International C2 Journal: Issues
Guest Editor Information Center
The information contained the Guest Editor Information Center is intended for Guest Editors (GE) of special theme issues for The International C2 Journal. These guidelines apply to all special-issue submissions. Contact our Publications Coordinator or select below for additional information on the following topics.
Creating a Call for Papers (CFP)
The GE's first job is to prepare a CFP and send it to The International C2 Journal’s Publications Office, ideally 13 months prior to the special issue's publication date (e.g., the CFP for a March/April issue is due in February of the previous year).
The CFP can be published online. The CFP should start with a broad paragraph about the theme; include a paragraph on the general issues that good submissions should explore, and end with a bulleted list of 5 or 6 potential paper topics. The ideal length is about 200-250 words. For a template, please contact the IC2J editorial staff at publications@dodccrp.org
Please note that the CFP alone is unlikely to bring in enough high-quality submissions for the issue. Experience shows that the best way to do justice to the theme topic is for you to contact potential authors directly.
A GE’s most important job is to solicit papers for the issue. We need enough submissions to ensure that we'll get at least three or four high-quality papers that make significant contributions to the field and can pass peer review.
GEs need to actively solicit submissions from potential authors in both industry and academia (via phone calls, user groups, emails, working groups, etc). Ensuring a sufficient number of high-quality submissions generally requires regular follow-ups to see that authors are making progress, and that they will have articles ready before the submission deadline. Given the nature of C2 research, authors may need to seek public release approval from sponsoring authorities before their results may be published into the Journal. The GE should attempt to make sure that authors have satisfied this requirement as appropriate.
Please direct them to IC2J's Author Information Center for detailed information on the IC2J requirements for submitting an article for review.
Assuming the solicitation process is successful, the number of submissions can prove unwieldy. To ensure that we can find reviewers for all strong candidates, the GE should select the top 8 to 10 papers—those that are most likely to pass peer review and that cover important topic areas.
The GE will provide feedback on each of the papers that do not go into formal review, to give guidance to the author(s) for improvement (the need for tangible results or an actual implementation, for instance) and to explain the reason for the rejection. The Publications Coordinator will assist GEs with contacting authors as necessary.
The special issue should include articles that provide balanced coverage of the topic. One of IC2J's primary missions is to welcome contributions that cross, blend, and integrate various interdisciplinary threads. Also because the study of C2 is inherently multidisciplinary, the Journal recognizes that a variety of research methods offers potential to contribute new knowledge to our understanding of C2.
Please note the following policies regarding submissions from the GEs to a special issue:
- A special issue may have at most one paper coauthored by a GE.
- Papers submitted by GEs will go through the normal double-blind peer review process, with a review editor assigned by the Editor-in-Chief (EIC).
- Marginal papers submitted by GEs for their issues will not be accepted.
Identifying Reviewers
IC2J is a refereed publication, and all articles are subjected to a rigorous, double-blind peer review (reviewers are anonymous to the authors, and vice versa) by active and publishing scholars selected for their knowledge and contributions, both inside and outside of area(s) of study addressed in the article. IC2J reviewers reflect the international community. Reviewers will be assigned by key members of the Editorial Board. As always, we want to avoid conflicts of interest; for example, reviewers should never be members of the same research group as the author of the article.
Peer-Review Process and Guidelines
All reviews are conducted in a double-blind fashion. The Publications Coordinator sends the submissions to three (3) confirmed reviewers who have been approved by the Editorial Board and monitors deadlines. GEs will be informed when papers finish each round of the peer review process and should expect to receive periodic updates
We are committed to a professional, reasonable and timely review of all submissions in order to present the highest quality articles and maintain our reputation for quality and integrity. We appreciate the reviewers' willingness to volunteer their time and expertise on behalf of global C2 community. While the peer reviews are used as the basis for acceptance and content revisions, members of the CCRP and the Editor-in-Chief make the final decisions regarding publication.
Please refer to our Peer Reviewer Information Center for more detailed list of our reviewer guidelines.
Reading Reviews and Making Recommendations
Once the initial and final peer reviews are in, the Publications Coordinator will provide them to you, via email. You should carefully read the comments and, along with your own reading of the papers, make recommendations for which papers you feel should proceed onto the next stage of pre-publication.
If an article is deemed appropriate but in need of revisions, the author will receive detailed comments from the reviewers. The author will be invited to execute the indicated revisions and submit the revised article for final evaluation by the same reviewers. If an article is deemed unacceptable and thus rejected, the author will be informed of this decision. The reviewers’ comments will be made available to the authors upon request for purposes of organizational transparency and scholarly improvement.
Working with Authors on Revisions
If the papers recommended for inclusion in the issue require author revisions prior to acceptance, we ask that the Guest Editor write a paragraph or two to guide the authors in addressing the reviewers’ recommendations. We also ask that you be available to answer author questions on how best to complete the revisions.
Once we receive the revised papers, the Publications Coordinator will forward them to you; the next step is to proceed onto the second round of our peer review process. Upon completion of the second round review, the Publications Coordinator will forward the evaluations to you for review and approval, before sending them to the EIC for final publication determination. Once the EIC makes the final decision, the Publications Coordinator will notify you, the GE. The author will receive final notification directly from the Publications Coordinator.
