There are at least three reasons to publish special issues, beyond the value of having a deadline to drive submissions:

1. Special issues highlight the current leading edge of scholarship in a particular intellectual space and can  showcase emerging areas of scholarship. This is particularly valuable for areas of scholarly inquiry that span multiple intellectual communities and/or are rapidly developing, in which case a special issue connects information science scholarship to other communities’ relevant works.
2. Special issues provide a curated collection of papers focused on a topic of shared interest. Because of this focus, papers in special issues are often cited more than papers in regular issues (Anbazhagan, Yadav, Dasari, 2019; Repiso, Segarra-Saavedra, Hidalgo-Marí, Tur-Viñes, 2021). This boosts the Journal’s visibility and benefits the scholars whose works are featured.
3. Special issues draw active scholars into editorial experiences. The guest editorial teams often bring together junior and senior scholars from around the globe, which illustrates the intellectual ties that define scholarly communities. Indeed, this international span and range of participation is often the best means to draw in quality manuscripts. Assembling an international editorial team makes for an excellent scope of knowledge, given the combined forces of international expertise, experience, and scholarly perspectives.

The Journal seeks special issues that deepen and extend the knowledge of a particular scholarly space. While JASIST has no minimum or maximum number of special issues for a particular volume, the listing below shows the Journal is averaging about two per year.

If you are considering submitting a special issue proposal to JASIST, please contact the EIC with a short overview of the topic and a clear articulation of how the topic connects to (and, in some cases, overlaps with other) literature(s). Be sure to highlight the editorial experience of the proposed editors and their links with the Journal. If there is interest by the Journal, the EIC will oversee a developmental effort to create a special issue call.  

The Journal receives about 60 inquiries for special issues each year, actively considers about 10% of these inquiries, and finally moves forward with two or three.  

The criteria for selection begin with the topic of the special issue proposal: Is the topic clearly tied to informational interests? Is the inquiry’s scope aligned with the Journal’s editorial remit, and does the topic connect to and amplify current informational discourses?  

The strength of the editorial team is also a factor: Do the members of the special issue’s editorial team reflect the intellectual and demographic diversity of the field? Is there sufficient editorial expertise and scholarly experience on the team? Does this scholarly experience include participation with the Journal?

To get a sense of the scale, scope, and structure of our special issues, here is a listing of JASIST’s special issues since 2021, including those published or currently underway: 

The deadline for submitting papers to this special issue is 13 June 2024:  

• Call for Papers: The Theory and Practice of Informational Transitions.

Papers from these special issues are beginning to be visible on early view: 

• Healthier Information Ecosystems.
• Re-orientating Search Engine Research in Information Science.
• Conceptual Models of the Sociotechnical.

Here are the completed special issues for the past several years:

• October 2021: Special Issue: Paradigm Shift in the Field of Information
• February 2022: Special Issue On Digital Humanities (DH)
• April 2022:  Special Issue: Information Behaviour & Information Practices Theory
• March 2023: Special Issue: Artificial Intelligence and Work
• June 2023: Special Issue: Data Science in the iField
• December 2023: Special Issue: ICT4D and Intersections with the Information Field

Finally, here is a curated collection of papers that was made available in August 2021:

• Retrospective Special Issue on Information Behavior.

Thank you for reading, enjoy these special issues, and I welcome your thoughts, comments and ideas for special issues.

Cited works

Anbazhagan, R. Yadav, A., and Dasari, H. (2019) Why Publish Special Issues: An Overview of Wiley’s Special Issue Program. Available online at:  https://www.wiley.com/en-us/network/publishing/research-publishing/editors/why-publish-special-issues-an-overview-of-wileys-special-issue-program-and-an-editors-experience

Repiso, R.,  Segarra-Saavedra, J., Hidalgo-Marí, T., and Tur-Viñes, V. (2021) The prevalence and impact of special issues in communications journals 2015–2019 Learned Publishing, 34(4), 593-601. Available online at https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1406.