Thematic Collections Policy
Framework for the Thematic Organisation of Scholarly Articles
Purpose and Scope
The International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert” may establish Thematic Collections as a transparent means of grouping independently published scholarly articles around a defined scholarly theme, academic initiative, research project, conference, academic cooperation, or other academically relevant context.
This Policy defines the status, establishment, scholarly scope, editorial governance, submission conditions, publication arrangements, transparency requirements, and administration of Thematic Collections.
A Thematic Collection does not create a separate editorial or publication pathway and does not alter the Journal’s established requirements concerning scholarly quality, originality, editorial independence, peer review, publication ethics, Article Processing Charges, annual-volume assignment, or publication.
This Policy applies to all Thematic Collections established by the Journal.
It should be read together with the Journal’s Aims and Scope, Editorial Policies, Peer Review Process, Publication Conditions, Publication Ethics, Article Processing Charge Policy, Copyright and Licensing provisions, and other applicable policies and procedures.
1. Definition and Status of a Thematic Collection
A Thematic Collection is a thematic and navigational grouping of independently published scholarly articles associated with a defined scholarly theme, academic initiative, research project, conference, academic cooperation, or other academically relevant context.
A Thematic Collection does not constitute:
- a separate journal issue;
- a separate annual volume;
- a publication type;
- a separate journal or publication series;
- an alternative editorial or peer-review pathway.
Each article included in a Thematic Collection remains an independent scholarly article published in the International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert” under the Journal’s established publication model.
The association of an article with a Thematic Collection is supplementary to, and does not replace or modify, its normal bibliographic identification within the Journal.
2. Establishment and Scholarly Scope
A Thematic Collection may be established where a clear scholarly rationale exists for grouping articles around a defined research theme or academic context.
The establishment of a Collection is determined through the Journal’s existing editorial governance structure.
Before a Collection is opened, the Journal defines, as applicable:
- the Collection title;
- its scholarly purpose and thematic focus;
- its relationship with any associated academic initiative or cooperation;
- applicable submission arrangements;
- its opening date and, where relevant, submission period;
- the information to be published on the Collection webpage.
All manuscripts associated with a Thematic Collection must fall within the Journal’s Aims and Scope.
The existence of an external conference, research project, institutional relationship, academic initiative, or other form of academic cooperation does not expand or override the Journal’s scientific scope.
A manuscript that falls outside the Journal’s academic profile may be declined irrespective of its relevance to the associated external initiative.
The establishment of a Thematic Collection does not suspend, replace, restrict, or preferentially displace the Journal’s regular submission and publication stream.
The Journal may limit the scale of a Thematic Collection where necessary to preserve editorial capacity, scholarly balance, compliance with the Journal’s scope, and the integrity of its regular publication programme.
Establishment of a Collection does not create an obligation to receive, review, accept, or publish any predetermined number of manuscripts.
3. Collections Associated with Academic Cooperation
A Thematic Collection may be established in connection with academic cooperation involving a university, research institution, scholarly organisation, conference, research project, academic initiative, or other appropriate academic partner.
An external academic partner may:
- inform researchers about the opportunity to submit manuscripts;
- invite eligible researchers to consider submission;
- provide factual information concerning the associated academic initiative;
- identify research themes potentially relevant to the Journal’s scope;
- cooperate with the Journal or Publisher in non-editorial communication and presentation of the academic cooperation.
An external organisation may conduct its own selection or assessment of conference papers, project outputs, or other scholarly contributions for its own purposes.
Such external selection does not constitute editorial selection, acceptance, or pre-approval by the Journal.
Status as an academic or publication partner does not confer editorial authority within the Journal.
4. Editorial Governance, Independence and External Roles
Thematic Collections operate entirely within the Journal’s existing editorial governance structure.
All scholarly editorial authority remains governed by the Journal’s Editorial Policies.
The Editor-in-Chief retains overall responsibility for the editorial integrity of all content associated with Thematic Collections, subject to the Journal’s established conflict-of-interest and transfer-of-authority procedures.
The International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert” does not appoint Guest Editors for Thematic Collections and does not grant external editorial authority in connection with them.
Editorial assessment and decisions concerning Collection-associated manuscripts are based exclusively on scholarly, ethical, and editorial considerations.
The existence of academic cooperation, conference participation, institutional affiliation, a publication partnership, sponsorship or funding, a Memorandum of Understanding or other agreement, an invitation or recommendation to submit, or any applicable financial arrangement does not determine or influence whether a manuscript proceeds to peer review or is accepted, revised, or rejected.
External academic partners, conference committees, organising bodies, cooperating institutions, sponsors, project representatives, or other external parties do not:
- appoint or act as editors of the Journal;
- conduct Initial Editorial Assessment on behalf of the Journal;
- nominate, select, approve, or communicate with peer reviewers;
- receive confidential peer-review records;
- manage manuscript revisions on behalf of the Journal;
- participate in editorial decisions;
- determine acceptance or rejection;
- require publication of particular manuscripts or a predetermined number of articles.
