"...scammers exploited the processes for publishing special issues to get
poor-quality papers...into
established journals. In some cases, fraudsters posed as scientists and offered
to guest-edit issues that they then filled with sham papers." https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03035-y
In In my perspective, the pivotal issue lies not in outright abolishing special issues but in actualizing what Elsevier foresaw as the inevitable future of scientific publishing. This foresight, as articulated by Richard Smith three years ago, foretells the imminent conclusion of the journal-centric epoch. Therefore, the focus should be on aligning our practices with this anticipated evolution rather than simply discarding special issues https://pacheco-torgal.blogspot.com/2021/04/the-first-15-bricks-in-scientific.html
