Special Issues
Curated collections on a single question, reviewed on the journal’s ordinary terms. Proposals from researchers across the journal’s scope are welcome throughout the year.
ISSN 2574-450X Proposals accepted year-round Charge USD 2,100, the standard rate
Propose a special issue
The journal welcomes proposals for focused collections on questions the field has not yet settled.
Journal of Obesity Management publishes special issues as curated collections within its ordinary volume and issue structure: the articles are peer reviewed on the journal’s usual terms, carry the usual identifiers and license, and sit permanently in the archive alongside everything else.
A good proposal identifies a question the field is actively arguing about, explains why a collection would do more than the individual papers would separately, and comes from guest editors who can attract and assess work across the whole of it. Researchers with relevant expertise anywhere in the journal’s aims and scope are invited to put a proposal forward.
A special issue changes what a collection is about. It does not change how a manuscript is reviewed, what it must meet, or what it costs.
What a proposal should contain
Enough for the editors to judge the question, the coverage and the people.
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01
The question
The scientific question or gap the collection addresses, and why it is timely. A proposal that restates a broad subject area rather than a question is difficult to assess.
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02
Fit with the journal
Which of the journal’s core domains the collection sits in — assessment, prevention, treatment, long-term management, or obesity-related metabolic health and comorbidity — and how it meets the journal’s fit rule: The manuscript must address a substantive question about obesity, its determinants or consequences, or its assessment, prevention or management. A focused subgroup or effect-modification analysis can qualify; recording body weight or including participants with obesity alone does not establish fit.
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03
Guest editors
Names, current affiliations, ORCID iDs, and a short statement of the relevant expertise of each proposed guest editor. At least one should be able to handle the methodological range the collection will attract.
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04
Scope of the collection
The article types invited, the kinds of study expected, and an indication of how many contributions the collection is aiming at. A realistic small collection is better than an ambitious one that does not fill.
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05
Timetable
A proposed opening date and a proposed closing date for submissions. A deadline is published only once it is agreed, and it is then real.
How a special issue is governed
The safeguards that make a collection a scholarly program rather than a route around review.
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Review
The same standard, the same process
- Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request.
- All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
- Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
- Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
- Guest editors may recommend; the journal’s editors take the decision.
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Conflicts
Guest editors and their own work
A guest editor who submits to their own collection takes no part in its handling: the manuscript is assigned to a journal editor, and the guest editor has no access to the reviewer identities or the review file. The same rule applies to a submission from a guest editor’s institution or research group.
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Independence
What a collection cannot do
Being part of a special issue leaves the evidential standard, review process and publication decision unchanged and creates no preference in editorial assessment. Each manuscript must meet the journal’s requirements and receives an independent editorial decision.
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Charges
The ordinary rate applies
Special issue articles are subject to the journal’s standard article processing charge of USD 2,100, payable only after acceptance, on the terms set out on the article processing charges page. A collection does not carry its own fee, surcharge or package.
How to submit a proposal
Contact the editorial office at any time to discuss a proposal.
- Write to the editorial office at [email protected] with "Special issue proposal" in the subject line, and the five items above in the body or as a short attachment.
- Discussion The editors respond with questions, a request to develop the proposal, or a decision. Where a proposal is close but not yet right, the editors say what would make it work rather than simply declining it.
- Agreement An accepted proposal is confirmed in writing, with the guest editors, the scope, the article types and the opening and closing dates all agreed before anything is announced.
- Publication The call is published on this page, submissions are handled through the journal’s ordinary routes, and accepted articles appear in the archive as they complete production.
If you are writing for a collection
What an author contributing to a special issue needs to know.
Prepare the manuscript exactly as you would for ordinary submission, following the instructions for authors, and say in the cover letter which collection it is intended for. Submit through one of the journal’s ordinary routes; there is no separate portal for a collection. Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.
If you are unsure whether your work fits a collection, write to the editorial office with the title and abstract before preparing a full submission.
Journal of Obesity Management (JOM) · ISSN 2574-450X · Crossref DOI prefix 10.14302 · published open access by Open Access Pub under CC BY 4.0, authors retain copyright · aims and scope · instructions for authors.