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Information for Guest Editors
This page outlines the process of editing a theme issue of Philosophical Transactions B. We offer the opportunity to put together a dedicated theme issue on a topic of your choice, published by the oldest continually running scientific journal in the world. For further details please contact the Editorial Office.
Why guest edit a theme issue?
Editing a theme issue is a serious commitment but can be a very rewarding experience. It provides the opportunity to compile a dedicated issue of the world's first science journal on a topic of your choosing. Find out more about the benefits of guest editing and read testimonials from previous editors.
The unique publishing model allows you to showcase the latest research in your field in a way that offers the combined advantages of book and journal publishing. Via this model, each issue has its own ISBN number (so is available to buy as an individual print issue) and dedicated media and marketing plan, whilst all articles still retain the ability to be individually cited.
As guest editing can be a demanding and time-consuming project, most volumes are organized by a team of people rather than an individual. Two or three editors tends to work best.
Submitting a proposal
Philosophical Transactions B considers proposals for theme issues on subjects across the whole of the biological sciences.
The Editorial Office and the Editorial Board are happy to provide informal feedback on a pre-submission enquiry, but cannot provide assurances of whether a proposal will be accepted until the full proposal has been submitted and sent to referees.
Instructions on how to submit a proposal for a theme issue and guidelines on what we’re looking for in a proposal can be found here.
For more information or to make a pre-submission enquiry please contact the Editorial Office.
Structure of an issue
The journal is very flexible about the types of articles included in an issue. Authors will be required to select from a small number of article types on submission, but within these there is plenty of scope for different types of contribution. If you, or any of your authors, have any questions please contact the Editorial Office.
Introduction
The introductory article is generally written by the Guest Editor team and is absolutely critical to the theme issue. A strong introductory article will be accessible to the readers, and convince them that the topic is of crucial importance. Introductions to theme issues are freely available online, so it will often be the article that readers use to gauge the worth of the whole issue.
A good introduction will discuss the subsequent articles and set the context for the rest of the issue, defining what ground each paper covers.
You may also wish to include a separate short preface, which is usually written by a leader in the field. This is entirely optional.
Invited papers
The other papers in the theme issue will generally fall into two categories:
Research articles
The majority of the issue will be made up of articles which present new data or ideas. As with standard research articles, the author will present their own work, including methods and results. However, given the nature of this journal, authors may wish to provide more context and discussion than is typical of a standard research article, resulting in a paper with more review-like features.
Research articles must be in the context of the wider issue and be accessible and of interest to a broad audience, so are likely to be written in a slightly different style to specialist reports. There should be an element of looking forward towards the future of the field, as well as content to excite the reader about the possibilities of research in this area. The format of research articles is flexible, and could also include hypothesis papers, synthesis articles, meta-analyses, methods papers, replications, policy papers etc., as long as they provide a useful and interesting contribution to the issue as a whole.
Review and opinion articles
It is also important to include some review articles in the issue, which explain the implications of the topic to other areas of science. This helps to ensure that the publication appeals to a wide audience, and to explain the value of the field to other specific areas. Reviews must offer a novel, interesting insight into the subject area. They will tend to generate innovative and testable ideas, and include constructive discussions and/or critiques of the field. Authors are welcome to include new data within review articles if appropriate.
We also welcome opinion pieces (also known as ‘perspectives’) that provide the reader with an overview of the subject but also give a personal insight into the advances and challenges the future may hold. New hypotheses may fall into this category.
Articles submitted to the journal must not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Furthermore, the main findings of the article should not have been reported in the mass media. Philosophical Transactions B employs a strict embargo policy where the reporting of a scientific article by the media is embargoed until the online publication date.
Responsibilities
Full details of what is expected and the practicalities of putting together an issue will be sent to you on acceptance of the project. However here is an overview to give you an idea of what will be required.
The Guest Editor(s) have the responsibility of defining the subject matter and role of every article in the issue. Editors should not simply leave each article to the discretion of its author, but rather guide them so that their contribution fits well into the issue as a whole. An excellent theme issue will have a cohesion that owes much to its Guest Editor. It is important to delineate the boundaries of each article, to ensure both a complementary approach and the absence of overlap. Above all, the Guest Editors should work to cover all the relevant angles of the topic, while minimizing any repetition between the articles.
All theme issues should be based around important scientific topics and contain strong contributions. However, for an issue to be really successful, it is important for the editors to set out a 'road map' of the issue, so every author can understand what is to be achieved by their article, and the issue as a whole. This must be circulated to all authors at an early stage, along with any specific instructions that you feel necessary.
If there are several editors involved, determine the precise individual responsibilities at an early stage. In addition to writing the Introduction to the issue, each Guest Editor may only be lead or final author on one paper, and be a listed author on no more than three in total.
Timeline
You will be asked to agree dates for draft paper submission and final issue submission with the Editorial Office at an early stage. As we publish 26 issues a year our schedule has to be planned far in advance, so please try to meet these agreed dates. Keep the Editorial Office informed of any changes to the schedule, and let them know if you need help with overdue contributors or referees.
An issue tends to take around 10 - 14 months from proposal acceptance to publication. An example schedule could be:
Proposal accepted: 1st March
Draft manuscripts submitted: 1st July
Peer review: July-September
Final papers ready for production: December
Publication: Feb/March
The Editorial Office will send reminders to authors and answer author queries, however the Guest Editor also has an important role in ensuring that the project runs to schedule. Projects can be delayed significantly by one author, allowing other contributions to become outdated and momentum to be lost.
Changes to the line-up
If at any time post-approval you need to make changes (e.g. if an author withdraws and you want to add a replacement paper), please contact the Editorial Office as any modification requires authorisation.
Managing papers
As Guest Editors you are responsible for managing the papers and for the quality of the content. Every paper in your issue must maintain the quality standards for the journal. Research papers must be scientifically excellent, and all content must be novel and interesting to a general readership. Some papers for your issue may have to be rejected, so please be prepared to do this, and ensure that your authors know that this is a possibility. Guest Editors are also responsible for helping the Editorial Office to ensure that all papers meet the journal’s policies.
Guest Editors will manage the review process using our online paper management system, and make decisions on the papers. Each article must be sent to at least two referees besides the Guest Editors of the issue for assessment. More information on what reviewers should be commenting on can be found here.
Acceptance and finalization
When all of your papers have been accepted, including the Introduction, we can put the issue into production. During the production process the papers will be typeset, proofread, and sent to the authors for checking.
The time to online publication depends on when the next available publication slot is, but it is generally within 2-3 months of final delivery to us. Print publication will be approximately 6 weeks later.
Open access sponsorship
All papers are made freely available one year after publication, and individual authors will also be given the opportunity to pay for immediate open access. However, some time-sensitive or particularly high-impact issues in the past have been made fully open access by sourcing funding from external bodies, e.g. funding agencies. This can lead to greater exposure than normal issues. If you would like to explore the feasibility of this model for your issue please get in touch and we can discuss the options.
Publication
After publication we will market the issue at particular conferences and meetings and send you up to 20 complimentary copies of the issue to distribute to colleagues and associates. We can also send you flyers offering the issue at a discounted rate for you to distribute.