Guidelines: Guest Editors for Special Volumes

Instructions to Guest Editors

A guest editor works on one issue or one volume (2 issues) of the journal, helping to oversee content (pending peer-review) and copy-editing in consultation with the journal editors. Guest editing is a position of responsibility equivalent to editing a book of essays.

The journal's editors will oversee peer-review for the issue, either essay by essay or as a whole issue. At least two reports are required.

Guest editors are expected to apply the journal's copy-editing rules (please  consult the journal's Style Sheet) in advance of the deadline for submitting the issue to the typesetter (usually during the week ending in April 15 for the June issue, or the week ending in October 15 for the December issue). This requirement will mean being in close contact with contributing authors. The guest editor will write an essay introducing the special issue(s). Each author must agree to the final copy of the copyedited file. No further changes will be allowed after that point, except to correct typesetting errors.

If unpublished manuscript copy is involved (from a public records office or private estate archive), the guest editor is responsible for coordinating with the journal editors to ensure that digital images of those records along with the essays using such manuscript sources are sent to the journal's paleographer for transcription checking, following acceptance and prior to the start of copy-editing. Each author must secure permissions for using private archival material, as required.

For June issues, the guest editor must make sure that there is room for at least 10-12 book reviews (approximately 40 pages). The total page count for the issue is not to exceed 200 pages (approx 100,000 words). If the guest editor believes that the total page count either might approach the maximum allowable or might be far enough under that number to accommodate extra book reviews, they should consult with the journal's editors and book review editor to ensure that the issue's length is close to but does not exceed 200 pages. If the special issue is a December issue, then the usual Issues in Review forum will not be included unless there is a specific issue within the special issue that warrants a section of short essays or notes on that sub-topic. The editors of the journal will make this decision, in consultation with the guest editor.

Each contributor will proof their own essay sent to them by the typesetter, and return corrections of any typesetting errors. The guest editor will then check through contributor queries and requests, while also checking for consistency across the full set of proofs for the issue(s), aided by the journal's lead production editors for the issue(s) in question.