Focus Issue Guidelines

Focus Issues are an important component of Hindawi journals. They deal with selected topics with high current interest falling within the scope of the journal in which they are published.

Focus Issues are made freely available online to all interested readers leading to the maximum possible dissemination and recognition within the scientific community. Focus Issues can be viewed and downloaded on the individual article level, but are also available in an edited volume format as a single PDF published with a custom cover. They are also made available in print for all readers interested in a print edition.

The peer review of submitted manuscripts will be managed by the journal's Editorial Board members. Once a manuscript is submitted to a Focus Issue, the manuscript is assigned to an Editor most appropriate to handle it based on the subject of the manuscript and the availability of the Editors. If the Editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the Focus issue, he/she assigns the manuscript to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 5 external reviewers for peer-review. The reviewers submit their reports on the manuscripts along with their recommendation of one of the following actions to the Editor:

• Publish Unaltered
• Consider after Minor Changes
• Consider after Major Changes
• Reject

If the Editor chooses “Publish Unaltered,” the manuscript is accepted for publication, and the authors are notified of this decision.

If the Editor chooses “Consider after Minor Changes,” the authors are asked to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required minor changes suggested by the reviewers. Only the Editor, reviews the revised manuscript after the minor changes have been made by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the manuscript can be accepted.

If the Editor chooses “Consider after Major Changes,” the authors are expected to revise their manuscript in accordance with the changes recommended by the reviewers and to submit their revised manuscript in a timely manner. Once the revised manuscript is submitted, the Editor can then make an editorial decision of “Publish Unaltered,” “Consider after Minor Changes,” or “Reject.”

The Editor handling a manuscript cannot assign himself/herself as a reviewer of the manuscript. This is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal, since any manuscript must be recommended by one or more (usually two or more) external reviewers and the Editor before acceptance for publication.

The peer-review process is single blinded, i.e., the reviewers know who the authors of the manuscript are, but the authors do not have access to the information of who the peer-reviewers are. Every journal published by Hindawi has an acknowledgement page for the researchers who have performed the peer-review process for at least one manuscript in the past year. Without the significant contributions made by these researchers, the publication of the journal would not be possible.