SPECIAL ISSUES in Tourism Geographies
Special Issues are collections of new papers on a single topic or theme. These may fill an entire issue of the journal (8 to 10 papers), or may only comprise a portion of the journal (minimum of 4 papers). Guidelines for special issues are below. Also see our list of Special Issues, both forthcoming and published.
Conference Sponsorship - If you would like to invite Tourism Geographies to be a sponsor or supporter of you conference or other academic event, please see our Conference Conference Sponsorship Guidelines here.
Conference Sponsorship - If you would like to invite Tourism Geographies to be a sponsor or supporter of you conference or other academic event, please see our Conference Conference Sponsorship Guidelines here.
Guidelines for Guest Editors of Regular Special Issues
SORRY - SPECIAL ISSUE PROPOSALS ARE NOT CURRENTLY BEING ACCEPTED. This is because we have had too many special issues recently and we need to clear out a backlog of other accepted papers. We will re-evaluate this decision in early 2021.
A Special Issue in Tourism Geographies is a coherent collection of papers on a specific topic that is appropriate to the aims and scope of the journal and has a broad international appeal. While the editors of Tourism Geographies may initiate a special issue, it is more common to have a Special Issue that draws on the skills and talents of guest editors who are willing to devote a high level of focus and enthusiasm to achieve a successful outcome. The journal, therefore, welcomes innovative proposals of high quality and relevance from prospective individuals or teams.
A Special Issue should be similar to a well-edited book, with attention being given to the range and mix of article types, as well as to the inclusion of a state-of-the-art review article that is developed or led by an accomplished scholar. Special Issues that are based on more narrowly defined workshops or regional meetings should consider inviting additional authors to offer a broader and more comprehensive scope to their topic. Most special issues will have a Call-for-Papers (CFP) that will also be published on the TG website, to which potential authors can be referred.
Please note that Tourism Geographies prefers to limit the use of Call-for-Papers (CFP) that are sent to general email listservs, such as Trinet, RTSNet, TourismAnthropology, and TourismGeography (IGU). Guest editors are allowed to post a maximum of two CfPs to each of these lists. Instead, guest editors are encouraged to identify authors who are specifically active in the special issue topic and to contact them directly. Recent experience has shown that this limitation has not seriously restricted the number of proposed papers for topics that are exciting and compelling for authors.
A Special issue does not need to fill an entire issue of the journal. A minimum of four accepted papers is required to set aside a "special topic" area within the journal. Each issue is 176 pages long. You can estimate 500 words per page, with a 10,000 word paper being 20 pages long (including abstract, references and tables). This does vary among papers, but this is a good guideline overall. Depending on the length of papers, you can have 8 to 10 papers in the special issue. The journal allows papers up to 9000 words per paper. However, as the guest editor you can reduce that number to have more papers. The page length is the key factor here.
We recommend having three guest editors. The workload is often too much for one or two guest editors (although there are exceptions). The primary responsibilities of the guest editor(s) includes:
(1) The guest editor(s) initially contacts the Editor-in-Chief (Alan Lew) for Tourism Geographies (TG) to inquire about potential interest in the topic of the proposed special issue. This should address the goals of the Special Issue, who the market will be for the special issue, and information on the qualifications of the guest editor(s).
The title of the special issue should be carefully crafted so that it is easily "discoverable" in online searches. Please review the Taylor & Francis Guide to Discoverability for help in selecting your title.
(2) After the topic is deemed suitable for the journal, then the guest editor(s) send their CfP to potential authors and email lists to solicit potential abstracts. The guest editors should review the abstracts they receive to ensure that they are appropriate to the topic and have the potential to survive the review process. Proposals that do not match the theme or have other issues that make them questionable should be rejected as not suitable for the special issue. Once the initial set of papers is determined, a list of authors and draft titles is sent to the TG Editor-in-Chief. (Abstracts are not required.)
(3) The guest editors works with the authors to pre-review the papers before they are formally submitted to TG.
