Guest Post: Writing Articles for Themed Issues of Journals

[In this post, AuthorAID team member Dr. Bernard Appiah shares advice on writing journal articles for themed issues (also called theme issues). Thank you, Bernard! —Barbara]

In the past 2 years, I have published 2 scientific papers in response to calls for papers in themed issues of journals.

I would like to share my experience on this subject with the AuthorAID community.

First, become aware of such opportunities. Members of your social networks can be useful contacts. For one of the papers, I first learned of the call through a friend who knows my interests. In the other case, I became aware of the call through a discussion list for science communicators.

Also, some journals occasionally post calls for papers for special issues. If you visit a journal’s website, consider looking for such information.

Second, when seeking to publish a paper in a special issue, be sure the content of your manuscript matches the objectives of the call very well. One strategy is to use some of the keywords from the call even in the title of your paper. But also ensure that the body of the paper actually matches the title.

Third, many such calls ask you to first send an extended abstract for review. The journal then reviews the abstracts and decides which authors to invite to submit full manuscripts. I made sure that at least almost every word in my abstracts deserved to be there.

Finally, pay careful attention to deadlines. Journal editors do not want authors to delay themed issues. Therefore, if you are asked to revise a paper or check the proof, kindly stick to the deadline.

If you are in a field that has themed issues, I hope you consider publishing in one.