Topic editor guidelines

Introduction

A Research Topic is a curated collection of articles centered on a clearly defined theme or research question. Topic Editors lead the academic direction of the collection and work with the journal team to ensure the Topic progresses smoothly and reaches completion.

As a Topic Editor and subject-matter expert, you are responsible for guiding the quality, coherence, and progress of the Research Topic. This typically includes:

Defining your Research Topic

• Confirming the scope and key themes with the journal team

• Ensuring the Topic remains focused and relevant

Finding contributors

• Identifying and inviting potential contributors

• Encouraging submissions that reflect broad representation across geography, institutions, and perspectives

Managing abstracts and submissions

• Assessing abstracts (where used) and providing feedback

• Helping ensure the Topic has sufficient coverage across its scope

Overseeing peer review

• Acting as handling editor for manuscripts that best match your expertise

• Working with co-Topic Editors to share workload and avoid conflicts of interest

Completing the Topic

• Writing and submitting the Topic Editorial ahead of eBook production (if applicable)

What does a successful Research Topic look like?

A successful Research Topic is defined by quality, relevance, and community value. Strong Topics typically:

• Include high-quality submissions from a diverse and representative author base

• Provide comprehensive coverage of the Topic scope

• Create momentum and discussion within the community

• Work toward an agreed submission target, often around 20 submissions, tailored with the journal team

Important note:
If a Research Topic closes with fewer than four published manuscripts, the journal team will notify the Topic Editors. The Research Topic will be dissolved and removed from the Frontiers website. Published articles remain available in their respective journals, and manuscripts under review continue through the standard editorial process.

Meeting with the journal team

Your journal team will stay in touch with you throughout the process. After launch, the journal team will invite you to an onboarding webinar or call. This typically includes:

• A walkthrough of the Research Topic Management Platform

• Guidance on the call for participation

• Practical tips to keep the Topic on track

• Time for questions and next steps

Loop is a free academic network that helps researchers present their profile, connect with colleagues, and track publications.

As a Topic Editor, Loop can help you:

• Improve discoverability of your work and editorial contributions

• Connect with researchers in and beyond your field

• Keep your publications linked to your profile

Getting started (overview)

1. Create or update your profile

2. Add a profile photo and affiliation

3. Link your ORCID for easier discovery

My Frontiers is your central workspace for Frontiers activity, including Research Topics and editorial assignments.

In My Frontiers, you can:

• View active and past assignments

• Track tasks and deadlines

• Access your Research Topic workspace

• Send and receive platform messages (including from the Review Forum)

Key areas you may use:

• Dashboard: overview of tasks and activity

• My projects: access your Research Topic and editorial assignments

• Resources: up-to-date guidance for your roles

• Inbox: message history across Frontiers tools

• Certificates: editor certificates (where applicable)

Learn how to get started with My Frontiers.

The Review Forum is where peer review takes place. It enables direct, constructive dialogue between authors, reviewers, and the handling editor to clarify points and improve the manuscript.

Detailed, role-specific instructions for handling manuscripts in the Review Forum are provided separately in the peer review guidelines for Topic Editors.

The Research Topic Management Platform provides an overview of your Topic, contributor activity, deadlines, and tasks.

Accessing the platform

To access your Research Topic workspace:

1. Log in to your Frontiers account

2. Open My Frontiers, then select My projects

3. Find your Research Topic and select Manage Topic

You can also access the platform from your Research Topic public page using the Manage Topic button (visible only to Topic Editors when logged in).

Your dashboard

The Dashboard provides a live view of Topic status, including:

• contributor numbers and status

• abstract and manuscript activity

• expected articles

• pending tasks and reminders

• key deadlines shown in the progress bar

Deadlines you may see include:

• summary submission deadline (abstracts are encouraged but not mandatory)

• manuscript submission deadline

• extended manuscript submission deadline (appears after the original deadline passes)

Confirmed contributors may receive scheduled reminders, including a final reminder 7 days before the deadline if they have not submitted.

Viewing your summary

In the Topic Summary tab, you can view:

• Journal details: eligible journals/sections for submissions

• Topic editors: editor team list

• Topic details: title, description, image, and deadlines

Note: Changes to Topic details (including deadlines or editor list) need to be requested through the journal team.

