Publication Ethics & Review Process

PAD. Pages on Arts and Design is committed to maintaining the highest standards of academic integrity and publication ethics. The journal follows internationally recognised principles of ethical scholarly publishing and the guidelines and best practices promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

All submitted manuscripts must present original, unpublished work and must not be under consideration by any other journal or publication. Authors are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their work, for appropriately acknowledging all sources, and for clearly indicating any potential conflicts of interest.

Cases of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, or unethical research practices are not tolerated. When ethical concerns are raised, PAD follows established procedures for investigation, correction, retraction, or expression of concern, in accordance with COPE recommendations.

All manuscripts submitted to PAD undergo a double-blind peer-review process, in which the identities of authors and reviewers are concealed throughout the evaluation.

Each submission is initially assessed by the Editorial Board to verify its relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, its scholarly quality, and its compliance with ethical and formal requirements. Manuscripts that pass this preliminary screening are reviewed by at least two independent expert reviewers with recognised expertise in the relevant field.

Reviewers are asked to evaluate submissions according to the following criteria:

• originality and relevance of the research topic
• clarity and coherence of the research question and argument
• adequacy of the theoretical or methodological framework
• engagement with relevant international literature
• contribution to existing scholarly debates in arts and design studies
• academic rigor, structure, and quality of writing

Based on the reviewers’ reports, the Editor-in-Chief or the responsible Guest Editor makes one of the following decisions: accept, accept with minor revisions, revise and resubmit, or reject. Authors are required to address reviewers’ comments in a transparent and reasoned manner.

Editorial decisions are made independently of the publisher, sponsoring institutions, or funding bodies and are based solely on the scholarly merit and relevance of submissions.

A publication fee applies to accepted articles and is charged by the publisher, AIAP – Associazione Italiana Design della Comunicazione Visiva. The payment of the publication fee has no influence on the peer-review process or editorial decisions.
Further details are provided in the Author Guidelines.

Members of the Editorial Board and reviewers are required to disclose any conflicts of interest and to recuse themselves from the evaluation of manuscripts where such conflicts may arise.

PAD is published in open access format, ensuring immediate and free access to all published content. This policy supports the wide dissemination of research results and aligns with international standards for open scholarly communication.