Proposed Special Issue for JHD
Lead a focused collection on high-priority hereditary disease challenges and emerging genetic evidence.
Design a Theme With Scientific Urgency
Successful proposals define why the topic matters now and who the collection will serve.
JHD welcomes proposals that address urgent hereditary disease questions, such as variant interpretation standards, gene therapy outcomes, multi-omics integration, and inherited disease diagnostics in resource-limited settings.
A strong proposal should present a concise rationale, expected article types, and intended audience. Themes should be narrow enough to remain coherent but broad enough to attract a sufficient submission pipeline.
Core Components of a Strong Proposal
Complete proposal packages move faster through editorial review.
Theme Statement
Clear scientific scope and relevance to hereditary disease practice.
Editorial Team
Guest editor names, affiliations, and topic expertise.
Submission Plan
Target article types and expected submission timeline.
Outreach Strategy
Contributor targets and communication plan for calls for papers.
Include a draft timeline covering call launch, submission deadline, review window, and expected publication period. Realistic timelines improve completion probability and reviewer engagement.
If co-editors are involved, define role distribution early to avoid workflow bottlenecks during peak review phases.
How JHD Reviews Proposals
Proposals are assessed for quality, feasibility, and strategic fit.
Editorial Assessment
JHD reviews scope fit, feasibility, and potential scientific impact.
Revision or Clarification
If needed, the office requests timeline or scope refinements.
Approval and Launch
Approved themes move to public call and submission setup.
JHD may recommend scope refinements to improve submission quality and thematic clarity. Approved proposals receive implementation support from the editorial office.
Guest editors are expected to uphold journal ethics, confidentiality, and conflict disclosure policies throughout the issue lifecycle.
Managing Issue Feasibility
High-quality proposals combine scientific vision with practical delivery planning.
Proposals should estimate likely submission volume and identify how reviewer capacity will be managed during peak periods. Including a preliminary contributor list and engagement plan increases confidence that the issue can be completed on schedule.
JHD can advise on timeline calibration based on historical review duration and production throughput.
Themes With Strong Author Pull
Focused and timely topics attract stronger submissions.
Examples include inherited cardiomyopathies, hereditary neurodegeneration, novel variant interpretation frameworks, and implementation challenges in genomic screening programs. Topics should connect clear scientific novelty with practical clinical impact.
Evidence of Contributor Interest
Early contributor signals increase approval confidence.
Including preliminary expressions of interest from potential authors helps demonstrate feasibility and strengthens the case for launching a new hereditary disease special issue.
Define Reviewer Strategy Early
Reviewer planning helps avoid timeline drift.
Proposals should identify likely reviewer pools for specialized hereditary topics to support timely evaluation once submissions arrive.
Propose a Hereditary Disease Special Issue
Launch a focused collection that connects high-value genetics research with clinical and policy impact.
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