A Research Topic usually succeeds when the contributor list is proactive and well matched to the scope. The platform helps you manage outreach, track responses, and follow up.

Accessing your list of contributors

The list of potential contributors that you provided with your Research Topic proposal will be uploaded in the Contributors tab and can be seen in the ‘To be contacted’ list.

Your original list of potential contributors appears in Contributors under To be contacted.

Contributor categories in the platform include:

• All contributors: everyone linked to the Topic, including submitting authors

• To be contacted: not yet invited

• Pending: invited but no response recorded

• Confirmed: accepted participation or corresponding author of an accepted abstract

• Declined: declined participation

• Unresponsive: no response after 8 weeks

• Withdrawn: confirmed but did not submit before closure

• Co-author: co-authors of accepted abstracts

You can search or filter contributors by name, email, abstract/manuscript status, or missing manuscript (confirmed contributors who have not yet submitted).

Good practice: Personalized messages tend to receive better response rates than generic outreach. Where possible, add a short note that references the researcher’s work or its relevance to the Topic.

You can search for individual potential contributors by clicking on the search icon and entering a name or email address in the search bar. Contributors can also be filtered by whether they have submitted an abstract or manuscript. You can also filter for confirmed contributors who have not yet submitted a manuscript by selecting Missing MS.

Selecting a potential contributor and clicking Actions will give you the option to compose a personal message. You may also use this tool to send a pre-filled reminder message for contributors. Please contact your journal team if you would like to edit the details or statuses of potential contributors.

We recommend that, where possible, you send personal messages to potential contributors, as they are more likely to let you know whether they plan to submit to your Research Topic.

Adding new potential contributors

If you want to expand your contributor list, you can add new potential contributors in Contributors using Add contributors. You may:

• Add contributors individually

• Bulk upload using the template

• Ask the journal team for assistance

There is no fixed limit on the number of submissions or published manuscripts a Research Topic can include.

Identifying relevant contributors

The goal is a contributor list that fully covers the Topic scope, with a mix of perspectives and approaches. When expanding your list, consider:

• Researchers you have worked with previously

• Recommendations from mentors and colleagues

• Authors currently publishing in the Topic area

• Researchers who have cited your work

• Relevant expertise from adjacent or interdisciplinary fields

Searching for new contributors

The platform includes a tool to search a global researcher database from Add contributors. You can search by:

• Name or email

• Suggested contributors

• Your co-authors over the last 3 years

• Researchers who cited you

• Researchers you have cited

• Keywords (use at least 3 keywords to narrow results)

You can also add contributors manually or upload multiple contacts via an Excel template. Download the template on the platform, fill in the Email, First Name, and Last Name, and upload the file.

This short video explains the process in full:

Make sure to review all contributors on the Potential Contributor List, then finalise and submit.

Suggested contributors from the journal team

To broaden reach, the journal team may provide a Suggested Contributors list based on publication relevance. When suggestions are available, you will be notified by email and through a task card in the platform.

Suggested contributor profiles may include:

• Affiliation and country

• H-index

• Most relevant article and publication date

• Relevancy score

• Recent publication history

Selected contributors are added to your basket and, once submitted, move into To be contacted.

The call for participation is typically the most important early action to create awareness and generate submissions. Sending it early helps contributors plan writing time and align with deadlines.

A typical timeline:

• Week 0: Topic launches; template shared

• Week 1: personalize and finalize message

• Week 2: send call for participation via the platform

Your journal team will provide a template message including core information you can personalize. Aim to finalize edits within a few days so outreach can begin quickly.

A strong call for participation typically includes:

• Link to the Research Topic page

• A short summary of scope and the questions the Topic addresses

• Manuscript deadline

• Topic Editor team details

• A brief description of the peer review approach

• eBook eligibility (after 10 published articles, including the Editorial)

• A short, clear note on article publishing charges (APCs) and available support options

If authors have fee-related questions, forward these to the journal team so they can provide the appropriate guidance.

Timeframe: Complete these edits within 3-5 days so that we can send the call for participation as early as possible.

