MRE Press Policies
MRE Press is a leading publisher of open access peer-reviewed biomedical and life sciences journals.

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Special Issues & Supplements Policy

MRE Press publishes Special Issues/Supplements in accordance with Supplements, Theme Issues, and Special Series by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Journal Supplements in MEDLINE by the NLM guidance.

1. Definition

  • Special Issues
    A Special Issue focuses on a specific area of research that has a broad appeal and falls within the aims and scope of the journal. It also provides an excellent opportunity to review a particular theme, examine previously unaddressed aspects, propose and develop new approaches, exchange perspectives and encourage new lines of research. Each unique and innovative Special Issue is led by Guest Editor(s) (an expert in the related field). Special Issues are published as a part of a regular issue of the journal.

  • Supplements
    A Supplement is a collection of papers that addresses Special Issues or Topics. A Supplement may be published as a separate issue of the journal or as part of a regular issue.

2.The Publication Process for Special Issues/Supplements

If you would like to propose a Special Issue for one of MRE Press journals, please go to journal website to submit your Special Issue Proposal Application or contact the Editorial Office of the journal.

All proposals submitted should include the following information:

  • The information of the Guest Editor(s): Names, affiliations, email addresses, websites, research interests, and social media accounts (optional), ORCID (optional), SciProfile account (optional). Please feel free to invite 1–3 colleagues or scholars in this field to co-edit the Special Issue with you if needed and decide on each person’s responsibilities and work distribution as a group.
  • The Special Issue’s tentative title: The title should clearly reflect the subject of interest.
  • Submission deadline: A Special Issue can be open for submission for 6–12 months, or more, depending on the specific situation.
  • A summary of the Special Issue (about 150–300 words, with 5 keywords): Briefly describe the motivation behind the Special Issue, the main topic and areas covered, and the types of submissions that would fit the scope of the Special Issue.
  • Instructions for the preparation of papers, as provided on the journal website under ‘For Authors’.
  • Planned papers can be listed if applicable: This includes the names, emails, and affiliations of the authors and optionally the tentative title of the planned paper.
  • The proposal will then be reviewed by the Editorial Office, which takes full responsibility for the policies, practices, and content of Special Issues/Supplements, including complete control of decisions relating to the selection of authors, peer reviewers, and content for the Special Issues/Supplements. Journals do not permit funding organizations to make decisions beyond which publications they choose to fund.
All proposals for Special Issues/Supplements must undergo evaluation and be approved by the Editorial Office. The Guest Editor of Special Issues assists with the initial review of manuscripts and the organization of Special Issues. All manuscripts proposed for Special Issues/Supplements are sent for external peer review organized by the journal Editorial Office, and final decisions on their publication rest with the journal’s relevant editors (usually the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of a journal or the Guest Editor of a Special Issue).
 
Proposals will be judged against the following criteria:
  • Is the proposed topic of interest and relevance to an identifiable and substantial international audience of educational researchers?
  • Does the treatment of the topic reflect an awareness of international perspectives and theoretical developments in the relevant field?
  • Does the research to be included in each of the papers outlined in the proposal appear to be well-conceived?
  • Is the proposal clearly and logically constructed, in a way that would encourage confidence in the proposers as Guest Editors?
  • Does the set of contributors of the group include researchers who are well regarded in their field?
  • Will the Special Issue make a significant and useful contribution to the study of education?
To ensure high-quality content for a specific target audience, all articles submitted for a Special Issue/Supplement must undergo a standard peer-review process organized by the Editorial Office within the scope of the journal.
 
All Special Issues/Supplements should contain a general introduction. The source of the idea for Special Issues/Supplements, sources of funding for the Special Issue/Supplement’s research and publication, as well as products of the funding source related to the content of the Special Issue/Supplement, should be clearly stated in the introductory material.
 
Advertising in Supplements follows the same policies applied to all MRE Press journals, see, Advertising Policies.
 
The issues of Supplements are distinguished from ordinary editorial issues by an “S”.
The Editor(s)-in-Chief maintains editorial responsibility for the content of all Special Issues/Supplements in their journal, including adherence to MRE Press’s Editorial Policies. They retain the authority to reject or request amendments to any article or abstract submitted to a Special Issue/Supplement.
 

3. Peer Review

  • Manuscripts for Special Issues/Supplements should follow the Instructions for Authors, the same principles of authorship and relationship disclosure, and the other related editorial policies of the journal.
  • Manuscripts submitted to Special Issues/Supplements undergo the standard peer review process administered by the journal Editorial Office and overseen by the Editor(s)-in-Chief.
  • All final decisions regarding acceptance or rejection are the responsibility of relevant editors (usually the Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Board Member of a journal or the Guest Editor of a Special Issue) of the journal.
  • Guest Editors are appointed following consultation with the Editor(s)-in-Chief of the journal. All Guest Editors must disclose any Conflict of Interests for manuscripts submitted to their Special Issues/Supplements.

4. Disclosure of Conflict of Interest

Disclosure of Conflict of Interest for manuscripts to the Special Issues/Supplements follow the Supplements, Theme Issues, and Special Series by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and Conflict of Interest Disclosure and Journal Supplements in MEDLINE by the NLM guidance.

  • In Special Issues/Supplements sponsored by for-profit organizations, where any product of the sponsor is mentioned in an article, a statement to clarify for this for readers must also be included in the “Conflict of Interests” section of the article.
  • A statement about the author’s source of funding for publication is to be included in the article.
  • Financial relationships between any of the Editors, authors and sponsors must be disclosed along with any other Conflict of Interest.
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