Neural Computing and Applications - Topical Collections – Guidelines for Guest Editors

Preparing a Proposal

Guest Editors (GE) should contact the Publishing Editor, Amin Fatemi (ncaa.editorialoffice@springernature.com (this opens in a new tab)) with their proposal idea to ensure it is relevant and there is space in the Publication Schedule for the Topical Collection (TC).

The proposal form which must be completed can be found here (this opens in a new tab).

Please note: the journal has moved to a new Publication Model in 2020 of having “Topical Collections” which are replacing the more traditional term of “Special Issue”. You can find example of how your Topical Collection will appear here: https://link.springer.com/journal/volumesAndIssues/10458?tabName=topicalCollections (this opens in a new tab).

If there are several Guest Editors involved in a Topical Collection, one Guest Editor should act as Lead Guest Editor.

We require our Guest Editors to familiarise themselves with the editorial and publication policies of the journal and our Springer Nature Code of Conduct before they undertake their TC. You can find links to these below:

Submission Guidelines: https://www.springer.com/journal/521/submission-guidelines (this opens in a new tab) Code of Conduct: https://www.springernature.com/gp/editors/code-of-conduct-journals (this opens in a new tab)

If your TC is considered for approval the Editor-in-Chief of Neural Computing & Applications will require an online meeting to discuss the management of the collection with ALL members of the Guest Editorial team. No TC will proceed without this discussion to ensure that all members of the GE team understand the obligations they undertake on behalf of the journal.

Peer Review Procedure

Submission
Guest Editors of a TC will receive an individual login in the Editorial Manager online system. A “Lead” Guest Editor must be nominated, and they will be responsible for assigning manuscripts to other Guest Editors. All Guest Editors will be expected to handle and distribute manuscript assignments among reviewers who will be selected by the Guest Editors.

It is the Guest Editors' role to select authors and invite them to submit papers for the Topical Collection which are of the highest quality in terms of science and presentation. They should also ensure that all papers submitted conform to the editorial and publication policies of the journal. If this is an open TC, please ensure a Call for Papers is provided to the Editorial Team.

Submissions to a TC must be done through the Springer Editorial Manager online reviewing system on: https://www.editorialmanager.com/ncaa (this opens in a new tab).

All papers submitted to the TC must go through FULLY INDEPENDENT PEER REVIEW.

For clarity, FULLY INDEPENDENT means that the reviewers should not have a conflict of interest:
- With any of the Guest Editors
- With any of the authors of papers they are asked to review

Guest Editors should use a wide and diverse range of reviewers. We discourage the use of teams of reviewers used to review multiple papers; we also ask that Guest Editors do not focus on using reviewers from the same institutions, regions, or countries as themselves. This is to prevent any perception or potential for lack of independence and/or conflicts of interest.

All papers must have at least TWO robust reviews before Guest Editors make their recommendation to the Editor-in-Chief. A “robust” review means one where it is clear the reviewer has read, and seriously commented on, the paper in question. Trivial reviews should be discounted.

Guest Editors are asked to be mindful of, and guard against the following:

• Reviewers who ask authors to cite their own papers. We strongly discourage this behaviour.
• Authors who use AI tools such as ChatGPT to produce any significant part of their submission, which is not allowed – see the Springer Nature policy at [https://www.springer.com/gp/editorial-policies/artificial-intelligence--ai-/25428500# (this opens in a new tab)].
• Submissions which include phrases designed to avoid plagiarism detection (sometimes referred to as “tortured phrases) which can be an indication of unethical behaviour.
• Any breach of the Code of Publishing Ethics, which can be found here [https://www.springernature.com/gp/editors/code-of-conduct-journals (this opens in a new tab)].

NC&A normally asks Guest Editors to limit their TCs to 12 to 14 papers. We would expect Guest Editors to ensure that they have a sufficient volume of submissions to be able to select only papers of the required quality for publication.

Plagiarism Checking
All new submissions are checked by our Manuscript Screening Service (MSS) to ensure they conform to our ethical standards and are also checked for plagiarism using iThenticate. Guest Editors must check the Manuscript Screening Service Report and the iThenticate score for all submissions to the SI before sending out for review.

Conference Papers
If a TC is to be offered as a follow-up to a conference or a workshop, GEs are responsible for ensuring that the contents of the manuscripts submitted to the TC differ from the conference papers (we expect roughly 30% new content). Any potential copyright and self-plagiarism issues have to be avoided in advance. Extended papers to be published on the TC can contain a specific note referencing the conference paper and providing information about the extended content.

General
Each manuscript submitted must be original, not published formally elsewhere, and must be peer reviewed by at least two specialists in the field. Guest Editors are expected to handle all aspects of the papers’ review and editorial decisions in an efficient and timely manner. The final decision on acceptance is up to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal.

PLEASE NOTE: No more than 12-14 papers should be accepted for any one Topical Collection, and new fewer than 6. This is a strict limit, and exceptions must be agreed with the Editor-in-Chief before any papers are accepted.

Publication

Guest Editors will be required to submit a preface/editorial for the TC after all papers are published online, and will liaise with the Editor-in-Chief regarding the requirements for this. Please note that it is not possible to decide which order papers will appear in a TC, but this can be set in the online and print issue.

Once the papers have been accepted by the Editor-in-Chief, they are then transmitted to the publisher’s production department. Proofs will be available online for the Guest Editors to review and approve before Online publication.

Please note that colour figures and images are reproduced free of charge in electronic form. There is a page charge for colour in print: please contact the Publishing Editor for further information.

If the number of pages of a TC does not reach the number of pages of the journal print version, the EIC reserves the right to merge the TC with other TC or regular papers in one print issue.

When the TC appears in print, the title and names of the Guest Editors will appear on the cover and the contents page.

After Publication - TC Analysis

As part of agreeing to publish your TC, we ask that you provide an analysis of the TC one year after publication. This analysis should include the number of submitted papers, the number of accepted papers, the number of citations to the articles published in your TC and any other statistics or data that you wish to include. Please send this analysis to the Editor-in-Chief for his review.