Special Issue Proposal Submission

Plant Science Horizons (PSH) welcomes focused Special Issue and Thematic Collection proposals that define a timely scientific question, bring together high-quality scholarship, broaden international participation, and remain fully subject to the journal's editorial, peer-review, research integrity, and conflict-of-interest standards.

Important: This page is for Special Issue or Thematic Collection proposals from prospective Guest Editors. Proposals should now be submitted through the PSH Special Issue Proposal Portal, where submitters can also track the editorial status of their proposal. It is not a manuscript submission page. Individual research and review manuscripts must be submitted through the regular PSH manuscript-submission workflow.

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What a PSH Special Issue should accomplish

A Special Issue or Thematic Collection should address a clearly defined, timely, and scientifically important area that benefits from coordinated scholarly attention. The collection should add value beyond assembling unrelated papers under a broad title.

Strong proposals define a coherent scientific question, explain why the topic is timely, identify its intended contribution to plant science, and demonstrate that the proposed Guest Editor team has the expertise and independence required to manage the collection responsibly.

A Special Issue is a collection framework, not a separate article type

Manuscripts published in a Special Issue retain their appropriate PSH article category, such as Original Research Article, Review Article, Mini Review, Short Communication, Methods/Technical Advance, Perspective/Opinion, Commentary or another eligible format.

Inclusion in an approved collection does not alter the requirements, limits, peer-review pathway, or scientific threshold that apply to the manuscript's article type.

Prospective Guest Editors and scholarly coordinators

Proposals may be submitted by established or emerging researchers with demonstrable expertise in the proposed subject, including academic researchers, research group leaders, interdisciplinary teams and qualified scholarly coordinators.

Conference affiliation or organizational sponsorship may be disclosed, but a conference or organization does not automatically qualify a proposal for approval.

Expertise must be verifiable

The proposed Guest Editor team should demonstrate:

Information required for editorial due diligence

Each proposed Guest Editor should provide full name, institutional affiliation, institutional or professional email address, a brief academic biography or CV, research expertise, and an ORCID iD where available.

PSH may verify identities, affiliations, publication records and relevant professional information before approving a collection.

Broader expertise strengthens a collection

Where scientifically appropriate, PSH encourages Guest Editor teams that bring complementary expertise and avoid unnecessary concentration within a single laboratory, institution, narrow collaboration network, or geographic region.

Diversity is considered in relation to scientific expertise, institutions, geography, career perspectives, and the needs of the proposed subject; it is not a substitute for subject-matter qualification.

Examples within PSH scope

Avoid collections that are too broad, repetitive or primarily promotional

Proposals may be declined when the title is extremely broad, substantially duplicates an existing or recently completed collection, lacks a coherent scientific question, is built mainly around one laboratory's output, or appears designed primarily to maximize manuscript volume.

Conference-derived proposals must explain the scientific rationale for a peer-reviewed collection rather than functioning as automatic proceedings.

Information required in the proposal

Please prepare one Word or PDF file containing:

Indicative contributor information is useful but not a publication commitment

Proposers may include an indicative list of potential contributors or planned manuscripts to demonstrate feasibility. Draft abstracts may be included if already available, but they are not mandatory for a strong proposal.

A proposed author list does not reserve publication space, pre-approve a manuscript, or exempt any invited paper from independent editorial assessment and peer review.

Collections should not operate as closed publication clubs

Guest Editors may invite suitable researchers, but PSH encourages an appropriately open Call for Papers so that high-quality work from outside the Guest Editors' immediate collaboration network can be considered.

Invitations must describe the collection accurately and must not promise acceptance, expedited publication, indexing, citation impact, or favorable editorial treatment.

Public-facing wording requires journal approval

Following approval of the proposal, the Guest Editor team may prepare a draft Call for Papers in collaboration with PSH. The final title, scope, Guest Editor names, collection description, submission instructions, and deadline should be approved by the journal before public dissemination.

Guest Editors should use PSH branding and journal metrics/indexing statements only as authorized by the journal and should not make unsupported promotional claims.

How PSH evaluates a proposal

Approval of a topic and approval of Guest Editors are both required

PSH may assess professional identity, relevant scholarship, editorial experience, institutional information, conflicts, publication-integrity concerns, and other information reasonably necessary to determine whether a proposed Guest Editor is suitable.

A scientifically suitable topic may still require modification of the proposed editorial team before a collection is approved.

Scientific leadership without compromising journal standards

• Help refine the collection scope and Call for Papers.
• Promote the collection responsibly to relevant scholarly communities.
• Assist with manuscript assessment within their expertise.
• Recommend suitable independent reviewers where appropriate.
• Declare and manage competing interests.
• Maintain manuscript and reviewer confidentiality.
• Provide clear, evidence-based editorial recommendations.
• Alert PSH promptly to suspected manipulation or research-integrity concerns.
• Follow PSH requirements for authorship, citations, AI use, data, images, and publication ethics.

