Call for Proposals: Special Issues

Call for Proposals: Special Issues

Journal of Agricultural Policy and Transformation (AgriPaT)

The Journal of Agricultural Policy and Transformation (AgriPaT) invites proposals for thematic Special Issues addressing important and emerging questions in agricultural policy, economic transformation, rural development, agri-food systems, sustainability, and related fields.

Special Issues provide an opportunity to bring together a coherent collection of high-quality scholarly contributions around a clearly defined theme, challenge, policy question, or emerging area of research. AgriPaT particularly welcomes proposals that bring together international, interdisciplinary, comparative, and policy-oriented perspectives.

Themes of Interest

Proposals may address, but are not limited to:

  • Agricultural policy and institutional transformation
  • Agricultural and rural economic transformation
  • Sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture
  • Food security and resilient food systems
  • Agri-food system transformation
  • Agricultural markets, trade, and global value chains
  • Agricultural finance and rural financial transformation
  • Agricultural technology and digital transformation
  • Innovation and technological change in agriculture
  • Climate change, adaptation, and agricultural resilience
  • Water, land, and natural-resource policy
  • Agricultural productivity and competitiveness
  • Smallholder agriculture and inclusive transformation
  • Rural livelihoods, poverty, and inequality
  • Gender and youth in agricultural transformation
  • Agricultural governance and institutions
  • Agricultural labour and structural transformation
  • Agricultural risk, crises, and resilience
  • Agricultural development and international cooperation
  • Emerging policy challenges affecting agriculture and rural economies

Proposals addressing new, under-researched, or rapidly evolving policy and transformation issues are particularly encouraged.

Who Can Propose a Special Issue?

Proposals may be submitted by:

  • University faculty and researchers
  • Senior and early-career academics
  • Research institutes and think tanks
  • Policy researchers and development professionals
  • International research collaborations
  • Interdisciplinary research teams
  • Established scholars proposing thematic collections arising from conferences, research projects, or collaborative initiatives

Special Issue proposals should normally identify one or more Guest Editors with appropriate academic expertise in the proposed theme.

What Should a Proposal Include?

A Special Issue proposal should include:

  1. Proposed title of the Special Issue
  2. Theme and rationale
  3. Background and significance
  4. Objectives of the Special Issue
  5. Key research questions or areas of inquiry
  6. Relevance to AgriPaT's aims and scope
  7. Proposed Guest Editor(s) and short biographies
  8. Proposed contributing authors, where available
  9. Potential manuscript topics or provisional paper titles
  10. Expected number of manuscripts
  11. Proposed timeline
  12. Any relevant conference, research project, or institutional initiative associated with the Special Issue

A strong proposal should demonstrate that the proposed theme has sufficient scholarly depth and a realistic potential to attract a coherent collection of quality manuscripts.

Responsibilities of Guest Editors

Guest Editors are expected to:

  • Develop and refine the Special Issue theme;
  • Promote the Call for Papers through appropriate academic networks;
  • Encourage high-quality submissions;
  • Support the editorial coordination of submitted manuscripts;
  • Recommend qualified reviewers where appropriate;
  • Maintain confidentiality and research-integrity standards;
  • Ensure that manuscripts receive rigorous and impartial peer review;
  • Avoid conflicts of interest;
  • Work closely with the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor; and
  • Assist in developing the final Special Issue introduction/editorial where appropriate.

All manuscripts submitted to a Special Issue remain subject to AgriPaT's standard editorial screening, publication ethics requirements, and double-blind peer-review process. Guest Editors do not have authority to bypass the journal's normal editorial and ethical procedures.

Quality and Editorial Standards

Special Issues should present a coherent scholarly contribution rather than a collection of unrelated papers. Proposed themes should have clear academic and policy relevance and should contribute to current debates in agricultural policy and transformation.

AgriPaT reserves the right to decline proposals that fall outside the journal's scope, lack sufficient scholarly coherence, duplicate existing initiatives, or do not demonstrate adequate potential for high-quality contributions.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

No submission or handling charges. After acceptance, an APC of USD 50 (international) / PKR 12,000 (Pakistani authors) applies; waivers are available on request (see the APC page). Payment has no effect on acceptance.

Articles in the current special issue are published without an APC. For future special issues, the publication fee on the APC page applies, unless a waiver is granted or the paper was accepted for publication in The AgEcon Frontiers.

Submit a Special Issue Proposal by email to agripat-submissions@ageconfrontiers.com 

We welcome innovative Special Issue proposals that can advance evidence-based debate and contribute to the transformation of agriculture and rural economies.