Special issues info

Special issue

The journal Community Notebook. People, Education and Welfare in Society. Persone, Educazione e Welfare nella società 5.0 occasionally publishes special/thematic issues.

The aim of these editions is to highlight/produce collections of articles on a particular topic, in order to allow the generation of theoretical and empirical scientific knowledge on topics deemed socially and scientifically relevant.

The journal also occasionally publishes a selection of the proceedings of international conferences.

Contributions for these special issues are collected from both public calls and direct invitations from applicants. 

Public calls are open to all. 

The call is published by the Editorial Board in collaboration with the proposers.

Each special issue can be promoted by one to four curators who have full responsibility for the work.  

The proposal must include:

  1. Title of special issue
  2. Short biography of the curator (including name and surname, academic affiliation, contact, short biography)
  3. Description and explanation of the proposed thematic section: Summary of up to 500 words on the purpose of the proposed theme, its scientific and social relevance and a list of relevant topics
  4. Relevant dates (open call, acceptance of proposals, final collection of contributions, revision and closure)
  5. The communication channels through which the call will be transmitted.

Proposals for such special issues must be sent to the Scientific Director.

The Scientific Director may request revision or modification proposals based on comments and suggestions received from the editorial board. 

The final decision on the special section proposal will be taken by the Scientific Director on the basis of comments received from the editorial board. 

In discussing the proposals, the Editorial Committee will take into account the editorial policy of the journal, the scientific relevance of the proposed topic, the expected contents of the manuscripts, the clarity and quality of the proposal.

The curators are invited, in the design of thematic sections, to pursue a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to the subject, to include theoretical and empirical works, authors of different countries and institutions.

It is recommended that authors and/or co-authors of the same institution should not represent more than one third of all authors.

After accepting the proposal for the thematic issue, the editorial staff publishes a call on the journal’s website in collaboration with the guest publishers.

The public call must clearly state the following.

- All contributions received for the thematic edition are subject to the usual anonymous double revision procedure. 

The invitation to submit a document to a special/thematic section does not imply automatic acceptance for publication. The review process may lead to the exclusion of some contributions and the request for a new submission. 

- The link to the journal’s website for the peer review process. 

- The link to the authors' guidelines.  

In addition to the publication on the journal’s website, the Guest Editor promotes the call through its channels. 

The collection of contributions takes place  through the Journal’s Editorial Board web platform. The curator/curators will be assigned the role of Journal Editor for the management of the entire process.

The thematic/special sections contain a maximum of 10 articles and are introduced by the editorial written by the editor. 

The presentation can be a brief overview of the importance and purpose of the thematic section and a summary of the articles included.

The responsibilities of the administrator are to:

  • invite potential authors
  • comply with deadlines
  • encourage punctuality 
  • manage/supervise of all audit work 
  • identify and nurture relationships with trusted referees
  • review all documents submitted, ensuring that editorial rules are observed 
  • prepare the preliminary editing of the special issue according to editorial standards.

After this first phase the manuscript is sent to the Editorial Committee for further elaboration.

After the completion of the revision process, the final decision on the acceptance or rejection of the manuscripts is taken by the Scientific Director, in consultation with the editorial board.

Click here to download the template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MQML6wJxSWlBEZlAkVzvfHnxmm6UjxYs/edit