Published on January 13, 2018

The IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication requests proposals for guest editorship and special issue topic for the December 2019 issue.

  • Anyone may propose a topic and apply for guest editor status. Guest editors need not be members of the IEEE Professional Communication Society.
  • The proposed guest editor may be a single person or a group of 2 or 3 people. If a group is proposed, the proposal should describe the group members’ experience working together and indicate how the work will be divided.
  • The proposed guest editor(s) should have demonstrated expertise on the topic being proposed.
  • The proposal should demonstrate that the topic is one of current interest to technical and professional communication practitioners or teachers, or to the engineering community in general, and that it fits the Transactions’ area or interest (see https://procomm.ieee.org/transactions-of-professional-communication/).
  • The topic should not repeat a special issue or special section topic covered in the past 5 years (data-driven approaches to professional communication, plain language, entrepreneurship communication, content management, content strategy).
  • The proposal should include a resume/CV for each proposed guest editor.
  • Proposals should include a draft call for submissions for the special issue (see attached example).

Responsibilities of Guest Editor

The guest editor’s responsibilities include the following:

  • Coordinate regularly with editor-in-chief to ensure that all tasks and activities are on schedule.
  • Draft call for submissions and revise with the input of the editor-in-chief.
  • Publicize call for submissions through appropriate listservs and personal networks.
  • Recruit subject matter experts to serve as peer reviewers.
  • Coordinate double-blind peer review of abstracts and drafts of proposed articles.
  • Correspond regularly with authors to notify them that their abstracts and drafts have been accepted, and to ensure that they are on track to submit their complete drafts and revisions on schedule.
  • Correspond with peer reviewers to ensure that reviews are submitted on schedule.
  • Collect IEEE copyright forms for each accepted article.
  • Edit final drafts.
  • Submit edited final drafts and copyright forms to editor-in-chief.

Schedule for 2019 Special Issue

Abstract submission deadline June 1, 2018
Notification of authors July 1, 2018
Submission of complete drafts December 15, 2018
Reviews returned to authors March 1, 2019
Revised drafts submitted for second review May 1, 2019
Final and complete articles submitted August 1, 2019
Editing of articles completed by guest editor(s) September 1, 2019
Special issue published December 2019

Timeline for Proposals

Interested parties are encouraged to correspond with George Hayhoe, editor-in-chief (Hayhoe_G@Mercer.edu), prior to submitting a proposal.

Proposals should be submitted by email to the editor-in-chief (Hayhoe_G@Mercer.edu) no later than March 15, 2018.

Proposals will be reviewed by the editor-in-chief and associate editors, and proposers will be notified of their decision no later than May 1, 2018.