The IEEE J-FLEX prefers that proposals are prepared in Microsoft Word format. A proposal should contain the following information:

• Background and Motivation: the proposal should include a clear description of the background and motivation of the proposed issue.
• Technical Scope of the Proposal: technical scope of the proposed issue should be carefully identified with emphasis on explaining why the proposed topic is timely and has broad interests.
• Significance and Relevance to this Journal: It is important to describe why the proposed issue is relevant to and significant for the IEEE J-FLEX.
• A Plan for Attracting Quality Papers: A plan for obtaining enough quality papers should be included in the proposal (e.g., how to advertise the call for papers, a list of potential authors, etc.)
• Tentative Schedule: A tentative schedule of the proposed issue should be given.
• Potential Overlapping with Published Issues: The discussion about potential overlapping with published issues in the IEEE J-FLEX and/or other journals should be given.
• A List of Guest Editors and their Short Biographies: The proposal should include a list of guest editors and their short biographies. The IEEE J-FLEX suggests 3-5 guest editors with good technical and geographical balance for each proposed issue. The biography for each of the guest editors should stress his/her experience in the proposed topic and relevant editorial experience.
• One-Page Call-For-Papers: One-page CFP for the proposed issue should be included. This CFP should contain a list of technical areas for soliciting papers.
• Authorship for the Proposed Issue: Proposers should explicitly indicate if they plan to submit papers to the proposed issue and the number of papers if any. The IEEE J-FLEX suggests that most papers of an issue should be from authors who are not the guest editors. The review of submissions from guest editors should not be handled by any guest editor of the proposed issue.
• Proposal Form Template
• Call for Papers Template

Submission of a proposal should be made directly to the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE J-FLEX. Timely review will be arranged to evaluate the submitted proposal and the proposer will be notified of the decision.

Submissions to an approved special issue should follow the same format and procedures as listed under the Guidelines for Authors.

The Special Issues are handled as follows:

1. The Guest Editors make a proposal which is reviewed by EiC and A-EICs.
2. When the proposal is accepted by EiC, the Guest Editors are added as AE into the system for handling the review of the papers submitted to the Special Issue.
3. The Lead Guest Editor takes the lead in the adjudication of the submitted papers.
4. But when there is a COI with Lead Guest Editor, the EiC assigns an alternate Guest AE to make handle the reviews and the final decision on the paper.
5. The Guest Editors make recommendations to the EiC, just like normal AE would do.
6. The final decision is made by the EiC.
7. The Guest Editors write an Editorial for the papers in their Special Issue.
8. When the issue is published, the Guest Editors are removed from the AE list.