Policies and Procedures for Prospective Special Issues
Proposals for special issues are welcome from scholars who wish to serve as guest-editors of the issue.
Guest editors are expected to submit a proposal to any editor or to all editors at the journal email
address ([email protected]), and all editors will review the proposal to make a
joint decision. Proposals for special issues usually include the following elements:
(1) What is the topic and how does it serve the mission of the journal? (Our mission is always available
on our website, feministphilosophyquarterly.com.)
(2) Who is to be guest editor? Include any co-editor(s), and include all editors’ institutional affiliations
and/or job titles that would be informative.
(3) Are some or all contributions already lined up, or is this intended to involve an open Call for Papers?
If contributors are already on hand, then who are the contributors (if most/all are already recruited)?
Include institutional affiliations and/or job titles that would be informative. If this issue is intended to
involve an open Call for Papers, then a copy of the Call for Papers should be included.
(4) When is this process proposed to be completed? Include a reasonable time-line of the guest-editors’
referee processes and any revisions.
We require that special issues be peer reviewed; note that that the papers would undergo double-
rather than our standard triple-anonymous review, since the guest editor would likely be inviting some
of the authors to submit work, and therefore authors will be known to the guest editor. We ask guest-
editors to retain copies of all referee reports and names and contact information for all referees, and
forward all referee reports to us when delivering the finalized submissions to us for approval. (Guest
editors can also store all referee reports and referee information in a cloud-storage folder and send us a
link, if that is easier.) Guest editors are expected to secure two anonymized peer-review reports for each
submission.
Decisions to desk-reject initial submissions , to reject submissions that received one or two negative
referee reports, or to encourage revision-and-resubmission after a split referee decision rest with the
guest-editor. The guest editor also decides when a submission is sufficiently ready to be forwarded to
FPQ editors. The final decision to accept the papers rests with the editors of FPQ and not the guest-
editors.
At the end of the process, guest editors also write up a summary report of the review process that they
used, and forward copies of (or links to) referees’ reports and editors’ decisions. Of course we will
protect the confidentiality of the reviewers. But the guest editors need to demonstrate that they
followed our review process and picked appropriate reviewers.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What topics are welcome at FPQ?
Topics should be suitable to the mission of the journal. Special issues should be organized around topics
rather than a particular person. An individual philosopher’s work can be very important. However, research in the philosopher’s areas may have a longer history enriched by the contributions of scholars
who are members of communities that are traditionally marginalized in philosophy. Of course one
scholar’s work can be centrally involved in a project. We just want to take care that the call for papers
not unintentionally exclude or marginalize the work of philosophers from under-represented groups.
2. May we invite contributions only, or do you require us to do a general CFP as well?
We do not have a set policy on this. A general CFP is preferred because it makes the issue open to
scholars who might not be well networked. Equity issues arise because of the wide range of
professional networking opportunities available to different scholars. However, if you have a very clear
idea about the shape of the issue and a strong preference to make it all invited, an editor would be
happy to discuss it with you. It is possible, although not likely, that a general CFP generates more
content than you are prepared to work with. Should that happen we can consider putting the extra
papers in a cluster in a future issue.
3. Do guest-editors handle the refereeing process?
Yes. Our regular editorial policy involves triply anonymous review. If you will be recruiting at least some,
and perhaps all, of the papers, then that is not possible. For special issues, the guest editor decides
whether or not to desk reject a paper. For papers that you decide are strong enough to send out for
review, we require double anonymous review with two reviewers for each paper.
If the organizer/guest editor is also a contributor to the special issue, then we recommend either a co-
editor or an external coordinator (who is not also a contributor) to handle the refereeing process.
After each submission is refereed, the guest-editor should write a decision based on the referee reports;
when all accepted submissions are ready to send to FPQ, they should be accompanied by the referee
reports and editor’s decisions (either as email attachments or in a shared folder online).
4. Does the usual length guideline of 9,000 words maximum per paper apply to special issues?
Yes, excluding the references. Shorter papers are fine as long as they have scholarly substance.
5. Is there a total word limit for any individual journal issue?
The goal should be from five to eight contributions of a maximum of 9,000 words each in an issue. If a
special issue call results in more papers than that, we consider publishing them in another issue.
6. Do you need any interim updates, or just final submission of the completed issue in a state ready to
go straight into production?
A final submission date will be fine. We can be flexible about setting the deadline, and need only a
proposed timeline in the proposal, which may be subject to change.
7. Do completed submissions need to be in Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed., “Documentation II”
(author-date)?
Yes, after FPQ editors accept the submissions, the guest editor should return submissions to authors for
formatting their work to conform to journal style.
8. Do completed submissions need to be copy-edited?
No, FPQ provides final copy-editing: Once we receive correctly formatted, final drafts of a paper, we will
connect you with our copy-editor. The copy-editor can provide you with marked proofs that you can
send to the authors for their approval.
Please email us if you have any questions unaddressed in this guide – and thank you for considering
Feminist Philosophy Quarterly as a venue for your project!
Make a new submission to the Policies and Procedures for Prospective Special Issues (for prospective guest-editors) section.
