Submission Guidelines for Special Issues

Submission Guidelines for Special Issues: IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine

Thank you for your interest in organizing a special issue (SI) in IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine (VTM). As you know, VTM is a highly reputed technical publication with an impact factor of 10.384 (2021). VTM is ranked second in Journal Citation Reports for Transportation Science and Technology and fourth for Telecommunications Engineering. We, therefore, appreciate all of your efforts to maintain the high-quality work and editorial standards that have taken VTM to this position.

VTM welcomes the submission of proposals for special issues (SIs). An SI should address topics in one or several of the four fields of interest of the magazine: mobile radio and wireless networks, connected and automated vehicles, automotive electronics, and land transportation systems. An SI must focus on a particular topic and should not be too broad, i.e., it cannot cover an entire field of interest of the magazine. SIs should address relevant and emerging topics not already covered by the magazine in previous SIs (or with minimum or partial overlap). Topics of interest should have the potential to uniquely contribute to the magazine.

Prospective guest editors (GEs) interested in organizing a special issue in VTM are invited to submit a proposal to the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of VTM. The proposal should include:

  • An MS Word document (maximum three pages) describing the topic’s background and motivation, the technical scope of the SI, its relevance, and timeliness. The document should also include a tentative schedule and a plan to advertise the call for papers (CFP) and attract quality submissions.
  • A Curriculum Vitae or biographies of the GEs in free format including their experience in the topic of the SI and in editorial work. The CV should include the GEs publication/patent lists.
  • A document listing other special issues organized by the GEs in the last 5 years. For each listed SI, the information in the document should include: title, journal publication, publication date, and name of the GEs.
  • A one-page draft of the CFP.

Each SI should be organized by a team of three or four GEs at most, including the lead GE. The lead GE must be indicated in the proposal. She/he will be the main point of contact for the EiC. All GEs must be leading or very active researchers in the topic of the SI, and the lead GE must be a recognized expert in the topic of the SI. It is encouraged to have a good geographical balance on the GE team and promote the participation of both academia and industry. It is also encouraged to include in the GE team at least one early-career GE (if in academia, a Ph.D. degree is required) that may not have served in GE roles before. The team may not include GEs who served as GE for another VTM SI within the last 12 months. All GEs should contribute to the solicitation and review processes, and they must respect the magazine policies and guidelines. Please note that GEs are not allowed to submit papers to the SI they are organizing. Before submitting a proposal for an SI, prospective GEs should read the guidelines for GEs. Submission of the proposal implies acceptance of the requirements published in these guidelines.

VTM has four issues per year (March, June, September, and December). As a result, a limited number of SIs can be published each year. It is hence recommended that interested GEs contact the EiC as soon as possible and plan their potential SI with sufficient time. A committee will be formed to evaluate the SI proposals. The committee will be chaired by the EiC, and it will include other members of the editorial board and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society Board of Governors when necessary. The committee will meet three to four times per year to evaluate the proposals received (i.e., proposals might not be evaluated as they are received), and the EiC will contact the candidate GEs as soon as a decision is made. The evaluation will consider among other criteria: quality and timeliness of the proposal, whether the proposed topic has already been covered in VTM, plans and measures to publicize and attract quality submissions, editorial team, previous SIs organized by the guest editorial team related or not to the topic of the SI, etc.

When planning your tentative schedule, please take into account that final accepted papers must be received by the IEEE not later than 3 months before the date of the SI (e.g. accepted papers to be published in a June issue must be received by the IEEE by the end of February at the latest). GEs should hence plan a paper submission deadline eight to nine months earlier of the publication date. This should allow for: 2.5-month for the first review round, 1.5 months for the authors to make changes requested after the first review round, and 1.5-months for the second review round. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the EiC of VTM.