Special Issue Policy

International Journal of Research in Vocational Studies (IJRVOCAS) may publish special issues on selected themes that are relevant to the journal’s aims and scope. Special issues are intended to support focused scholarly discussion on important topics in vocational studies, technical and vocational education and training, applied education, workforce development, professional learning, applied technology education, engineering education in vocational contexts, and business and management education in vocational contexts.

All proposals for special issues must be reviewed and approved by the Editor-in-Chief. A special issue may be proposed by members of the editorial team, invited guest editors, academic institutions, research groups, or conference organizers. However, approval of a special issue does not guarantee acceptance of any manuscript submitted to the issue.

Special issues must follow the same editorial standards, peer-review procedures, publication ethics, plagiarism policy, open-access policy, copyright policy, and quality control procedures as regular issues. All manuscripts submitted to a special issue are subject to editorial screening and double-blind peer review by qualified and independent reviewers.

Guest editors may assist in proposing the theme, preparing the call for papers, identifying potential reviewers, and supporting the editorial process. However, the Editor-in-Chief retains final responsibility for editorial oversight, peer-review integrity, and publication decisions. The final decision to accept or reject manuscripts rests with the Editor-in-Chief or the assigned editor.

Guest editors must declare any potential conflicts of interest and must not handle manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists. Manuscripts submitted by guest editors, editorial team members, or individuals affiliated with the special issue organizers must be handled independently by another qualified editor.

Special issue manuscripts must demonstrate originality, academic quality, methodological soundness, ethical compliance, and clear relevance to the theme of the special issue and the scope of IJRVOCAS. Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s standards may be rejected at any stage of the editorial process.

IJRVOCAS does not allow special issues to be used for guaranteed publication, fast-track acceptance, citation manipulation, peer-review manipulation, or any other practice that compromises academic integrity. The journal reserves the right to cancel, postpone, or modify a special issue if ethical, editorial, or quality concerns arise.

All published special issue articles will be clearly identified as part of the relevant special issue and will remain subject to the journal’s open-access, licensing, archiving, correction, and retraction policies.