Author Guidelines

Introduction
Licensing
- Open Access
Author Toll Free Link and Discounts
Preparation of Manuscript
Proofs
Advance Access
Nomenclatural Works
Preprint Policy
Special Issue proposals

Introduction

The Zoological Journal publishes papers on systematic and evolutionary zoology and comparative, functional and other studies where relevant to these areas. Studies of extinct as well as living animals are included.

The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society is published online-only.

Submission

All manuscripts are submitted and reviewed via ScholarOne. To submit to the journal, go to mc.manuscriptcentral.com/zoj. New authors should create an account prior to submitting a manuscript for consideration. Questions about submitting to the journal should be sent to the editorial office at [email protected].

Peer review process

This journal operates double-anonymised peer review, meaning that the authors identity is hidden from reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are hidden from authors. The Editor has oversight of the reviewers and the authors names. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review.

All submissions to the journal are initially reviewed by the Editor. At this stage manuscripts may be rejected without peer review if it is felt that they are not of high enough priority or not relevant to the journal. This fast rejection process means that authors are given a quick decision and do not need to wait for the review process.

Manuscripts that are not instantly rejected are sent out for peer review, usually to two independent reviewers. Based on the feedback from these reviewers and the Editors' judgment a decision is given on the manuscript. The average time from submission to first decision is five weeks.

If a paper is not acceptable in its present form, we will pass on suggestions for revisions to the author.

For information on the journal's review process or a manuscript's progress, please contact the Managing Editor at [email protected].

Authorship

Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the design and execution of the work described. Any contributors whose participation does not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged but not listed as an author. For a detailed definition of authorship, please see the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) definitions of authors and contributors.

The Journal does not allow ghost authorship, where an unnamed author prepares the article with no credit, or guest/gift authorship, where an author who made little or no contribution is listed as an author. The Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidance on investigating and resolving these cases. For more information, please see the OUP Publication Ethics page.

Natural language processing tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) do not qualify as authors, and the Journal will screen for them in author lists. The use of AI (for example, to help generate content or images, write code, process data, or for translation) should be disclosed both in cover letters to editors and in the Methods or Acknowledgements section of manuscripts. Please see the COPE position statement on Authorship and AI for more details.

After manuscript submission, no authorship changes (including the authorship list, author order, and who is designated as the corresponding author) should be made unless there is a substantive reason to do so. The Editor-in-Chief and all co-authors must agree on the change(s), and neither the Journal nor the publisher mediates authorship disputes. If individuals cannot agree on the authorship of a submitted manuscript, contact the editorial office at [email protected]. The dispute must be resolved among the individuals and their institution(s) before the manuscript can be accepted for publication. If an authorship dispute or change arises after a paper is accepted, contact OUP’s Author Support team. COPE provides guidance for authors on resolving authorship disputes.

After submission, changing who is designated as the corresponding author will be permitted only where there is a substantive reason to do so. For the avoidance of doubt, changing the corresponding author in order to access Read and Publish funding is not permissible. For more information on Read and Publish funding, see the Open access section of the ITAs.

Pre-submission Language Editing

If you are not confident in the quality of your English, you may wish to use a language-editing service to ensure that editors and reviewers understand your paper. Oxford University Press partners with Enago, a leading provider of author services. Prospective authors are entitled to a discount of 30% for editing services at Enago, via the Specialist English Editing Services for Oxford University Press Authors page.

Enago is an independent service provider, who will handle all aspects of this service, including payment. As an author you are under no obligation to take up this offer. Language editing is optional and does not guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted. Edited manuscripts will still undergo peer review by the journal.

Ethics

Authors should observe high standards with respect to publication ethics as set out by the Commission on Publication Ethics (COPE). Falsification or fabrication of data, plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors' own work without proper citation, and misappropriation of the work are all unacceptable practices. Any cases of ethical misconduct are treated very seriously and will be dealt with in accordance with the COPE guidelines.

Plagiarism

Manuscripts submitted to The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society may be screened with iThenticate anti-plagiarism software in an attempt to detect and prevent plagiarism. Any manuscript may be screened, especially if there is reason to suppose part or all of the text has been previously published. Prior to final acceptance any manuscript that has not already been screened may be put through iThenticate. More information about iThenticate.

