Special Issues

Guidelines for Special Issues

EPS welcomes special issue proposals on topics that are within the scope of the journal. Only new and original content will be published; EPS does not accept review articles. These policies are similar to those of the regular issues. Proposals should be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief of EPS by email (eic(at)earth-planets-space.org).

Special Issues Open for Submissions

Proposals for Special Issues

The proposal must clearly state the following:
  1. The objectives of the proposed special issue
  2. Title of the special issue
  3. The list of guest editors (maximum 5), including their names, affiliations, email addresses, and specialties. The guest editors should represent the international scientific community; thus, they should not all have the same nationality
  4. Description of the call for papers
  5. Proposed time frame, deadline for submission, and expected publication date
  6. List of potential submissions
All special issue proposals are subject to approval by the Editorial Board of EPS.

Responsibilities of the Guest Editors

All review processes must be completed through the Editorial Manager (EM) system on the Web. Reviews and personal communications by e-mail outside the Web system are not allowed. Ad hoc e-mails can also be sent through the system. The guest editors must familiarize themselves with the operations of the EM system. You can find video manuals here. Quality control of accepted papers is essential for the success of the special issue, and rigorous peer review should be performed in a timely manner.
    1. The Editor-in-Chief (EiC) can invite up to one Frontier Letters per special issue, for which no APC (Article Processing Charge) is assessed. The Lead Guest Editor (LGE) must decide on these Frontier Letters before the submission process begins. Note that Frontier Letters will also go through the normal reviewing process. When Frontier Letters are submitted, the authors must indicate in their cover letters that they were invited by the EiC. Otherwise, an APC will be assessed.
    2. All papers must be submitted electronically through the paper submission system of the journal.
    3. First, the EiC will assign the submitted paper to the LGE on EM.
    4. The LGE will then assign the handling editor (HE), including himself/herself, using EM.
    5. The HE will appoint two reviewers. Note that the other guest editors cannot act as reviewers for the special issue. The alternative reviewers (spares for invitation) can be listed using the “alt” option.
    6. The peer review process for special issues is the same as that for regular issues of EPS. The HE sends a final decision to the EiC through EM. After this, the EiC will make a final decision or arrange language editing with no cost to the author.
    7. Papers submitted late may not be published as part of the special issue, but the authors may be asked to resubmit the paper as a new regular paper.
    8. The LGE prepares a preface for the special issue once all of the submissions have been accepted.
The Lead Guest Editor is requested to write the preface of the special issue at the completion of the publication process.

Instruction Videos for Editorial Manager

Click the following links to open the videos on YouTube.
  1. How to View and Annotate a New Submission
  2. How to Accept or Decline to Act as Editor
  3. How to Invite Reviewers
  4. How to Make a Decision
  5. How to Handle Re-review
  6. How to View and Add Flags
  7. How to View a Manuscript History
  8. How to Send an Ad Hoc Email
  9. How to Have an Overview of Your Manuscripts
Special Issues
Special Issue Summaries