1. Purpose and Scope

The Journal of Tropical Science and Engineering (JTSE) may publish Special Issues devoted to specific scientific themes that fall within the journal's aims and scope.

Special Issues may be organized to highlight emerging research areas, interdisciplinary scientific challenges, findings from collaborative research programmes, or selected research contributions presented at national and international scientific conferences and workshops.

All Special Issues must meet the same standards of scientific quality, editorial independence, peer review, and publication ethics as regular issues of JTSE.

The organization of a Special Issue shall not alter the journal's established standards for manuscript submission, evaluation, or publication decisions.

2. Special Issue Proposals and Approval

Proposals for Special Issues may be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief of JTSE by members of the Editorial Board, individual researchers, or research groups with relevant expertise.

Each proposal should include:

• The proposed title and scientific theme of the Special Issue.
• The scientific rationale, timeliness, and significance of the proposed theme.
• The scope and specific research areas to be covered.
• The names of the proposed Guest Editor(s), if applicable, together with information on their scientific expertise and research experience.
• A proposed timeline for manuscript submission, peer review, and publication.

The Editor-in-Chief shall review each proposal and may approve it, request revisions, or decline it based on its alignment with the journal's scientific objectives, editorial capacity, and publication standards.

Calls for papers may be issued under the name of JTSE only after the proposed Special Issue has been approved by the Editor-in-Chief.

3. Editorial Management and Guest Editors

Special Issues may be managed directly by the JTSE Editorial Board or organized with the participation of one or more Guest Editors.

Guest Editors shall be selected based on their subject expertise, research achievements, academic experience, and ability to coordinate editorial and peer-review activities in the relevant field.

Guest Editors may be assigned the following responsibilities:

• Proposing and refining the scientific scope of the Special Issue.
• Promoting the Special Issue and inviting manuscript submissions from researchers.
• Recommending suitably qualified and independent peer reviewers.
• Coordinating manuscript evaluation, peer review, and revision processes as assigned.
• Providing editorial assessments and recommendations regarding the suitability of manuscripts for publication.

Guest Editors must comply with JTSE's editorial policies and publication ethics requirements. Their activities shall be supervised by the Editor-in-Chief or designated members of the Editorial Board.

Guest Editors shall not have independent authority to make final acceptance decisions. Final editorial decisions shall rest with the Editor-in-Chief or an editor duly authorized by the Editor-in-Chief in accordance with JTSE's editorial policies.

The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to modify editorial assignments, replace Guest Editors, or assume direct responsibility for handling manuscripts whenever necessary to safeguard editorial quality and independence.

4. Manuscript Submission and Peer Review

All manuscripts submitted to Special Issues must meet the same requirements concerning scientific content, manuscript preparation, and publication ethics as submissions to regular issues.

Manuscripts shall be processed through JTSE's editorial management system and subjected to the journal's established double-blind peer-review process.

Each manuscript shall be evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with appropriate expertise in the relevant research field.

Invited submissions, including manuscripts from distinguished researchers, shall undergo the same editorial assessment and peer-review procedures as other submissions.

For manuscripts derived from scientific conferences or workshops, the following requirements apply:

Acceptance for presentation at a conference or workshop does not guarantee acceptance for publication in JTSE.

Submissions must meet the standards of a complete scholarly article and fall within the journal's aims and scope.

Each manuscript must undergo independent editorial assessment and peer review in accordance with JTSE's established procedures.

Previously published material must be assessed in accordance with JTSE's policies on originality, duplicate publication, and secondary publication.

JTSE does not regard the publication of full conference proceedings as equivalent to the publication of a Special Issue comprising independently selected and peer-reviewed scholarly articles.

5. Editorial Independence and Conflicts of Interest

All editorial and peer-review activities associated with Special Issues must be conducted objectively, independently, and transparently.

Guest Editors must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest that could influence manuscript assessment or editorial handling, including research collaborations, personal relationships, financial interests, or other relevant professional relationships.

Guest Editors must not handle manuscripts, select reviewers, participate in manuscript evaluation, or make editorial recommendations concerning submissions that they have authored or co-authored, or in which they have a conflict of interest.

Such manuscripts shall be handled independently by the Editor-in-Chief or another appropriately designated editor who has no relevant conflict of interest, ensuring an objective peer-review process.

Articles authored or co-authored by Guest Editors must not exceed 25% of the total number of articles published in the Special Issue.

JTSE shall also monitor and control the proportion of endogenous publications in accordance with the applicable requirements of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and the journal's internal publication quality management policies.

The limit on articles authored or co-authored by Guest Editors and the journal's overall endogeny limit constitute separate requirements and must be monitored and satisfied independently.

6. Publication Ethics

All manuscripts submitted to Special Issues must fully comply with JTSE's Publication Ethics Policy and other applicable editorial policies.

These requirements include research originality, the integrity of research data and findings, appropriate attribution of authorship, disclosure of conflicts of interest, prevention of plagiarism, avoidance of duplicate publication, and compliance with established standards of research and publication ethics.

Any allegations, concerns, or complaints relating to publication ethics shall be addressed in accordance with JTSE's established procedures.

No manuscript submitted to a Special Issue shall receive preferential treatment or exemption from the journal's publication ethics requirements.

7. Publication and Open Access

All articles accepted for publication in Special Issues shall be subject to JTSE's established publication and open-access policies.

Specifically:

• Articles shall be published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.
• The journal does not charge article processing charges (APCs).
• Each published article shall be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) in accordance with the journal's procedures.
• Information about the Special Issue, its scientific theme, and the Guest Editor(s), where applicable, shall be clearly displayed on the journal's website.
• Articles published in Special Issues shall be subject to the same policies on archiving, corrections, amendments, and retractions as articles published in regular issues.
• Special Issues shall be organized within JTSE's publication schedule or under an approved publication arrangement, in compliance with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.

8. Responsibilities and Authority of the Editor-in-Chief

The Editor-in-Chief of JTSE retains ultimate responsibility for the scientific quality, editorial independence, adherence to publication ethics, and publication decisions concerning all Special Issues.

The Editor-in-Chief shall be responsible for:

• Approving the scientific theme, publication plan, and editorial appointments for each Special Issue.
• Supervising the activities of Guest Editors and the peer-review process.
• Ensuring that manuscripts are handled objectively, independently, and in accordance with JTSE's editorial policies.
• Reviewing and resolving issues relating to scientific quality, conflicts of interest, and publication ethics.
• Making or overseeing acceptance and rejection decisions in accordance with the journal's established decision-making authority.
• Suspending or terminating a Special Issue if serious violations are identified or if the journal's publication standards cannot be maintained.

This Policy shall be implemented in conjunction with JTSE's existing editorial, peer-review, ethics, and open-access publication policies.

Where an issue is not explicitly addressed in this Policy, the Editor-in-Chief shall make an appropriate determination based on JTSE's established policies, recognized principles of publication ethics, and applicable regulations.