About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Iperstoria is a Class A journal in the fields of American Studies and English Language, Linguistics & Translation (10/ANGL-01). It favors a multidisciplinary/transdisciplinary approach and welcomes contributions on any topic pertaining to the abovementioned disciplines and their subfields.
Each issue is divided into three sections: a thematic section organized around a selected theme in English Language and/or American Studies, a miscellaneous section, and a book review section. On occasion, the journal also publishes translations and interviews.
Peer Review Process
Iperstoria accepts academic contributions to the thematic “Special Section” and to the general sections. Each submitted essay is initially read by the issue editors and by members of the Editorial Board in order to assess its general level and pertinence for publication. After ensuring the complete anonymity of the contribution, selected submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed; the selection of peer reviewers is the joint responsibility of the Editorial Board and of the section editors (who may be guest editors in thematic sections).
Reviewers are selected according to their expertise on the topics of the essays under consideration. Reviewers provide a detailed assessment, as well as specific observations highlighting each essay’s strengths and weaknesses. The issue editors and the Editorial Board make the final decision for publication or rejection of a submitted essay.
Iperstoria also accepts contributions for the “Reviews,” “Interviews,” and “Translations” sections. These contributions are rigorously reviewed by the Editorial Board through an Open Peer Review process.
Open Access Policy
This journal adheres to the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities and provides immediate open access to its content under a CC BY 4.0 license, on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Article Processing Charges
No fees are required for articles to be processed or read.
Publication Timeline
Iperstoria is a bi-annual journal published in June and December. Contributions are to be submitted at least 7 months before an issue’s publication.
Authors can expect to receive the peer-review outcome 2 to 3 months after submission and final acceptance/rejection notification 5 to 6 months after submission.
Submission Process
Iperstoria accepts submissions all year round, both in English and in Italian. All details are available on the submission page.
Long-term Archiving
Iperstoria relies on PKP PN for long-term archiving.
Declaration on the Use of Artificial Intelligence
Iperstoria rejects all uses of AI and carries out routine checks on all submitted contributions. AI-generated content, or AI-improved content, will be desk-rejected.
Peer reviewing will never be carried out by, or with the assistance of, AI.
The editors will never use AI to make stylistic or content-related changes to contributions.
Authors accept to abide by this strict limitation of the use of AI based on the principle that the kind of cultural product published in Iperstoria derives its value and academic relevance entirely from the creativity, scholarship and knowledge of the author.
Peer reviewers accept to abide by this strict limitation of the use of AI based on the principle that the kind of cultural product published in Iperstoria cannot be appropriately evaluated by an artificial intelligence and requires the unique competence of the selected scholar to be properly understood and assessed.
Ethical Code
Iperstoria adheres to the spirit and guidelines developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The Editorial Board adopts all possible measures against negligence and ensures appropriate ethical practices throughout the publication process. Authors and peer reviewers equally adhere to the COPE guidelines and commit to Iperstoria’s Ethical Code.
Responsibilities of the Editorial Board
The Editorial Board is accountable for what is published in Iperstoria and makes the final decision concerning the acceptance or rejection of each contribution, based on its importance, originality and clarity, as well as the validity of the study and its relevance to the main interests of the Journal.
The Editorial Board is bound by current legal constraints regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism, as determined by the Italian law, and is supported in its decisions by anonymous referees, in accordance with its editorial guidelines.
Iperstoria adopts a double-blind peer review standard for the contributions to the Special and General sections, to ensure that the content submitted to the journal remains strictly anonymous during the review process. It adopts an open peer review standard for contributions to the Reviews, Interviews, and Translations sections. All articles are published in Gold Open Access on the OJS platform of the University of Verona.
Fair play
The Editorial Board has a constant commitment to the defence of freedom of expression and ensures that manuscripts are evaluated solely on their intellectual content and not based on the authors’ social affiliations, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic background, or political convictions.
The Editorial Board is always willing to publish errata corrige and apologies whenever needed.
Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the author’s express written consent.
Relations among Editorial Board members
Each member of the Editorial Board is provided with guidelines on everything that is expected of them. The Editorial Board regularly organizes meetings where all the members are invited to express their opinion about all the main issues and decisions to make; policy decisions are collegial, and all members are made aware of new policies and developments.