A person designated by an external organisation for administrative or communication purposes does not acquire an editorial role or authority within the Journal.
Where a relevant conflict of interest exists, editorial responsibility is transferred in accordance with the Journal’s established Editorial Policies.
5. Submission, Editorial Assessment and Peer Review
Manuscripts associated with a Thematic Collection are submitted through the Journal’s established submission procedure and are subject to the same scholarly, editorial, ethical, and formal requirements as other manuscripts.
Association with a Collection does not provide automatic eligibility for external peer review.
Each manuscript first undergoes the Journal’s established Initial Editorial Assessment.
A scholarly manuscript that successfully completes Initial Editorial Assessment and remains under consideration for publication proceeds through the Journal’s established external double-blind peer-review process by two independent reviewers.
No simplified, reduced, preferential, or alternative editorial or peer-review pathway applies solely because a manuscript is associated with a Thematic Collection or an external academic cooperation.
Editorial decisions following peer review and any required revision or reassessment are made in accordance with the Journal’s Editorial Policies and Peer Review Process.
6. Invitations, Recommendations and No Guarantee of Publication
An author may be invited or recommended to submit a manuscript in connection with a Thematic Collection.
An invitation, recommendation, nomination, or other indication of potential relevance:
- represents an opportunity to submit;
- does not constitute editorial pre-selection by the Journal;
- does not guarantee external peer review;
- does not guarantee acceptance;
- does not guarantee publication;
- does not establish a publication quota.
No agreement with an external academic partner may require the Journal to accept or publish a predetermined manuscript, author, proportion of submissions, or minimum number of articles.
The number of articles ultimately included in a Collection is determined solely by the number of eligible manuscripts that independently complete the Journal’s applicable editorial process and receive Final Editorial Acceptance.
Any invitation, call for submissions, or promotional communication associated with a Thematic Collection must be accurate, appropriately targeted, and non-misleading.
Such communication must not imply guaranteed peer review, acceptance, publication, accelerated publication, indexing, or any other status or outcome beyond the Journal’s actual status and applicable editorial procedures.
7. Originality and Prior Dissemination
Manuscripts associated with a Thematic Collection must comply with the Journal’s ordinary originality and prior-publication requirements.
Presentation of research at a conference, participation in an academic event, or inclusion of an article title, abstract, presentation summary, poster, or comparable limited material in conference-related documentation does not by itself constitute prior publication of the manuscript submitted to the Journal.
Where a related full-text paper, conference proceeding, pre-existing manuscript version, or other substantially related work has previously been publicly disseminated or formally published, the author must disclose this information to the Editorial Office at submission.
Eligibility is assessed in accordance with the Journal’s Publication Conditions, Publication Ethics, and applicable originality requirements.
A manuscript that reproduces or substantially duplicates a previously published full scholarly paper is not eligible for publication as original scholarly work.
Authors remain responsible for appropriate citation, attribution, disclosure, and avoidance of duplicate publication.
8. Publication Model and Bibliographic Status
Thematic Collections operate within the Journal’s established annual-volume and continuous-publication model.
Articles associated with a Collection are not held for publication as a separate issue.
Following Final Editorial Acceptance and completion of the applicable post-acceptance and production procedures, each article is published individually under the Journal’s ordinary continuous-publication procedure.
Annual-volume assignment is determined exclusively in accordance with the Journal’s Publication Conditions.
Association with a Thematic Collection does not affect that determination.
Accordingly, articles belonging to the same Collection:
- may be published at different times;
- need not appear consecutively within an annual volume;
- may be interspersed with other Journal articles;
- may, where editorial processing extends across calendar years, belong to different annual volumes.
Each article retains its ordinary:
- article title;
- publication type;
- authorship and affiliations;
- annual-volume assignment;
- DOI;
- pagination;
- Article History;
- bibliographic record;
- Version of Record.
Thematic Collection membership does not replace or modify these elements.
9. Transparency, Identification and Collection Webpages
Each Thematic Collection has a dedicated webpage on the Journal website.
The Collection webpage should identify, as applicable:
- the Collection title;
- its scholarly purpose and thematic focus;
- the academic initiative or cooperation with which it is associated;
- the identity and role of any external academic partner and the nature of its relationship with the Journal;
- relevant eligible subject areas;
- manuscript and submission requirements;
- applicable submission period or Collection status;
- links to relevant Journal policies and submission procedures;
- a statement that invitation or recommendation does not guarantee peer review, acceptance, or publication;
- published articles included in the Collection.
Where an external academic partner is involved, the Collection webpage should clearly state, where applicable, that the partner has no authority over editorial assessment, reviewer selection, peer review, or publication decisions.
The webpage functions as an informational and navigational resource and does not constitute a separate journal issue, publication, or bibliographic record.
