Special issues

Special issue information

Development in Practice

Guidelines for Special Issue Guest Editors

These guidelines explain the role of Guest Editors of Special Issues to be published by Development in Practice and provide information about the ways in which the DiP Editorial Team works with Guest Editors.

In general, the Guest Editor(s) will be responsible for developing the Special Issue and managing the peer review process with assistance from the Editorial Team, who will act as ghost editors for the issue. While Guest Editors have control over who is invited to contribute to the issue and can recommend papers for publication, the final decision to publish rests with the journal’s Editor in Chief.

Special Issue Process

Development in Practice publishes academic articles (which are double-masked peer reviewed and roughly 6,000 to 7,000 words long, or 10,000 words for feature articles). However, we also publish viewpoints and practice notes, which are not subject to external peer review. These are reviewed internally and provide a space for opinion pieces, 'mini-studies', or observations on practice that do not fit the criteria for academic articles. More information about these forms can be found here.

Standard issues are 11 articles long (usually roughly eight or nine academic articles and a couple of viewpoints/practice notes), but we have the capacity to be flexible with length and can also accommodate bumper or double issues. DiP has a standardised and automated submission process, which makes the task of handling and processing submissions easier. We offer ongoing editorial support throughout the development and production of the issue and we can be flexible with deadlines as needed. Special issues are usually published on a first-come, first-served basis, so your issue can be published as soon as it is ready, without being subject to inflexible deadlines. Articles are also published individually, once accepted, before the issue comes out (with a doi and tagged as part of the forthcoming special issue, which is collated and published as a whole once all articles have been accepted).

To propose a special issue, please contact the Editor on [email protected].  

Guest Editor Responsibilities and Ethics

Peer Review: Peer review must be double-masked, which means that the author must remain anonymous to the reviewers at all times in the review process (if authors do cite themselves they should just put ‘author’ and omit their article[s] from the reference list). Reviewers with a conflict of interest are unable to participate in the review process. For this reason, we ask that the Guest Editors avoid inviting reviewers from within their, or the authors’, organisation or institution. Should Guest Editors have difficulty locating impartial reviewers, the Editorial Team will be happy to assist.

Editorial Conflict of Interest: All potential conflicts of interest between the Guest Editors and the submitting authors must be declared, even should the Guest Editor may assume that they are minimal and unlikely to affect the review process. Where a conflict of interest arises, a member of the DiP Editorial Team will act as the handling editor for the manuscript in question.

Competing Interests: Similarly, all potentially competing interests that may affect the publication of the Special Issue should be declared to the DiP Editorial Team before the commencement of the review process.

Citation: The Guest Editor must not ask authors to include references to their own work, their associate’s work, or to journals or other publications that they may be affiliated with for the purpose of increasing citations.

Originality: All submissions will be run through Taylor & Francis’ Similarity Checker, a version of Turnitin, to ensure that material is original before it is sent for review. 

Quality Control: All submissions are subject to an initial screening by the Editorial Team (as “ghost editors”) before being sent for review. On consultation with the Guest Editors, the Editorial Team may request preliminary changes, usually to do with structure, before agreeing to send an article for review.

AI Use: Development in Practice does not accept submissions for which AI tools are listed as an author. Authors must, however, acknowledge all sources and contributors included in their work. Where AI tools are used, such use must be acknowledged and documented appropriately. For more information, see Taylor & Francis’ statement on AI use.

As a Taylor & Francis publication, Development in Practice adheres to the guidelines provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). You can read more about Ethics for Journal Editors here.

Guest Editor Duties

• To develop the issue theme, title, abstract, and keywords to introduce the issue to authors and readers.

• To create a list of potential contributors (this can be done either by commission or by creating a call for papers, with which the DiP Editorial Team can assist).

• To act as handling editor (or “Deputy Editor” on ScholarOne) for the review process. This involves locating and inviting reviewers and ensuring that each manuscript has at least two masked reviewers within the agreed timeframe.

• Chasing late submissions and reviews.

• Keeping records of how many submissions have been received, sent for review, returned, published, etc., and liaising with DiP’s Editorial Manager about the progress of the issue. This may be done using a shared spreadsheet.

• Recommending publication (or otherwise) as appropriate post-review.

• Promoting the Special Issue at conferences, to relevant networks, and on social media.