New members are chosen according to their ability to actively contribute to the development and management of the Journal.
Misconduct Complaints
Editors have a duty to act if they suspect misconduct or if any allegation of misconduct is brought to their attention, both about published and unpublished contributions. Editors should handle misconduct complaints with all due care and attention, allowing authors to respond to any allegation.
Encouraging debate
The Editorial Board encourages and is always willing to consider cogent criticism of work published in Iperstoria. Authors of the criticized material are given the opportunity to respond.
Responsibilities of the Authors
Authors must declare that the manuscript submitted has not been published elsewhere, is not under consideration for review elsewhere, has not been AI-generated or AI-manipulated, and has been submitted in accordance with all parties involved in the creation of the contribution.
Originality and Plagiarism
Authors must have written the entire original text; if authors have used the work or words of others, these must be appropriately cited.
Acknowledgment of Sources
Authors must acknowledge others’ work appropriately, citing publications that have significantly influenced the submitted work. Any manuscript that does not meet the requirements of originality will be desk rejected.
Data Access and Retention
If applicable, authors must provide the raw data relevant to a contribution at the time of first submission. The data must be made publicly available and retained for a reasonable amount of time after publication.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research data. All those who have contributed significantly should be included as co-authors. The corresponding author (who deals with the editorial process) must ensure that all co-authors are appropriately included, that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript, and that they agree to its publication.
Fundamental errors in published works
When authors discover a fundamental error or inaccuracy in the publication, they are expected to collaborate with the editorial team so as to retract or correct the manuscript.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
Copyright Conditions
Authors will be asked to adhere to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Copyright if their work is published in the journal.
Misconduct Complaints
If the Editorial Board investigates a misconduct complaint and reaches a decision, authors have the right to appeal editorial decisions but should cooperate with the editor or publisher in their investigation.
Responsibilities of the reviewers
Peer reviewers are tasked to evaluate the assigned contribution, assessing the quality, originality and relevance of the scholarship. They do so without the aid of AI tools. Editors provide guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them.
Confidentiality
Every manuscript received for review must be treated confidentially. Manuscripts must not be shown to or discussed with individuals other than those authorized by the publisher.
Promptness
Any selected referee who believes they are not qualified to review the research reported in the manuscript, are unable to review within the specified time frame, or have already identified the author, should inform the editorial team and withdraw from the review process.
Standards of Objectivity
The review should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is considered inappropriate. Reviewers must express their opinions through documented arguments and are invited to offer constructive criticism.
Acknowledgement of Sources
Reviewers are required to identify relevant works reported in the manuscript that have not been cited by the author. Any statement regarding an observation or argument already published must be supported by the appropriate citation. A reviewer must also bring to the attention of the editorial team any similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and other published works.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Information obtained through the review process must remain confidential and cannot be used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts where conflicts of interest may exist due to competitive or collaborative relationships, or connections with the authors or with companies and institutions linked to the manuscript.
Indexing
Iperstoria is indexed in the following databases:
Journal History
Iperstoria is a project born in 2000 on the initiative of Alberto Battaggia, former president of the Verona Literary Society, who decided to create an electronic magazine providing high level scientific and academic contents by university scholars and experts in humanities. The magazine thus started publishing essays, interviews and reviews by Italian and international authors, with a peculiar focus on contemporary history and culture.
In 2006 Roberto Cagliero, professor of Anglo-American Languages and Literatures at the University of Verona, became chief editor of the magazine. Iperstoria, with a new, blog-like website, gained national acknowledgment and welcomed academics from various Universities in its editorial staff.
Alberto Battaggia is now managing director.
At the end of 2012 some of the features of the magazine were redefined: first, it was transformed into a six-monthly online multilingual journal with its own ISSN; moreover, from then on each issue has been structured on a monographic or special section, accompanied by a general one including essays, reviews, interviews, and translations of unpublished materials.
The first issue of Iperstoria’s new six-monthly series, devoted to English language and literature, US literature, and literature from English-speaking countries, came out in February 2013 with a renovated website. While wishing the magazine a productive and stimulating future, we want to thank all those who supported this project since its very beginning, in particular the editorial staff and the authors who contributed with their research, studies, reviews and translations.
