Thank you for contributing your time and talents as guest editor. It is your task not only to assemble an issue that advances research in your special subject area, but also to meet the standards of the readers of The Information Society. Please review the journal on our website (http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/) in order to familiarize yourself with the journal’s standards, style and areas of interest. You may need to explain the journal to the authors and reviewers you will work with.

The review packets, which are to be sent with submitted manuscripts to the reviewers of the articles, include guidelines for evaluating the contents of the journal. You may find these general guidelines useful as well as you consider which articles may be suitable for the journal. We would particularly emphasize the following: Good articles for The Information Society deepen our understanding of important issues through new data, theories or compelling analyses. They are anchored in strong scholarship, but are also written so that they are accessible to non-specialists.

In addition, we want to provide guidelines for the larger editorial task of coordinating the review, selection, and construction of a special issue. Though the primary responsibility for managing this special issue will be yours, the offices of The Information Society (TIS) have certain requirements to be met, as well as support to offer.

Our requirements are as follows:

1. You should write a Call for Papers for your special issue. Samples of calls for papers are available from our web site http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/. Your call for papers will also be posted on the TIS web site. We strongly encourage you to post the CFP on pertinent listservs as well and to distribute paper copies at conferences.

2. Harmeet Sawhney must approve the manuscripts that you recommend for publication, considering them in light of the general editorial standards of the journal. Official letters of acceptance will be issued by the TIS office. At that time, the TIS office will ensure that each author completes a transfer of copyright agreement, and provides a hard and electronic copy (Word for Windows, RFT or ASCII text formats) of the final manuscript. The TIS office will also then assume responsibility for assembling and transmitting the issue to our publisher, Taylor and Francis.

3. When you believe that you have a plausible estimate of the number of articles that will be reviewed, please forward that number, as well as authors, article titles, and abstracts to Harmeet Sawhney. Editors can consult with Harmeet Sawhney during the review process.

4. When you have made your final decision about the contents of the issue, if not before, you must send TIS copies of the pertinent records of all the manuscripts you handled, including correspondence, the names and addresses of the reviewers, and the reviews. TIS is accountable for providing a history of each manuscript to Taylor and Francis, including the dates of landmarks in the review process (including date of receipt, of requests for revision, and of final action).

5. Each issue of The Information Society should be approximately 80 published pages, including front matter and book reviews. If necessary, please contact managing editor Wayne Buente for tips for estimating published page lengths.

6. You should write an introductory essay for the issue of approximately 1500-4000 words, in which you locate the articles within the discourse concerning the special issue topic. This essay may take strong positions; indeed, readers will find it helpful if you draw attention to how the articles are positioned in relation to debates within the discourse, as well as to differences between the articles themselves. For instance, articles may represent conflicting approaches, or data in one might conflict with theoretical positions in another. Please bear in mind that the issues and achievements represented in the special issue may not be immediately apparent to the reader of the table of contents; the introduction should not only give readers a deeper understanding of issues in the field, but also make a compelling case for how the special issue advances that field. This essay will be used to advertise the issue. We hope that it will intrigue and attract new readers, as well as those already well-versed in the field.

Given these requirements, we offer the following guidelines:

1. The call for papers should contain the following elements:

• Describe content of special issue in a way to attract high quality authors and readers (see samples of calls for papers posted on the TIS web site).
• Encourage potential authors to contact the editor with language such as "We encourage prospective authors to discuss possible articles with the Special Issue editor." and "Please send your manuscript to: [Editor’s name, address, e-mail, phone, fax] Feel free to correspond with the special issue editor if you have any questions or are planning to submit an article."
• Please include a schedule in your call for papers, including dates with year. Allow 3-4 months for submissions, but you can start reviewing papers as they come in. Expect at least 6 months for articles to be reviewed and revised. Please pay attention to holidays and grading at the end of terms.
• Many potential authors and readers may not be familiar with TIS. Encourage them to familiarize themselves with the journal with language such as "we encourage prospective authors to become familiar with TIS." Please, include in your call for papers a link to the submission guidelines of The Information Society http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/contributors/authors.html as well as a link to the journal’s site http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/.

2. You will manage the review process, which includes soliciting two to three reviews for each manuscript, and eventually, informing the author of your decision and the nature of the reviewers’ comments. Please note:

Please be sure to send review packets to reviewers that include descriptions of TIS.

• Thorough reviews help the authors as well as the editors. We editors must clearly appreciate the strengths and gaps in an article, and we rely upon reviews to help evaluate a manuscript.
• Authors benefit from careful assessments and guidance, as well as from the enthusiasm of sympathetic reviewers and editors.
  
• If the reviews that you solicit are neither helpful nor timely, you can solicit additional reviews or act as "Reviewer D" yourself.
  
• Use conditional language in your correspondence with authors, particularly concerning acceptances — for instance, you may want to tell the author "I am recommending acceptance to TIS." Harmeet Sawhney will issue final letters of acceptance.
  
• You should not reveal the identities of the reviewers to the author, unless the reviewers expressly direct you to do so.
  
• Keep copies of reviews and pertinent correspondence (including e-mail) for TIS.

3. Coordinate with TIS concerning your judgment of each manuscript.

• You may, on your own, reject manuscripts that are unsuitable for the special issue. However, please inform TIS of manuscripts that might be suitable for other issues. In such cases, please forward the entire file to TIS for further review.
• You may, on your own, request revisions from the author. However, particularly concerning very promising manuscripts, you might report your assessment to Harmeet Sawhney before contacting the author; he may have additional concerns that the author could address all at once, rather than after the revision has been resubmitted.
  
• When you consider manuscripts ready for publication, please send them with their reviews and correspondence to Harmeet Sawhney for final approval. If you wish, you may inform the author of your favorable recommendation, but please do not promise publication.
  
• Please send articles to be reviewed by Harmeet Sawhney in batches of three or more, if possible, rather than one at a time. In any case, this review may take as much as two to three weeks.
  
• When a manuscript file is "closed" — either because the manuscript has been rejected or accepted — you might then send it to the TIS office. Alternatively, send all of your manuscript files to TIS with your final decisions about the contents of the issue.
  
• If you wind up with very promising or publishable articles that will make the issue’s page count significantly exceed 80 pages, or if they may not be entirely complete in time for your issue’s deadline, consult Harmeet Sawhney. One option may be to publish some of the articles that you accept in other issues.
  

Please feel free to contact Dr. Harmeet Sawhney or the Managing Editor Mr. Wayne Buente at tisj@indiana.edu at any time if you have any questions or requests. We consider close communication essential to this joint effort. It may also help you to know that the office maintains a database of addresses of past contributors, authors and reviewers, as well as models of letters to authors and reviewers. We’d be happy to provide you with such material. We would also appreciate your feedback about these guidelines; they are new, and we’d like to make them as informative as possible.

Harmeet Sawhney
Editor-in-Chief
The Information Society
Department of Telecommunications
Indiana University, 1229 E. 7th St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5501

Phone: (812) 855-0954
Fax: (812) 855 - 7955
URL: http://www.indiana.edu/~telecom/faculty/sawhney.html