Guidelines for Guest Editor Guidelines for Acceptance Criteria Guidelines for Review Process Sample Letters for Review Process Sample Call for Papers of Special Issue Sample Call for Papers of Special Issue (Conference version) Project Schedule for Special Issues Resources for Editors

IMPORTANT NOTE:

1. Each special issue of the Journal contains 4 - 7 papers and an editorial preface.  The page limit of each issue is 100 pages.  The total word count should be around 40,000 (without tables and figures).
2. The length of each paper should be up to 8000 words.  If the papers are long, you could have 4 - 5 papers in the issue; if they are short, you could have 6 - 7 papers.  You may estimate at 400 words per page for IEL's journals.
3. If your issue is over 100 pages based on the papers accepted by the reviewers, you will be asked to either abridge each paper to reduce its number of pages or transfer some to the Editor-in-Chief for possible inclusion in a regular issue.  Therefore, it is better to accept more papers (7 is the best) at the beginning.
4. The above size limits apply to all Inderscience journals.  Other journals may have different limits for the numbers and sizes of manuscripts.  Please consult with their Editors-in-Chief.
5. The pre-production process for each Journal issue may take about 6 months.  Please plan for your time table accordingly.
6. To allow our editorial office to track your progress, all guest editors MUST use the online submission system to process the papers.

CODE OF ETHICS:Normally, a guest editor should not publish his/her own paper in the Special Issue, unless the paper is approved in advance by the Editor-in-Chief and subjected to formal reviews managed by the Executive Editor.  Please keep this policy in mind when you guest edit your special issue for the Journal. For a comprehensive guidelines, please review Inderscience Publisher's Guest Editor Guidelines for Special Issues using the online submission system.

