note that guest editors may not act as reviewers.) Send a complete contact list to the publications coordinator. If you’ve already confirmed their willingness to review in the allotted time (about three weeks) and the number of articles each is willing to review, the process will be smooth. Remind reviewers of the focus you’ve set and any particular manuscript characteristics that you seek. At least three reviews by qualified people are required before decision making.
Submission Process
The IEEE Computer Society uses a secure, all-electronic, web-based manuscript submission and peer review tracking system called ScholarOne Manuscripts. Authors who wish to submit must use this system. First-time users must create a new account; from there, they log in to their own Author Center and upload their submission. The process is easy, and the site itself provides detailed instructions on usage. Once an author uploads a manuscript, he or she can check its review status at any time, because it can be viewed online. The publications coordinator sends authors an acknowledgment of receipt as soon as the manuscript is checked for proper word count.
To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, guest editors who submit an article to their special issue must first obtain the EIC’s approval. The submission must be reviewed separately.
If an author sends you a submission directly, please direct him or her to ScholarOne Manuscripts.
Manuscript Text Requirements
Please see each magazine’s Author Information page for word count and reference limits:
Peer Review Policies
Concurrent Submission: We do not allow submission to more than one publication at one time. If we determine that a manuscript has been submitted to another publication before the review process is completed, we will reject the manuscript.
Duplicate Submissions: We do not accept duplicate submissions of manuscripts. Authors should not try to enter or upload a modified version of manuscripts that are already in the system as a new submission. Identical submissions will be immediately rejected.
Preliminary/Conference Version(s): If the authors provided a previously published conference submission, please take the time, before assigning reviewers, to check the submission to determine whether there has been sufficient new material added to warrant publication. Section 8.2.1.B.9 of the IEEE Publication Services and Products Board (PSPB) Operations Manual specifies that authors should only submit original work that has neither appeared elsewhere for publication, nor which is under review for another refereed publication. If authors used their own previously published material as a basis for a new submission, then they are required to cite the previous work(s) and clearly indicate how the new submission offers substantively novel or different contributions beyond those of the previously published work(s).
If the submission does not meet this criterion, or if you find that the manuscript is not suitable for further consideration (poor quality or outside the scope of journal you are submitting to), then you may choose to administratively reject it, making sure to clearly justify or explain your decision. If you make a decision on a submission before sending it out to referees, you must post your recommendation and fill out the review form in order to provide the authors with guidance, in case they decide to revise and resubmit their submission.
Guidelines for Making Recommendations
Before making recommendations to the EIC, you must have at least three reviews. When each manuscript finishes the review process, you will be automatically informed by the system. Remember your total page allocation when you consider what you want to include.
Your recommendations to the EIC should fall into these categories:
REC. TO ACCEPT: You do want to include the manuscript in your focus section.
REC. TO MAKE MINOR REVISIONS: You do want to include the manuscript in your special issue but you feel that there are relatively minor changes the author needs to make before it is edited. We give authors a few weeks to fix the changes on their own before they submit the revision in ScholarOne Manuscripts. You will review the revised manuscript and then decide whether to recommend it to the EIC for acceptance.
REC. TO MAKE MAJOR REVISIONS: You might want to include the manuscript in your special issue but the authors need to make significant changes before you can decide. Normally, we give authors six weeks to fix the changes on their own. Once the submission returns with revisions, we send it back to the original reviewers for a second round of reviews.
REC. TO REJECT: You do not want to include the manuscript in your focus section.
The EIC makes final decisions and will process the decision letters, customizing each one with specific comments you provide. Authors of accepted submissions will be advised about the editing and production process.
Guest Editors' Introduction
The introduction should discuss the theme topic in the context of the computer industry, presenting recent results, future directions, and important trends and their implications and getting across to the reader why this topic is important and timely.
The introduction should not summarize the articles, but instead explain how they relate to the topic and to each other; try to motivate the reader to read them. It could include a tutorial or overview to introduce concepts and terminology, enabling readers unfamiliar with the topic to understand the articles.