Third-party copyright

In order to reproduce any third party material, including tables, figures, or images, in an article authors must obtain permission from the copyright holder and be compliant with any requirements the copyright holder may have pertaining to this reuse. When seeking to reproduce any kind of third party material authors should request the following:

non-exclusive rights to reproduce the material in the specified article and journal;
print and electronic rights, preferably for use in any form or medium;
the right to use the material for the life of the work; and
world-wide English-language rights.

We are not able to accept permissions which carry a time limit because we retain journal articles as part of our online journal archive.

Third-party content in Open Access papers

If you will be publishing your paper under an Open Access licence but it contains material for which you do not have Open Access re-use permissions, please state this clearly by supplying the following credit line alongside the material:

Title of content. Author, Original publication, year of original publication, by permission of [rights holder].
This image/content is not covered by the terms of the Creative Commons licence of this publication. For permission to reuse, please contact the rights holder.

Further guidelines on clearing permissions.

Conflict of interest

Oxford University Press requires declaration of any conflict of interest upon submission online. If the manuscript is published, conflict of interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published paper.

Permissions regarding reuse of OUP material

Self-archiving policy

Licensing

Open Access

The Zoological Journal offers the option of publishing under either a standard licence or an open access licence. Please note that some funders require open access publication as a condition of funding. If you are unsure whether you are required to publish open access, please do clarify any such requirements with your funder or institution.

Should you wish to publish your article open access, you should select your choice of open access licence in our online system after your article has been accepted for publication. You will need to pay an open access charge to publish under an open access licence.

Details of the open access licences and open access charges.

OUP has a growing number of Read and Publish agreements with institutions and consortia which provide funding for open access publishing. This means corresponding authors from participating institutions can publish open access, and the institution may pay the charge. The corresponding author must provide their qualifying institution as their primary affiliation when they submit the manuscript. Find out if your institution is participating and information on how to apply for funding can be found here.

Author Toll Free Link and Discounts

All corresponding authors will be provided with a free access link to their article upon publication. The link will be sent via email to the article’s corresponding author who is free to share the link with any co-authors. Please see OUP’s Author Self-Archiving policy for more information regarding how this link may be publicly shared depending on the type of license under which the article has published.

Preparation of Manuscript

Authors should refer to the guidelines below when preparing their manuscript or it may be returned to them for correction. Editors initially evaluate the general suitability of submitted manuscripts, and submissions may be rejected without benefit of external review. All published manuscripts will have been reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief, a handling editor and normally two outside reviewers. Authors may suggest the names of potential reviewers and also indicate those who may have a potential conflict of interest. The journal adheres to a policy of double-anonymised reviewing, in which the identity of the authors is, as much as possible, kept from reviewers, whilst reviewers' names are kept confidential. Authors are therefore encouraged to avoid explicit disclosure of their identity in the text of their manuscript, as for example, by use of a header. In some cases the Editor may decide that direct discussion between author and reviewer would be helpful, but names are never disclosed without explicit permission from both parties.

The online system will require you to submit at least two files: one (the "Anonymous Text") will contain a version of your manuscript that is suitable for review, and the other will contain the full cover page and acknowledgments. Once your submission is complete, the files will be available for the editorial office to examine. If everything is in order, the Editor-in-Chief will assign the manuscript to an Editor for handling. The Editor will request reviews and make the decision on your manuscript. Please feel free to note any possible conflicts of interest with any of the Editors or with possible reviewers in the spaces provided during the submission process. Appeals on decisions should be directed to the Editor-in-Chief.

Anonymous Text

You will be asked to submit an anonymous main document and separate title page. The main document should not include author details or acknowledgements in the text or in the headers. The title page should include names, addresses, emails and any acknowledgements.

Manuscript format and structure/style

Basic Formatting Guide

Authors should aim to communicate ideas and information clearly and concisely, in language suitable for the moderate specialist. Papers in languages other than English are not accepted unless invited. When a paper has joint authorship, one author must accept responsibility for all correspondence; the full postal address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address of the author who is to check proofs (the corresponding author) should be provided. Although the Society does not specify the length of manuscripts, it is suggested that authors preparing long texts (20 000 words or more, including references, etc.) should consult the Editor before considering submission.

