Special Issues & Supplements

Special Issues & Supplements

Contents

Purpose and Scope

International Journal of Wound Research (IJWR) may publish Special Issues, thematic collections, supplements, conference proceedings, abstract books, and other clearly identified collections addressing topics relevant to wound prevention, assessment, treatment, management, tissue viability, skin integrity, and wound healing.

These publishing initiatives are intended to support focused scientific discussion, interdisciplinary collaboration, dissemination of conference research, development of clinical practice, and exchange between researchers, healthcare professionals, scientific societies, academic institutions, healthcare organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.

All Special Issues, supplements, and conference-related publications remain subject to the journal’s standards concerning editorial independence, research integrity, transparency, conflicts of interest, patient confidentiality, data protection, and post-publication accountability.

Special Issues and Thematic Collections

A Special Issue or thematic collection consists of a group of articles addressing a defined scientific, clinical, educational, technological, organizational, or policy-related topic within the scope of IJWR.

Special Issues may be initiated by:

  • the Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board;
  • Guest Editors;
  • scientific societies;
  • academic institutions;
  • research groups or collaborative networks;
  • healthcare organizations;
  • conference organizers;
  • other scientific or institutional partners approved by the journal.

The establishment of a Special Issue does not guarantee publication of any proposed or submitted manuscript. Every submission must satisfy the journal’s applicable editorial, scientific, ethical, and reporting requirements.

Proposals and Approval

Proposals for Special Issues and thematic collections must be submitted to the Editorial Office and should include:

  • the proposed title;
  • a description of the topic and its relevance to IJWR;
  • the aims and expected contribution of the collection;
  • the proposed article types;
  • the names, affiliations, countries, and relevant expertise of the proposed Guest Editors;
  • a provisional list of potential contributors, where available;
  • the proposed call for papers;
  • the expected submission and publication timeline;
  • any relationship with a conference, institution, scientific society, sponsor, or commercial organization;
  • all proposed funding or material support arrangements.

The Editor-in-Chief evaluates each proposal according to its scientific relevance, originality, feasibility, ethical acceptability, alignment with the journal’s scope, and potential contribution to the international wound care community.

The journal may approve, request modification of, postpone, or decline a proposal. Approval of a concept does not confer editorial control over the collection on the proposing organization.

Guest Editors

Guest Editors must possess appropriate expertise, a relevant scholarly or professional record, and the ability to manage the collection fairly, confidentially, and within the agreed timeframe.

Guest Editors are expected to:

  • contribute to defining the scientific scope of the collection;
  • support the preparation and dissemination of an accurate call for papers;
  • identify appropriately qualified and independent reviewers;
  • manage submissions in accordance with IJWR policies and OJS procedures;
  • protect manuscript and reviewer confidentiality;
  • disclose and manage conflicts of interest;
  • provide evidence-based editorial recommendations;
  • avoid preferential treatment of invited authors, colleagues, institutions, or sponsors;
  • complete editorial activities within the agreed schedule.

Guest Editors operate under the authority and oversight of the Editor-in-Chief. Their appointment may be withdrawn where they fail to comply with journal policies, compromise editorial independence, mishandle conflicts of interest, or do not complete the assigned responsibilities.

Editorial Oversight and Independence

The Editor-in-Chief retains final authority over the establishment, scope, editorial leadership, content, peer-review process, and publication of every Special Issue, supplement, or thematic collection.

Guest Editors may recommend editorial decisions but do not possess an automatic right to accept or publish manuscripts. Final decisions are made by the Editor-in-Chief or by another independent editor formally designated by the journal.

The Publisher, sponsors, advertisers, conference organizers, commercial organizations, institutional partners, and external funders have no authority to:

  • select or exclude manuscripts for publication;
  • appoint reviewers for commercial or promotional purposes;
  • access confidential manuscripts or reviewer reports;
  • modify reviewer comments;
  • influence acceptance or rejection decisions;
  • require favourable conclusions or product claims;
  • prevent the publication of corrections, Expressions of Concern, or retractions.

Scientific and editorial decisions are based on relevance, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, clinical significance, and contribution to the journal’s scope.

