2022 Open Call for an ijCSCL Special Issue
As an official publication of the International Society of the Learning Sciences, the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (IJCSCL) fosters a deep understanding of the nature, theory, and practice of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Building on experience from last year’s call, the co-editors-in-chief announce an Open Call for a Special Issue, which offers a team of authors the opportunity to work on an interconnected set of papers about an innovative theme. This 2022 Open Call for a Special Issue of the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning solicits high-quality proposals that will be evaluated in a highly competitive procedure.
The call welcomes contributions covering any topics within the scope of the journal. The journal serves as a forum for experts from such disciplines as education, computer science, information technology, psychology, communications, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, and business. Articles investigate how to design the technological settings for collaboration and how people learn in the context of collaborative activity. Thus, the papers included in special issue proposals may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and the rigor of the study.
Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated unifying theme and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area. Proposals may target either a well-established area or an important emerging area, in which future investigation may be boosted by the publication of a set of excellent papers. We particularly encourage submission of Special Issues exhibiting diversity in terms of regional and/or disciplinary representation.
Specifically, a proposal for a Special Issue should include:
- the name and address for communication of the guest editor(s);
- a 500-word rationale explaining the scope and significance of the proposed theme;
- a list of the authors of at least 6 contributions and 2 commentators, all with affiliations;
- a 1000-word abstract for each of the 6 contributions, including at least 5 key references;
- a preliminary time schedule for the preparation of the Special Issue;
- 10 possible reviewers of the single papers, who are not involved as authors.
The formatting requirements for the submissions will be the same as typical ijCSCL submissions. For this call, an author can be involved in only one paper. Proposals for Special Issues should be sent by February 15, 2022 directly to the co-Editors-in-Chief, Professors Sanna Järvelä ([email protected]) and Carolyn Rosé ([email protected]). The full set of submissions will be reviewed by the journal’s Executive and Associate editors. The following criteria will be used in the review:
- Suitability of the topic for the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning
- Overall quality of the proposal: originality and contribution to the field
- Theoretical background and rationale of proposal and individual papers
- Methodological adequacy of the individual papers
- Clarity and significance of the results
- Quality of discussion and conclusions
- Completeness of the proposal
- Guest editor(s)’ experience in editorial work
The proposal review process will take 6 to 8 weeks. Once the highest-quality proposal has been selected among those submitted, it will be the responsibility of the Guest Editor(s) to proceed within the agreed time-line. A submission process will be set up using the journal’s online editorial system such that the papers for the selected proposal will be submitted online using the usual editorial system. Each paper will undergo a regular peer review process.
Please do not hesitate to contact the co-editors-in-chief for more information.
Best wishes,
Carolyn P. Rosé and Sanna Järvelä
