Open topics: (unsolicited manuscripts welcome)
– COVID-19: Rapid publication of articles related to the coronavirus pandemic. Please email the Editorial Office with details of your proposed manuscript. 

Proposals are welcome from:
– Clinicians/researchers who wish to be a Guest Editor and propose a special issue.
– Organisers of conferences and seminars who may wish to make the substance of their event more widely available.

Special issues may include reviews, original research or case reports/case series. We accept proposals for special issues on both open and closed topics.
Open topics: A potential Guest Editor contacts the Editorial Office about a possible special issue. If approved, the topic is listed on this page as an open invitation, i.e. unsolicited manuscripts are welcome. The Guest Editor may also send separate invites to potential authors to submit their manuscript.
Invited topics: A sponsor or potential Guest Editor contacts the Editorial Office about a topic or conference theme and provides a list of authors with titles of manuscripts (potential or confirmed). Subject to the approval of topic/authors/titles, we will send submission instructions to the authors.

Peer review: We oversee peer review in collaboration with the Guest Editor. Typically, the Guest Editor will peer review all manuscripts together with one or more external peer reviewers. Accepted papers are published as a Special Issue collection on this page and appear separately on the journal’s homepage. 

Indexing: All articles are indexed on PubMed and free to view on PubMed Central.

Costs: Standard article publication charges would apply for all Special Issue articles unless a fee waiver/special charge has been negotiated.

Sponsorship: Sponsors may contact the Editorial Office directly to develop a Special Issue. All sponsorship would be declared on published papers, as is standard in the publication of any article.