Published on July 19, 2019

The IEEE Transactions on Professional Communicationrequests proposals for guest editorship and special issue topic for the June 2021 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
  • The topic should not repeat a special issue or special section topic covered in the past 5 years (that is, user-generated content, 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.
  • Edit final drafts.
  • Submit edited final drafts to editor-in-chief.


Schedule for June 2021 Special Issue

Abstract submission deadlineDecember 15, 2019
Notification of authorsFebruary 1, 2020
Submission of complete draftsJuly 15, 2020 
Reviews returned to authorsSeptember 1, 2020 
Revised drafts submitted for second reviewNovember 1, 2020 
Final and complete articles submittedFebruary 1, 2021
Editing of articles completed by guest editor(s)March 1, 2021
Special issue publishedJune 1, 2021


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 September 1, 2019.

Proposals will be reviewed by the editor-in-chief and associate editors, and proposers will be notified of their decision no later than October 1, 2019.

The call for submissions will be posted no later than October 15, 2019.