| Abstract: Special issues/sections often group discussions articles, research articles, and commentaries of selected and timely themes. They can highlight the relevance and importance of experimental work promoting our scientific theory and technology in an ever-changing cultural climate. A challenge lies in the timely alignment of scholarly work with the emerging topics which can engage our scientific discipline and assemble a provocative set of papers. Special issues/sections are beneficial to authors, editors, journals plus the academic and professional readership groups. Authors find that they are niche outlets for their work and encourage other researchers to develop and expand interesting areas. Editors see them as opportunities for leadership and growth for associate editors and guest associate editors who have identified interesting themes to recruit papers and manage the review process for multiple papers. The journal benefits may be observed in increased submissions, increased readership, and potentially broadening their readership base. Readers find valuable knowledge to disseminate in academic training programs, and pursue collaboration with academicians and practitioners who share interests in selected topics. Sometimes editors seek out individuals to propose special issues and sometimes special issues are proposed as a “grass roots” effort. This panel discussion brings together editors from multiple ABAI journals to discuss the benefits of special issues, how to propose a special issue, considerations when proposing them, what makes for an interesting and successful special issue. Finally, potential challenges that may arise when coordinating special issues are considered. |