Collections
Special Issues
Focused collections that gather work on one question, proposed by researchers in the field and run to the journal’s ordinary editorial standards.
A special issue brings together studies that answer to each other — a set of unsuccessful replication attempts in one area, null findings on one intervention, failed approaches to one method — so that readers meet them as a body of evidence rather than one at a time.
The journal welcomes proposals from researchers with relevant expertise. What a proposal needs, and the safeguards that apply once a collection opens, are set out below.
The journal
- Published by
- Open Access Pub
- ISSN
- 2641-9181
- Short code
- IJNR
- Access
- Open access, CC BY 4.0
Proposing
Propose a Special Issue
A collection should address a defined question, such as a specific research bias, a reproducibility gap or a body of null findings on one intervention or method. The points below set out what the editorial office needs in order to assess a proposal.
What a proposal contains
A working title; the question, research bias or reproducibility gap the collection addresses; the proposed guest editors, with their affiliations and the rationale for their expertise; the anticipated article types, drawn from the journal’s four approved types (Original Research, Review Article, Methods and Tools, Short Communication), and the approximate number of submissions; the reporting standards or checklists submissions will follow, where applicable to their article types; how the collection keeps to the journal’s scope, set out below; and any planned outreach to research communities or consortia.
Where to send it
Proposals go to the editorial office at [email protected], or through the journal’s special issue proposal page.
Scope
IJNR publishes rigorously conducted research reporting negative, null, non-confirmatory or inconclusive findings across scientific disciplines, including unsuccessful replications, evidence-supported methodological limitations, and systematic reviews or meta-analyses of such findings. Eligible manuscripts are assessed on methodological quality, ethical standards and transparent reporting. Positive confirmatory findings fall outside the journal's remit.
Every collection is limited to negative, null, non-confirmatory or inconclusive findings, including unsuccessful replications, evidence-supported methodological limitations, and reviews of such findings, as set out on Aims and Scope.
Assessment
The editorial office assesses each proposal against the journal’s scope and editorial standards, and may ask for further detail before a collection is opened.
How a collection runs
Safeguards
A special issue is a different container, not a different standard. These conditions apply to every collection the journal opens.
The same review
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts. When double-blind review is requested, editors must ensure that author-identifying information is not shared with reviewers. Every manuscript in a collection goes through the same process as a regular submission.
The same criteria
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
Guest editor conflicts
A guest editor does not handle a manuscript on which they are an author, a collaborator, or otherwise conflicted. Those manuscripts are reassigned to an independent editor.
Editorial oversight
The journal’s editors retain responsibility for the collection, including final decisions, and a manuscript that does not meet the standard is not published because it was invited.
The same terms
As for regular submissions, the article processing charge is USD 1,800 for all article types and is payable only after acceptance; withdrawal after submission is subject to the journal’s withdrawal policy. Full terms are on the Article Processing Charges page. Articles are published open access under CC BY 4.0.
Contributing
Submitting to a collection
Authors with work suited to a collection can write to the editorial office, or submit through the journal’s special issue submission page, selecting the collection during submission.
Regular submissions are accepted throughout the year and are not affected by any collection. The standing invitation is on Call for Papers.
Submission routes
Primary route
Alternative route
Assisted route
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.