Special Issue instructions

JIS is permanently open to receive new submissions, now working with a single issue per volume where accepted papers are published online as soon as the editorial board approves them.

Special issues in JIS will be published as a collection of significant work about challenging themes, hot or emerging topics, specific problems, and relevant opportunities to the interactive computing systems design field.

Special Issues have specific deadlines, norms, and editors. A Special Issue is intended to attract papers that offer substantial contributions to help our communities to advance their capacity to understand, solve or deal with relevant problems. Calls for papers that investigate specific topics from both theoretical and technical perspectives are encouraged, and papers that discuss challenges of social and cultural nature, requiring contextualized approaches and discussions, are also welcome.

JIS accepts Special Issue proposals to attract both original papers and extended versions of papers previously published in conferences and workshops (at least 35% of new content). JIS considers only calls that will be announced worldwide to all relevant scholars, accepting submissions from anyone, and that the review process adopts the same rigorous process as regular submissions.

Proposing a Special Issue

Proposals for Special Issues must be submitted using the SBC Open Lib system. Start your submission as you would for a regular paper, but select “Special Issue Proposal” from the drop-down menu on the first page of the submission form. Proposals must include the following five components in a single PDF file:

  1. Title and a brief statement of the scope and focus of the Special Issue (up to 150 words);
  2. Explanation of why it is opportune and important to announce the Special Issue (less than 500 words);
  3. Summary of the proposers’ editorial experience and their expertise on the theme;
  4. The “call for papers” message that will be published and distributed worldwide, describing the focus of the Special Issue, important dates and other relevant information (less than 1000 words);
  5. Schedule and plan:
    • where and when the “call for papers” will be distributed
    • the selection process
    • the important dates covering at least:
      • submission deadline
      • reviews deadlines (1st, 2nd, 3rd round)
      • submission of revised versions deadline
      • decision deadline (rejection, acceptance)
      • camera ready submission deadline
      • ultimate deadline for publication 
    • the prospective reviewers list

If your Special Issue accepts extended versions of papers previously published in conferences, your review process must guarantee all accepted papers met the following criteria:

  • English language
  • At least 35% new content
  • Different title and abstract than the original paper
  • Each paper must be reviewed by at least 3 independent reviewers, and at least one of them must have not reviewed the original paper
  • Explicit mention and citation to the original paper.

Review Process

Submitted proposals will be reviewed by members of the Editorial Board, who will accept/reject proposals usually within 30 days. If your proposal is accepted, the editorial board may require changes and adaptations according to the journal policies and scope. 

For accepted proposals, proposers will work as Guest Editors, answering to the current Editorial Board. All submissions must occur via the SBC Open Lib system, following the same process and norms adopted for regular submissions. Special Issue editors will be responsible for all the call dissemination, paper reviewing, and publishing process. All papers published by JIS follow the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

If you have any doubts about proposing a Special Issue, contact the Editors in Chief.