Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems - Call for Special Issues and Topical Collections
The journal of Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (JAAMAS) encourages Special Issues and Topical Collections addressing topics in a particular area likely to generate additional interest from the community. Those seeking to initiate a special issue as Guest Editor should prepare a proposal according to the following guidelines.
Initial proposal and agreement in principle: All Special Issues must receive initial approval from the Editors-in-Chief before the papers are submitted. Proposals should be emailed to the Editors-in-Chief. A formal proposal for a Special Issue must contain:
a. The title of the Special Issue.
b. A brief CV of the proposed Guest Editors (usually no more than three).
c. A statement of the Special Issue’s significance for JAAMAS and the likely content to be covered.
d. A draft of the Call for Papers. The EiCs can be contacted for guidance and examples of previous CfPs.
e. A timetable outline.
The Editors-in-Chief will consider whether the initial proposal is of interest to the journal, and the proposed Guest Editors will be informed whether or not it will be granted agreement in principle to proceed. Guest Editors are expected to oversee the peer review process for the Special Issue, but final acceptance approval for each paper will be given by the Editors-in-Chief.
Inviting Authors: It is the Guest Editors’ role to develop and widely circulate an open call for papers, seeking manuscripts of the highest quality for the special issue. All articles submitted must conform to the editorial and publication policies of JAAMAS as detailed elsewhere; the standards and quality of papers in special issues must match the quality seen in regular issues, with at least three reviews for each manuscript.
Submissions and Reviews Procedures: Special Issues are handled in the normal way via the online Editorial Manager system found at (this opens in a new tab)https://agnt.edmgr.com (this opens in a new tab). Special Issue articles should fulfill all the standard requirements of any JAAMAS article. Authors should note that the same criteria apply to articles in Special Issues as to regular articles. Special Issue articles must not consist of overviews of the authors' previously published work, e.g. peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, official reports, etc.
The Guest Editors will be able to determine whether each submitted paper is in scope for the Special Issue. The paper will then either be rejected or should be sent out for peer review. If a paper does not meet the criteria required for the Special Issue, Guest Editors may reject papers without them having been sent for external peer review.
The Editors-in-Chief may wish to take a first look at all papers submitted to a Special Issue and can reject papers without review on the basis of quality, originality, or significance, or ask for further revisions to be made prior to review. During the review process, the Editors-in-Chief can reject individual papers, or even the Special Issue as a whole, if it does not meet quality standards. If fewer articles than anticipated are accepted, a part-Special Issue may be proposed, or a grouped publication of articles without an introduction.
Once papers have been reviewed, Guest Editors will be asked to make an initial recommendation to the Editors-in-Chief, who will have the final decision on whether to accept or reject papers.
Note: JAAMAS does not support Special Issues that are merely “Best of Conference XXX” papers, though it may consider these in a fast track process for regular publication in the journal. Special Issues are collections of papers around a particular theme, typically arising from a call for papers. In cases where the value of a special issue is identified as arising out of a focused workshop, for example, it is appropriate to invite the accepted workshop papers to submit to the call for the Special Issue, in addition to those solicited in an open call.
Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
Editors-in-Chief:
Kate Larson kate.larson@uwaterloo.ca
Michael Winikoff michael.winikoff@vuw.ac.nz