Special issues are collections of articles advancing a novel debate, idea or field. Ideas for new special issues may come from a variety of sources, like suggestions of the Editorial Board or scientists working in the field. Scholars who are interested in publishing a special issue with us are advised to consider the following guidelines.

Proposal of a Special Issue

All special issues must receive initial approvals from the Editor-in-Chief. Guest Editors should provide a proposal of the special issues for the Editor-in-Chief's consideration. The proposal format must contain:

• provide a short introduction, an image and other necessary information for the special issue;
• provide a table of contents for the special issue if possible;
• draft a Call for Papers invitation;
• recommend and/or invite contributors;
• oversee the peer review process, and make suggestions on special issue articles to ensure the quality of the special issue publication;
• Guest Editors may submit their own manuscripts to the Special Issue they are editing; however, such contributions should be limited;
• The Guest Editor must ensure that all content published in the Special Issue aligns with the scope of the Special Issue and the journal;
• Guest Editors may recommend early-career researchers from their colleagues or team members to join the Guest Editor team. However, the responsibility for supervising the peer review process and making decisions on manuscripts must rest solely with the Guest Editor;
• write an Editorial to summarize the content and rationale of the special issue.

Note: Journal Editors will assist Guest Editors with editorial work of the special issue. Editor-in-Chief may participate in operations of certain special issues. When less than 5 articles are published in a special issue, the special issue will be hidden and the published articles will be regarded as regular articles.

Responsibilities of Guest Editors

Guest Editors are expected to:

• provide a short introduction, an image and other necessary information for the special issue;
• provide a table of contents for the special issue if possible;
• draft a Call for Papers invitation;
• recommend and/or invite contributors;
• oversee the peer review process, and make decisions on special issue articles to ensure the quality of the special issue publication;
• write an Editorial to summarize the content and rationale of the special issue.

Special Issue articles undergo the same high-standard editorial procedure as other submissions. Regarding Special Issue paper, after passing the initial check of the Managing Editor, the manuscript will be successively assigned to the Assistant Editor, Guest Editor, and then to the Editor-in-Chief or an Editorial Board member in the case of a conflict of interest for the Editor-in-Chief to review. The Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board member may reject manuscripts that they deem highly unlikely to pass peer review without further consultation. Once the manuscript has passed the editorial assessment, the Assistant Editor will start to organize peer-review.

Notices for Authors

Authors who are invited or intend to publish in a special issue should pay attention to the following items:

• Read Editorial Policies and Author Instructions carefully, ensuring the manuscript meets all requirements before submission;
• Submit the manuscript by the deadline. Overdue submissions may be excluded from the special issue and processed as regular submissions;
• Submit the manuscript via the Online Submission System;
• Indicate "This article is for the special issue XXXX" in cover letter when submitting;
• Note that being invited to contribute a paper to a special issue is not a guarantee of publication. Special issue articles undergo the same high-standard editorial procedure as other submissions.

Peer-Review and Editorial Procedure

All special issue articles are subject to rigorous and impartial peer-review like other regular submissions. Guest editors must not be involved in handling or making decisions on manuscripts that they have authored or co-authored, those written by their family members or colleagues, or manuscripts related to products or services in which they have conflicts of interest. Such manuscripts will assign another appropriate editor or Editorial Board Members to oversee the process. For other manuscripts where no conflicts of interest with the Guest Editor are present, the quality will be collaboratively evaluated by the Guest Editors and the Editorial Board Members. The making decisions on whether special issue manuscripts are accepted will be made by Editorial Board Members.

Guest Editors are welcome to recommend reviewers for submissions before peer review. For more information of OAE editorial handling, please refer to Peer Review Guidelines and Editorial Process.