(4) When formally submitting their papers to the journal (using ScholarOne), authors must check the "Special Issue" box and indicate the special issue topic. The special issue topic and guest editor(s) should also be mentioned in a cover letter to ensure that the paper is not treated as a regular submission. If these are not included, then the paper will likely be reviewed without consideration for the special issue. All papers will go through a mostly traditional double blind review process and only papers that are successful in that process will be published. Reviewers will be informed that the paper is being considered for a special issue.
TG accepts about 20% of submitted papers, so you can expect that some papers may be rejected. That being said, most Special Issues have much higher acceptance rates, although there have also been some rare instances in which most the Special issue papers submitted were rejected. The TG Editor-in-Chief will oversee the entire review process and will make the final decision on paper acceptance, based on the anonymous reviews, and in consultation with the guest editors where warranted.
(5) It is expected that all papers will have completed the review, revision and acceptance/rejection process within 18 months from the time that the special issue list of authors and titles was submitted to the TG Editor-In-Chief. The guest editor(s) should, therefore, establish some clear deadlines for contributing authors. Papers submitted to the special issue will be published online as they are accepted and copy edited. However, they will not appear in print until the last paper is accepted and processed, which can take a considerable length of time, depending on the individual author. Guest editors need to be aware that they are committing themselves to a fairly long process to see the special issue through to its completion.
(6) The guest editor(s) will provide the TG Editor-in-Chief with three (3) names of potential reviewers for each paper. Usually at least a third of the potential reviewers will decline an invitation to review the paper. Additional names are welcome, though the TG Editor-in-Chief will also draw on other databases of referees to ask. Do not ask authors to recommend their own reviewers. Do not recommend authors who are contributing to your Special Issue to review other contributions. Also, do not recommend members of the TG Editorial Board. The TG Editor-in-Chief will invite the reviewers to review the papers, the guest editor(s) does not need to do this. The guest editor(s) will be included as one of the anonymous reviewers for each of their papers.
(7) The guest editor(s) is required to write an introduction to the special issue. This introduction is treated as an editorial of about 3000 words. It does not have an abstract and is not sent for review. Sometimes the TG Editor will also contribute to the introduction as one of its authors, depending on the circumstances of the particular topic.
(8) If there are other papers that have been recently accepted for publication in TG that are closely related to the special issue topic, they may be include in the same issue. The TG Editor will discuss this with the guest editor(s) if this situation arises. Sometimes these are also brought up in the guest editor's Introduction, but not always. If we can fill most of an issue with papers that follow the same topic, then Routledge/T&F is likely to offer to re-publish the special issue for distribution as a book, which is a nice bonus.
(9) Based on recent experience, most guest editors give authors from 3 to 5 months to submit their full papers after the guest editors have done the initial review and selection based on the abstracts they have received. Papers submitted to TG are published online soon after they are accepted. On average, however, special issues have been appearing in final print form about 2 years after the initial CFP has been issued. Please consider also publishing your special issue as a book (see below).
See also this blog post on The Role of Guest Editors for Tourism Geographies.
Please contact Alan A. Lew, TG Editor-in-Chief, if you have any questions about this process.
A Special Issue should be similar to a well-edited book, with attention being given to the range and mix of article types, as well as to the inclusion of a state-of-the-art review article that is developed or led by an accomplished scholar. Special Issues that are based on more narrowly defined workshops or regional meetings should consider inviting additional authors to offer a broader and more comprehensive scope to their topic. Most special issues will have a Call-for-Papers (CFP) that will also be published on the TG website, to which potential authors can be referred.
Please note that Tourism Geographies prefers to limit the use of Call-for-Papers (CFP) that are sent to general email listservs, such as Trinet, RTSNet, TourismAnthropology, and TourismGeography (IGU). Guest editors are allowed to post a maximum of two CfPs to each of these lists. Instead, guest editors are encouraged to identify authors who are specifically active in the special issue topic and to contact them directly. Recent experience has shown that this limitation has not seriously restricted the number of proposed papers for topics that are exciting and compelling for authors.
A Special issue does not need to fill an entire issue of the journal. A minimum of four accepted papers is required to set aside a "special topic" area within the journal. Each issue is 176 pages long. You can estimate 500 words per page, with a 10,000 word paper being 20 pages long (including abstract, references and tables). This does vary among papers, but this is a good guideline overall. Depending on the length of papers, you can have 8 to 10 papers in the special issue. The journal allows papers up to 9000 words per paper. However, as the guest editor you can reduce that number to have more papers. The page length is the key factor here.
