SPECIAL ISSUES in Tourism Geographies
Special Issues are collections of new papers on a single topic or theme. Guidelines 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 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 Sponsorship Guidelines here.
Guidelines for Guest Editors of Special Issues
A Special Issue in Tourism Geographies is a coherent collection of papers, plus a short introduction, 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.
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 the inclusion of an introductory state-of-the-art review article written by the guest editor(s).
Special issues may have a Call-for-Papers (CFP) that will also be published on the TG website, to which potential authors can be referred. Alternatively, Guest Editors may invite potential contributors independently of a public CFP.
A Special issue may not fill an entire issue of the journal. You may have up to eight (8) papers at 7,500 words each (approximately 15 pages) plus a short introduction at 3000 words. The goal is to keep the special issue to 125 page maximum. These word counts include the abstract, references, tables, and figures. Page length does vary among papers, but 500 words per page is a good overall estimate. Guest Editors can require authors to write shorter papers (4000 to 6000 words) so that you can have more papers in your special issue. Longer papers are discouraged.
We encourage co-edited Special Issues. Guest Editors' primary responsibilities include:
- Identifying authors interested in writing high quality papers and securing their participation
- 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
- Recommending reviewers for submitted papers
- Writing an introductory state-of-the-art review article for the Special Issue
- Publicizing the Special Issue through a range of outlets (e.g. social media, listservs, etc.) and hosting a Virtual Special Issue Launch
STEPS
(1) The Guest Editors initially submits a proposal for a Special Issue to one of the Editors-in-Chief (EICs) for Tourism Geographies (TG). This should address the goals of the Special Issue, who the market will be for the special issue, information on the qualifications of the Guest Editors, and a Special Issue publicization plan.
-- 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.
-- The Guest Editors must provide evidence of their ability to properly evaluate the rigor of papers to meet the standards of Tourism Geographies.
(2) After the proposal is accepted by the journal, one of the EICs will be assigned to work with the Guest Editors to oversee the review process.
-- At that time, the Guest Editors will send their Call for Papers (CfP) to potential authors and email lists to solicit abstracts by a determined due date.
-- The Guest Editors must review the abstracts they receive to ensure that they are appropriate to the topic and have the potential to survive the anonymous peer-review process.
-- Once the initial set of papers is determined, a list of authors, their affiliations, and draft titles (no abstracts) is sent to the TG EIC who is working with the Guest Editors.
-- Typically, special Issue Guest Editors give authors 3 to 6 months to submit their full papers.
Things to keep in mind:
- 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 (Guest Editors may consider requesting author bios as part of the selection process)
- Some of the accepted abstracts will not be submitted as papers in a timely manner. This can be a serious problem and cause significant delay in the special issue's publication.
- Guest Editors may encourage authors whose abstracts are promising, yet not selected for inclusion in the special issue to submit their papers to Tourism Geographies for review outside of the special issue process. The Guest Editors will not be involved in the subsequent review of such papers.
- Some papers might be rejected by the review process. Because of this, Guest Editors might want to invite more than 8 papers to be be submitted. This depends on how confident the Guest Editors are in the quality of the papers that will be submitted. However, the guest editors should not invite more than 10 papers to be submitted to the review process.
- If more than 8 papers are submitted for review and are accepted in the review process, then the Guest Editors will need to decide which of those accepted papers will not be in the special issue, and which will not. They may consult with the EIC on this. Papers not included in the special issue will be published in an open topic issue of the journal. Guest Editors should inform authors of this policy before they submit their papers.
(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 survive the journal's review process. Some papers will be ready from the first draft that the Guest Editors receive; others may take a couple of pre-submission drafts to be acceptable to submit to the journal. Some may never reach an acceptable standard, and should be removed from consideration for the special issue by the Guest Editors before the article is formally submitted to the journal.
- Do not allow papers to move forward that, in the opinion of the Guest Editors, will clearly not meet the standards of Tourism Geographies.
- Please ask the authors to format their papers based on the TG Notes for Contributors. All authors must use these guidelines, along with papers that have been recently published in the journal, to format their papers. Failure to do so can cause significant delays in reviewing and publishing a paper.
- In addition to the TG Notes for Contributors, Guest Editors 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 from the list provided. The special issue topic and Guest Editors 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.
(5) The goal is to have all papers complete 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 EIC that is overseeing the special issue. This does not always happen.
-- The Guest Editors should 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 involved.
-- The print version of the Special Issue usually appears at least 2 years after the initial CfP has been announced. 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 Editors will submit the names, affiliations and current email addresses of 3 or 4 potential reviewers for each paper to the EIC overseeing the special issue.
-- Note that at least a third of the potential reviewers will decline an invitation to review the paper. Sometimes they all refuse, in which case the EIC overseeing the reviews may return to the Guest Editor for more suggestions.
-- Do not ask authors to recommend their own reviewers. Do not use authors who are contributing to your Special Issue to review other contributions. Also, do not recommend members of the TG Editorial Board to review your papers--they have other responsibilities to the journal.
- In addition, one of the Guest Editors will serve as the third reviewer on each of the special issue papers.
(7) The Guest Editors are required to write an introduction to the special issue. This introduction is treated as an editorial of up to 3000 words. It does not have an abstract and is not sent for anonymous review.
- There is a specific paper type called "Issue Introduction" in ScholarOne that is to be used for this.
(8) If there are other papers that have been recently accepted for publication in TG that are closely related to the special issue topic, we might be able to include in the same issue, depending on available space. Please discuss this with your TG EIC overseeing the special issue. Such papers will not be counted in the maximum 125 pages for the special issue.
Please contact one of the TG Editors-in-Chief, if you have any questions about this process.
Publishing a Special Issue as a Book
Taylor and Francis will often publishing a special issue of a journal as a separate hard cover book. The process can start soon 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, except:
(1) The introduction can be revised and expanded -- there is no set word limit on that;
(2) A Foreword and Afterword can be added, 500 to 1000 words or a little longer for each; and
(3) Solicited reviews of the book can be included on the front matter and online, up to 100 words per review.
This is a relatively easy process and Guest Editors are encouraged to write a proposal (use this form) and submit it to one of the TG Editors-in-Chief to start the process. The guest editors will each receive a couple of copies of the published book (depends on the number of guest editors). Contributing authors do not receive copies of the book.
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.
-- In general, you should discourage authors from using tables and figures for which they need copyright permission, as this just seems to make things more difficult in the long run. (Getting copyright permission from Routledge/Taylor & Francis is generally easier for these book projects.)
Taylor and Francis will often publishing a special issue of a journal as a separate hard cover book. The process can start soon 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, except:
(1) The introduction can be revised and expanded -- there is no set word limit on that;
(2) A Foreword and Afterword can be added, 500 to 1000 words or a little longer for each; and
(3) Solicited reviews of the book can be included on the front matter and online, up to 100 words per review.
This is a relatively easy process and Guest Editors are encouraged to write a proposal (use this form) and submit it to one of the TG Editors-in-Chief to start the process. The guest editors will each receive a couple of copies of the published book (depends on the number of guest editors). Contributing authors do not receive copies of the book.
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.
-- In general, you should discourage authors from using tables and figures for which they need copyright permission, as this just seems to make things more difficult in the long run. (Getting copyright permission from Routledge/Taylor & Francis is generally easier for these book projects.)
