Welcome to Elsevier! As a guest editor, you are operating  at the forefront of your field,   helping to advance the state of knowledge  with a special collection of articles. We are delighted to be working with  you and thank you for your time   and expertise in ensuring that the best  scholarship in this area is prepared,   peer-reviewed, and presented  to the research community. In this short video, we will introduce you to  the guest editor role and walk you through the   process of proposing and shepherding  a special issue through peer review. Unless you have been approached directly  by the Editor-in-Chief or another member   of the journal's editorial team, you will need to  submit a proposal to guest edit a special issue.  If you are contemplating a special issue  proposal you might find it helpful to view   the recommendations for making a proposal on  our Editor Hub . Once you're ready with your proposal,  submit it to your chosen journal. It will be reviewed by the editorial team,   and the decision as to whether to accept  rests with the journal's chief editors. If your proposal is accepted, you'll then be  tasked with coordinating the peer review process   for the articles in your issue, liaising  with the regular editors of the journal,   the authors of the individual articles  and peer reviewers as necessary. Please note that special issues  are subject to the same strict and   rigorous ethical principles  as regular journal issues.   If unethical practices are detected, the special  issue will be cancelled by the Editor-in-Chief. You are responsible, in cooperation  with any other guest editors,   for ensuring that the review process  is conducted in an appropriate manner   and in line with normal review  practices for the journal. The selection of papers should be based  on the scientific quality of the content   and the topic should clearly fall within the scope  of the special issue and the journal hosting it. You will use our online submission and review  system to oversee the editorial process and it   is your responsibility to ensure that the  issue progresses efficiently, though Elsevier   colleagues will be on hand throughout to  offer assistance and advice as needed.

Once a paper is submitted,   you should select reviewers who have  suitable expertise in the field. Articles must typically be reviewed by at  least two external and independent referees. You will typically make the preliminary decision  but all manuscripts will then be transferred   to the Editor-in-Chief who normally has the sole  right to finally accept or reject any manuscript. Once accepted, manuscripts will flow  automatically into Elsevier's production system   where they are typeset and  prepared for publication.   Most Elsevier journals now publish all  special issues as virtual special issues. A virtual special issue is an online  grouping of special issue articles. Each article is assigned a unique  identifier and then published in   a regular journal issue as soon as it's ready. The unique identifier allows us to simultaneously  add the article to a virtual special issue on   ScienceDirect, which is gradually built  up as articles are published online. The advantage of this process is  that individual articles do not   have to wait until the entire  special issue is ready and can   instead be published and start to accrue  downloads and citations without delay. We hope that this video is useful. Please visit  our Editor Hub to   see more information and advice  about the guest editing role. Should you have any questions or  need any assistance please reach   out to your publishing contact,  or visit our support center. Thank you again for your dedication   and allow us to wish you and your authors  every success with this special issue.