We recommend having three guest editors. The workload is often too much for one or two guest editors (although there are exceptions). The primary responsibilities of the guest editor(s) includes:
- Identifying authors interested in writing acceptable papers and securing their participation (see 1 and 2 below),
- Ensuring the acceptability among proposed contributions (2),
- Working with the authors to ensure that the initial submissions meet appropriate conceptual and methodological standards, and are submitted on time and in proper format (3, 4 and 5),
- Suggesting reviewers for submitted paper to the TG Editor-in-Chief (6), and
- Writing an introduction for the Special Issue (7 and 8).
(1) The guest editor(s) initially contacts the Editor-in-Chief (Alan Lew) for Tourism Geographies (TG) to inquire about potential interest in the topic of the proposed special issue. This should address the goals of the Special Issue, who the market will be for the special issue, and information on the qualifications of the guest editor(s).
The title of the special issue should be carefully crafted so that it is easily "discoverable" in online searches. Please review the Taylor & Francis Guide to Discoverability for help in selecting your title.
(2) After the topic is deemed suitable for the journal, then the guest editor(s) send their CfP to potential authors and email lists to solicit potential abstracts. The guest editors should review the abstracts they receive to ensure that they are appropriate to the topic and have the potential to survive the review process. Proposals that do not match the theme or have other issues that make them questionable should be rejected as not suitable for the special issue. Once the initial set of papers is determined, a list of authors and draft titles is sent to the TG Editor-in-Chief. (Abstracts are not required.)
- The goal is a maximum of 12 papers for the Special Issue. It is difficult to predict which of the abstracts will ultimately be submitted and then accepted. Rough guidelines are:
- Guest editors should only select papers that (a) have a a strong tie to the theme , (b) present a topic that is interesting for reviewers and readers, (c) is theoretically well developed, and (d) would likely to be well written and submitted on time (some guest editors request an author bio to confirm this)
- Maybe a quarter or more of the accepted abstracts will not be submitted as papers in a timely manner.
- Some papers will be rejected by the review process. The percentage of rejected papers is influenced by how well the abstracts were initially screened.
- Ultimately, to get 12 final papers, the initial accepted abstracts might be between 18 and 24 (this is hard to predict!).
(3) The guest editors works with the authors to pre-review the papers before they are formally submitted to TG.
- The guest editors want to make sure that the papers are strong enough to potentially survive the review process after they submitted to the journal. Some papers will be ready from the first draft; others may take a couple of drafts to be acceptable. Some may never reach an acceptable standard, and should be rejected or otherwise removed from the special issue by the guest editors. Do not allow papers to move forward that will clearly not meet the standards of Tourism Geographies, in the opinions of the guest editors.
- The guest editors should also be aware that the more papers that they allow to be submitted to the journal for their special issue. the more work will need to do. Instead, they should seek to encourage the best papers that meet the goals of their special issue.
- Please ask the authors to format their papers based on the TG Notes for Contributors.
- In addition to the TG Notes for Contributors, guest editor(s) are encouraged to share the following website with authors to help them to properly orient their papers to minimize simple case studies: How To Avoid a Desk Rejection: Forget the Case Study
(4) When formally submitting their papers to the journal (using ScholarOne), authors must check the "Special Issue" box and indicate the special issue topic. The special issue topic and guest editor(s) should also be mentioned in a cover letter to ensure that the paper is not treated as a regular submission. If these are not included, then the paper will likely be reviewed without consideration for the special issue. All papers will go through a mostly traditional double blind review process and only papers that are successful in that process will be published. Reviewers will be informed that the paper is being considered for a special issue.
TG accepts about 20% of submitted papers, so you can expect that some papers may be rejected. That being said, most Special Issues have much higher acceptance rates, although there have also been some rare instances in which most the Special issue papers submitted were rejected. The TG Editor-in-Chief will oversee the entire review process and will make the final decision on paper acceptance, based on the anonymous reviews, and in consultation with the guest editors where warranted.