Submission and Peer Review

Manuscripts submitted to a Special Issue or thematic collection must be submitted through the IJWR online submission system and must comply with the journal’s Guidelines for Authors, Editorial Policies, and Artificial Intelligence Policy.

Original Scientific Research, Quality Improvement Reports, Reviews, Case Reports and Case Series, Study Protocols, Brief Reports, Procedure Updates, and other scholarly submissions designated as peer reviewed undergo the journal’s standard double-anonymous external peer-review process.

Peer-reviewed manuscripts are normally evaluated by at least two independent external reviewers with appropriate subject or methodological expertise.

The same scientific and ethical standards apply to Special Issue submissions as to manuscripts submitted for regular journal issues.

Manuscripts may be rejected during initial editorial screening or after peer review. Acceptance rates, deadlines, institutional relationships, invitations, sponsorship, or participation in a conference do not guarantee publication.

Invited Content

Authors may be invited to contribute to a Special Issue, supplement, or thematic collection. An invitation to submit does not constitute acceptance or guarantee publication.

Invited research and scholarly articles undergo the same applicable editorial screening and peer-review requirements as unsolicited submissions of the same article type.

Editorials, Commentaries, introductory articles, forewords, and other non-research content may undergo editorial review rather than standard external peer review. Their review status must be clearly identified.

Conflicts of Interest

Guest Editors, handling editors, reviewers, authors, members of Scientific Committees, conference organizers, and institutional or commercial partners must disclose any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or intellectual interest relevant to the collection or an individual manuscript.

A Guest Editor must not handle a manuscript when they:

  • are an author or co-author;
  • belong to the same institution as an author;
  • have recently collaborated or published with an author;
  • have a close personal, supervisory, financial, or professional relationship with an author;
  • have a direct financial or intellectual interest in the product, intervention, technology, or outcome being evaluated;
  • cannot otherwise provide an independent assessment.

Such manuscripts will be assigned to the Editor-in-Chief or another independent editor who has no relevant conflict of interest.

Guest Editors and Editorial Board members submitting manuscripts to the collection are subject to the same peer-review and editorial standards as other authors and must not participate in reviewer selection, access reviewer identities, or influence the editorial decision concerning their work.

Sponsorship and Funding

Special Issues, supplements, conference publications, and thematic collections may receive financial, institutional, logistical, or material support from scientific societies, academic institutions, healthcare organizations, research bodies, conference organizers, charitable organizations, industry partners, or other approved entities.

All sources of financial or material support must be disclosed transparently in the published collection.

The disclosure should identify, where applicable:

  • the name of the sponsor or supporting organization;
  • the nature of the financial or material support;
  • the role of the sponsor in organizing the initiative;
  • whether the sponsor had any role in manuscript preparation or research activities;
  • a clear statement confirming that the sponsor had no role in reviewer selection or editorial decisions.

A sponsor may support legitimate production, dissemination, printing, event, or editorial-service costs but may not purchase manuscript acceptance, favourable coverage, preferential review, or control over scientific conclusions.

Individual authors must also disclose all funding, free or discounted products, medical devices, dressings, software, professional services, writing assistance, and other material support relevant to their manuscripts.

Supplements

A supplement is a separately identified publication associated with IJWR and may contain:

  • peer-reviewed thematic articles;
  • conference proceedings;
  • conference abstracts;
  • consensus or position documents;
  • educational or professional content;
  • other material approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

Each supplement must clearly identify:

  • its title and purpose;
  • the responsible editors or Scientific Committee;
  • the review process applied to each category of content;
  • the organizing or collaborating institutions;
  • all sponsors and funding sources;
  • any advertising included;
  • the relationship between the supplement and IJWR.

Peer-reviewed full articles published in a supplement remain subject to the journal’s standard external peer-review requirements.

Content that has undergone only Scientific Committee or editorial review must not be presented as having completed the journal’s standard double-anonymous external peer-review process.

Conference Abstracts and Proceedings

IJWR may publish abstracts and proceedings from scientific conferences, congresses, symposia, workshops, educational events, or professional meetings.

Conference Abstracts are evaluated by the Scientific Committee of the relevant event according to the procedures and criteria established in the applicable call for abstracts. They do not undergo IJWR’s standard double-anonymous external peer-review process.