Recommended Process for Handling Manuscript Submission

1. Propose the Special Issue
1. To prepare for and publish a special issue may take up to 14 months after the submission deadline (see Project Schedule for Special issues).  Therefore, it is very important to speed up each step during the process.
2. Contact the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) and secure his/her approval for the proposal of a special issue. Click here for the format of the proposal.
3. Normally, the number of guest editor(s) is 1 or 2; with strong justification, you may propose to have 3 guest editors.
4. Please follow the Sample Call-for-Papers of Special Issue to create the (Call for Papers) CFP for the special issue. If your special issue is created from the best papers of a conference, please follow the Sample Call-for-Papers of Special Issue (Conference version) and remember to include the "Important Note" in the CFP.
5. Secure the approval of the EIC for the CFP announcement.
6. Note that the submission deadline for a Conference Special Issue must be at least one month after the best papers are selected in order to allow invited best-paper recipients to revise and re-submit their papers. The invitations should contact the authors as soon as the best papers are selected prior to the conference date.
2. Promote the Special Issue
1. Create a homepage of CFP on your school's web server and place this homepage URL in your CFP.
2. Contact the EIC to place your CFP's URL on EIC's and IEL's websites.
3. To increase the manuscript submissions, you should contact and announce the CFP on the  listservs of various organizations related to the theme of the CFP. (Click here to find a listserv of marketing or inforamtion systems; or a marketing association). Popular listservs include "aisworld@lists.aisnet.org" "isworld@lyris.isworld.org", "DSI-INFO@LISTSERV.UH.EDU", "pomsemail@fiu.edu", and "elmar@ama.org".
3. Receive Paper Submission
   1. All submissions will be submitted by the authors via the Journal Management System (JMS).  The author must select the submission option to direct the submission to a particular special issue.  After the submission deadline, this submission option will be unavailable on the JMS. 
   2. If the author did not submit all the files and quit the system, the JMS will send an Incomplete Submission Notice and ask the author to resubmit a complete package.
   3. Once the author submitted all paper files via the JMS, the system automatically assigns a Paper ID to a folder (if not assigned earlier) and saves the files into this folder.  The JMS will send you and the author a Submission Confirmation Notice.
   4. Once you receive a Submission Confirmation Notice, wait for 24 hours to make sure the system had virus scanned the file folder before accessing the paper files.  Please note that the system will only virus-scan all the file folders and delete the virus-infected files once a day at 06:00am Pacific Standard time (i.e., 21:00pm Hong Kong time).
   5. You should read the cover letter and make sure it fits the subject coverage of the Journal.  Select the JMS option to send an Unsuitable Submission Notice to the author whose paper obviously has poor quality or unsuitable theme. This step does not apply to invited papers (e.g., best papers from a conference or papers from invited scholars).
   6. Review all the files to make sure that 1) the authors' names of the paper are not on the body of paper; 2) the cover letter contains 4 suggested reviewers, and 3) the title page contains full address information for every author.
   7. If any item in Step 6 is incorrect, select the JMS option to send a Submission Correction Notice to ask the author to resubmit corrected files according to the submission requirements described on http://www.icebnet.org/author/.  Then, repeat from Step 2.
   8. If the submission is complete, select the JMS option to send the author a 1st-Round Submission Completion Notice.
   9. Add the suggested reviewers in the cover letter into reviewer database by registering into the JMS as a new reviewer one at a time.
4. Review the Paper
1. Search and select two reviewers from the JMS's reviewer database and assign the paper to them (3 reviewers for fast-track process).  You should match the reviewers' expertise with the theme of the paper.  Note that the new reviewers you added in the last step will be displayed if their expertises match the search criteria. Furthermore, if you cannot find a proper reviewer from the reviewer database, the best way is to find the reviewers from membership directories of related organizations (e.g., MISRC-AIS Faculty Directory, INFORMS database).  Alternately, you could find those who published related articles in the other journals via http://scholar.google.com/ and add them into the reviewer database by logging into the JMS as a new reviewer one at a time.  Then assign them to the paper as the reviewers.  (NOTE:  Please DO NOT send the paper to the editorial board members for reviews.) *** Violating this guideline will disqualify you for using the JMS; i.e., your account will be deactivated, forcing you to go back to manual process.
2. Once you confirm the assignment of reviewers, the JMS will unlock the paper and send a 1st-Round Review Request (#02) to each reviewer telling him/her to visit the JMS and select the option to accept the assignment.
3. If a reviewer does not visit the JMS within 3 days, the JMS will send the 1st-Round Review Final Request (#02g)  to the reviewer.
4. If the reviewer does not visit the JMS 7 days after the 1st-Round Review Final Request was sent, the JMS will send the reviewer a Reviewer Non-response Notice (#02a) telling that the paper will be re-assigned to another reviewer and that a reviewer who receives three Reviewer Non-response Notices in a year will be removed from the reviewer database. A copy of this notice will be sent to you as well.
5. If the reviewer visit the JMS and selects the option to reject the assignment, or you have received a Reviewer Non- response Notice from the JMS, you must re-assign another reviewer to this paper via the JMS and repeat from Step 1 until the reviewer is committed.
6. Once the reviewer is committed, the review process formally begins.  The assigned reviewer will be able to review the paper and complete referee report online once he/she logs into the JMS.
7. After 21 days (one week before the due date), the reviewer who did not complete the referee report will receive a Review Report Reminder (#03) from the JMS.
8. After 30 days (on the due date), the reviewer who did not complete the referee report will receive another Review Report Reminder from the JMS.
9. After 37 days (one week after the due date), the reviewer who did not complete the referee report will receive a Review Overdue Notice (#04) from the JMS.  This overdue notice will be sent by the JMS once a week until the reviewer completes the referee report or after the 11th week.
10. After 60 days (4 weeks after the due date), the reviewer who did not complete the referee report will receive a Reviewer One-Week Warning Notice (#02b) from the JMS telling the reviewer that his/her name will be removed from the reviewer database if the he/she does not complete the referee report within one week.
