Journal of Information Architecture

Submitting a Draft Proposal or Manuscript

The Journal of Information Architecture is inviting contributions for upcoming issues. Please submit drafts, abstracts, or complete articles to papers@journalofia.org. Remember that your paper will be reviewed in accordance with our open peeer-review policy unless you indicate you would rather undergo double blind peer-review. In this case, please explicitly state your preference in your mail.

Read the Journal’s manuscript guidelines for indications on how to submit a contribution and download either the Word template (dotx) or the Open Document Template (ott). Complete instructions for styling a proposal are included in both documents.

There are no publication fees or article processing charges associated with publishing in the Journal.

Rolling Waves Publishing Model

The Journal of Information Architecture is published biannually in a Spring issue, usually beginning publication towards the end of February, and a Fall issue, usually beginning publication at the end of August.
Issues are published following a rolling waves model and feature a limited number of articles when they open: papers and contributions are added regularly one at a time until the issue is closed.

Open Peer-review Process

All proposals accepted for review will undergo the Journal’s open peer-review process unless an agreement is in place between the author(s) and the Editorial Board that a paper should be double–blind peer‐reviewed.
The Journal’s open peer-review process follows the open identities model, where authors and reviewers are aware of each other’s identity for the entire length of the peer-review process. Author’ and reviewers’ identities are never disclosed to the public, nor are the various steps of the review process or its results, in any format. The open peer-review process allows the Journal to facilitate a more informal and collaborative discussion aimed at improving the quality of the proposal.

Prospective authors who want to submit a proposal but would prefer to be reviewed in accordance with a more traditional double blind peer-review can indicate their preference in their mail at the moment of submission. While the Journal will honor the request, authors should be aware that choosing an alternative review model might introduce delays or cause the lengthening of the review process.

Regardless of the modality of review, the Journal employs multiple reviewers for any paper it evaluates and strives to ensure that only sound scientific or professional contributions are published, as well as to grant a fair procedure for all submissions.

For more about open peer-review, read for example What is open peer review? A systematic review.

Review Stages

All incoming draft proposals and manuscripts are first evaluated by the Editor–in–Chief. Draft and manuscripts rejected at this stage either fall outside of the aims and scope of the Journal, have major structural or logical issues, or very poor form. Authors of proposals or manuscripts rejected at this stage will be informed approximately within a month of receipt. Draft proposals and manuscripts that are provisionally approved for review are passed on to a minimum of two expert referees for the actual review.

Selection of Referees

Referees are matched to a manuscript according to their expertise. To ensure a fair review, besides adopting the open peer-review approach, the Journal verifies that referees and authors do not share affiliation that may introduce bias. We encourage suggestions of possible referees from authors, though these recommendations will not be necessarily used. The sole person responsible for the selection of referees is the Editor–in–Chief or an associate editor appointed by the EiC for the task.

Reports by Referees

Reports by referees include both qualitative and quantitative assessments according to a standardized form and are shared with the authors who so desire at the end of the review process. Referees are asked to evaluate whether the proposed contribution:

  • Is original;
  • Is relevant for the scientific or professional community;
  • Is methodologically sound;
  • Includes accurately supported conclusions;
  • Correctly cites earlier relevant work;
  • Follows appropriate ethical guidelines;
  • Is clear and thorough in presentation;

Language correction is not part of the peer review process but referees may, if they so wish, suggest corrections to the text.

Duration of the Review Process

The review process of the Journal of Information Architecture ought not to exceed 12 weeks. However, the process may take longer in some special cases. The Editor-in-Chief makes sure to keep the authors abreast of the process in such cases. Should the referees’ reports contradict one another or a report delayed, further expert opinion will be sought. In exceptional cases for which it is particularly difficult to find an additional referee to review the manuscript, or when at least one referee’s report has thoroughly convinced the EiC, decisions at this stage to accept, reject or ask the authors for a revision are made on the basis of only one referee’s report.

Final Decision, Acceptance, and Publication Date

The EiC’s final decision to publish (as is, or with minor revisions) or reject the manuscript will be sent to the authors together with any final recommendations made by the referees, which might include a request for another revision of the manuscript before publication. The complete original forms will be sent only upon the authors’ request.
Referees, occasionally along with other editors or members of the Advisory Board, only advise the EiC, who is the sole person responsible for the final decision.

Indicatively, manuscript finalized between October 1st and Feb 28th will be published in the Spring Issue, which will generally open at the end of February and close at the end of June. Proposals finalized between March 1st and September 30th will be published in the Fall Issue, which will generally open at the end of August and close at the end of December. Different agreements might nonetheless be put in place between the authors and the EiC, for example when the manuscript is being considered for publication as part of an upcoming special issue.

Copyright

All articles and contributions published by the Journal are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Articles are freely available at no charge and visitors are allowed to read, download, print, distribute, link, or use the articles published for any other lawful purpose without prior permission, within the limit of the CC-BY-NC-ND license.
Individual authors retain copyright of their work. You can read more about licenses and copyright on the Creative Commons website.
As of September 2022, the Journal has applied to obtain formal Open Access status.

Topics, Subject Areas, and Loci of Interest

The Journal focuses on information architecture research and development in all types of shared information environments and favors a systemic approach from different perspectives, such as for example technical, cultural, social, and communicational.

The Journal publishes original papers; original research already published by other journals, but rewritten with a clearer focus on information architecture or for the purpose of demonstrating its relevance to information architecture; systematic bibliographies and recognition works in the field of information architecture; useful case studies; students’ papers on information architecture-related projects.

The Journal if broadly interested in theoretical and practical contributions to the field of information architecture and its role in the conceptualization, formalization, design, and implementation of digital / physical and blended information spaces and the critical reflection thereof. Suggested topics of inquiry include but are not limited to:

  • Information architecture as a design practice;
  • Theoretical foundations of information architecture;
  • Pervasive information architecture;
  • History of information architecture;
  • Information architecture techniques and best practices;
  • Placemaking in digital and blended spaces
  • Wayfinding, navigation, and navigation behaviors;
  • Categorization, labeling and representation in digital, physical, and blended spaces;
  • Organization of information, taxonomies and folksonomies;
  • Pace layering;
  • Social media, social networks, and social computing;
  • Postdigital culture;
  • Information architecture in organizations, in communities, and in society;
  • The role of information architecture in information systems;
  • The value of information architecture for organizations;
  • The impact of information architecture on information policies and information strategy;
  • Multilingual, multicultural information architecture; global information architecture;
  • Information architecture metrics and evaluation;
  • The impact of information architecture on people’s attitude, behavior, performance, perception, and productivity;
  • Information architecture education and training
  • Information architecture research

Becoming a Referee for the Journal

The person in charge of the journal’s peer review procedures is Editor–in–Chief Andrea Resmini (ar at journalofia dot org). If you would like to be considered as a referee for future issues, e-mail Andrea Resmini directly via email, specifying you are considering applying for a referee role in the subject, and providing a brief description of your interests and expertise in information architecture or related fields.

Manuscript Guidelines

Format of the Submission

Draft proposals and manuscripts should be submitted in either Open Document Format (odt) or Microsoft Word format (docx) and styled using the templates provided below. Proposal submitted in other formats, including PDF, will not be considered. The documents should be sent to papers@journalofia.org as attachment and should include the full name, affiliation, and email address of the author or authors.

Templates

You can download the Journal’s draft proposal or manuscript template in either Open Document Format (ott) or Microsoft Word format (dotx). A PDF version is also available primarily to provide a visual rendition of the different styles used in the template.

We look forward to receiving your proposals.