Guest Editors must not handle manuscripts where independence is compromised

Guest Editors should disclose relationships that could reasonably affect—or appear to affect—their judgment. These may include recent or ongoing collaboration, same-laboratory relationships, close personal relationships, supervisory relationships, direct competition, financial interests, or other substantial professional conflicts.

Conflicted manuscripts should be reassigned to an independent PSH editor.

Independent editorial handling is mandatory

A Guest Editor may submit scholarly work to the collection only when permitted by PSH and when the manuscript is handled independently. The Guest Editor must not select reviewers, access confidential reviewer identities, influence the decision, or participate in editorial discussion of their own paper.

The same principle applies to manuscripts where another relationship creates a material conflict.

Special Issue manuscripts follow the normal PSH review route

Suitable manuscripts sent for external review are assessed under the journal's double-blind peer-review model. Research articles are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers.

Invitation by a Guest Editor does not constitute peer review and does not guarantee that a manuscript will be sent for external review or accepted.

Reviewer suggestions remain subject to journal verification

Guest Editors may recommend reviewers, but PSH may independently verify reviewer identity, expertise, email information, publication history, and potential conflicts before issuing an invitation.

Fabricated reviewer identities, impersonation, coordinated peer-review rings, reciprocal review arrangements, or attempts to manipulate reviewer selection are prohibited.

PSH retains responsibility for the collection

Guest Editors act within the PSH editorial framework. The Editors-in-Chief and designated journal editors retain oversight of the collection, may review or reassign manuscripts, may obtain additional peer review, and may intervene when scientific, ethical or procedural concerns arise.

Final responsibility for what PSH publishes remains with the journal.

Peer-review integrity may be audited during and after the collection

PSH may audit reviewer selection, reviewer reports, conflicts, authorship networks, unusual acceptance patterns, citation requests, decision records, or other editorial indicators where necessary to protect the integrity of the collection.

The journal may pause new submissions, suspend peer review, re-review affected manuscripts or close a collection when credible concerns require investigation.

Practices incompatible with PSH Special Issues

• Promising acceptance before peer review.
• Creating manuscript acceptance quotas.
• Using fabricated or compromised reviewer identities.
• Pressuring reviewers to provide favorable recommendations.
• Coercive citation to Guest Editors, the journal or collection papers.
• Using Special Issues primarily for self-promotion or citation manipulation.
• Concealing Guest Editor conflicts of interest.
• Bypassing the normal journal submission or editorial record.
• Advertising unsupported indexing, impact, accreditation or guaranteed publication claims.

Articles must enter the regular PSH OJS workflow

Once a Special Issue is formally approved and open for submissions, manuscripts should be submitted through the normal PSH submission system. Authors should identify the relevant Special Issue or Thematic Collection in the cover letter or designated OJS field, when instructed.

Manuscripts should not be treated as formally submitted merely because a draft was emailed to a Guest Editor.

Special Issue papers follow the current journal-wide fee policy

PSH currently waives Article Processing Charges through 2029. Manuscripts submitted to approved Special Issues remain subject to the same current journal-wide APC policy as regular submissions.

Financial arrangements must not influence reviewer selection, editorial recommendations, acceptance decisions or publication priority.

Set a realistic collection timetable

Proposals should include an indicative timetable for Call for Papers preparation, the opening of submissions, the submission deadline, and expected collection completion.

PSH does not guarantee a fixed proposal-decision or manuscript-publication timeframe. Scientific quality, peer review, revision, and integrity checks take priority over a promotional deadline.

From proposal to collection launch

Approval is discretionary and may include conditions

PSH may approve a proposal as submitted, request revisions to the title or scope, request changes to the Guest Editor team, modify the timetable, suggest merging overlapping concepts, defer a decision, or decline the proposal.

Approval becomes effective only after formal communication from the journal. Informal discussion, invitation or preliminary interest does not by itself establish an active Special Issue.

PSH may extend, close or discontinue a collection

A collection may close after its planned period or when the journal determines that sufficient suitable content has been received. PSH may also extend a deadline when scientifically and operationally justified.

The journal may discontinue or suspend a collection when the submission pipeline is inadequate, editorial capacity changes, Guest Editor responsibilities cannot be fulfilled, or significant integrity concerns arise.

Use the PSH Special Issue Proposal Portal

Prospective Guest Editors should submit their proposal through the dedicated PSH Special Issue Proposal Portal. The portal provides a structured submission route and allows proposers to track the current editorial status and proposal history using their Proposal ID and contact email address.

Read before proposing or managing a collection

Common proposal questions

What PSH requires from an approved collection

Focused scholarship with full editorial safeguards

Plant Science Horizons welcomes Special Issue proposals that create a meaningful scholarly forum rather than simply a collection of papers. Approved collections remain part of the PSH editorial system: Guest Editors provide subject leadership, independent reviewers evaluate manuscripts, conflicts are actively managed, and PSH retains oversight of scientific quality, publication ethics, and the integrity of the final scholarly record.