International Journal of Business Process

Integration and Management (IJBPIM)

 


Propose Special Issue


Periodically, IJBPIM publishes special theme issues. These theme issues cover a specific area of interest to the readers of the journal. Generally, IJBPIM will have one or less special issues per year. Special issues of IJBPIM undergo a blind, peer review process. Guest editors are asked to select colleagues with expertise in their related fields so that the high quality, upon which IJBPIM is based, is retained. Special theme issues are comprised of:

  • An Editorial Preface - the editorial preface is a 3-4 page article on some aspect of the special issue subject. This editorial is generally written by the guest editors and discusses some issue, trend, problem or solution pertaining to the theme of the journal. (The editorial preface must be accompanied by the authors biography (100-150 words), the authors mailing address and email address, and the original signed Author Warranty and Transfer of Copyright. IJBPIM will not publish any material in its journals that are not accompanied by this critical form.)
  • 4 -5 Research Papers - Each research paper must be an original submission and should follow regular IJBPIM manuscript requirements. (Please note: if you receive more quality papers than the allotted 4-5 that will appear in the special issue, please forward them to the journal editor for consideration of inclusion in a regular issue of this journal.)
  • Book Review - Each special issue should include a 2-4 page, double-spaced book review of a new publication pertaining to the special issue theme. Most publishing companies are happy to give complimentary copies to professionals who promise to do a book review of the title. In addition, guest editors may request any Idea Group books for this purpose. (The Book Review must be accompanied by the authors biography (100-150 words), the authors mailing address and email address, and the original signed Author Warranty and Transfer of Copyright. IJBPIM will not publish any material in its journals that are not accompanied by this critical form.)

Procedure of Organizing a Special Issue

  • Propose a special issue - First, you should complete the IJBPIM Special Journal Issue Proposal Template and submit to Dr. Liang-Jie (LJ) Zhang, Editor-in-Chief of IJBPIM (zhanglj AT us.ibm.com) for approval. Make sure that your proposal contains the following items:
    • (a) An introductory paragraph (approximately 50 words) describing the significance of your special issue subject and its impacts on organizations worldwide.
    • (b) A paragraph describing the main objective of your special issue. Try to make your paragraph very broad and general to attract as many proposals as possible.
    • (c) A list of recommended topics (15-20 topics).
    • (d) The contact information to be listed on the Call (exact mailing address, telephone number, fax number and email address where proposals can be sent).
  • Organize a program committee - After your proposal is tentatively approved, you can start to organize your program committee. The list of program committee members need to be submitted to Dr. Zhang for approval also. This list should include every program committee member's name, affiliation, email address, etc. Dr. Zhang will give final approval.
  • Distribute call for paper - After your proposal is approved, you should distribute the "Call for Papers" among your colleagues and peers who might be interested in submitting a paper to the special theme issue. You are also encouraged to post this Call on various listservs and bulletin boards, and distribute it at various professional conferences. The primary purpose of this Call will be to invite original papers for the special theme issue.

Note: It is always helpful to ask friends and colleagues to consider submitting a paper for your special theme issue. Furthermore, it is helpful to the overall quality of the journal to contact and personally invite a few well-known names in the field to consider writing a paper.

To reach your goal of soliciting the highest number of quality submissions fitting the mission of your special issue from which to select your final papers, here are some of the tips:

  • (a) Most editors found that they were not satisfied with the response they received to mass posting such as to ISWorld or IRMA-1. Personal contact and self-solicitation were cited as much more successful methods of obtaining good quality material.
  • (b) Other good sources of paper submissions are colleagues, attendees to conferences and specialized email lists targeted to the special issue theme. Some of the authors said they found it was helpful to "talk to people you know" and post the call on listservs targeted to people most likely to respond to the CFP.
  • (c) Finally, a few of our past guest editors suggested contacting those who have written on the topic of the special issue.

Note: If you set up your own Web site for call for paper, please submit the information to IJBPIM, so that the link will be published on the IJBPIM Web site.

  • Review paper
    • A. Send email receipt to corresponding author. All manuscripts have to be in electronic version, and follow regular manuscript requirements of IJBPIM.
    • B. Select reviewers for manuscript. Contact IJBPIM for evaluation form. Choose at least 3 reviewers according to their expertise. Record last name and reviewer number in log.
    • C. Make recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief. Once you have received the reviews, you have 3 possible decisions to make based on the reviewers' recommendations.
      • 1. Accept Manuscript.
      • 2. Accept with revision. In this case, you would ask the author to revise the manuscript accordingly.
      • 3. Reject Manuscript.
  • Package special issue materials to IJBPIM Review Board After you make decisions, you need to package all accepted papers together with their review results to the IJBPIM Review Board. IJBPIM Review Board will make the final decision on recommended papers. Then the guest editors can notify the authors. Please note NOT all the recommendations from guest editors will be accepted. It mainly depeneds on the quality and topics.

Note: This guide is intended to help you as you perform the tasks associated with being a guest editor. At any time during the process, please feel free to contact Dr. Liang-Jie (LJ) Zhang (zhanglj AT us.ibm.com), Editor-in-Chief of IJBPIM with any questions you have.