Please submit your manuscript in an editable format such as .doc, .docx or .rtf, prepared on A4, paginated, double spaced throughout (i.e. including references and quotations), with ample margins. If you submit your manuscript in a non-editable format such as PDF, this will slow the progress of your paper as we will have to contact you to request an editable copy.

Papers should conform to the following general layout:

A general style guide can be found here and a sample paper can be found here.

Article types

Editorial
Original Article
Review
Invited Review
Comment

Title page

This should be uploaded as a separate file, designation 'Title Page'. It should include title, authors, institutions, and a short running title. The title should be concise but informative, preferably shorter than 25 words and in bold text. Catchy titles are encouraged. Where appropriate the title should include mention of family or higher taxon in the form: 'The Evolution of the Brown Rat, Rattus norvegicus (Rodentia: Muridae)'. A subtitle may be included, but papers in numbered series are not accepted. Names of new taxa should not be given in titles.

Abstract

Abstracts must be on a separate page and must be concise, clearly written and cover the context of the paper. The abstract is of great importance as it may be reproduced elsewhere and is all that many may see of your work. It should be about 100–200 words long and should summarize the paper in a form that is intelligible in conjunction with the title. It is advisable to avoid descriptions, lists or jargon if possible. It should not include references, though if a reference is necessary then the whole reference should be written. If the paper is describing new taxa, this should be written in bold, followed by the author’s name and gen. nov., sp. nov. or another abbreviation of the appropriate taxonomic level to highlight this. The abstract should be followed by up to ten keywords additional to those in the title (alphabetically arranged, lower case and separated by semi-colons) identifying the subject matter for retrieval systems. Taxonomic authorities should not be included in the abstract. Inclusion of an additional abstract in another language must be referenced at the end of the abstract and linked to the Supplementary data. For example: Este resumen traducido al español está disponible en la sección, Supporting Information.

Subject matter

The paper should be divided into main sections under short headings: abstract, introduction, material and methods, results, discussion and conclusion, with the hierarchy of headings below these not exceeding three, except in systematic hierarchies. Results are presented in present tense, whereas previous studies that are discussed need to be presented in past tense. Please present your work in clear and concise language, keeping the broad readership in mind. Do not combine Results and Discussion - separate sections provide a clear distinction between results of the study at hand and discussion of results of other studies.

The Zoological Codes must be strictly followed. Names of genera and species should be printed in italic or underlined to indicate italic; do not underline suprageneric taxon names. Cite the author of species on first mention only. When new taxonomic names are published, these are marked in bold, followed by the author's name and sp. nov., gen. nov. or another abbreviation of the appropriate taxonomic level described on the first mention in the text. Authors can choose any name that is appropriate, but when based on Latin or Latinised Greek the names should be correctly formed. Etymology of the name needs to be provided.

Voucher specimens used for the study need to be clearly stated by collector, number and the collection where the specimen is housed.

Use SI units, and the appropriate symbols (mm, not millimetre; µm, not micron; s, not sec; min for minute; c for circa; Myr for million years, Mya for million years ago; etc.). Use an n-dash (–), not a hyphen (-), for ranges and use the times sign × (not the letter x) for multiplication, dimensions, crosses and hybrids. Use the negative index (m-1, l-1, h-1) except in cases such as 'per plant'). Avoid elaborate tables of original or derived data, long lists of species, etc.; if such data are essential, consider including them as appendices or as online-only supplementary material. Avoid footnotes and keep cross references by page to an absolute minimum. Please provide a full English translation [in square brackets] for any quoted matter that is not in English.

References

We recommend the use of a tool such as EndNote for reference management and formatting.

EndNote reference styles can be searched for on this page.

(i) In the text, give references in the following forms: 'Stork (1988) said', 'Stork (1988: 331)' where it is desired to refer to a specific page, and '(Rapport, 1983)' where giving reference simply as authority for a statement. Note that names of joint authors are connected by '&' in the text. For papers by three or more authors, use et al. throughout.

(ii) The list of references must include all publications cited in the text and only these. Prior to submission, make certain that all references in the text agree with those in the references section, and that spelling is consistent throughout. In the list of references, titles of periodicals must be given in full, not abbreviated. For books, give the title, place of publication, name of publisher (if after 1930), and indication of edition if not the first. In papers with half-tones, plate or figure citations are required only if they fall outside the pagination of the reference cited. Please note that for references with multiple authors, only the first three authors should be mentioned, followed by et al. References should conform as exactly as possible to one of these four styles, according to the type of publication cited.

