Birds (ISSN 2673-6004) is an international, peer-reviewed, and open access journal. It publishes original ornithological research articles, reviews, and communications that offer substantial new insight into any field of study that involves birds, with special emphasis on bird ecology, communities, conservation, and behavioral ecology. Multidisciplinary papers related to birds will be considered. The Birds Editorial Team is pleased to announce this open call for Special Issue proposals, which gives a group of authors the possibility to work on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic. We would like to solicit high-quality proposals that will be evaluated in a competitive procedure on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated unifying topic and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area, either a mature area or an important emerging area, in which future investigations may be boosted by the publication of a set of excellent papers. Hence, an international group of Guest Editors and a few high-quality planned papers are always encouraged in the proposals. A Special Issue team from multiple institutions and locations can help the Issue reach a wider audience. Additionally, you can invite your collaborators, post-doctors or former students to join your team, or you can invite someone from our Editorial Board (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/birds/editors).

Please take into account that proposals for Special Issues are to be sent to the Editorial Office ([email protected]), who will forward them to the Editors of Birds for evaluation.

Information to be provided in a proposal:

• A 150–200-word summary to rationally explain the significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed topic;
• A few keywords on the topic;
• A plan for obtaining 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 (we normally run a Special Issue for 8–12 months).

Role of the Guest Editor(s):

• Once the proposal is accepted, the Guest Editors will circulate the Call for Papers for the Special Issue and invite submissions.
• Each submission will undergo a formal peer review process, after which we will ask the GE, the Editor in Chief, or a suitable Editorial Board Member to decide whether the paper is acceptable for publication in Birds.
• If ten or more papers are published in this Special Issue, we can make a Special Issue book and send a hard copy to each Guest Editor.

Role of the Editorial Office

The Editorial Office will take care of setting up the Special Issue website, arranging promotional material, assisting with invitations to contribute papers, and taking care of administrative tasks associated with peer review, including inviting reviewers, collating reports, contacting authors, and professional production before publication.

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

We look forward to receiving your creative proposals.

Kind regards,
Brids Editorial Office