Each volume of the journal contains at least one issue devoted to a selected key theme or period. Recent Special Issues have included: Traditions of Creativity in Modern Spanish Literature (1996); Medieval Studies II (1997) - both edited by Ann L. Mackenzie (University of Glasgow); Translation Studies in Hispanic Contexts (1998), ed. Nicholas G. Round (University of Sheffield); Dynamism and Conflict: Valencia 1808-1975 (1998), ed. Paul Preston (London School of Economics), Ismael Saz Campos (University of Valencia) and Ann L. Mackenzie (University of Glasgow); Sound on Vision: Studies on Spanish Cinema (1999), ed. Robin Fiddian and Ian Michael (University of Oxford); Calderón 1600-1681: Quatercentenary Studies in Memory of John E. Varey (2000), ed. Ann L. Mackenzie (University of Glasgow); Context, Meaning and Reception of 'Celestina': A Fifth Centenary Symposium (2001), ed. Ian Michael and David G. Pattison (University of Oxford); Hispanic Modernisms (2002), ed. Nelson R. Orringer (University of Connecticut);. Many of these special issues are are also available in hardback book editions.

Special Issues already in press, or in preparation include: Alternative Discourses in Early 20th Century Spain: Intellectuals, Dissent and Subcultures of Mind and Body (2003), ed. Richard Cleminson (University of Bradford) and Alison Sinclair (University of Cambridge); A special issue dedicated to Cervantes (2004), edited by jeremy Robbins and Edwin H. Williamson (University of Edinburgh).