IJP welcomes proposals for special issues that highlight emerging areas in pain medicine and pain research. Special issues bring focused attention to fast moving topics and support collaborative clinical and translational communities.

• Working title and thematic focus
• Rationale and relevance to pain medicine
• Proposed guest editors and affiliations
• Target audience and expected contribution
• Preliminary list of potential contributors
• Timeline for submissions and reviews

• Define scope and thematic boundaries
• Recommend reviewers and manage peer review
• Ensure ethical compliance and reporting quality
• Provide an editorial summary upon completion
• Define the clinical or translational gap the special issue addresses.
• Provide a rationale for guest editor expertise and topic coverage.
• Specify anticipated article types and approximate submission volume.
• Outline peer review timelines and editorial decision workflows.
• Describe outreach plans to pain clinics, anesthesiology, neurology, and rehabilitation communities.
• Identify data reporting standards required for submissions.
• Clarify whether cross disciplinary submissions are in scope.
• List any planned invited contributions or consortium partners.
• Provide proposed metrics for impact or clinical relevance.
• Describe data harmonization requirements for multicenter submissions.
• Specify expected submission window and targeted publication date.
• Note any patient safety or regulatory considerations for topic areas.
• Specify how guest editors will manage conflicts of interest.
• Outline plans for an editorial introduction or summary article.
• Describe collaboration with clinical societies or networks.
• Provide criteria for invited versus open submissions.
• Include data reporting checklists for multicenter studies.
• State plans for dissemination or webinar promotion.
• Provide anticipated geographic or population coverage.
• Describe integration with ongoing research consortia.
• Define expected peer reviewer pool and recruitment strategy.
• Describe data sharing expectations for special issue contributors.
• Specify interdisciplinary scope across pain medicine, surgery, and radiology.
• Outline plan for patient safety or ethics oversight in invited topics.
• Provide expected timeline for revisions and final acceptance.
• Identify metrics for success such as citations or clinical adoption.
• State whether a preprint policy will be highlighted in the call.

The IJP editorial office supports special issue planning, reviewer coordination, and production workflows. Send proposals or questions to [email protected].

IJP is committed to rigorous, transparent publishing in pain medicine and multidisciplinary care. We emphasize reproducible clinical methods, clear reporting of diagnostic criteria, and ethical compliance across all article types.

The editorial office supports authors, editors, and reviewers with clear guidance and responsive communication. For questions about scope or workflow, contact [email protected].

We encourage continuous improvement in reporting practices and share updates that help the community maintain high standards in pain management research and clinical practice.