(5) It is expected that all papers will have completed the review, revision and acceptance/rejection process within 18 months from the time that the special issue list of authors and titles was submitted to the TG Editor-In-Chief. The guest editor(s) should, therefore, establish some clear deadlines for contributing authors. Papers submitted to the special issue will be published online as they are accepted and copy edited. However, they will not appear in print until the last paper is accepted and processed, which can take a considerable length of time, depending on the individual author. Guest editors need to be aware that they are committing themselves to a fairly long process to see the special issue through to its completion.
(6) The guest editor(s) will provide the TG Editor-in-Chief with three (3) names of potential reviewers for each paper. Usually at least a third of the potential reviewers will decline an invitation to review the paper. Additional names are welcome, though the TG Editor-in-Chief will also draw on other databases of referees to ask. Do not ask authors to recommend their own reviewers. Do not recommend authors who are contributing to your Special Issue to review other contributions. Also, do not recommend members of the TG Editorial Board. The TG Editor-in-Chief will invite the reviewers to review the papers, the guest editor(s) does not need to do this. The guest editor(s) will be included as one of the anonymous reviewers for each of their papers.
(7) The guest editor(s) is required to write an introduction to the special issue. This introduction is treated as an editorial of about 3000 words. It does not have an abstract and is not sent for review. Sometimes the TG Editor will also contribute to the introduction as one of its authors, depending on the circumstances of the particular topic.
- There is a specific paper type called "Issue Introduction" that is to be used for this.
- If the guest editor(s) wishes to do a more substantial introduction, this could be done as a "Commentary" type paper (5000 words), which has an abstract will be sent for review as a Commentary. Alternatively, an even more substantial literature review could be submitted as a "Research Frontiers" paper type. (See the Notes for Authors for a full description of these paper types.)
(8) If there are other papers that have been recently accepted for publication in TG that are closely related to the special issue topic, they may be include in the same issue. The TG Editor will discuss this with the guest editor(s) if this situation arises. Sometimes these are also brought up in the guest editor's Introduction, but not always. If we can fill most of an issue with papers that follow the same topic, then Routledge/T&F is likely to offer to re-publish the special issue for distribution as a book, which is a nice bonus.
(9) Based on recent experience, most guest editors give authors from 3 to 5 months to submit their full papers after the guest editors have done the initial review and selection based on the abstracts they have received. Papers submitted to TG are published online soon after they are accepted. On average, however, special issues have been appearing in final print form about 2 years after the initial CFP has been issued. Please consider also publishing your special issue as a book (see below).
See also this blog post on The Role of Guest Editors for Tourism Geographies.
Please contact Alan A. Lew, TG Editor-in-Chief, if you have any questions about this process.
Publishing a Special Issue as a Book
Taylor and Francis will often consider publishing a special issue of a journal as a separate hard cover book about 6 to 9 months after the journal issue comes out. The main criteria are that the special issue did well in journal format, is over 110 pages in length, and contains mostly non-Open Access articles. No new material will be allowed to be added to the book version. This is a relatively easy process and Guest Editor(s) are encouraged to write a proposal (use this form) and submit it to Dr. Alan Lew, TG Editor-in-chief to start the process.
Note that you will need to provide copyright permission forms for all figures and other material in the article included in the book. While such permissions are also required for journal articles, the authors are not required to submit them formally as part of the journal article review and publication process. However, these forms are required for the book process.
Taylor and Francis will often consider publishing a special issue of a journal as a separate hard cover book about 6 to 9 months after the journal issue comes out. The main criteria are that the special issue did well in journal format, is over 110 pages in length, and contains mostly non-Open Access articles. No new material will be allowed to be added to the book version. This is a relatively easy process and Guest Editor(s) are encouraged to write a proposal (use this form) and submit it to Dr. Alan Lew, TG Editor-in-chief to start the process.
Note that you will need to provide copyright permission forms for all figures and other material in the article included in the book. While such permissions are also required for journal articles, the authors are not required to submit them formally as part of the journal article review and publication process. However, these forms are required for the book process.
