Unlocking opportunities: the perks of guest editing a Special Collection

What are Special Collections, and why should you be interested? There is a plethora of research being published everyday, with over 5.14 million academic articles published each year. It’s easy for papers to get lost in the sea of new research.   

Special Collections provide a unique means of curating articles based on one topic of interest. This topic is chosen by the Guest Editor, who draws from their specific area of expertise. The Guest Editor's selection and involvement ensures only relevant research is published within the scope of the collection, coincidentally providing a space to bring together authors and communities within these networks. Don’t take our word for it; have a browse of our excellent Special Collections here.  

Guest Editing a Special Collection with Sage has numerous benefits. To start with, it provides a valuable opportunity for you to highlight and curate a collection of high-quality articles on a research topic of your choice and expertise. This increases your work’s visibility, thus boosting your impact within your research community and beyond. The aim of a special collection is to expand and bolster the research communities whilst highlighting important research. One such example is our highly impactful Special Collection on qualitative research methods.  

Additionally, Sage provides bespoke, centralised platforms encouraging connections with like-minded researchers globally. It is a great conversation starter at conferences, meetings, and on social media, while motivating impactful discussions in the research field. For example, we had a great collaboration between two Guest Editors (previously unknown to each other) with overlapping research interests, resulting in them launching a successful collection and combining their network. 

Guest Editing provides deeper insights into the editorial side of research and the intricacies of disseminating your work. A Guest Editor is the first to see all abstracts, making initial decisions on scope, with the option in select journals to make final recommendations post peer-review, thus providing editors with a valuable role in ensuring rigor, and a high standard of research in their collections.  

This position expands and builds on important skills such as leadership and decision making, playing a key role in cultivating communities and networks with researchers in similar fields. This can lead to further opportunities to collaborate with Sage in additional Editorial roles. 

By launching a Special Collection, you create a valuable opportunity to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), in the editors onboarded, the topics covered, and the groups and communities Sage brings visibility to. There is the opportunity to direct the conversation to new and essential research for marginalized and underrepresented topics and groups, looking to break down barriers to reinforce a diverse and inclusive community.  

Examples of this can be seen in our ‘Women’s Research In:’ cross-journal collection highlighting the valuable contributions of outstanding women in their respective fields of research. It can also be seen in our cross-journal special collection on ‘Health Equity’, and collections on full spectrum overview of women’s healthcare, disease awareness days, and men’s health, creating a lasting positive impact and promoting further engagement. Research4Life, in collaboration with Sage, also offers authors from institutions in low-and-middle income countries with discounts and full waivers to contribute to our collections, making publishing more accessible.  

Senior Guest Editors can also collaborate with more junior editors in a mentorship-like collaboration in various journals aiming to provide vital editorial experience to early career researchers. 

Our dedicated Editorial and Marketing teams at Sage will support you throughout your Guest Editing journey from launching to publishing your special collection. Our marketing team will work to promote and attract potential contributors for your collection via social media campaigns and email newsletters. You will also have the opportunity to work with a dedicated Commissioning Editor of the journal who will support you through the lifecycle of the Special Collection, providing a personable and hands on approach. 

Authors contributing to your Special Collection will also benefit from enhanced visibility within their research community, as these collections often attract more attention and citations. Sage also provides valuable services for authors, like editing, formatting, and creating artwork to prepare manuscripts for publication and promotion. 

Sound appealing? Email us at sage.specialcollections@sagepub.com or submit a Special Collection proposal here. 

We look forward to the possibility of working together soon.