Our newly improved Special Issue program provides you with the opportunity to publish your research in a collection of high quality articles with a specific scope relevant to your work. After pausing the Hindawi Special Issues program, we are now pleased to offer this research outlet across our journal portfolio to help maximize the visibility of your work with peers worldwide.
What are journal Special Issues?
A Special Issue is a collection of articles that concentrates on a topical research area within the scope of a journal. All our Special Issues are reviewed and approved by members of the journal's Editorial board.
By only publishing papers focused on a specific topic within the scope of the journal, Special Issues help ensure your research is being shared within a relevant community to increase the opportunity for views, shares, and citations.
Our Special Issue program has always been focused on promoting new emerging fields or cross-disciplinary topics to support the academic community. Our key goal is to work with researchers like you from many different disciplines and regions from around the world, to publish innovative and high-quality research that brings together findings we can share with a relevant and global audience.
Improving ethics and integrity in research: What’s new in the Special Issues program?
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All our Special Issues are subject to many checks that have been introduced across all proposals from potential Guest Editors for Special Issues before they are accepted or rejected. This provides a clearer understanding of the identity of the potential Guest Editor submitting the proposal, their research experience, publication history, and any indicators of previous unethical publishing activity – meaning your manuscript will be handled by reputable experts in your field.
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Greater scrutiny of peer review has been introduced – ensuring that all articles published in our Special Issues are of the highest quality and published only among other important and novel research.
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New workflows have been introduced – improving the speed and efficiency in which manuscripts are being processed – ensuring you receive a decision in good time, while maintaining quality.
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Our team are continually working on the development and improvement of AI tools to capture any unethical behavior on manuscripts— improving research integrity and helping to maintain the scholarly record.
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We have simplified the paper submission process— saving you time to spend time on any final manuscript checks.
How do we ensure only the highest quality research is published in our Special Issues?
We have a dedicated team of Content Acquisitions Specialists and Content Development Specialists working on commissioning, developing, screening, and launching new Special Issues through data-based research and rigorous quality checks.
Our commissioning team only invite experts with relevant research experience, solid publication history, and an ethical publishing past to guest edit a Special Issue, ensuring only high-quality proposals are launched as Special Issues.
We have in-house subject matter experts to assist recruited Guest Editors in finding and inviting potential authors, these invites are based on the potential Guest Editor’s recent publication record and expertise.
Why publish in a Special Issue?
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Positive citation impact: Articles published in Special Issues are often cited more frequently than articles published in regular issues, meaning they reach a wider audience, have maximized research impact, and high community engagement.
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An opportunity to reach your target audience quicker: As the scope of Special Issues are more focused than the journal in general, Editors will immediately recognize which manuscripts are suitable for consideration and will provide tailored advice for improvements. This speeds up the publication process, helping you stay ahead of your field.
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Targeted promotion: Articles published in Special Issues are often promoted through Wiley and Hindawi’s social media channels to highly relevant audiences based on the subject of the Special Issue, increasing the visibility and readership.
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Connections with researchers in your field: Special Issues generate an opportunity to bring together papers on topics of interest in one place, encouraging knowledge exchange and the chance to connect with other researchers who share your specific scientific interests. This means you’ll build your academic network and can benefit from multiple expert perspectives.
Moving forwards
Through rigorous quality checks, transparent editorial processes, and targeted promotion, only the highest quality research is published in our Special Issues. By publishing in a Special Issue with us, you can expect increased visibility, positive citation impact, and opportunities to connect with respected peers in your field. And to make the process as seamless as possible for you, we are continually streamlining workflows and providing support.
To further support research integrity and improving the scholarly record within and outside of Special Issues, we have announced the pilot of a new AI papermill detection service. Read the whitepaper to find out more.
To find the latest opportunities to publish in a Special Issue, look for the ‘Special Issues’ tab at the top of the Hindawi journal homepage you are interested in.
Hindawi’s more than 200 journals will integrate into Wiley’s nearly 2,000-journal portfolio and the Hindawi brand will be discontinued. We believe that integrating Hindawi journals into Wiley’s portfolio will enable a much wider audience, and benefit authors, editors, and the communities we serve by providing expanded routes to publishing open access and delivering more sophisticated technology and a consistent user experience.
Driven by our mission to uphold the highest standards of quality in every aspect of our business, we continue to take our responsibility for research integrity seriously. The alignment of our journal portfolios and harmonization of our processes, as well as our continued investment in technologies and infrastructure, enables us to uphold our commitment to research integrity and ethical open science practices.
As we work through the integration process, we will continue to support the communities we serve through a seamless publishing experience.