Just. Journal of Language Rights & Minorities

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For Guest Editors

Special issue proposal guidelines

Just. Journal of Language Rights & Minorities, Revista de Drets Lingüístics i Minories publishes special issues on the protection, enforcement, and promotion of the rights of linguistic minorities, and on issues arising from the intersections between language, the social dynamics of domination and oppression, and the law. The special issues are published in either October or April each year, and they should include an introductory article by the guest-editors, and a selection of a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 10 articles, including the introduction.

Submission and evaluation of proposals

Those wishing to guest-edit a special issue should send a proposal to the journal’s managing editor at monzo@uji.es.

The proposal should include the following:

- A preliminary title for the special issue. Please send an English, Catalan, and Spanish version of the title (the journal may be contacted to suggest translations).

- A short bionote for each of the guest editors, including names, surnames, email address, ORCID number, position, affiliation, and a brief summary of their main academic achievements.

- A description of the purpose of the special issue and a draft call for papers (CfP) covering an overview of the state of the art, a statement as to the aims of the special issue, a list of suggested topics, and a timetable including the dates relevant to authors.

- The planned journal-guest editors work schedule, following this model.

What can guest editors expect from the journal?

• Guest editors can expect to receive an assessment and feedback from the Board when either accepting or rejecting the special issue proposal. The proposal may be peer reviewed before the Board can take a decision, and this peer review will be sent to authors, if relevant;
• Guest editors can expect to receive a reply within a maximum of three months from the submission of the proposal;
• Guest editors can expect to be assisted by the Board at any stage of the process, including if a translation of the CfP into Catalan is needed or should they need assistance in copyediting the papers;
• Guest editors can expect to be informed at all times of any issues which may impact their work or the timely publication of the finalized special issue;
• Guest editors can expect the journal to manage the double double-bind peer review of their introductory article.

What is expected from guest editors?

Guest editors are expected to

• write the call for papers, which should include the planned schedule for drafting, assessing, and editing the articles. Ideally, the call should be drafted in a minimum of two languages, including Catalan and English;
• disseminate the call and the published special issue through their academic networks;
• draft all communications to be sent to authors and reviewers (the usual journal templates will be at their disposal);
• keep fluid exchanges with the authors and ensure that they adhere to the schedule;
• keep fluid exchanges with the journal’s managing editor and/or editors with updated information as to the progress of the special issue in general and individual articles in particular;
• ask for timely assistance should they need the journal's help at any step of the process; 
• contribute to the quality of the papers, considering impact and visibility criteria;
• strive for equal opportunities across geopolitical areas and genders in the selection of proposals, and ensure a minimum of 40% of female authors in the final issue. Just will not accept the publication of any special issue with an all-male authorship;
• ensure that the articles are unpublished, meet scientific quality standards, comply with the ethical requirements for scientific publications (see, i.a., COPE and CRediT);
• copyedit the final papers to ensure coherence, linguistic quality, and adherence to the journal’s style (CMS) and formal criteria, particularly to avoid any discriminatory language.

The main formal criteria of the finalized articles are as follows:

• Originals should be submitted in an editable electronic file format (e.g., DOC, DOCX, RTF, ODT).
• The maximum length for articles is 9,000 words, including footnotes and references.
• On the first page of each article, please include: must include a title, an abstract, four to six keywords, the full text, and the final list of references in the same file.
• The article's title;
• Authorship: name, institution and Orcid of each person;
• Suggested citation (following the journal's guidelines);
• Date of receipt and acceptance of the article (as recorded on the platform);
• Abstract (maximum of 200 words) and four to six key words in English;
• Copy-edited text of the article;
• References, ensuring that the journal's guidelines have been followed.
• All articles need to provide an abstract and keywords in English, Catalan, and Spanish before publication.
• For articles written in either Catalan or Spanish, a title in English will also be needed.
• Authors should provide their bionotes within the form on the website, as well as their ORCID number, if available.
• References must follow the CMS style, as established in the journal OJS platform.

Please consider that the publication of the special issue is subject to final approval by the Board, on the basis of the number and quality of the articles and gender balance.