11. If any reviewer does not complete the referee report at After 67 days (5 weeks after the due date), the JMS will remove his/her information from the reviewer database, leaving only the name and the e-mail address for blocking future entrance purpose.  The JMS will send a Reviewer Inactive Notice (#02c) to you and you must re-assign the reviewer and the JMS will then send a Reviewer Changed Notice (#02d) to the contact author.  Repeat from Step 1 to reassign another reviewer to the paper.
12. When two reviewers completed the referee reports or the first completed report has a "REJECT" decision, the JMS will send you a Request for Editor Decision (#06) message.
13. Review the referee reports via the JMS and release the report to the author once you are satisfied with the report quality.  Once the report is released to the author, the reviewer can no longer access the paper.  If a report quality is poor, select the option to ask for report improvement. The JMS will send a Report Improvement Notice (#02e) to the reviewer; it keeps the report but resets the parameter assuming the report is not finished.  This allows the reviewer to add on to the original comments.  Repeat from Step 3.
5. Make the Decision
1. Make a final decision on the paper based on the criteria described at http://www.icebnet.org/review/.  After a decision is made, the JMS will lock the paper and send all the reviewers who have not reviewed the paper a Review Assignment Cancelation Notice (#02f) telling them to stop the review effort.  You need to remove the latter reviewer from the paper to prevent him/her from accessing the paper.
2. The JMS will send a Thank You Letter only to the reviewer who has completed a referee report.
3. You must select the JMS option to send the reviewers and the author a Editor Decision Letter (either "ACCEPT,"  "MINOR REVISIONS," "MAJOR REVISIONS," or "REJECT" decision), telling the author to review the referee reports online.
4. Select the JMS option to send the Editor Decision Letter to the author whose paper receiving "REJECT" decision using the Journal letterhead format.  The letter tells the author NOT to re-submit the same paper after revisions within 12 months.
5. Select the JMS option to send the Editor Decision Letter to the author whose paper receiving "MINOR REVISIONS" or "MAJOR REVISIONS" decision.  The letter will ask the author to resubmit three files: Title Paper, Paper Body, and Responses to Reviewers.  Format of "Responses to Reviewers" file will be instructed in the letter as well.
6. Select the JMS option to send the Editor Decision Letter to the author whose paper receiving "ACCEPT" decision using the Journal letterhead format.  The letter tells the author to following the instructions on http://www.icebnet.org/author/ to prepare the complete for final submission.
7. Every 3 weeks after sending the "ACCEPT" decision letter , the JMS will send the author a Final Submission Reminder until the author has uploaded the final submission package in ZIP or DOC file format via the JMS.
8. Process the 2nd or 3rd round of reviews below if the paper is required to have minor or major revisions, following the guidelines for review process at http://www.icebnet.org/review/.
9. Proceed to the Prepare Complete Package
stage only when you have completed the reviews and collected the final submissions of all accepted papers.
10. Please note that you can only include the top 6 papers in the special issue (top 3 papers for special section).  You may forward the other accepted papers to the Executive Editor for inclusion in a regular issue.
6. More Rounds of Reviews
1. The JMS will send the Resubmission Reminder to the contact author who did not submit the revised paper files 30 days after sending the Editor Decision Letter for either "Minor Revisions" or "Major Revisions" decision.. 
2. If the author did not submit all the files and quit the system, the JMS will send an Incomplete Submission Notice and ask the author to resubmit a complete package.
3. Once the author resubmitted all paper files (i.e., Responses to the Reviewers, Title Page, and Paper Body) via the JMS, the JMS will automatically send you and the author a Submission Confirmation Notice.
4. Once you receive a Submission Confirmation Notice, wait for 24 hours to make sure the system had virus scanned the file folder before accessing the paper files.
5. Review all files to make sure that 1) the authors' names of the paper are not on the body of paper; 2) the responses to the reviewers are in the required itemized format, and 3) the title page contains full address information for every author.
6. If any item in Step 5 is incorrect, select the JMS option to send a Submission Correction Notice to ask the author to resubmit corrected files according to the submission requirements described on http://www.icebnet.org/author/.  Then, repeat from Step 2.
7. If the resubmission is complete, select the JMS option to send the author a Resubmission Completion Notice.  The JMS will unlock the paper and automatically send a Resubmission Review Request to each reviewer telling him/her to visit the JMS and select the option to accept the assignment.
8. Repeat from Step 3 of Stage 4 (Review the Paper
) for the 2nd-round review process.
9. If necessary, repeat all steps of this stage to process more rounds of reviews until you have made the "final decision" on the paper; i.e., either unconditionally accept or clear reject.  
7. Prepare Complete Package for A Special Issue
 (Partially supported by the JMS.)
1. Create a title page of special issue, a Table of Contents, and a Table of Author Information and e-mail them to both the Executive Editor and the EIC (Click here for a sample title page and Table of Contents for Special Issue).  The Table of Author Information contains complete information about every ACCEPTED paper and the contact author (Click here for a sample Table of Author Information).
2. On the Journal's website, the contact author will be instructed to pack the formatted full paper and the scanned Copyright Form into a ZIP file and upload it on the JMS (see http://www.icebnet.org/author/).  You don't need to handle hard copies at all. After you collected the papers, please make sure the format and print quality are acceptable.
8. E-mail Complete Package
 (Not supported by the JMS.)
1. Compress into one large ZIP file the following soft copies and e-mail it to the Editor-in-Chief.
   1. A title page of your special issue,
   2. A Table of Contents,
   3. A Table of Author Information,
   4. Your "Editorial Preface," (Click here for a long sample or short sample format of editorial preface)
   5. One set of electronic papers by the authors,
   6. One set of signed Copyright Forms scanned into JPG files.
2. The publisher's production department will take over the process from now on regarding formatting, style sheet, editing, copyright form, and galley proof.
9. Submit Progress Reports and Completion Report
 (Not supported by the JMS.)
1. One month prior to the submssion deadline, give the EIC the number of papers you received.
2. At the end of the day of submission deadline, give the EIC the total number of papers you received.
3. After the submission dealine, submit bimonthly reports to the EIC with information on (1) the number of acceptances, (2) the number of rejections, and (3) the number of papers still under reviews with how many outstanding reviews.
4. One month after completing all the reviews, e-mail the complete package out (see the section above).