The published supplement, abstract book, or conference section must clearly identify:

  • the full name, date, and location of the event;
  • the organizing body;
  • the Scientific Committee;
  • the abstract selection or review process;
  • the presentation categories;
  • funding, sponsorship, and institutional support;
  • relevant conflicts of interest;
  • the fact that abstracts have not undergone the journal’s standard external peer review.

Publication of a conference abstract does not constitute independent verification of the complete research study or endorsement by IJWR of the findings, products, services, interventions, or therapeutic claims described.

Authors remain responsible for the originality, accuracy, ethical compliance, authorship, funding disclosures, conflicts of interest, patient confidentiality, and consent requirements associated with their abstracts.

A full manuscript developed from previously published conference material may be considered where it contains substantially expanded methods, results, analysis, and discussion. The prior abstract publication must be disclosed and cited, and the full manuscript must undergo the journal’s standard editorial and peer-review process.

Advertising in Special Issues and Supplements

Special Issues, supplements, and conference publications may contain a limited amount of clearly identified advertising relevant to the journal’s professional and scientific readership.

Advertising must be visually and editorially separated from scientific content and must comply with the journal’s Advertising Policy.

The placement or purchase of advertising does not confer any right to:

  • influence the selection or presentation of scientific content;
  • participate in peer review or editorial decisions;
  • receive advance access to confidential manuscripts;
  • require citation or favourable discussion of an advertised product;
  • prevent publication of results that are unfavourable to the advertiser.

Advertising does not imply endorsement by IJWR, the Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board, the Guest Editors, the Scientific Committee, or the Publisher.

Fees and Publication Costs

IJWR does not charge authors submission fees, article processing charges, publication fees, page charges, colour figure charges, or supplementary material fees for articles published in regular issues, Special Issues, thematic collections, or supplements.

Institutions, conference organizers, scientific societies, sponsors, or other partners may enter into separate agreements with the Publisher concerning legitimate production, typesetting, printing, dissemination, platform, conference-publication, or editorial-service costs.

Such agreements are independent of the assessment of individual manuscripts and do not guarantee acceptance or publication.

Authors must not be asked to pay a commercial or organizational partner in exchange for acceptance by the journal.

Identification and Transparency

Every Special Issue, supplement, thematic collection, or conference publication must be clearly identifiable through its webpage, issue information, PDF files, and bibliographic metadata.

Relevant information should include:

  • the collection or supplement title;
  • the name and role of Guest Editors;
  • the names of collaborating organizations;
  • the name of the conference or initiative, where applicable;
  • the applied review process;
  • funding and sponsorship disclosures;
  • conflict-of-interest declarations;
  • open-access and licensing information;
  • publication date, volume, issue, or supplement designation;
  • DOIs and complete citation information where applicable.

Peer-reviewed articles, editorially reviewed content, and Scientific Committee-reviewed abstracts must be clearly distinguished from one another.

Post-Publication Responsibilities

Articles and abstracts published in Special Issues, supplements, or conference collections remain subject to the journal’s policies concerning corrections, Expressions of Concern, retractions, complaints, appeals, and post-publication discussion.

Guest Editors, Scientific Committees, organizers, sponsors, and supporting organizations cannot prevent or control an investigation or post-publication editorial action.

Suspected errors, ethical concerns, undisclosed conflicts of interest, image manipulation, data irregularities, authorship concerns, or other integrity issues should be reported to the Editorial Office.

Any correction, Expression of Concern, retraction, or editorial notice will be issued under the authority of IJWR and linked transparently to the affected content.

Open Access and Archiving

Content published in Special Issues, supplements, and conference collections is made openly accessible under the journal’s applicable open-access and licensing conditions.

Authors retain copyright in their work, and published content is normally distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Published content is included in the journal’s preservation, archiving, metadata-registration, and scholarly-discovery processes according to the same applicable standards used for regular journal content.

Further information is available in the journal’s Open Access Policy and Archiving Policy.

Contact and Proposals

Proposals for Special Issues, thematic collections, supplements, conference proceedings, or abstract books should be submitted to:

Editorial Office
International Journal of Wound Research
Email: ijwr@ieditore.com

Proposals should provide sufficient scientific, organizational, editorial, and financial information to allow an independent assessment by the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher.