Closes: 31 Dec 2024

ESC – Educação, Sociedade & Culturas (Education, Society & Cultures; https://ojs.up.pt/index.php/esc-ciie/about) welcomes proposals for guest-edited special issues covering any topics within the aims and scope of the journal. ESC journal, published by the Centre for Research and Intervention in Education (CIIE) of the University of Porto, Portugal, is a peer-reviewed, open access and multilingual scholarly journal. Founded in 1994, its main mission is to contribute to the debate and dissemination of scientific knowledge in the field of educational sciences by promoting the Open publication of empirically based articles that draw on a variety of theoretical and methodological frameworks. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of Educational Sciences and the studies’ rigour.

Guidelines for special issue proposals

ESC journal typically publishes two calls for special issues per year. Proposals should be emailed to the Editor-in-chief by 31 December 2024 to be published from 2025 onwards.

A special issue will contain approximately 6-10 articles, with a maximum length of 8,000 words each (including abstracts and references). An SI might include theoretical and review articles, but ESC gives priority to quantitative, qualitative empirical or mixed-methods studies. All manuscripts are subject to the normal double-blind refereeing process.

Typical proposals are about 2-3 pages in length (not counting biographical notes or papers’ abstracts if included).

Proposals for special issues should be submitted by the Lead Guest Editor of the special issue and must include the following:

• Indication of Guest Editors (between two and three, and at least one from different Higher Education Institution).
• A suggested title for the special issue, clearly reflecting the theme and content.
• Name, affiliation, email, and short bios of all proposed Guest Editors.
• A brief description (500-600 words in length) of the rationale of the proposal, reflecting the specific focus of the special issue, its innovative nature in the field, suggested topics/research questions, and international interest in the topic.
• (If not an open call) An indication of possible contributors (with affiliations) and contributions (e.g., shortened abstracts) and stating clearly whether named contributors are already confirmed. Alternatively, the indication that it will be an open call and the strategies to handle the call for papers.

The diversity of potential authors will be a consideration in the selection process: it is valued that the potential SI authors represent diverse perspectives and have diverse institutional affiliations from different countries.

Guest Editors role

Guest Editors are responsible for publicizing the call for papers and identifying and/or inviting authors for the special issue. They are also responsible for proposing independent reviewers, ensuring the timely submission of manuscripts and that they are in keeping with ESC guidelines, co-ordinating, jointly with the Editor-in-chief, the reviewing of manuscripts, providing an introductory editorial, deciding who is invited to contribute to the issue and recommending papers for publication. The final decision to publish rests with the journal’s Editors.

Additional information

For more information about submitting a proposal for a special issue, please contact the Editor-in-chief, Sofia Marques da Silva (sofiamsilva@fpce.up.pt).

Proposal submission

Proposals should be emailed (as one single PDF document) to sofiamsilva@fpce.up.pt with the subject line of the email “Special Issue Proposal”.