Proposed Special Issue

Develop focused collections that shape depression and therapy research.

Special issues highlight emerging priorities in depression research and therapy innovation. Proposals should define a clear theme, clinical impact, and editorial plan.

We welcome proposals that advance population health, therapeutic innovation, or implementation science in mental health.

• Proposed title and thematic focus
• Rationale and clinical relevance
• Guest editor names and affiliations
• Planned article types and estimated volume
• Target audience and expected impact
• Proposed timeline for submissions and review
• Potential contributors or invited authors
• Ethics and reporting expectations
• Plans for outreach or promotion
• Lead contact information for the proposal ([email protected])

• Coordinate peer review with the editorial office
• Ensure scope alignment and ethical compliance
• Maintain timelines and communicate with authors
• Provide clear decision recommendations
• Support promotional activities for accepted papers
• Submit a short issue summary upon completion

Use this checklist to ensure proposals and submissions are complete and aligned with journal priorities.

• Define the special issue theme and scope clearly
• Explain the clinical or research significance
• Identify guest editors and affiliations
• Provide a short proposal summary
• List expected article types and volume
• Outline a timeline for submissions and review
• Suggest potential contributors or networks
• Describe review and quality assurance plans
• Provide outreach or promotion strategies
• Align the issue with journal priorities
• Include ethics and reporting expectations
• Share contact details for the lead editor
• Describe how to handle conflicts of interest
• Plan for issue introduction or editorial
• Provide a closure plan and summary deliverable

Planning helps special issues stay on schedule and maintain quality.

• Define review milestones and deadlines
• Plan reviewer recruitment for the issue
• Provide communication plan for authors
• Describe issue marketing strategy
• Include plans for editorial introduction
• Clarify expected acceptance rate
• Provide final issue publication timeline
• Plan for post publication dissemination
• Ensure alignment with journal ethics
• Outline quality control checkpoints

Complete, well structured submissions move through review more efficiently and reduce follow up questions.

Clear coordination improves the special issue experience for authors and reviewers.

• Confirm submission deadlines and review milestones
• Align guest editor communication plans
• Provide consistent reviewer guidance
• Share decision timelines with contributors
• Document expected article types and volume
• Provide a plan for post publication promotion
• Coordinate with the editorial office regularly
• Track revision turnaround times
• Prepare an issue introduction or summary
• Confirm quality control checkpoints

These small checks help keep manuscripts and communications consistent.

• Keep terminology consistent across sections
• Confirm that tables match reported results
• Use clear headings that guide reviewers
• Provide concise summaries of key findings
• Check that ethics statements are visible
• Align figures with outcome descriptions
• Include clinical implications in discussion
• Verify that all links are current

Quality checks reduce revision cycles and accelerate review.

• Use plain language for complex findings
• Avoid unnecessary jargon or acronyms
• Ensure methods are described in sequence
• Clarify participant flow and attrition
• Report baseline characteristics clearly
• State limitations and generalizability
• Include acknowledgments where needed
• Double check citation formatting

Clear scope alignment improves editorial screening outcomes.

• Confirm scope alignment before submission
• Summarize key takeaways for clinicians
• Highlight novelty in the cover letter
• Provide complete author contact details
• Indicate any supplemental material
• Note any clinical trial registrations
• Share funding statements explicitly
• Check spelling of assessment instruments