Each published article included in a Thematic Collection is identified on its HTML article page by a Collection statement linked to the relevant Collection webpage, for example:
Thematic Collection: [Collection title]
The Collection designation:
- does not form part of the article title;
- does not constitute an issue designation;
- does not replace annual-volume information;
- does not modify the DOI or Article History;
- does not alter the Journal’s standard recommended citation.
10. Article Processing Charges and Financial Independence
Manuscripts associated with a Thematic Collection are subject to the Journal’s applicable Article Processing Charge Policy on the same basis as other manuscripts.
No payment obligation arises solely from submission, recommendation, invitation, participation in an associated academic initiative, or inclusion in a Thematic Collection.
Any applicable APC becomes payable only following Final Editorial Acceptance in accordance with the Article Processing Charge Policy.
Any waiver, discount, institutional arrangement, sponsorship, or other financial arrangement must remain separate from scholarly editorial decision-making and does not create an entitlement or expectation of acceptance or publication.
Where a Thematic Collection is subject to a Collection-specific institutional subsidy, sponsorship, waiver, discount, or other financial arrangement affecting prospective authors, the applicable conditions must be transparently disclosed before submission.
Where publication-related financial support applies to an individual published article, such support should also be disclosed in the Article Declarations, including under Funding where appropriate, in accordance with the Journal’s applicable disclosure requirements.
Financial support for an Article Processing Charge should be distinguished, where relevant, from funding of the underlying research.
11. Conflicts of Interest and Research Integrity
Collection-associated manuscripts remain subject to all applicable Journal requirements concerning research integrity, publication ethics, authorship, citation and attribution, conflicts of interest, funding disclosure, data availability, ethical approval, generative AI, and other relevant scholarly responsibilities.
Relationships involving an author, external academic partner, associated conference or initiative, cooperating institution, funding body, or other relevant party must be disclosed where they constitute a conflict of interest under the Journal’s applicable policies.
No person with a relevant conflict of interest may participate in editorial handling or decision-making concerning the affected manuscript.
Thematic Collections must not be used to encourage, require, or facilitate irrelevant or coercive citation practices, reciprocal citation arrangements, peer-review manipulation, or other practices inconsistent with the Journal’s Publication Ethics.
Research-integrity and publication-ethics concerns are handled under the Journal’s ordinary policies and procedures.
The Journal may refer, where relevant, to internationally recognised publication-ethics and transparency guidance, including the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, while applying its own institutional policies and procedures.
12. Opening, Closing and Discontinuation
A Thematic Collection may be opened for submissions for a defined period or another period determined by the Journal.
The Journal may close a Collection to new submissions while manuscripts already under editorial consideration continue through the applicable editorial process.
A Collection may also be discontinued where continuation is no longer academically, editorially, or operationally appropriate.
Opening a Collection does not guarantee that any manuscript will ultimately be accepted or published.
Closure or discontinuation does not alter the bibliographic status of articles already published within the Collection.
A closed Collection webpage may remain publicly available as a permanent navigational record of the articles associated with it.
13. Relationship with Other Journal Policies
This Policy forms part of the Journal’s integrated editorial and publishing framework.
The Journal’s:
- Aims and Scope determine the scientific eligibility of manuscripts;
- Editorial Policies govern editorial authority, independence, conflicts of interest, and decision-making;
- Peer Review Process, Review Ethics, and Guidelines for Reviewers govern external scholarly assessment;
- Publication Conditions govern originality, publication types, submission requirements, continuous publication, and annual-volume assignment;
- Publication Ethics govern research integrity, publication misconduct, conflicts of interest, citation integrity, and related ethical matters;
- Article Processing Charge Policy governs publication fees and financial independence;
- Copyright and Licensing provisions govern copyright, licensing, reuse, and redistribution;
- other applicable Journal policies and procedures continue to apply according to their respective subject matter.
Where another Journal policy regulates a matter in greater detail, that policy provides the applicable detailed requirements.
The Thematic Collections Policy does not replace or override those policies.
14. Policy Governance and Review
The Thematic Collections Policy forms part of the Journal’s framework for scholarly publication, editorial transparency, and academic cooperation.
The Policy is owned by the Editorial Board of the International Interdisciplinary Scientific Journal “Expert” and approved by the Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board.
The Editorial Board is responsible for maintaining the scholarly and editorial principles established by this Policy.
ASPECT-PRO LTD, as Publisher, may administer contractual, technical, website, production, metadata, dissemination, and other publishing arrangements associated with Thematic Collections within the Publisher’s established responsibilities.
Such functions do not confer scholarly editorial authority on the Publisher or on an external academic partner.
The Policy is reviewed periodically and may be updated in response to:
- experience gained through the operation of Thematic Collections;
- changes in related Journal policies or procedures;
- developments in scholarly publishing and research integrity;
- changes in the Journal’s publication model;
- applicable legal, regulatory, or recognised scholarly-publishing requirements.
Material revisions are identified through the version number and review date displayed at the beginning of this Policy.