Special Issues

Contacts

Ellen Kappel: Editor.  Most magazine and article-related correspondence goes through Ellen.

Vicky Cullen: Assistant Editor.  Vicky sends out proofs, copyright forms, and offprint order forms.

Johanna Adams: Graphic Designer.  Johanna checks graphics for quality, lays out the manuscripts, and produces proofs. All correspondence to Johanna would go through Ellen Kappel.

Jennifer Ramarui: TOS Executive Director.  Jenny submits the grant proposals for special issues on behalf of TOS.

Special Issue Topics and Getting on the Calendar

All ideas for special issue topics are first discussed with Ellen Kappel.  Assuming the topic is appropriate for Oceanography, a tentative slot can be reserved (March, June, September, December). Deadlines are listed below. Special issue topics already on the calendar can be found here.

The next step would be for the guest editor(s) to construct a strawman table of contents, including authors, and submit that to Ellen for review. The number of articles that can be published in a magazine issue depends on the amount of funding that is available.  A general rule of thumb is for an issue to contain 8–12 full-length manuscripts, though actual numbers can vary quite a lot. Guest editors are encouraged to be creative in how the total page count is allocated. There could be longer and shorter articles, one-page “boxes” highlighting a new technology or discovery where a whole article is not warranted, and so forth.

If funding for a special issue is not already secured, the Editor and potential guest editors discuss how to approach the funding issue.  There are many different ways that funding can be handled.  For most US funding agencies, proposals must be submitted at least six months prior to the time support is required.  The Editor requires a strawman table of contents prior to seeking funding. It is likely that the Editor will seek the guest editor(s) help in constructing a compelling proposal.

Putting an Issue Together

It is the responsibility of the guest editor(s) to invite authors to submit a manuscript for the special issue and provide directions regarding manuscript length and style. Author guidelines are available. If any authors are not familiar with Oceanography, they can request a hard copy of a back issue from Ellen Kappel or they can review the online archive.

Guest editors are also responsible for acquiring at least two peer reviews of submitted manuscripts, and following the production schedule as closely as possible.  Ellen can provide a standard review form to the guest editors, who are welcome to revise it or develop their own reviewer questions.  Deadlines for each step in the manuscript process are provided below for each magazine issue.

Once the guest editor accepts a manuscript, it should be forwarded to Ellen Kappel.  If the graphics files are large, ftp space will be provided for the authors to upload large graphics files.  Ellen will then read and edit the manuscript, and correspond directly with the author if she has any science-related questions or finds any structural issues. She will also contact authors immediately if there are problems with their graphics. Once Ellen is done, Vicky Cullen then copy edits the manuscript and will also get in touch with authors if she has questions, usually about references, but also editorial issues that Ellen might not have covered.  Once the Oceanography editors have finished with the manuscript, the designer lays it out and produces a proof. Vicky Cullen then sends the proof to the first author.  All proof edits get sent back to Ellen Kappel.  If there are any disagreements or issues, Ellen will contact the author.  At this time, authors can decide to purchase high-resolution pdfs of their article (low-resolution versions will be sent to authors free of charge) and/or offprints.

Deadlines