On Proposing Special Issues for the Journal of Youth and Adolescence

Abstract

Special issues have become regular features of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence. These issues provide important fora that bring together research on cutting-edge topics as well as some that re-examine established topics from new perspectives or with more robust data. As such, they provide great value to the field, as they can energize more research in areas that would otherwise be ignored and can push the field in new directions. In a real sense, special issues put into practice the ideals of our field as they exemplify the best of empirical inquiry and scholarly inquisitiveness. Special issues originate from several sources. Most result from invitations by the Editor, but several do not. Some have been proposed by authors who, for example, seek to publish symposia from conferences. Other issues have been proposed by scholars who wish to package together important research papers from colleagues working on related data sets or topics. Other issues have grown from researchers’ interest in topics that have not been studied much; while some have emerged to address topics that already thrive in other fields but have yet to focus on adolescents. Due to that wide variety of sources, the Editor views all proposals as works in progress. Given the increasing frequency and importance of special issues, it now seems helpful to highlight the Editor’s expectations about special issues and to encourage potential editors to consider advancing their areas of research through a journal special issue. The general conclusion that potential editors hopefully will reach from this brief editorial is the Editor’s keen desire to assist potential editors and authors. That desire includes considerable flexibility in the special issue topics, editors’ responsibilities, and the timing of production. That flexibility, however, is couched in important limitations, all of which center on the need for all articles to make original, substantive, and important contributions to our empirical understanding of adolescence. This editorial details the important parameters that Special Issue Editors can expect as they think through whether to embark on developing a special issue.