Special issue guidelines

Thank you for considering publishing a special issue with Climate of the Past (CP). CP offers an efficient way of publishing special issues that gather thematically linked sets of papers. The individual manuscripts are peer-reviewed and published as soon as they are available in regular issues. They are then labelled as part of the special issue and linked electronically.

The specific advantages of publishing a special issue with CP are the following:

All papers are published open-access.
Every individual paper in the special issue is posted as soon as it is available. That means that the publication date is not delayed by late papers.
Efficient interactive discussion of the common theme takes place on the CPD forum.
Posting of preprints in CPD allows efficient cross-referencing between the final revised papers in CP.
All contributions are efficiently linked and coherently presented on dedicated special issue web pages (an appropriate logo is welcome as a *.jpg file), easily accessible from the CP online library.
Guest editors can define the order of the published papers on the special issue web page.
Either a non-peer-reviewed editorial preface or a peer-reviewed scientific paper can be used to introduce a special issue.

Inter-journal special issues

A special issue can comprise publications in any number of Copernicus’ open-access journals, of which one should be nominated as the lead journal for administrative purposes. The handling of individual manuscripts follows the standard procedures for special issues in the journal to which the manuscript is submitted. Afterwards, all published papers are co-listed on a joint special issue web page (in addition to the regular chronological volume of each journal).

If you intend to propose an inter-journal special issue, please first send your proposal to the co-editors-in-chief of the lead journal. If your proposal is accepted, please also contact the co-editors-in-chief of the constituent journals to find out if they want to participate in the inter-journal special issue. Only after all journals have agreed, should all information (see above) on the inter-journal special issue be sent to the Copernicus Publications Editorial Support.

Types of special issues

There are two different types of special issues (SIs):

Special issue (thematic): The normal route is an SI (thematic) that focuses on a particular, often relatively narrow, topic. An SI (thematic) has dedicated guest editors, one of whom must be an existing CP editor, but the others are drawn from the specialist community for the particular topic.
Special issue (collection): In certain cases, where the topic is very broad, spanning a variety of editorial expertise, it is possible to have an SI (collection). In this case an SI coordinator works with the contributors and the CP co-editors-in-chief, but papers are edited by the existing CP editors of the regular editorial board.

Special issue proposal & guidelines for editors

To make arrangements for a special issue of any style, please contact one CP co-editor-in-chief. For a special issue (thematic), please also contact one CP editor covering the relevant subject areas, as you will need one of them on your guest editorial team (see editorial board and journal subject areas). Please provide the following information:

title of the special issue;
names, affiliations, and short CVs of the proposed special issue editors (SI (thematic)) or coordinator (SI (collection));
start date & end date of submission;
a statement of the purpose of the special issue, whether it arises out of a conference, and whether it will include only invited papers or is open for all submissions within its scope;
before final approval, a list of the planned papers (titles and authors required; abstracts if feasible) for the co-editors-in-chief to review.

Responsibilities of special issue editors and coordinators include the following:

coordinate a rigorous peer-review process (at least two independent referees) to the same standard as regular papers.
encourage timely submission of the papers expected for the issue.
ensure that the English is at a high level, and request copy-editing if necessary.