GUEST EDITOR AND SPECIAL ISSUES POLICY

Guest Editors and Special Issues Policy

ANJMLS may publish Special Issues, Thematic Collections, Focused Series, Conference Proceedings, or other curated scholarly content under the supervision of Guest Editors. All Special Issues shall remain fully subject to the journal’s standard editorial, ethical, and peer-review policies. The Editor-in-Chief retains ultimate responsibility for the scientific quality, ethical standards, editorial oversight, and integrity of all published content, including material managed by Guest Editors.

Appointment and Approval of Guest Editors

Guest Editors shall be selected based on recognized expertise, publication record, editorial experience, academic reputation, and subject relevance. All Guest Editors must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest prior to appointment. The appointment of Guest Editors requires formal approval by the Editor-in-Chief or designated Editorial Board members.

Editorial Oversight and Peer Review

Manuscripts submitted to Special Issues shall undergo the same rigorous editorial screening, plagiarism checks, ethical evaluation, and external peer-review procedures applied to regular submissions. Each manuscript shall normally be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief or designated Editorial Board members shall supervise Guest Editors throughout the editorial process to ensure consistency, impartiality, and compliance with journal policies.

Conflict of Interest and Editorial Firewall

Guest Editors shall not handle manuscripts authored or co-authored by themselves, family members, current students, supervisors, close collaborators, institutional colleagues, or individuals with whom they have financial, personal, or academic relationships. Such manuscripts shall be reassigned to an independent editor with no competing interests. All conflicts of interest shall be disclosed and documented.

Guest Editor Authorship and Endogeny Control

Guest Editors may submit manuscripts to Special Issues they oversee; however, they shall have no involvement in the editorial handling, reviewer selection, peer review, or decision-making process concerning their own submissions. To minimize editorial endogeny and maintain diversity of authorship, manuscripts authored or co-authored by Guest Editors should not normally exceed 20% of the total peer-reviewed content of a Special Issue.

All Special Issues shall be clearly identified on the ANJMLS website and must remain within the scientific scope of ANJMLS. Commercial considerations, sponsorship arrangements, or publication fees shall not influence editorial decisions, peer review, or acceptance outcomes.