Note: Frontiers supports complete transparency around our Open Access article processing charges, which are applied to all submissions, including the contributions to your Research Topic. Therefore, it is important to include some details on all resources available to our authors in your call for participation message. If you receive author queries about fees and fee support, please forward these queries to the journal team who can handle them.

Sending your call for participation

You can send the call for participation in three ways:

• Ask the journal team to send it on your behalf via your My Frontiers account

• Send it yourself via the Research Topic Management Platform

• Send a general message from the host journal (less effective than editor-led outreach)

When the call is sent through the platform, an automatic link is added so recipients can confirm or decline participation.

Platform steps (summary)

1. Open Manage Topic

2. Go to Contributors → To be contacted

3. Select recipients

4. Choose Call for participation

5. Paste the message into Introduction, add subject line and salutation

6. Send

Note: If contributors are still on the ‘to be contacted’ list after 2 weeks, we will consult with you and send a call for participation in your name.

In addition to direct outreach, promotion can attract spontaneous submissions and increase readership.

The journal team can support promotion and provide templates. You can also share the Research Topic page link directly through social platforms.

Social promotion best practices

• use plain language and state why the Topic matters

• include the submission deadline and a clear call to action

• tag co-editors, institutions, and collaborators where appropriate

• use 2–3 relevant hashtags

• use a visual (banner, image, or figure) to increase engagement

• post periodically across the Topic lifecycle

• respond to comments and thank people who share

Get more tips and see some examples in our social media promotion toolkit.

After the call is sent, contributors move from To be contacted to Pending, then to Confirmed or Declined once they respond.

Unresponsive contributors

• Pending contributors may receive automated reminders to ask questions and to inform the topic editor and journal team of any delays.

• Reminder templates are available by status in Contributors → Reminders and can be personalized with a brief note.

• Confirmed contributors receive deadline reminders if no manuscript is submitted.

• If the original deadline is missed, contributors may be informed of an extended deadline (which becomes visible on the Topic page).

• Contributors who do not respond within 4 weeks may be moved to Unresponsive (as recorded in the platform).

Please note: To send a specific reminder to a contributor, templates are available by status in Contributors → Reminders and can be personalized with a brief note.

Viewing, accepting and rejecting abstracts

Abstracts can be submitted through your contributor list or by researchers via the Topic page. Abstracts are not peer-reviewed or published; they help Topic Editors understand planned submissions and guide authors early.

Submitting an abstract is encouraged but not required for submitting a full manuscript.

How to manage abstracts

• Review abstracts in Manuscript summaries

• Coordinate decisions with co-Topic Editors

• If needed, contact the submitting author for clarification using Contact submitting author (responses come to your email)

When assessing abstracts, consider:

• Fit with the Topic scope and the selected journal/section

• Language clarity

• Any objective issues or ethical concerns

• Overlap with other planned submissions

• Whether guidance could help strengthen alignment with the Topic

If an abstract is accepted, the corresponding author appears as Confirmed, and the co-authors will appear in Contributors.

Spontaneous submissions

Once your Research Topic is live, some authors may submit directly to it without prior contact. These can be valuable contributions.

If you believe a manuscript is not suitable for the Topic, you may recommend it continue as a general journal submission instead. Contact the peer review team to request removal from the Topic.

Submitting a manuscript to your own Research Topic

Topic Editors may submit to their own Research Topic. To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest:

• Topic Editors should not handle manuscripts submitted by their co-Topic Editors. In these cases, an Editorial Board member is assigned as handling editor, and you may suggest a preferred associate editor during submission.

• Topic Editors should not appear as authors or co-authors on more than 30% of the manuscripts published within the Topic. If you anticipate exceeding this threshold, discuss it with the journal team in advance.

• Topic Editors may evaluate each other’s abstracts (as these are for record-keeping only).

Confidentiality and peer review integrity
Topic Editors may have read-only access to peer review details across the Topic. All peer review information should be treated as confidential until publication. Do not disclose any reviewer or editor identities to authors during review.

Different article types can be submitted to a Research Topic, depending on the journal field and Specialty Section. To confirm which article types are available, refer to the Specialty Section page for your host section.

All submissions must fall within:

• the scope of your Research Topic, and

• the scope of the host Specialty Section and journal.

