Most researchers submit to a journal's regular issue and hope for the best. But sitting inside the same journals — often on the same editorial platforms — are special issues: themed calls for papers with focused scope, committed timelines, and editors who genuinely want submissions. Target the right one, and you'll move from "hope" to "plan." This guide covers how to find special issues journals currently have open, how to evaluate whether yours is a good fit, and how to use them strategically without sacrificing rigour.
What a Special Issue Actually Is
A special issue is a collection of papers grouped around a specific theme, edited by guest editors (often respected researchers in that niche) rather than the journal's standing editorial board. Once published, a special issue paper carries exactly the same indexing and impact factor as the rest of the journal. A special issue paper in a Q1 SSCI journal is a Q1 SSCI paper — full stop.
Where special issues differ is in their operating model. They have explicit topic boundaries, firm submission deadlines, and guest editors motivated to see their issue succeed. That dynamic benefits well-matched submissions substantially.
Why Special Issues Lead to Faster Acceptance
Three structural factors compress the timeline. First, guest editors have skin in the game — if their issue is thin on submissions, it reflects on their professional reputation. That usually means faster first-decision turnarounds and more active reviewer chasing. Second, the scope is explicit. When a call specifies "qualitative studies on AI in higher education," there's no ambiguity about whether your methodology fits. Reviewers evaluate the work on its merits, not on scope gymnastics. Third, submission volume is self-limiting. A regular issue receives thousands of submissions across the year; a special issue typically receives dozens to low hundreds. Your paper competes in a smaller pool.
Special Issue
- Guest editors motivated by deadline
- Explicit, narrow scope — less ambiguity
- Smaller submission pool to compete in
- Typically 30–50% faster review cycle
- Publication often within 6 months of deadline
- Reviewers pre-selected for topic expertise
Regular Issue
- Standing editors juggling entire journal
- Broad scope — fit can be contested
- Thousands of submissions competing
- Average first decision: 14–20 weeks
- Publication 9–14 months from submission
- Reviewers assigned from general pool
Where to Find Special Issues Currently Open
The most common mistake researchers make is asking "is this journal running any special issues?" after they've already chosen the journal. The better approach is to look at live calls first and let them shape your shortlist. Here are the most reliable sources:
| Source | What you'll find |
|---|---|
| Journal websites directly | Most journals list current calls under "Special Issues" or "Call for Papers" in the top navigation. Browse your shortlist journals monthly. |
| MDPI Topics & Special Issues portal | Centralised portal with thousands of live calls across all MDPI journals, searchable by keyword and deadline. |
| Elsevier's Call for Papers page | Aggregated calls from all Elsevier journals, including flagship titles with fast review. |
| Springer Nature Topical Collections | Thematic calls spanning multiple Springer Nature journals — useful for interdisciplinary work. |
| Email alerts from target journals | Sign up for table-of-contents alerts on your 5–10 shortlisted journals. You'll see special issue announcements first. |
| Mailing lists and society newsletters | Professional associations often circulate calls before they're indexed in aggregators. |
How to Evaluate Whether a Special Issue Is a Good Fit
Not every special issue is a good opportunity. Some are thinly veiled attempts to inflate a journal's article count; others are run by guest editors with limited editorial experience, leading to chaotic review processes. Before you commit your manuscript, run the call through these checks:
Verify the parent journal's indexing and quartile
Research the guest editors' publication record
Read the scope statement critically for fit
Check the deadline and realistic timeline
Step 1: The parent journal does the heavy lifting
A special issue inherits its indexing, quartile, and reputation from the host journal. Always verify the host journal's current Scopus or WoS indexing before you think about the call itself. An active special issue call at a recently de-indexed journal is a trap.
Step 2: Guest editors matter
Search the guest editors on Google Scholar. Are they active in the field? Have they edited special issues before? Do they publish in reputable journals themselves? Experienced guest editors run better processes — faster turnarounds, clearer reviewer instructions, and more consistent decisions.
Step 3: Scope statement is literal
Read the call's scope statement slowly. Does your paper genuinely fit the themes listed, or are you stretching? Guest editors reject scope-misfits quickly — that's part of why special issues are fast. Don't try to frame a general paper as a niche contribution. If your fit is forced, skip the call.
Step 4: Deadline realism
Calculate whether you can realistically prepare a submission by the deadline without compromising quality. A rushed paper sent to a special issue is still a rejected paper.
A rushed submission to a perfect special issue is worse than no submission at all. The deadline is an accelerator, not an excuse to skip rigour.
Red Flags in Special Issue Calls
Not all special issues are legitimate accelerators. Some are volume-farming exercises attached to questionable journals, and a few are outright predatory. Watch for these warning signs:
Vague scope statements that could apply to any paper; guest editors with no traceable publication record or institutional affiliation; extremely short review turnaround promises (under 2 weeks) combined with high APCs; hosts that aren't currently indexed; and unsolicited invitations to submit that address you by a wrong name or generic title.
Before committing, cross-check the host journal against the Predatory Journal Checker and verify current indexing on the publisher's official source list. The journal's legitimacy matters more than the special issue's urgency.
The Timeline Advantage in Practice
A regular-issue submission to a mid-tier SSCI journal typically takes 9–14 months from submission to indexed publication. A well-matched special issue at the same journal often runs 4–7 months. That's often the difference between publication counting for this year's evaluation or next.
From two desk rejections to SSCI Q2 acceptance in 19 weeks
After two desk rejections at regular-issue submissions, a research team in education repositioned their paper to match an active special issue on learning analytics at an MDPI Q2 journal. The guest editors returned the first decision in 6 weeks; acceptance followed 8 weeks later. Total time from repositioning to acceptance: 19 weeks.
Read the full case study →How to Write for a Special Issue
A paper submitted to a special issue should feel like it was written for that call. That doesn't mean rewriting your findings — it means framing your contribution explicitly in the call's terms. Reference the call's themes in your introduction. Position your work against the questions the guest editors pose. Cite any papers the editors themselves have published on the topic. This isn't pandering; it's demonstrating scope fit in a way that makes life easier for editors and reviewers alike.
Write one paragraph of your introduction explicitly connecting your paper to the special issue's themes. A sentence like "This paper contributes to the special issue's focus on [theme] by providing empirical evidence on [your angle]" signals scope fit to reviewers in the first 30 seconds.
When Not to Target a Special Issue
Special issues aren't always the right move. If your paper is broad in scope and doesn't naturally sit in a themed niche, regular-issue submission is probably cleaner. If the deadlines would compromise quality, wait for the next call. And if the only special issues open are at journals with weaker indexing than your target tier, don't trade prestige for speed — a faster publication in a worse journal is not progress.
Special issues work best when there's a genuine match. When you're forcing fit, the time savings evaporate in desk rejection. For the broader framework on how special issues slot into your overall strategy, see our journal shortlist guide. And if pure speed is what you're after regardless of issue type, our fast-review Scopus journals list is a useful companion.
The Bottom Line
Special issues are one of the few structural advantages available to researchers who know how to use them. They compress timelines, sharpen scope, and reduce the noise of editorial triage. But they reward preparation — you need to find the right call, verify the host journal, and frame your paper for the specific scope being targeted.
Build the habit of checking open special issue calls monthly at your shortlisted journals. Over a year, you'll likely find one or two that fit your work genuinely well — and those are the submissions that turn into publications in months, not years.
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