Special Issue Policy

SAER Journal may publish special issues focusing on a specific scholarly topic, emerging research area, or interdisciplinary theme. Special issues must be consistent with the journal's overall aims and scope and are subject to the same scientific, ethical, and editorial standards applied to regular issues.

1. General Principle

Publication of a special issue does not create an exception to SAER Journal's peer review, publication ethics, research integrity, conflict-of-interest, or editorial independence policies.

Manuscripts submitted to special issues are evaluated according to the same fundamental scholarly standards as other submissions, in addition to their relevance to the special issue theme.

2. Special Issue Proposals

Special issue proposals may be submitted by editors, editorial board members, researchers, or subject specialists. Proposals are assessed with regard to scholarly significance, timeliness, relevance to the journal's aims and scope, potential contribution, and editorial feasibility.

Receipt or preliminary approval of a proposal does not guarantee that the special issue will ultimately be published. Final approval remains with the authorized editorial structure of SAER Journal.

3. Guest Editors

Where appropriate, a special issue may be managed by one or more guest editors with relevant subject expertise. The scholarly qualifications, expertise, commitment to publication ethics, and potential conflicts of interest of proposed guest editors may be considered before appointment.

Guest editors are required to comply with SAER Journal's publishing policies throughout the special issue process.

4. Responsibilities and Authority of Guest Editors

Guest editors may contribute to defining the scholarly focus of the issue, recommending appropriate reviewers, monitoring peer-review processes, and providing editorial recommendations.

Their authority operates within the journal's editorial structure and published policies. SAER Journal may intervene where necessary or transfer responsibility for a manuscript to another editor.

5. Peer Review

Research and review articles submitted to special issues are subject to independent peer review in accordance with the journal's Peer Review Policy.

An invitation to submit to a special issue does not exempt a manuscript from peer review or guarantee acceptance. Invited contributions must satisfy the journal's scholarly and ethical standards.

6. Editorial Independence

The scholarly content of special issues is managed independently of inappropriate commercial, institutional, personal, or other external influence. Sponsors, supporting organizations, or individuals who proposed a special issue may not interfere with peer review or final publication decisions on grounds unrelated to scholarly evaluation.

7. Manuscripts Submitted by Guest Editors

Where a guest editor submits their own manuscript to the special issue, that individual must not participate in the initial assessment, reviewer selection, reviewer correspondence, or final decision concerning the manuscript.

Such submissions are handled by an independent editor without a relevant conflict of interest and are subject to the same standards as other submissions.

8. Submissions by Editors and Editorial Board Members

SAER Journal editors and editorial board members may submit manuscripts to special issues. In such cases, the individual concerned must be fully recused from the evaluation process and the manuscript must be handled by an independent editor.

9. Conflicts of Interest

Guest editors, reviewers, authors, and other individuals involved in a special issue must disclose relevant actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Individuals with a significant conflict of interest must recuse themselves from the relevant manuscript's evaluation or decision-making process.

10. Calls for Papers

Where a call for papers is issued, it should identify the special issue theme, scope, important dates, submission procedure, and, where applicable, guest editor information as clearly as reasonably possible.

Calls for papers must not include misleading guarantees of acceptance, inappropriate promises of unusually rapid publication, or language suggesting that scholarly evaluation will be bypassed.

11. Invited Articles

SAER Journal or guest editors may invite researchers to submit manuscripts to a special issue. An invitation does not constitute a commitment to publication.

Invited submissions remain subject to the journal's scope, ethical, scholarly quality, and, where applicable, peer-review requirements.

12. Number of Articles and Editorial Balance

The number of articles included in a special issue is determined according to the scope of the topic, scholarly quality, and available editorial capacity. Manuscripts that do not meet the journal's standards will not be published merely to fill a planned issue.

Where fewer manuscripts successfully complete editorial evaluation than anticipated, a special issue may be published with fewer articles, postponed, or cancelled where necessary.

13. Sponsorship and Financial Support

Where a special issue receives financial or institutional support from an organization, project, or other source, that support should be disclosed transparently.

Funders or sponsors have no editorial authority over manuscript selection, reviewer appointment, peer-review reports, or final publication decisions.

14. Fees

Any article processing or publication charges applicable to special issue submissions are governed by SAER Journal's current Fee Policy and should be communicated transparently to authors.

An invitation to contribute or a relationship with a guest editor does not create a hidden or individual advantage in relation to fees or acceptance.

15. Research Integrity

Where plagiarism, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other research-integrity concerns arise in a special issue, the relevant SAER Journal publication ethics policies apply.

16. Cancellation or Editorial Changes

SAER Journal may modify, postpone, or cancel a planned special issue where concerns arise regarding scholarly quality, ethics, the availability of sufficient suitable manuscripts, editorial capacity, or other significant circumstances.

Where a guest editor is unable to continue or circumstances arise that could compromise editorial independence, the journal may appoint a replacement or manage the remaining process through its own editorial structure.

17. Policy Updates

SAER Journal may review and update this policy in response to developments in good scholarly and ethical practice relating to special issue publishing.