Kamiński MJ, Kanda K, Lumen R, et al., Molecular phylogeny of Pedinini (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) and its implications for higher-level classification, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 2019; 185: 77–97.
Gould SJ. Wonderful life: the Burgess Shale and the nature of history. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989.
Dow MM, Cheverud JM, Rhoads J, et al., Statistical comparison of biological and cultural/history variation. In: Friedlaender J, Howells WW, Rhoads J, (ed). Solomon Islands project: health, human biology, and cultural change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987b; 265-281.
Article published online but not yet in print: Gay HJ. 1990. The ant association and structural rhizome modifications of the far eastern fern genus Lecanopteris (Polypodiaceae). D. Phil. Thesis, Oxford University. 1990 (DOI).

(iii) Other citations such as papers 'in press' may appear on the list but not papers 'submitted', 'in review' or 'in preparation'. These may be cited in the text as 'unpublished work'. A personal communication may be cited in the text but not in the reference list. Please give the initials and surnames for all authors of personal communications and unpublished data.

(iv) In the case of taxonomic reviews, authors are requested to include full references for taxonomic authorities.

(v) Give foreign language references in Roman alphabet (but copy accents in French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Czech, etc.). If necessary, transliterate in accordance with a recognized scheme (e.g. pinyin). For the Cyrillic alphabet use British Standard BS 2979 (1958). If only a published translation has been consulted, cite the translation, not the original. Add translations not supplied by the author of the reference in square brackets.

Tables

Keep these as simple as possible, with few horizontal and, preferably, no vertical rules.

Illustrations

These normally include (1) half-tones reproduced from photographs, (2) black and white figures reproduced from drawings and (3) diagrams. Use one consecutive set of Arabic numbers for all illustrations (do not separate 'Plates' and 'Text-figures' - treat all as 'Figures'). Figures should be numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. Use upper case letters for subdivisions (e.g. Figure 1A-D) of figures; all other lettering should be lower case.

Half-tones reproduced from photographs: increasingly, authors' original images are captured digitally rather than by conventional film photography. In these cases, please use settings on your equipment for the highest possible image quality (minimum 300dpi). Desktop technology now allows authors to prepare plates by scanning photographic originals and then labelling them using graphics programs such as Adobe Illustrator. These are acceptable provided:

Resolution of all submitted figures should be at a minimum of 300 dpi at the final required image size. The labelling and any line drawings in a composite figure should be added in vector format. If any labelling or line drawings are embedded in the file then the resolution must be a minimum of 800 dpi. Please note that vector format labelling will give the best results for the online version of your paper.
Electronic files are saved uncompressed as TIFF, JPEG, editable PDF, PPT, DOC or EPS files.
In the case that it is not possible to provide electronic versions, please supply photographic prints with labelling applied to a transparent overlay or to a photocopy.

Grouping and mounting: when grouping photographs, aim to make the dimensions of the group (including guttering of 2 mm between each picture) as close as possible to the page dimensions of 168 × 225 mm, thereby optimizing use of the available space. Remember that grouping photographs of varied contrast can result in poor reproduction. If supplied as photographic prints, the group should be mounted on thin card. Take care to keep the surface of the prints clean and free of adhesive. Always provide overlays to protect the photographs from damage.

Lettering and numbering: If supplied as photographic prints, letters and numbers should be applied in the form of dry-transfer ('Letraset') letters, numbers, arrows and scale bars, but not measurements (values), to transparent overlays in the required positions, rather than to the photographs themselves; this helps to avoid making pressure marks on the delicate surface of the prints, and facilitates relabelling, should this be required. Alternatively, pencilled instructions can be indicated on duplicates or photocopies marked 'FOR LABELLING ONLY'. Self-adhesive labels should be avoided, but if they are used, they should not be attached directly to either photographs or overlays, but to photocopies, to indicate where they are to be positioned. Labelling will be inserted electronically by the typesetter in due course.

Black and white figures reproduced from drawings: these should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 800 dpi and supplied in TIFF, JPEG, or editable PDF format. Lines must be clean and heavy enough to stand reduction; drawings should be no more than twice page size. The maximum dimensions of published figures are 168 × 225 mm. Scale bars are the most satisfactory way of indicating magnification. Take account of proposed reduction when lettering drawings.

