Asian Journal of Andrology Special Issue

Asian Journal of Andrology (AJA) places great emphasis on Special Issues as a unique and effective means of promoting high-quality research in thematic areas and communicating current knowledge in a particular field to researchers working in the field and interested readers.

Qualified and noted researchers, academicians, and clinicians and conference organizers are encouraged to organize and edit special issues in their expertise areas on the topics of interest with the journal. We warmly welcome the proposals for the Special Issues throughout the year. After receiving the proposals, the Editorial Board Members will review it and assess the needs of the journal, and then determine whether to accept/revise/decline the proposals.

Anyone wishing to serve as a Guest Editor for AJA should read and adhere to the following guidelines. Please refer any questions to the AJA Editor at aja@sibs.ac.cn.

Background
Special Issues of AJA are published four times at least in a 12-month period. Persons wishing to serve as Guest Editor for Special Issues must contact AJA Editor for approval before proceeding. To facilitate consideration of such requests, a written proposal should be prepared and emailed to AJA Editor.
The proposal must be prepared using the AJA special issue proposal form. The proposal should be within the scope of the journal (see ‘about AJA’ section for the scope). If the proposal is accepted, you will be invited by the Chief Editor/Editorial Office to work as the LEAD GUEST EDITOR for your special issue. The AJA editors will be available for assisting guest editor in organizing the special issue in very flexible way.

General Timetable
It typically takes 12-14 months to bring a Special Issue of AJA to publication. Therefore the commitments for Special Issues are often made 18-24 months or more ahead of the publication date. The advanced planning is strongly encouraged. The Guest Editor must adhere strictly to the following timetable. If deadlines are not met, publication of an issue may be delayed.

General Requirements

1. Minimum two guest editors would be required to organize a special issue unless specified. Not all from the same institution.
2. Normally 8-15 invited papers per one special issue are required. The word limit of each paper should be 3500-5000 words.
3. All papers should be prepared according to AJA Instructions for Authors. Articles in the special issues may include Reviews, Research Highlights, Opinions, and others which are deemed as appropriate by the journal editors.
4. The special issue must reflect an international collaboration. Therefore, no more than two papers from a particular institution permitted, unless it is justified by guest editors and authorised in advance by AJA editors. Authors should come from at least 3 countries. This is also applicable to a particular conference, where the conference organizer has already selected papers.
5. Papers in the special issue should be nominated and invited by guest editors, and in some cases, can be openly solicited.
6. All articles for special issue must go through peer review process. The guest editors are responsible for reviewing and guaranteeing the quality of special issue papers, and supplying final versions to the journal editorial office for publication.
7. For conference organizers, the special issue may comprise of the extended or full versions of papers that were presented by the keynote speakers in the conference, symposium or workshop. All papers would be required subject to another peer review acceptance/rejection process.
8. The final publication stages are taken care of by the AJA editorial office. Once the guest editors have approved the papers, they will be transferred to AJA Technical Editor to finalize the publication of the Special Issue.

Peer Review Process
The peer review process should generally follow AJA guidelines. However, the Guest Editor is free to select a review process that best fits his/her situation and the theme of the Special Issue. In all cases, the Guest Editor is encouraged to consult with the AJA Editor-in-Chief for advice and questions.
The most usual approach for peer review is for the Guest Editor to seek two or three independent reviewers who are well-qualified and well-acquainted with the subject matter and technology dealt with in an article. The Guest Editor may wish to contact the AJA Editor for assistance in finding reviewers. Another approach to review is most recommended. This involves having each author review the others contributions to eliminate duplication and identify shortcomings.
The Guest Editor should provide and report an Author Spreadsheet and a Reviewer Spreadsheet to document all papers submitted for review – manuscript titles, authors’ names, reviewers’ names, and decisions. If the guest editors wish, the AJA editors can assist guest editors in proceeding with the peer-review process and managing the spreadsheet.

Guest Editors Duties

1. Prepare the proposal for the Special Issue;
2. Write a letter of author invitation in consultation with AJA editors and get it approved by Chief Editor of the journal;
3. Direct contact with potential authors, and issue invitations. If needed, AJA editor can assist in communicating with authors. In the case of a conference, invitations to be issued to the keynote speakers at that venue;
4. Arrange timely, quality controlled OPEN peer review process;
5. Select and allocate reviewers for invited papers in collaboration with the journal editors;
6. In charge of acceptance/rejection/revision and resubmission decisions and liaise closely with the editors on each of these decisions;
7. Write a Foreword or Introduction to the Special Issue (along with the other Guest Editors) to be published in your Special Issue;
8. Check the publisher’s proofs;
9. The Guest Editor is not responsible for providing, or paying, for the cover of the Special Issue. However, many Guest Editors choose to solicit a cover that is especially well-related to the theme of the issue;
10. Editorial office staffs will be always available for Special Issue guest editors for any administrative and editorial assistance to make the whole process seamless and enjoying.

Special Issue proposals

Special Issue proposals include:

1. Name, affiliation, address, email, and web page of each Guest Editor;
2. Half to one page biography and list of publications of each Guest Editor;
3. The specific title for Special issue (try to make as short and snappy as possible);
4. Proposed Aims and Scope, giving an overview of the Special Issue's intended focus, showing how the proposed Special Issue is distinct from existing publications and stating the relevance and contribution of the Special Issue to international professional communication.
5. A selection of recent literature relevant to the proposed issue;
6. List of potential topics (articles) and contributors (if you are not sure whether the author will accept to contribute, we suggest you to give at least two author names to each title in case someone will decline):
7. The definition of the subject matter, and role, of every article in the special issue. Guest Editors should not simply leave each article to the discretion of its author, but rather give each author an idea of what their article should cover so that it fills into the issue as a whole. It may be important to spell out the boundaries of each article, to ensure both a complementary approach and the absence of overlap;
8. A proposed timeline and schedule which you think practicable with specific dates:
   1) Author invitation completion;
   2) Submission deadline of full manuscripts,
   3) Expected date of publication

If you are interested, please submit the completed form (click here to Special Issue Proposal Form) to AJA editors at aja@sibs.ac.cn. Warmly welcome your invaluable input and involvement into the booming development of AJA.