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Invitation to Submit Proposals for Special Issues to the Asian Review of Social Sciences

The Asian Review of Social Sciences (ARSS) is seeking Guest Editors with a strong track record in specific areas of the social sciences to curate Special Issues that feature cutting-edge research and foster high-quality academic discourse. Proposed Special Issues should align closely with the journal’s Aims and Scope and may address disciplinary or interdisciplinary themes across sociology, psychology, economics, political science, governance, education, anthropology, cultural studies, communication, media studies, library and information science, development studies, digital society, and related areas of social inquiry.

ARSS expects all Special Issues to follow the same standards of scholarly quality, editorial independence, research integrity, and transparent peer review that apply to regular submissions. These requirements operate together with the journal’s Peer Review Process and Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement, and are consistent with recognised good-practice guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).

Guidelines for Submitting Special Issue Proposals

1. Scope and Focus

  1. Special Issues should align with the themes and scholarly coverage of the Asian Review of Social Sciences as described in the journal’s Aims and Scope. Relevant areas include sociology, psychology, economics, political science, governance, public administration, anthropology, cultural studies, education, journalism and mass communication, media studies, library and information science, development studies, social policy, digital society, computational social science, digital humanities, and other interdisciplinary areas where the contribution to social science knowledge, policy, or professional practice is clear and substantive.
  2. The proposed Special Issue should address a specific and timely topic within these fields, emphasising recent developments, emerging trends, contemporary societal challenges, innovative methods, new theoretical perspectives, or novel research areas.

2. Guest Editor Responsibilities

Guest Editors are expected to:

  1. Identify a group of qualified authors to contribute high-quality papers relevant to the approved Special Issue theme.
  2. Ensure that all submitted papers undergo a rigorous and independent peer-review process.
  3. Oversee the scholarly coherence and relevance of the Special Issue while respecting the authority of the Editor-in-Chief and the journal’s Editorial Board.
  4. Ensure that the Special Issue complies with ARSS’s Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement, conflict-of-interest requirements, confidentiality standards, authorship principles, and Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy.
  5. Actively promote the Special Issue through appropriate scholarly and professional channels to maximise its visibility, readership, and academic impact.

3. Proposal Content

Your proposal should include the following information:

  1. Title of the Special Issue: A concise title that reflects the content, disciplinary focus, and scope.
  2. Rationale and Objectives: A brief explanation of the significance of the topic, why it is important at this time, and the principal scholarly objectives of the Special Issue.
  3. Themes and Topics: A list of specific areas, social questions, theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, or issues that the Special Issue will address.
  4. Potential Authors: An outline of potential contributors and their expertise in the proposed topic, where applicable. Identification of potential authors does not imply acceptance of any manuscript.
  5. Guest Editors: The names, institutional affiliations, contact details, relevant expertise, and short biographies of the proposed Guest Editor or Guest Editors.
  6. Expected Timeline: A proposed timeline for the call for papers, manuscript submission, peer review, revision, final editorial decisions, and publication.
  7. Target Audience: A description of the intended audience for the Special Issue, for example researchers, social scientists, academics, educators, practitioners, information professionals, development specialists, or policymakers.

4. Submission Process

  1. All Special Issue proposals should be submitted to editor@crijournals.org.
  2. Proposals will be reviewed by the journal’s editorial team and, where appropriate, members of the Editorial Board to assess scope alignment, academic significance, Guest Editor expertise, feasibility, and compliance with ARSS’s editorial standards.
  3. Proposers will be notified of the decision on the Special Issue proposal within 10 days.
  4. Acceptance of a Special Issue proposal does not constitute acceptance of any individual manuscript. Each manuscript is evaluated independently under ARSS’s standard editorial and peer-review requirements.

5. Publication Timeline

Once the proposal is accepted, ARSS will work with the Guest Editor or Guest Editors to establish an appropriate timeline for manuscript submission, editorial screening, peer review, revision, final decision, production, and publication.

Authors contributing to an approved Special Issue should prepare manuscripts in accordance with the journal’s Author Guidelines and use the Submit Manuscript page for submission. Publication timing depends on manuscript quality, reviewer availability, revisions, editorial checks, and production requirements.

6. Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted for a Special Issue will undergo ARSS’s double-blind peer-review process to ensure high standards of quality, originality, relevance, methodological soundness, and research integrity. Special Issue manuscripts are subject to the same standards of editorial independence, conflict management, reviewer confidentiality, and peer review as regular submissions.

Guest Editors must not make decisions on manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest. Ethical concerns are managed under ARSS’s Publication Ethics & Publication Malpractice Statement and, where necessary after publication, the Post-Publication and Accountability Policy.

7. Editorial Independence and Special Issue Oversight

ARSS retains full editorial oversight of all Special Issues and Article Collections. The Editor-in-Chief or authorised journal editor remains responsible for final editorial decisions, and Guest Editors may not bypass the journal’s peer-review, ethical, authorship, confidentiality, or conflict-of-interest requirements.

This approach reflects recognised scholarly-publishing practice and the DOAJ guidance for journals publishing Special Issues, which requires Special Issue content to remain within the journal’s scope and to receive the same level of editorial oversight and external peer review as regular papers.

Articles accepted for an ARSS Special Issue are published in accordance with the journal’s Open Access Policy and Copyright & Licensing Policy. Authors should also review the current Article Processing Charges & Waivers information. Any applicable Article Processing Charge is administratively separate from peer review and editorial decision-making and does not influence acceptance or rejection.

9. Questions and Contact

If you have any questions or need additional information concerning Special Issue proposals, Guest Editor responsibilities, or manuscript submission, please contact editor@crijournals.org. Additional journal contact details are available on the Contact page.