Diagrams: in most instances the author's electronic versions of diagrams are used and may be re-labelled to conform to journal style. These should be supplied as vector format Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files. Please note that diagrams or graphs will not reproduce well in the online version of your paper unless they are in vector format due to low maximum screen resolution.

Type legends for Figures in numerical order on a separate sheet. Where a 'key' is required for abbreviations used in more than one Figure, this should be included as a section of the main text.

Authors wishing to use illustrations already published must obtain written permission from the copyright holder before submitting the manuscript. Authors may, in the first instance, submit good xerox or photographic copies of figures rather than the originals.

Upon revision papers should again be submitted in an editable file format (i.e. not PDF) and figures must be submitted as separate, high-resolution, uncompressed TIF or EPS files.

For more information on LaTeX files, consult our information on preparing your manuscript.

You can also send queries about figure files to [email protected].

3D Images

Authors may submit 3D models for online publication as part of the article.

3D models should be submitted for peer review as separate files, selecting the appropriate file-type designation in the journal’s online submission system. OUP uses Sketchfab to host 3D models. Files must be submitted in one of the formats accepted by Sketchfab, listed here, or a link to the model on the author’s Sketchfab account may be submitted.

The model should be cited and numbered in the manuscript in sequence like a regular figure (Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, etc.), with a caption included in the manuscript. Each Model must be presented separately in the manuscript with a separate label and caption. The file should be clearly named (e.g. Model_2.glb). Authors may alternatively upload 3D models to a personal Sketchfab account for submission. In such cases a private shareable link must be generated and included in the manuscript, or the model must be set as ‘public’ with the URL included in the manuscript. The author must also submit written permission for their model to be transferred from their personal account to the publisher’s Sketchfab account. No changes to the model should be made during peer review, except as part of submitting a revised version of the manuscript.

If custom lighting environment files are available, these should be included alongside the files for the model. Sketchfab supports .HDR and .EXR formats with a maximum file size of 50MB and a maximum resolution of 2048px × 1024 px (larger images will be downsized).

Preprint policy

Authors retain the right to make an Author’s Original Version (preprint) available through various channels, and this does not prevent submission to the journal. For further information see our Online Licensing, Copyright and Permissions policies. If accepted, the authors are required to update the status of any preprint, including your published paper’s DOI, as described on our Author Self-Archiving policy page.

Availability of Data and Materials

Where ethically feasible, The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society strongly encourages authors to make all data and software code on which the conclusions of the paper rely available to readers. Authors are required to include a Data Availability Statement in their article.

We strongly suggest that data be presented in the main manuscript or additional supporting files or deposited in a public repository whenever possible. Information on general repositories for all data types, and a list of recommended repositories by subject area, is available here.

Data Availability Statement

The inclusion of a Data Availability Statement is a requirement for articles published in The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Data Availability Statements provide a standardised format for readers to understand the availability of data underlying the research results described in the article. The statement may refer to original data generated in the course of the study or to third-party data analysed in the article. The statement should describe and provide means of access, where possible, by linking to the data or providing the required unique identifier.

“The data underlying this article are available in [repository name, e.g., the GenBank Nucleotide Database] at [URL] , and can be accessed with {unique identifier, e.g. accession number, deposition number].”

More information and example Data Availability statements can be found here.

Data Citation

The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society supports the Force 11 Data Citation Principles and requires that all publicly available datasets be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). Data citations should include the minimum information recommended by DataCite: authors, title, publisher (repository name), identifier.

Example Data Citation:

[dataset]* Dudeniec R. Data from: Hybridization fluctuates with rainfall in Darwin’s tree finches, v4, Dryad, 2020. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ttdz08ktq.

*The inclusion of the [dataset] tag at the beginning of the citation helps us to correctly identify and tag the citation. This tag will be removed from the citation published in the reference list.

Cover page and acknowledgments

In a separate file, please submit a full cover page with the title and the authors' names and affiliations followed by a page with the full acknowledgments. On the Web site, please designate this file as "Cover and Acknowledgments" and answer "no" when asked if it is for review.

