Forum Proposals and Special Issue Proposals for Environmental History

July 27, 2011
Nancy Langston, Editor

SPECIAL ISSUES
A special issue is defined as a journal issue that extends operational costs beyond the regular budget for each fiscal year. A special issue can be either a) larger-than- normal issue containing extra substantive material or b) an additional issue of the journal, perhaps produced to highlight a specific theme of research.
Anyone proposing a special issue will prepare a proposal that includes an abstract, a call for papers as appropriate, and a proposed budget to cover the cost of an additional issue (approximately $20,000). The special issue proposal will need to be approved by both the editor and by a majority vote of the editorial board, in consultation with both societies and Oxford University Press.
The special editor will be in charge of framing the theme, issuing a call for papers, recruiting essays, and working with the journal editor on the revision and peer review process.

Proposal content: In a single word document, please include:
Special issue title, Special issue editor name, email, and affiliation
Special issue justification, audience, and abstract (500 to 750 words)
For each article within the proposed special issue, include the name of the author, affiliation, email, title of the essay, and abstract (250 to 400 words) for the essay
Budget: after discussing budgets with the journal editor and publisher, include the funding model for covering these costs.

Typical schedule:
Month 0: submission of initial drafts to special issue editor. The issue editor will work with the forum authors on their initial drafts.
Month 6: after the special issue editor approves the revisions, she or he will notify the journal editor, and the journal editor will send Scholar One "invited contribution" invitations to special issue authors. Authors will submit their invited pieces to Scholar One. The journal editor will send individual submissions to 2 peer reviewers.
Month 8-10: reviewers will have the usual 6 to 8 weeks for their reviews. The journal editor will then make a decision about the entire special issue and about individual articles and communicate that decision to the special issue editor. If appropriate, the special issue editor and the journal editor will work with individual authors on the revision process.
Month 10-12: revisions will be due
Month 12-18: the special issue will be published online 7 to 9 weeks after all revisions are completed. The special issue will appear in print as scheduled.

FORUMS
Interdisciplinary forums are easier than special issues to accommodate within the regular journal. A forum is a collection of short, provocative thought pieces on a particular theme. It typically replaces 2 or 3 regular research articles. Think of these pieces not as polished research articles of interest only to people already immersed in the historiography you discuss, but rather as pieces designed to stimulate new research in interesting avenues, engage with students, and draw scholars from other fields into your conversation. All the pieces must be accessible to non-specialists.

Forum Length: Total 22,000 to 28,000 words (including notes).
Number of pieces: the forum should include an introductory essay by the forum editor, plus 4 to 10 shorter pieces that engage in a lively, collaborative conversation with each other. In other words, the contributors must discuss each other's insights.
Contributors: contributors should represent a diverse collection of scholars, preferably from more than one region, field, or disciplinary training. Global proposals receive preference over proposals from scholars within a single nation; interdisciplinary proposals will receive preference over proposals from within a single discipline.

Proposal content: The proposal will resemble an ASEH panel conference proposal. In a single word document, please include:
Forum title, Forum editor name, email, and affiliation, Forum abstract (250 to 400 words)
For each piece within the proposed forum, include the name of the author, affiliation, email, title of the essay, and abstract (250 to 400 words) for the essay

Typical schedule:
Month 0: submission of initial drafts to forum editor. The forum editor will work with the forum authors on their initial drafts. All forum authors should read and comment on drafts of all the pieces, and authors should revise their early drafts in light of each other's comments.
Month 3: after the forum editor approves the revisions, she or he will notify the journal editor, and the journal editor will send Scholar One "invited contribution" invitations to forum authors. Authors will submit their invited pieces to Scholar One. The journal editor will send the full set of submissions as a group out for peer review (usually 2 reviewers).
Month 5-6: reviewers will have the usual 6 to 8 weeks for their reviews. The journal editor will then make a decision about the entire forum and communicate that decision to the forum editor. If appropriate, the forum editor and the journal editor will work with individual authors on the revision process.
Month 7-8: revisions will be due; if accepted, the forum will be scheduled for the next appropriate issue (issues are typically filled 6 to 9 months in advance).
Month 9-10: the forum will be published online 7 to 9 weeks after all revisions are completed. The forum will appear in print as scheduled, dependent on space in the issue

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