Land | Call for Special Issue Proposals and Recruiting Guest Editors

Land (ISSN: 2073-445X) is an international and cross-disciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access journal on land system science, landscape, soil and water, urban study, land–climate interactions, water–energy–land–food (WELF) nexus, biodiversity research and health nexus, land modelling and data processing, ecosystem services, and multifunctionality and sustainability etc., published monthly online by MDPI. The International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE), European Land-use Institute (ELI), Landscape Institute (LI) and Urban Land Institute (ULI) are affiliated with Land, and their members receive discounts on the article processing charges.

More information about the journal is available through the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/land.

We are currently recruiting Guest Editors for this journal and have put out an open call for Special Issue proposals. Special Issues present an opportunity for a group of authors to work on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic. We aim to solicit high-quality proposals that will be evaluated with a competitive procedure on an ongoing basis throughout the year.

Proposed Special Issues should have a well-articulated unifying topic and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area—either a well-established area or an important emerging area—in which future investigations may be boosted by the publication of a set of high-quality papers. Hence, an international group of Guest Editors and a few high-quality planned papers are encouraged.

As a Guest Editor, you would be responsible for the following:

Defining the aims and scopes of Special Issues;
Providing potential author lists and inviting high-quality contributions;
Pre-screening, supervising the whole peer-review process, and making decisions on new submissions to the Special Issue (according to the review reports);
Promoting the Special Issue at conferences, on social media and on other relevant platforms.

The Editorial Office will set up the Special Issue website, arrange promotional materials, assist with invitations to contribute papers, and take care of administrative tasks associated with the peer review process, including inviting reviewers, collating reports, and contacting authors, and professional production before publication.

As a Guest Editor, you would have the following privileges:

A certificate of recognition as a Guest Editor of Land;
The ability to publish one feature paper in your Special Issue;
The ability to provide invited authors with discounts when they submit high-quality papers to be published in your Special Issue;
Travel grant opportunities to attend featured conferences;
Special Issue Reprints: If a Special Issue publishes more than 10 papers after a full peer review, it may be published as a reprinted Special Issue book with an ISBN, and each Guest Editor will receive a hard copy free of charge. Reprints will be brought to the conference booth for display as representatives of successful Special Issues;
Promotion of the Special Issue and published papers on the journal's official social media account;
Consideration as a Land Editorial Board Member candidate if a Special Issue is successful;
The opportunity to participate in or host academic meetings or online seminars related to the Guest Editors' research focus;
Further opportunities to apply for journal awards of Land;
An ideal avenue for networking and communicating with scholars in the research community, as well as a chance to be an influential person within your discipline. The relationships you develop will last beyond the publication of your Special Issue, establishing a network for future collaboration.

Information to be provided in your proposal:

A 300–500-word summary explaining the proposed topic’s significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal;
A few keywords on the topic;
A plan for obtaining high-quality papers or a list of at least three planned papers;
A brief resume of the proposed Guest Editors together with their information (title, name, email, affiliation, personal website, keywords of interests);
A proposed submission deadline (Special Issues normally run for 6–8 months).

You can submit your application directly via the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/land.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Land Editorial Office if you are interested and would like further details or clarification.

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Land Editorial Office