Your final task for the issue will be to write a Guest Editor's Introduction (GEI) to the theme articles. The GEI should introduce key concepts and terms, enabling readers unfamiliar with the topic to understand the articles.
The GEI should set the scene for the topic by describing the state-of-the-science, art, and practice of C2 and how these articles define the topic space. It should also include one-paragraph summaries of each article as well as information on what they don't cover, thus ending with a broader look at the road ahead.
A sidebar of resources for the topic, such as a commentary about the most important sources of information (URLs, papers, articles, books, newsgroups, conferences, and organizations) may be a nice additional element to include in your introduction. Also, the GEI is a good place to point out some of the challenges and pitfalls in the topic and to maintain balance; the ideal length is about 1500 words.
The following GEIs from past issues are good examples of what we're looking for:
Guidelines for Making Recommendations
Please be sure to include the paper identification numbers (Paper ID) in the subject line for all correspondence with the Publications Coordinator. The Publications Coordinator will create a spreadsheet for the issue listing all submissions and other pertinent information. This sheet is updated and reviewed regularly by the editorial staff.
If GEs do not want to consider a submission, they MAY NOT Reject it outright. Instead, we ask that GEs communicate with the Publications Coordinator and consider referring the submission to the EIC for "nontheme" issues or suggest alternative publications that could be more suitable. The Publications Coordinator will inform the author once the GE sends in their specific comments to include.
The Recommendation Process
Recommendations should fall into the following categories:
Accept
An accept decision means the submission is considered appropriate and timely for the IC2J; it contributes to the state of the science, art, and practice of C2; and thus it advances the state of knowledge and research.
Even though the recommendation is to Accept the article for publication, ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST STILL COMPLETE THE 2ND ROUND OF THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS. If the outcome of the 2nd round review is to accept the submission, please keep in mind that the EIC & CCRP still make the final decision.
Minor Revisions
A Minor revision should only be used for papers that have a clear contribution and are considered worthy of publication pending the successful completion of a few minor revisions. Reviewers’ comments are shared with the author and the author is asked to respond to these and make the appropriate changes. The GE and the EIC review the revised manuscript to ensure that the suggestions have been appropriately addressed. GEs are always encouraged to assist the authors with making the revisions
Request Major Revisions
A major revision means that the manuscript is considered to have potential for publication; however more extensive revisions are required before further consideration. We strongly encourage GEs to assist the authors in making revisions to specifically address the reviewers’ comments and recommendations. Authors are requested to submit a revised draft, but informed that these revisions do not guarantee acceptance at a later date.
While there is no rule against a second-round major revision, we strongly advise against it, if a major overhaul is required before it can be considered for publication. Instead, we may recommend rejecting the paper to allow the author(s) an unlimited amount of time to thoroughly revise and resubmit the paper without significantly delaying publication of the entire issue.
Reject
A reject decision means the paper is not suitable for publication in the IC2J. GEs MAY NOT Reject articles outright. Instead, we ask that GEs communicate with the Publications Coordinator first and share any concerns/recommendations.
Administrative Reject
The GE rejects the paper without assigning it to reviewers due to significant deficiencies or failure to follow the submission guidelines.
Out of Scope
This rating is used when the submission does not fall within the IC2J’s scope and/or topic of interest. We ask the editor/guest editor consider referring the manuscript to the EIC for "nontheme" issues or suggest a more suitable journal for submission. In addition, the editor might also suggest that papers be submitted to the annual ICCRTS symposium.
Submission Requirements
Concurrent Submission: We do NOT allow submission to more than one publication at one time. If we determine that a manuscript has been submitted to another publication before IC2J’s review process is completed, we will automatically reject that manuscript.
Duplicate Submissions: We do NOT accept duplicate submissions of manuscripts. Authors should not try to submit a modified version of manuscripts that are already in the system as a new submission. Identical submissions will be immediately rejected.
Preliminary/Conference Version(s): Articles presented in previous technical meetings (CCRP or others) or conferences may be considered for publication in the IC2J. Any such papers should present material of lasting interest, describing an original contribution to the field. The paper(s) should emphasize advancements in knowledge rather than specific products or systems. The reviewer should check the submission to determine whether a sufficient amount of new material has been added to warrant publication in IC2J. New results are not required, but the submission should contain expansions of key ideas, examples, elaborations, etc., of the conference manuscript.
Text-Formatting Requirements: All submissions must be Microsoft Word documents with 1” margins in Times New Roman, 12 pt fonts. All files will be converted to a PDF prior to publication.
Articles must be 5,000 words or less, excluding references, appendices, statistical tables and illustrative matter. Any article exceeding this word count may be rejected automatically, without going through the review process. Each submission should have a title page containing the submission's title and the names, affiliations, and contact information for all coauthors. If acronyms must be used, each one should be defined on its first appearance.
Please refer to the Author Information Center for a complete list of the IC2J's requirements for both the form and content of all submissions.
Contact Us
If you wish to propose a special issue, or if you have any questions, please contact the Publications Coordinator