If a manuscript is in scope for your Research Topic but not for the hosting section, the peer review team can redirect it to a more appropriate section while keeping it linked to your Research Topic collection. If the manuscript is redirected to a section that does not host the Research Topic, it may be handled by an Editorial Board member from the receiving section.

If a manuscript is not in scope for your Research Topic, contact the peer review team (see Section 9). The manuscript will either be redirected as a general journal submission where appropriate or declined based on editorial assessment.

All manuscripts are peer reviewed. If accepted, they will appear in your Research Topic’s online collection and, if applicable, in the downloadable eBook (see Section 6). Articles are published on a rolling basis upon acceptance, independent of the status of other submissions in the Research Topic.

Your role as handling editor

Topic Editors may act as handling editors for manuscripts submitted to their Research Topic. In this role, you are responsible for:

• completing an initial assessment of the manuscript

• inviting appropriate reviewers and supporting a thorough review

• assessing review reports and activating the interactive review phase when ready

• moderating discussion to keep the process constructive, fair, and timely

• making an editorial recommendation in line with journal policies and reviewer feedback

Finding suitable reviewers is often the most time-intensive step. Once you begin seeing the kinds of contributions coming in, it helps to start building a shortlist of relevant experts early. Detailed guidance on handling manuscripts is available in the peer review guidelines for Topic Editors.

Editorial

Once manuscripts in the Topic have completed peer review, Topic Editors are invited to write an Editorial summarizing the collection.

The Editorial helps readers:

• understand the aims and scope of the Topic

• see how the articles relate to one another

• identify key themes and future directions

Key requirements

• written by Topic Editors (and Coordinators, if applicable) only

• typical word limit: 1,000 words for Topics with 5–10 articles

• up to 1 figure

• word limit increases with additional articles (up to 5,000 words for 50+ articles; refer to Author Guidelines for details)

• the Editorial is peer reviewed, receives a DOI, and is citable

• no fee is required for Topic Editors to publish the Editorial

Submitting the Editorial

1. Go to your Research Topic Management page

2. Open Manuscripts

3. Select Submit Editorial

4. Choose the hosting specialty and Editorial as article type

5. The system will link it to the Research Topic automatically after submission

When citing articles from the Topic in the Editorial, hyperlink in-text citations to the articles rather than listing them in the reference list.

Ebook

If your Research Topic has at least 10 published articles (including the Editorial), an eBook is produced automatically. The eBook is freely available and appears on the Research Topic page and journal website.

Frontiers journals are open access. Accepted articles are published with an Article Processing Charge (APC), which supports editorial management, production, hosting, and indexing. APCs vary by journal and article type, and are only charged if a manuscript is accepted.

APC support options may include institutional or national agreements, as well as other fee support routes. If authors have questions about fees, fee support or institutional partnerships, the journal team can advise on the most relevant options for their situation.

You can check the exact fee for your journal here:

• Check APCs by journal

• Learn more about article types

Fee support and partnership

Our fee support program ensures that all articles that pass peer review can benefit from open access – regardless of the author's field or funding situation.

Our funding model is inclusive, and a portion of our income is used to support authors unable to pay APCs. Authors and institutions with insufficient funding are eligible for discounts for their article publishing charges, as long as their article passes our independent and rigorous peer review. Across 2023 and 2024, we waived more than USD 25 million in fee support for 22,000 published articles.

Contributors seeking fee support can complete the fee support application form. Their request for support will not affect whether the submission is accepted or rejected for publication.

These terms apply in addition to Frontiers’ general Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and cover transfers of personal data between you and Frontiers during your work on a Research Topic.

In summary:

• Each party complies with applicable data protection laws.

• Personal data is used only for Research Topic-related purposes (launch, promotion, management, and associated editorial activity).

• Appropriate technical and organizational safeguards are maintained.

• Personal data shared with you should be stored and handled securely and confidentially.

For questions, contact the data protection team at data.protection@frontiersin.org.

The fastest way to get a response is to sign in to My Frontiers and connect with our chatbot (the green chat icon in the bottom-right corner).

If you have questions, please see the contact guide below to direct your query to the appropriate party: