Submit a proposal

Why propose an issue?

Find out how Guest Editing an issue can benefit you personally.

"If you can make the time to organize a special issue with a group of co-editors that you can rely on – do it. It was an enjoyable and extremely rewarding process." Read more about one group of Editors' experience on our blog.

Download a flyer with more information.

Watch a video introduction from the Senior Commissioning Editor:

Decision rounds

Philosophical Transactions B publishes 26 issues a year. Publishing in Phil Trans B is prestigious and the competition stiff, so we can only accept fewer than half of the proposals submitted. To ensure that the best proposals are accepted, the journal operates regular submission rounds per year.

Proposals are peer–reviewed and then sent to a selection of members of the Editorial Board, who compare the proposals against each other. The Editor will make the final decision.

We welcome proposals from any scientist working anywhere in the world. You do not need to be associated with the Royal Society. We are happy to receive proposals from scientists at any stage in their career, as long as they can demonstrate some standing in the field, and be able to recruit top quality authors.

The upcoming dates are:

Submission by 18^th April for a decision in June 2022
Submission by 18^th July for a decision in September 2022
Submission by 17^th October for a decision in December 2022

Pre-submission enquiries and submitting

Before submitting a formal proposal we strongly encourage you to make a pre-submission enquiry to assess whether your proposal would be of interest to our readers. In your email, please include the following:

a brief summary of the issue and subject background
why your issue would be particularly timely in the next 18 months
how your issue is novel and how it would advance the research field
any implications for the wider scientific community and/or policy
a list of potential contributors and subject areas/paper titles.

If the proposal is encouraged by the Editorial Board, you should then gain the commitment of all the authors involved before submitting a formal proposal for peer review and assessment. Proposals can be submitted at any time up to the above dates to fall into that submission round.

As the project may be rejected, or you may be asked to revise the proposal, please ensure that all authors are aware that their contribution may not be required.

To submit a proposal complete the proposal form and then submit it via our submission portal.

Tips for preparing a proposal

As we can only accept the very best proposals for issues, please ensure that your proposal stands out by being carefully planned, cohesive, scientifically excellent, and will make a significant contribution to your field. Here are some things to consider:

The journal tries to balance topics across its scope, so please check that your issue is not too similar to any recent or forthcoming issues. For information about projects in preparation please contact the Editorial Office.

Proposals on emerging, interdisciplinary subjects are the most likely to be accepted. Issues should ideally contain content from across more than one broad area of research. The core topic must be within the biological sciences, but you can consider bringing in a small amount of content from other fields such as the physical sciences, social sciences, biophysics, policy, economics etc.

The issue must contribute something new to your field - we will not accept proposals for issues that are purely reviewing an established area of research. We want each Theme Issue of Philosophical Transactions B to be a landmark publication in its field, and set the agenda for future research.

As our readership is broad and ranges across the entire spectrum of the biological sciences, articles must be interesting and accessible to readers who are not specialists in the field.

Ensure that the papers provide a comprehensive and balanced coverage of the topic, and avoid overlap. Invite authors from a wide geographic range (ensure that you include authors from outside North America and the UK), and avoid multiple authors from the same institution. Think carefully about your authorship in terms of diversity. Proposals which involve human studies should include, wherever possible, a diverse range of populations.

Use the broad scope of the journal inventively - this is a unique forum for interdisciplinary work and new collaborations. You could suggest new co-authorships to bring new perspectives to a field. Include contributions from people with different perspectives – this is an ideal opportunity to voice both sides of an argument.

If your proposal is based on a meeting or working group it should expand beyond that to give wider coverage of the area. Philosophical Transactions B is not a forum for conference proceedings.

Think carefully about length - between 14-18 papers is usually about right. It can often work well if papers are sub-grouped into relevant subject headings in the theme issue - this helps to navigate the context of the work.

Ensure a good mix of original research and review articles – as a guide at least 50% of the papers should present new research (although this may not be appropriate for all topics). We also encourage you to think about including other types of paper such as opinion pieces, future perspectives, theory/ideas papers, retrospectives, mini reviews, debates or policy papers to increase interest in the issue and to tie the papers together (as long as the majority of the issue is on the science). You could also consider including short commentaries on the papers by other authors, reviewers or external experts, but this would have to be arranged prior to publication as all content must appear together.

Check that the issue title, chapter titles and abstracts are all clear, snappy and appealing to a broad readership. Long, descriptive or very specific titles may deter readers, and we will take this into account when making a decision on the proposal. Abstracts should provide enough information for reviewers to determine the likely scientific novelty and interest of the paper.

All authors should have been approached and have agreed to contribute before you submit your proposal. If an obvious candidate for inclusion is not listed, please give the reasons why this is the case.

The Guest Editors may only be lead or final author on one paper each in addition to the Introduction, and be a listed author on no more than 3 in total.

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. Determine your individual roles and responsibilities before submitting your proposal.

Give as much information in your proposal as possible. Assume that a generalist is reading it - whilst all proposals get reviewed by referees close to the subject, the proposals then get assessed by the Editorial Board who come from diverse fields. Don't assume that anyone knows the importance of anything!

Useful resources

Before preparing your proposal we would recommend that you look at:

To submit a proposal:

For more information or to make a pre-submission enquiry please contact the Editorial Office.

Flyer

Please click on the image below to download a PDF with more information.