Call for Special Issues

2025-2026 Call for Proposals

Proposal submission deadline: Rolling
Decision date: Rolling Acceptance
Publication issue: Spring 2025-Spring 2026 

Canadian Journal of Indigenous Studies (CJIS) is announcing a Call for Proposals for Special Issues. The Special Issues can follow the series sections within CJIS which includes scholarly articles, Indigenous stories and language, artistic practices, and book reviews which are organized under a specific theme and introduced by the Guest Editor(s).

Guidelines on Canadian Journal of Indigenous Studies Special Issues

Submitting a proposal

Proposals are accepted in response to a “Call for Proposals for a Special Issue” and will have an identified deadline.  Please submit the proposal to the Editors at CJIS@uwinnipeg.ca. The Editors will review and respond to all proposals.

Guidelines

1. In order to be considered, the proposal should include a rationale, a list of potential topics for the articles under a particular theme, an indication of scholars who have committed to submitting, and a discussion of how the editors will identify appropriate reviewers.
2. The rationale should present a case for exploring the topic or issue. The timeliness, significance, and broad impact should be evident, as well as the gaps in theory/research addressed in the Special Issue.
3. All pieces chosen for publication must be from scholars that meet the requirements of CJIS demonstrated through their positionality statement.

○ Positionality statement — statement for readers to understand your position or standpoint in relation to the research topic and the community being studied. This statement should be explicit and embedded in the introduction of the article. We ask for authors to include self-reflection on their own identity, social location, and cultural background, and how these factors influence their research process and findings.

Timelines and workload

The workload for Guest Editors is considerable, and this should accord with institutional workload policies, planned sabbatical leaves, and so on. Special Issue editors for CJIS should designate time for the tasks below in Roles and Responsibilities, as well as extra time if needed. 

Roles and Responsibilities

Guest Editors are responsible for:

• Developing a theme for the issue and clarifying a plan for submissions
• Submitting a proposal with the following content:           
• Name(s) of guest editor(s), credentials, CVs
• Rationale for the proposed issue (approximately 500 words);
• Provide a timeline from a call for papers to submitting reviewed manuscripts to CJIS submission portal;
• Issuing an open or closed call for papers as well as securing commitments for submissions from at least 2-3 recognized scholars in the field;
• An outline of proposed articles including working titles, the names and institutional affiliations of contributing authors, and positionality statements;
• Overseeing the peer review process: screening manuscripts, ensuring redactions for anonymity, retaining/supporting at least two appropriate reviewers per article, facilitating revision(s) as needed;
• Ordering the articles and preparing an introduction; and
• Publicizing the issue through social media, the Web, email lists, and any other channels available.

The CJIS Editors are responsible for:

• Offering support and assistance with screening of and decision-making about submissions, use of our online journal system (OJS), and identifying appropriate reviewers;
• Copyediting and layout of articles; and
• Uploading of final articles and introduction, and publicizing the issue through its regular communications channels.

Policies

• All accepted themed Special Issues must meet CJIS’s high editorial standards. https://cjis.uwinnipeg.ca/index.php/CJIS/policies
• The CJIS recommends no more than two guest editors. 
• The Guest Editors will work in conjunction with the Editors. 
• Guest editors are asked to be aware of potential conflict of interest situations with respect to author-colleagues.