Simulation Special Issue Principles & Guidelines

General Principles

• Timely, relevant areas. Special issues are intended to focus attention on an area of particular interest to the Modeling & Simulation (M&S) community; the topic of the special issue should be timely and relevant.
• High quality. To ensure high quality, the review process must be at least as rigorous as that of regular issues. A thorough, critical, peer review of full manuscripts is required. In general, three reviews are desired, but a minimum of two are mandatory.
• Open access. The opportunity to publish in a special issue should be open to all potential authors, except in cases where an actual or perceived conflict of interest arises. Access may be provided through a general Call for Papers issued to the M&S community at large, or in the case of special issues derived from conferences, from the Call for Papers associated with the conference.

A proposal for a special issue must first be approved by an Editor-In-Chief (EIC) specifying the scope and content for the special issue, motivation and rationale, guest editor(s), etc. The guest editor of the special issue is discouraged from publishing papers in their own special issue. In cases where this might be permitted, another individual (either the EIC or someone designated by the EIC) should handle the processing of the manuscript, completely separate from the review process used for the special issue to avoid a conflict of interest.

Once the special issue has been approved, the guest editor normally assumes the handling of manuscripts submitted to the special issue, in much the same way as an area editor for the journal (please see Information for Area Editors). One important exception is the guest editor is normally responsible for all communications with authors that have submitted manuscripts to the special issue, e.g., notification of the outcome of the review process, transmittal of reviews, requesting revisions, etc. The guest editor must consult with one of the Editor-in-chiefs of the journal before communicating outcomes to authors, since all final decisions must be approved by an EIC. It is recommended that guest editor use the online review system (in the same role as an area editor) to process manuscripts submitted to the special issue.

General Guidelines

A special issue of Simulation may be defined based on extended versions of selected papers accepted to high-quality conferences. Such conferences must base acceptance decisions on peer review of full paper submissions. General guidelines concerning such arrangements are:

• It is expected that the conference conduct a rigorous, peer review of full paper submissions. This review shall serve as the initial evaluation of suitability of the paper for journal publication, and should include one or more questions asking referees to comment on the suitability of the paper for Simulation, and modifications (if any) that should be considered to make it suitable. Normally, three reviews of complete paper drafts should be obtained for papers selected for possible publication in the special issue, and at least two reviews are required.
• At least one representative of Simulation (designated by the EIC) should be responsible for overseeing the review and selection process of papers in the special issue. This individual should normally be a member of the Simulation editorial board, and must have access to all materials (papers, referee reports, etc.). Selection of papers for the special issue will normally be performed by individuals associated with the review process for the conference (e.g., the program committee).
• Papers published in Simulation should have some significant additions beyond the version of the paper that appears in the conference proceedings.
• Final acceptance of papers for the special issue must be made by an EIC, and papers shall not be considered accepted to the special issue until such a determination has been made. Normally, the guest editor will notify the authors of decisions after consulting with an EIC.
• In general, the conference should not enter into a similar agreement with any other publication other than Simulation when such an arrangement is made.

Sometimes conferences, that do not have such an agreement with Simulation might offer several sessions of interesting papers on modeling and simulation methods and their applications, which might form a promising seed for a special issue of Simulation. In this case, a proposal which includes an open call for paper on the topic of interest will be submitted (see above). If granted, the guest editor might wish to ask the authors of the conference papers to submit extended versions to Simulation. The reviewing procedure is the same as with all regular special issues. In general, personally contacting potential authors to submit papers to a special issue is a good idea. However it must be made clear that this invitation does not imply the acceptance of a paper, which entirely depends on the results of the reviewing process.

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