About the Journal

Focus and scope

TECA is dedicated to book and library disciplines, as well as to the history of writing, of the book, of reading and of libraries; furthermore, it is also focused on the history of typography and publishing. TECA publishes studies, research, news, reports and reviews, in order to enhance the work of both established scholars and young researchers.

The readers of TECA are mainly researchers in bibliography, librarianship and archivistics as well as in historical and literary disciplines.

It is recognized by ANVUR (Italian National Agency for Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes) as a scientific journal for disciplinary area 11 (History, Philosophy, Pedagogy and Psychology), and it is rated “Classe A” for the academic recruitment field 11/A4 (Science of Books and Documents, History of Religions).

Section Policy

TECA Dossier

Monographic collection of papers dedicated to the in-depth study of a specific topic; it is published occasionally alongside the ordinary sections of the journal. It preferably includes cutting-edge content, and may contain theoretical writings, scientific investigation reports and case studies.

Articles

Extensive essays, including interdisciplinary ones, written by one or more authors, on specific topics, preferably based on unpublished documentary research or on an original critical rereading of previous literature. They are peer reviewed.

News and Research Notes

Short essays, even interdisciplinary, written by one or more authors, suitable for the development of knowledge on a specific issue, on a character, on an event and so on; they can present research projects or first reports of research work still in progress and are subjected to peer review.

Art and Books

edited by Barbara Sghiavetta

Critical writings, reviewed by at least two members of the scientific board, on topical issues, on cultural debates, on experiences of promotion in libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions, focused on the relationship between books and the arts.

Reviews and Records

edited by Anna Giulia Cavagna and Paolo Tinti

Reviews and reports on recent editorial production, published in the last three years, both in Italy and abroad. The texts are read and validated by at least two members of the scientific board, or by an expert in the subject dealt with in the text.

Peer review

The peer review process

The submitted papers are selected by the International scientific board thanks to their skills and experience, as well as the suggestions from editors and the previous experience in reviewing papers for TECA.

Each submitted paper, which has passed the check by the software Compilatio, is firstly reviewed by at least two members of the International scientific board. If the article agrees with the TECA editorial policies and with the minimum level of quality required by the journal, it is sent to two anonymous reviewers for evaluation, according to a double blind peer-review procedure. The anonymous reviewers can be both Italian and non-Italian.

The review process is intended to provide authors with a competent opinion on their paper.

Moreover, in case it is necessary, the review should offer suggestions to authors on how to improve their paper.

Evaluation Timeline

TECA intends to respect the publication timeline shown below in managing editorial workflow:

  • First editorial review, with consequent rejection or peer review assignment (within 2 weeks after submission);

  • First round of peer review (within 4 weeks after the assignment to the blind peer reviewers);

  • Communication to the author (within 6 weeks after the submission);

  • Author’s modifications of the paper (within 4 weeks after editor’s request);

  • Last editorial decision (within 2 weeks after modified paper received).

The review process is managed through the platform OJS.

Publication Frequency

TECA is published twice a year.

Open Access policy

The journal follows an open access policy in all its contents, in order to facilitate as much as possible the diffusion of scientific knowledge among scholars and all interested people.

By submitting a paper to TECA, the author implicitly accepts its publication under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0).

According to this license, what is published in TECA can be shared by anyone (reproduced, distributed, publicly communicated and exhibited, represented, performed and acted in any medium and format) and modified (remixed, transformed and used as the basis for other works for any purpose, including commercial). However, the contents of TECA must always be correctly attributed to their authors. For sharing and editing, no further authorizations are required from the authors or the editorial staff of the journal, however we kindly ask you to inform the editorial staff of any reuse of the contents.

The authors who publish in this journal retain copyright.

Publication fees

The Journal does not charge fees for either the submission of papers or their review.

Publication ethics and publication malpractice

The publication of an article in a peer-reviewed journal is an essential model for TECA.

It is necessary to agree on standards of expected ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.

TECA’s ethic statements are based on COPE's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Publication decisions

The editor of TECA is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.

The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by effective legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers on making this decision.

Fair play

The editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

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 express written consent of the author.

Duties of Reviewers

The reviewer evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual and scientific content, never regarding his/her own religious and ethical belief or political and philosophical vision.

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through the editorial communications with the author, it may also assist the author in improving the paper.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlapping between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Duties of Authors

Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Data Access and Retention

If applicable, authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and, if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Acknowledgement of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

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 reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.

The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

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.

Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Indexing and Abstracting

  • ACNP – Italian Catalogue of Serials
  • BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
  • DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journals
  • ERIH PLUS – European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences
  • Google Scholar – Academic Search Engine
  • PLEIADI – Electronic Literature Portal
  • Ulrichsweb – Global Serials Directory
  • WorldCat – The world’s largest library catalog

Archiving policy

The University of Bologna has an archival arrangement with the National Central Libraries of Florence and Rome within the national project Magazzini Digitali.
http://www.depositolegale.it/editori-aderenti/

Authorization for self-archiving

Authors are allowed to self-archive their manuscripts and publish them on social networks, on personal and institutional sites, on non-commercial archives etc. Authors can self-archive both reviewed and non-reviewed manuscripts (postprint and preprint). However, they are required to mention and link the TECA page in which the same manuscript, almost unmodified, is published in the journal.

History of the journal

TECA is an academic, international and blind peer-reviewed journal aimed at specialist readers; it is published twice a year.

It was founded in 2011 by Maria Gioia Tavoni, Paolo Tinti and Paola Vecchi. The journal was co-directed by Maria Gioia Tavoni until 2014 and by Paola Vecchi until 2018. Paolo Tinti has been the sole Director since 2019.

From 2011 to 2019 TECA was published both print and online by Pàtron editore s.r.l., and since 2020 it has been published online open access by the Department of Classical and Italian Philology – FICLIT of the University of Bologna.

Publisher

Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica – FICLIT
Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna

Via Zamboni, 32
40126 - Bologna (Italy)