The IEEE TGCN welcomes special issue proposals from qualified groups of guest editors on timely and significant technical topics of broad interest. The following provides general guidance as well as specifics on proposal preparation, submission, and evaluation. The proposers are strongly advised to adhere to the instructions in this document.

Proposing a Special Issue for TGCN

• Special issues on emerging topics are encouraged. Topics should have a footing in and/or relevance to energy conscious or sustainable operations in future networked systems, but could be substantially broader than the regular scope of TGCN, i.e., topics listed for regular papers, as special issues can seek to highlight emerging directions that may not be covered in regular issues. The timeliness and the significance of the proposed topic are evaluation criteria of for the proposal.
• Guest editors MUST be leading scholars in the field, evidenced by publication records, and editorial experience. Editorial teams with diversity in all its forms, e.g., gender, geographical, academia/industry are most welcome. The guest editors standing in the community and experience are evaluation criteria for the proposal.
• Guest editorial team should have at least 4 members and can have up to 7 editors.
• One of the guest editors shall serve as the lead guest editor and it is expected that this individual has the commensurate experience to serve in this leadership role.
• At the discretion of the EiC, the guest editors may be invited to submit a paper to the issue. In particular, as a group, the guest editors are encouraged to prepare a survey or tutorial paper on the topic of the special issue, or invite one from distinguished scholars in the topic. All such invited submissions will undergo a review process with the help of the TGCN Senior Editorial Board.

Instructions for Preparing a TGCN Special Issue Proposal

The essential ingredients of a successful special issue proposal are a timely topic and Guest Editor team that is willing and able to develop the topic proposal, convincing of the significance and the interest of the community, as well as the qualification of the proposing team.

The special issue proposals must be submitted as a pdf attachment. They must contain the following sections. Proposals that do not contain these sections are considered not well developed, and will likely be rejected.

• Background, Motivation and Relevance to TGCN: The proposal should include a clear description of the background and motivation of the proposed issue and highlight the answers to why to propose this issue, why now, and why to this journal.
• Technical Scope of the Proposal: Technical scope of the proposed issue should be carefully identified with emphasis on explaining why the proposed topic is significant and has broad interests.
• A Plan for Attracting Quality Papers: A plan for obtaining enough quality papers submitted (expected to be several dozen or more) should be included in the proposal. A plan for promotion, e.g., how to advertise the call for papers, as well as, a list of potential authors who could submit to the issue, and a list of potential reviewers must be included in the proposal.
• Tentative Schedule: A tentative schedule of the proposed issue must be included. Typically, a first submission date of 4-6 months in the future and a total of 6 months from first submission to final files submission are normal. The review process should include a first decision date, revised paper submission date and final decisions. It is understood that the review process typically includes no more than two rounds, the latter being a minor revision.
• Potential Overlapping with Published Issues: The discussion about potential overlapping with published special issues in IEEE TGCN and other ComSoc journals should be given.
• A List of Guest Editors and Their Short Biographies: The proposal should include a list of guest editors (GEs) and their short biographies. TGCN suggests 4-7 GEs with technical, geographical, and gender balance for each proposed issue. The biography for each of the GEs should stress their experience, standing in the community and relevant editorial experience. Lead GE bio should be provided at the top.
• One-Page Call-For-Papers: One-page CFP for the proposed issue should be included. This CFP should contain a list of technical areas for soliciting papers.
• Declaration: Proposers should explicitly declare that they will abide by IEEE publishing rules and ComSoc policies, and will conduct the review process as such. Proposers should indicate if they wish to submit a research article to the issue (this is not binding but informational for the EiC).

Proposal Submission and Review

Submission of a proposal should be sent as a pdf attachment to the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TGCN. The email must cc the Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief  and all the proposed guest editors (failure to do so will result in immediate rejection). The proposals will be reviewed by the EiC and the Editorial Board/Senior Editorial Board if needed, and the results of the evaluations will be communicated back to the proposing editors no later than two months.

Responsibilities of Guest Editors

Once a special issue proposal is accepted, there a number of duties that fall upon the guest editors. It is expected that lead guest editor will hold meetings and communicate as needed with the editorial team to ensure that the quality and the timeliness of the various stages of the preparation for the issue meet the highest of standards.  Specifically:

• The guest editors are expected to heavily promote their special issue immediately upon acceptance and continually until the submission deadline in all ComSoc venues, mailing lists, technical communities, professional networks and social media channels, attract high quality submissions (a successful issue receives dozens of high quality papers).
• Once the submissions close, the lead guest editor is expected to immediately assign papers to guest editors, ensuring highest integrity in the review process. Manuscript Central will be used with a dedicated account for the guest editorial team.
• The guest editors shall conduct the review process pursuant to ComSoc policies and IEEE publishing rules. The Lead Guest Editor is responsible for conferring the policy decisions with the Senior Editor mentoring the issue.
• TGCN and all its special issues publish only original (not previously published in a technical journal) contributions that have high-quality technical content and are well-written. Quality and originality can only be insured through a rigorous and well-managed review process.
• The guest editors are responsible to solicit three independent reviews per paper.
• The problems most encountered are delays in the review process, or revisions by the authors take longer than expected. It is therefore very important that the review process be monitored very carefully and that the process stays on schedule. This is the responsibility of the lead guest editor and the entire guest editor team.
• Once the review process concludes, the lead editor will forward editorial decision recommendations to the EiC who will finalize the acceptance and scheduling.
• The guest editors are expected to provide a short editorial in the published journal to briefly introduce the special issue and the papers in the issue. Deadlines for final uploads and editorial will be communicated from the EiC office.
• If invited, the editors may accept to contribute a tutorial style article which will be submitted directly to the EiC at the submission deadline.

A Note on Paper Submission and Reviews

Submissions to an approved special issue should follow the same format and procedures as listed under the Guidelines for Authors. Length and formatting requirements as well as overlength charges are identical to regular TGCN papers. Special issue papers that are not compliant with format and length requirements will be rejected without review.

The reviews of the papers should follow the same process as listed under the Editor Guidelines and the designated timelines as shown in the proposals.