 
 

Project Schedule for Special Issues
(up to 14 months after submission deadline)
(up to 20 months after CFP announcement)

Activity	Duration	Issue No. 1	Issue No. 2	Issue No. 3	Issue No. 4	Issue No. 5	Issue No. 6
Announce Call for Papers	---	01 May, Year-0 or earlier	01 July, Year-0 or earlier	01 September, Year-0 or earlier	01 November, Year-0 or earlier	01 January, Year-1 or earlier	01 March, Year-1 or earlier
Deadline of regular submission or conference-paper   re-submission *	at least 6 months	01 Nobember, Year-0	01 January, Year-1	01 March, Year-1	01 May, Year-1	01 July, Year-1	01 September, Year-1
Complete initial screening & Send all rejection  letters **	1 month	01 December, Year-0	01 February, Year-1	01 April, Year-1	01 June, Year-1	01 August, Year-1	01 October, Year-1
Conduct formal review process including revisions	6 months	up to 6 months	up to 6 months	up to 6 months	up to 6 months	up to 6 months	up to 6 months
Complete review process & Send all acceptance letters	---	01 June, Year-1	01 August, Year-1	01 October, Year-1	01 December, Year-1	01 February, Year-2	01 April, Year-2
Collect all final papers and complete TOC, Author Info Table, and Editorial Preface	1 month	01 July, Year-1	01 September, Year-1	01 November, Year-1	01 January, Year-2	01 March, Year-2	01 May, Year-2
E-mail complete package (see above) to EIC and mail hardcopies to IEL's editor	---	01 July, Year-1	01 September, Year-1	01 November, Year-1	01 January, Year-2	01 March, Year-2	01 May, Year-2
Earliest publication date	6 months	01 January, Year-2	01 March, Year-2	01 May, Year-2	01 July, Year-2	01 September, Year-2	01 November, Year-2
Normal publication date	6 months	01 July, Year-2	01 September, Year-2	01 November, Year-2	01 January, Year-3	01 March, Year-3	01 May, Year-3

*Note that the submission deadline for a Conference Special Issue must be at least one month after the best papers are selected in order to allow invited best-paper recipients to re-submit their revised papers. The invitations should go to the authors as soon as the best papers are selected.
**This stage does not apply to invited papers (e.g., best papers from a conference or papers from invited scholars).

IEL Editoral Office
P.O. Box 735
Olney, Bucks
MK46 5WB
UK