Guest Editors for Special Issues

All manuscripts submitted to Special Issues are subject to the same initial submission process and are managed through the Journal’s content management system, which supports manuscript triage, quality control, and scope assessment in accordance with the Journal’s Editorial policy. The Journal applies additional safeguards to Guest Editor Collections and Special Issues under its Competing Interests policy to ensure transparent editorial oversight and independence.

Authors are expected to declare any competing interests or other circumstances that may reasonably or subjectively affect the integrity, independence, fairness or impartiality of the Journal, the scope of a Special Issue, or the role of a Guest Editor. Where such a declaration is made, the Journal will assess the matter against its applicable policy standards and, where appropriate, assign a different Editor to independently review the submission before it proceeds to the next stage. All submissions that successfully pass the initial triage, quality-control, and scope assessment conducted by either the Guest Editor or an in-house Editor will proceed to peer review. The subsequent review and decision-making process will be conducted in accordance with the Journal’s Peer-Review policy.

The Journal reserves the right to reassign Editors where concerns arise regarding compliance with the terms of this policy or where a potential conflict may affect the fair, independent, or timely handling of a manuscript. Authors are encouraged to disclose any relevant concerns or potential conflicts as early as possible at the point of submission. Early disclosure enables the Journal to take appropriate action and minimise disruption or delays to publication. Where appropriate, the Journal will act proactively and in the best interests of Authors by reassigning Editors when necessary to support an impartial, efficient, and timely publication process.