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Review of International Studies - call for Special Issue and Forum proposals

Deadlines:

1.    1 June 2020

2.   1 December 2020

The editors of our journal, Review of International Studies (RIS), invite proposals for Special Issues and Forums. Proposals are invited twice per year on 1 June and 1 December. We expect to publish selected Special Issues/Forums within a year of acceptance.

Please note that in a change of policy, Issue 5 is no longer dedicated to Special Issues. Decisions about which issue Special Issues/Forums are published in will be made by the editors in consultation with guest editors.

Special Issues

Special Issues will contain 7 to 8 papers as well as an agenda setting introduction/conclusion. It is not necessary for a special issue to have both an introduction and a conclusion. We expect Special Issue articles to have a minimum length of 8,000 words and a maximum length of 12,000 words. An introduction/conclusion could be shorter than main article length. In total a special issue would be a maximum of 100,000 words.

Forums

Forums consist of an agenda-setting introduction and 4 to 6 contributions. We expect contributions to be a minimum of 5,000 words and a maximum of 7,500 words. Forums should be a maximum of 50,000 words. Contributions should be focused on a theme, problem or question and make their original contribution to a specific debate clear.

Proposals can relate to any area of the discipline, theoretical orientation or methodology. Interdisciplinary scholarship is welcomed. We encourage contributions that break new theoretical ground and/or combine conceptual innovation with novel empirical findings. Special Issues/Forums should make an original contribution to cutting edge research. We welcome proposals that showcase new debates or lay the groundwork for emerging research domains.

The editors will not consider proposals focused on the discussion of monographs (i.e., book forums) or the career contribution of individual scholars as part of this call.

Submission Guidelines

Please read these guidelines carefully. Proposals that do not follow these guidelines will be not be considered.

1. Proposals should contain only the following information:

  • Title
  • Name, affiliation and email of the proposed guest editor(s);
  • Name, affiliation and email of contributors;
  • Background and rationale for the proposal (max 500 words) including the expected length of each contribution;
  • Detailed abstracts of all papers (max 300 words per contribution);
  • A description of the state of preparation of each paper (e.g., ‘full conference paper draft presented at X conference’; ‘rough draft ready to be submitted to editors in x months’).

2. In order to ensure timely publication of Special Issues/Forums guest editors should ensure that 50% of the proposed articles are ready to submit. Accepted proposals will be required to demonstrate evidence that the whole issue can be submitted for review within 3 months. This evidence will normally be drafts of 50% of the special issue articles. Please bear this in mind when submitting proposals – if your proposal cannot be submitted in its entirety within 3 months of acceptance then we suggest waiting for a future deadline.

3. Timeline

Months after acceptance of proposal:

  • Within three months – submission of all articles. If this is not achieved RIS will consider selecting an alternate proposal.
  • Within six months – reviews received; first decisions made

After first decision:

  • Six weeks for revisions
  • Two months for further review and decision
  • One month for final revisions
  • One month for final decision
  • Two months for proofing and production.

4. The successful proposal will be selected by members of the editorial team in consultation with members of the editorial advisory board. The editors’ decision is final. Due to anticipated volume of proposals we are only able to offer minimal feedback on unsuccessful proposals.

5. The Guest Editors will be responsible for ensuring the submission of contributions by an agreed deadline, selection of referees (in consultation with the editorial team) as well as advising on and communicating decisions made after the review process is complete.

6. Please note acceptance of a special issue proposal does not guarantee publication of individual contributions. Contributions will be treated as individual submissions and will be evaluated according to the journal’s established peer review process.

Proposals should be submitted to reviewofinternationalstudies@gmail.com with a subject line ‘RIS Special Issue/Forum proposal, [Deadline date]’

We very much look forward to reading your proposals.

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