Special-issue policy

The Asian Bulletin of Green Management and Circular Economy (ABGMCE) may publish special issues or thematic collections addressing focused topics within the journal’s stated aims and scope. Special issues are subject to the same standards of editorial independence, publication ethics, peer review, copyright, licensing and research integrity as regular issues.

Editorial Responsibility

The Editor-in-Chief retains full responsibility and final authority for all special issues and their published content. Guest editors support the editorial process but do not replace the authority of the Editor-in-Chief or the journal’s permanent Editorial Board.

The Editor-in-Chief or a designated Editorial Board member shall supervise each special issue, monitor its progress and make or approve all final publication decisions.

Approval of Special-Issue Proposals

Every special-issue proposal must be reviewed and approved by the Editor-in-Chief before a call for papers is announced. A proposal must include:

  • Proposed title and subject

  • Relevance to the journal’s aims and scope

  • Objectives and expected scholarly contribution

  • Names, affiliations and qualifications of proposed guest editors

  • Proposed submission and publication schedule

  • Methods for managing peer review and conflicts of interest

ABGMCE may reject, revise, suspend or cancel a proposal that does not meet the journal’s academic, ethical or operational standards.

Selection of Guest Editors

Guest editors must possess appropriate qualifications, relevant subject expertise and a satisfactory record of scholarly and ethical conduct. Their institutional affiliations and credentials shall be reviewed before appointment.

Guest editors must disclose all financial, institutional, professional and personal conflicts of interest. The journal may remove a guest editor if misconduct, unmanaged conflicts, inadequate performance or interference with independent peer review is identified.

Submission and Peer Review

Special-issue submissions must be made through the journal’s standard submission system. All manuscripts shall undergo:

  • Initial editorial screening

  • Plagiarism and integrity checks

  • Double-blind peer review

  • Evaluation by at least two independent expert reviewers

  • Revision where required

  • Final editorial assessment and decision

Special-issue articles shall not receive preferential or accelerated acceptance. Acceptance depends exclusively on scholarly quality, originality, relevance and compliance with journal policies.

Editorial Independence

Guest editors may recommend reviewers and editorial decisions, but the Editor-in-Chief or designated Editorial Board member retains final decision-making authority.

Authors, reviewers, sponsors and guest editors shall not influence editorial decisions through financial, institutional, personal or commercial pressure. Article Processing Charge payments or waivers shall not affect peer review or acceptance decisions.

Guest-Editor and Board-Member Submissions

Manuscripts authored by a guest editor, Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board member or any individual involved in managing the special issue must be handled independently by an editor who has no conflict of interest.

Guest editors shall not manage, select reviewers for or make decisions on their own manuscripts. Articles authored by guest editors must not exceed 25% of the total articles published in the special issue.

Conflicts of Interest

Editors and reviewers must not handle manuscripts involving:

  • Their own work

  • Close collaborators or family members

  • Authors from whom they cannot remain independent

  • Direct institutional, professional or financial conflicts

Where a conflict exists, responsibility for the manuscript shall be transferred to an independent editor.

Identification and Transparency

Every special issue and thematic collection must be clearly labelled on the journal website. The journal shall disclose:

  • Special-issue title

  • Guest editors’ names and affiliations

  • Submission deadline

  • Editorial oversight arrangements

  • Peer-review process

  • Applicable APC and waiver information

  • Publication status and expected schedule

Published articles must be clearly identified as belonging to the relevant special issue.

Publication Ethics

Special-issue manuscripts must comply with the journal’s Publication Ethics, Authorship, Conflict of Interest, Plagiarism, Data Sharing, Corrections and Retractions policies.

Suspected manipulation of peer review, fabricated reviewer identities, citation manipulation, undisclosed conflicts, paper-mill activity or other misconduct shall be investigated according to recognised publication-ethics procedures.

Fees, Copyright and Licensing

The same disclosed Article Processing Charges and waiver conditions apply to regular and special-issue articles unless a separate sponsored waiver is clearly announced.

All published special-issue articles remain immediately open access and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY 4.0). Authors retain copyright to their work.

Regular Publication

ABGMCE shall maintain regular journal publication independently of special issues. Special issues will supplement the journal’s regular scholarly content and will not be used to replace the journal’s normal publication programme.

For special-issue enquiries, contact: editor@abgmce.com