Computer Music Journal Seeks Proposals for Special Issues

Computer Music Journal welcomes proposals to guest-edit a special issue on any theme related to computer music. The issue can be managed by a sole guest editor or a team of guest editors having expertise in the area of the special issue.

Guest-editing a special issue involves:

1. Issuing a call for papers after consultation with the journal’s Editor.

2. Choosing a panel of peer reviewers and obtaining their agreements to serve as reviewers. Additional peer reviewers may be chosen after a manuscript is received, according to the reviewers’ expertise in the area of that particular manuscript’s topic.

3. Sending submitted manuscripts to the selected peer reviewers and reminding them of the deadline.

4. After peer reviews are received, deciding which manuscripts to accept, usually on the condition that the authors incorporate changes recommended by the reviewers and possibly the guest editors.

5. Notifying authors of the decision and reminding authors of accepted manuscripts about the deadline for their final versions.

6. As each accepted manuscript is received in its final, approved form, sending it to Computer Music Journal’s editors for editing and processing. The guest editors are welcome, but not expected, to have done low-level copy editing such as correcting spelling and grammar. Unclear passages, however, should have been reworded in collaboration with the authors.

7. Writing an overview for publication as Editor’s Notes. These typically consist of a few hundred words and should describe the issue’s theme and summarize its articles.

Your proposal should include:

1. A detailed description of the issue’s theme, suitable for inclusion in a call for papers.

2. The CV of each guest editor, as well as a brief explanation of that editor’s expertise in the area of the special issue.

3. A proposed schedule, including deadlines for submissions, deadlines for peer reviews, and deadlines for authors’ final versions. Accelerated but realistic schedules will be viewed favorably. The entire issue is expected to appear approximately five months after receipt of the last article from the guest editors.

Detailed requirements about the manuscript format can be viewed at https://direct.mit.edu/comj/pages/submission-guidelines. Ignore the paragraph about submitting manuscripts at cmjdb.com, which does not apply to special issues; the guest editors will instead receive submissions directly from the authors and will manage the peer review process themselves. Articles for the special issue can include supplementary files, such as media files or software, less than half a GB in size. In addition to regular articles, the guest editors may solicit reviews for the journal’s Reviews section (e.g., reviews of books, recordings, or events related to the issue’s theme). Reviews typically do not go through a peer review process; the guest editors should assess the review’s suitability themselves. If relevant to the issue’s theme, the guest editors are welcome to propose serving as curators for music to be included in the journal’s annual Sound [and Video] Anthology.

Each article undergoes initial editing and appears in an early form at https://direct.mit.edu/comj/online-early, before proofreading and before the issue as a whole is published. Authors are sent proofs to review prior to publication.

Please send proposals or initial inquiries to editor.computer.music.journal@gmail.com.