Cover page

The cover page should include the title (concise but informative); the full names of all authors (first and last) as they wish them to appear in the published article; the authors' institutional affiliations; the name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address of the author responsible for receiving proofs and correspondence; and the current address of any author(s) whose institutional affiliation has changed since the work reported was performed.

Supporting Information

Submit all material to be considered as Supporting Information online at the same time as the main manuscript. Ensure that the supporting information is referred to in the main manuscript at an appropriate point in the text. Make sure you include a section at the end of the manuscript (before references – see order of back matter above) entitled ‘Supporting Information’ and listing the titles of the supplementary files. Supplementary figures and tables should be numbered ‘Figure S1’, ‘Table S1’, etc. Supporting information will be available online only and will not be copyedited, so it is essential that it is clearly and succinctly presented, and that the style conforms with the rest of the paper. Also ensure that the presentation will work on any Internet browser. It is not recommended for the files to be more than 2 MB each, although exceptions can be made at the editorial office's discretion.

Acknowledgements and funding

Acknowledgments and funding information should be included at the end of your manuscript. Please fully cite any relevant funding information, including specific grant numbers.

Proofs

Authors will receive a link to the PDF proof of their manuscript on our online system by email, and it is essential that a current email address is supplied with all manuscripts. Proofing instructions will accompany the PDF file but the proof should be checked immediately upon receipt and uploaded in accordance with covering instructions. Only essential corrections should be made at the proof stage.

Advance Access

For The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, manuscripts arrive at OUP and go through the production process until the final versions are ready to publish. These are then published on an Advance Access page and will remain on the page up until the issue that they are assigned to is published.

Nomenclatural Works

You will be asked during the submission process whether your article contains a nomenclatural act. If it does, in order to comply with the International Code on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) regulations, you will need to register your article in ZooBank and provide a Life Science Identifier (LSID). This will need to be inserted into your article prior to acceptance. The ICZN does not consider supplementary files, available on journal websites, as part of the article itself. We strongly encourage authors to avoid publishing new names and nomenclatural acts in supplementary files. However, if it is essential to publish them in the supplementary files, these should be registered separately in ZooBank.

Please note, articles requiring ZooBank registration information as per the ICNZ publication requirements are immutable after publication. No changes will be able to be made after publication of the corrected proof. Any corrections that are necessary can only be made in a correction notice. If your article is accepted, it is important you take extra care when checking your paper, ZooBank registration information, and any other relevant sections of your article.

Following publication, you will need to update your ZooBank entry with the Volume, and Issue information.

Preprint Policy

Special Issue proposals

Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society welcomes proposals for special issues on priority themes in the field. A special collection is a group of original research articles and possibly review articles, edited by guest editor(s) under a common theme.

Please note that, although we will ultimately require a full proposal for review, you are welcome to reach out to the Editor in Chief at [email protected] if you would like any initial feedback before submitting a full proposal. If you choose to do so, please share 1-2 paragraphs outlining your proposal.

Please contact [email protected] to submit a full proposal:

Special issue proposals can be submitted at any time

Proposals for new special issues must fall within the remit of the journal. They should be a maximum of 6,000 words in total (inc. footnotes) and include:

A full set of contact details and biography for the guest editor(s).
A proposed title for the special issue.
A rationale for the special issue and the relevance to the journal of its original contribution.
A list of confirmed contributors, with institutional affiliations.
Draft titles for each paper (usually five to ten papers per special issue; these can be articles, short articles, and review articles).
Any conflicts of interest for the guest editor(s) or authors.
A timeline for the special issue, with milestones for completion of each stage.
An indication of whether the special issue proposal has been, or will be, submitted to another journal and the timelines involved for their decision.

Proposals for special issues will be evaluated based on: their fit with the journal’s remit; their original contribution to the field; the diversity of perspectives and authors reflected in the proposed special collection; and the feasibility of the special collection being completed within the specified timeframe.

We encourage submissions developed by or including scholarship from under-represented groups. Viewpoints currently under-represented in the journal are particularly encouraged to participate.

All articles submitted for a selected special issue remain subject to the standard peer review process operated by the journal. We expect guest editors to ensure that articles are of suitably high quality before submission to the journal and reserve the right to reject, before or after peer review, any that are not. If the special issue is accepted by another journal, please notify the Editorial Office by emailing [email protected] as soon as possible that your proposal is no longer under consideration.