Religions (ISSN 2077-1444) is an international, scientific, peer-reviewed, open access journal on religions and theology, published monthly online by MDPI. The journal received the latest Impact Factor of 0.7 in Scopus, with category rank 67/491 (Q1) in “Religious Studies”, JCI category rank 28/317 (Q1); SJR 0.256 (Q1) in 2020. The aims and scope of the journal can be found at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/about.

The Religions editorial team is pleased to announce this open call for Special Issue proposals, which offers a group of authors the opportunity to work on an interconnected set of papers on an innovative topic. We are soliciting high-quality proposals that will be evaluated in a continuous selection process throughout the year.

Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated unifying topic and reflect, on an international level, the best work in a particular research area (either an established or an important emerging area), in which future investigations may be propelled by the publication of a set of novel research papers. Hence, an international group of Guest Editors and a few high-quality planned papers are always encouraged when it comes to proposals.

Proposals for Special Issues should be sent to the Editorial Office ([email protected]) or be sent via the website: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/religions.

Information to be provided in a proposal:

• A 200–400-word summary that clearly states the significance, novelty, technical advancement, and adherence to the scope of the journal of the proposed topic;
• A total of 6–10 keywords on the topic;
• 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 (a Special Issue will usually be open for submissions for 6–8 months);
• A list of at least 20 potential contributors or a list of 8 planned papers.

As a Guest Editor, you would be responsible for:

• Inviting papers from your peers to be published in this Special Issue and taking advantage of the high publicity of the open access, rapid, high-quality peer-review process, and immediate publication after acceptance;
• Checking the suitability of abstracts/manuscripts submitted to the Special Issue;
• Making pre-check decisions regarding whether to send a new submission to peer review;
• Making final decisions regarding whether to accept or reject a paper based on peer-review outcomes.

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

• A recognition certificate as a Guest Editor of Religions;
• Publishing one paper free of charge in your Special Issue;
• Inviting high-quality papers to be published in your Special Issue with certain discounts;
• If the Special Issue is successful, with at least 5 accepted manuscripts after full peer review, we can make it into a printed book.

Editorial Office’s role:

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

Please do not hesitate to contact the Editorial Office ([email protected]) if you are interested and would like further details and clarifications.

We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Religions Editorial Office