Code of Ethics

AND – Architetture, città e architetti is a biannual, double-blind peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary and bilingual (Italian and English) scientific journal.
This Code of Ethics complies with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and adopts its general principles, including the COPE flowcharts for the management of cases of scientific misconduct.

Editors, Editorial Board, Authors, Reviewers, and Publisher share the following principles, ensuring the quality and integrity of scientific publishing.

Duties of Editors, Guest Editors, and Committees

Publication decisions

The Editor-in-Chief, the Editorial Board, and the Guest Editors are responsible for the decision to accept or reject manuscripts. They may consult with Curators and Referees. Decisions are based on the scientific value, originality, clarity, and relevance of the contribution to the mission of the journal, without external influence or conflicts of interest. The Editor and the Scientific Direction act in compliance with the laws in force regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Fairness and non-discrimination

Manuscripts are evaluated solely on their scientific content, without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political/academic orientation. All accepted articles are anonymized and undergo a double-blind peer review by two or more independent external reviewers.

Conflicts of interest of editors

Members of the Editorial Direction, the Scientific Committee, and the Editorial Board do not participate in the decision-making process for articles of which they are authors or co-authors, nor for contributions coming from institutions with which they have direct collaborative relationships or from which they may derive benefits. In such cases, a substitute editor is appointed.

Confidentiality

The Editor, members of the Editorial Board, and members of the Committees must not disclose information about manuscripts to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Handling disputes and post-publication corrections

The Journal may publish subsequent scientific contributions raising debate on already published articles, provided they have successfully undergone peer review. In cases of errors, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, or other irregularities, the Editor – after consulting the authors – may publish correction notes, expressions of concern, or retractions, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

Duties of Authors

Scientific originality

Authors must guarantee that their work is original, unpublished, and not under consideration by other journals. All sources used must be properly cited. Self-plagiarism (text recycling) and duplicate publication without clear indication are violations of the Code of Ethics.

Authorship

All those who have made a significant contribution to the research must be listed as co-authors. The contribution of each author must be clearly specified (e.g., author contribution statement).

Conflicts of interest

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, or personal) and indicate the funders of the research or project.

Corrections

If an author identifies significant errors in their published work, they must promptly inform the Journal and cooperate in correction or retraction procedures.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

The use of Artificial Intelligence tools (AI, LLM, etc.) must be explicitly declared, indicating methods and purposes. Authors remain fully responsible for the content of their work, including any parts generated with AI.

Duties of Reviewers

  • Contribute to editorial decisions with objective, well-argued, and documented evaluations.
  • Respect the agreed deadlines; in case of impediment, promptly inform the Editorial Board.
  • Treat manuscripts as confidential documents.
  • Refrain from reviewing manuscripts in case of conflicts of interest with authors or their institutions.
  • Report suspected cases of plagiarism, similarities with other works, or bibliographic omissions.
  • Provide evaluations with scientific rigor, avoiding personal or offensive remarks.

Duties of the Scientific and Editorial Committees

  • Ensure the scientific quality of contributions.
  • Verify consistency with the mission of the Journal.
  • Report any conflicts of interest.
  • Collaborate with the Editorial Board to ensure a transparent and impartial evaluation process.

Duties of the Publisher

The Publisher supports editorial independence, guarantees process transparency, and adopts procedures for handling ethical or moral complaints. It ensures proper acquisition of consents and permissions for the publication of texts, images, and data, in compliance with copyright law and privacy.

Open Access policy and copyright

AND publishes contributions in open access, making them freely available to readers. Authors retain the rights to their work and may republish it elsewhere (volumes, proceedings, journals), provided that the primary publication in AND is acknowledged. The Publisher encourages the use of Creative Commons licenses to maximize scientific dissemination.

Archiving and preservation

The Journal ensures the long-term preservation of all published content through certified archiving systems (LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, PKP Preservation Network).

Complaints and Appeals

Anyone may submit complaints or reports regarding misconduct, conflicts of interest, serious errors, or ethical violations. Complaints must be sent to the Editorial Direction at redazione@and-architettura.it with appropriate documentation.

The management of complaints follows the COPE flowcharts. Authors may submit reasoned appeals against editorial decisions; such appeals are reviewed by the Editorial Board or by independent external experts.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

Each published article represents the Version of Record (VoR). Any subsequent modifications are managed as follows:

  • Correction: for errors that do not affect scientific integrity (e.g., captions, metadata, funding, conflicts of interest).
  • Expression of Concern: in cases of substantial doubt pending verification.
  • Retraction: in cases of serious errors or misconduct (plagiarism, falsification, duplicate publication, ethical violations, lack of ethical approvals).

All notices are permanently linked to the original article and made publicly available, in accordance with COPE guidelines.


This Code of Ethics reflects the commitment of AND to guarantee integrity, transparency, and scientific quality, in line with international standards (COPE, DOAJ, Scopus, WoS).