About the Journal

About the journal · Aims, editorial policies and Open Access

Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani

Contents

SCHOLARLY PROFILE

Aims and scope

Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani is an international, open-access journal devoted to the study of Italian culture, history, language, and artistic and intellectual traditions, from their origins to the present day. Founded in 1985, the journal publishes original research across a broad range of disciplines, including literature, linguistics, history, philosophy, art history, music, cinema, theatre, and cultural studies.

Since its foundation, Incontri has served as a forum for dialogue among different scholarly traditions, methodologies, and disciplines. The journal encourages research addressing Italian cultural phenomena in their historical complexity, and welcomes contributions connecting texts, documents, artistic practices, languages, and social contexts.

Its roots in Dutch and Flemish scholarly communities are complemented by an international outlook and an interest in the circulation, reception, translation, and transformation of Italian culture across Europe and beyond. Comparative, transnational, and interdisciplinary approaches are particularly welcome.

Incontri accepts contributions in Italian, English, and Dutch from scholars of all countries and institutional backgrounds. By bringing together different generations and research perspectives, it seeks to foster critical exchange and the open circulation of scholarly knowledge.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

History and institutional profile

Incontri is the official journal of the Werkgroep Italië Studies (WIS), an association based in the Netherlands promoting the study of Italian culture and cultural and scholarly exchange between Italy, the Netherlands, and Flanders.

Over the decades, the journal has offered a publication and discussion forum to established researchers and early-career scholars alike. Its development reflects the vitality of Italian Studies within a European environment characterised by disciplinary and methodological plurality.

The journal is published by WIS in collaboration with Openjournals.nl. Responsibility for content, selection, peer review, and publication decisions lies with the journal's editorial bodies, which operate with scholarly independence from administrative bodies and funders. The current editorial structure is detailed on the Editorial Team page.

Publishing organisations and infrastructure

Werkgroep Italië Studies

openjournals.nl

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Publication model and frequency

Incontri is published twice a year, with an annual volume of approximately 200–300 pages. Alongside original research articles, issues may include thematic sections, reviews, translations, interviews, scholarly notices, and other contributions to debate in Italian Studies.

The journal welcomes proposals for special issues coordinated by guest editors in collaboration with the editorial team. Proposals are assessed for scholarly originality, thematic coherence, relevance, and compatibility with the journal's remit. Research articles appearing in special issues follow the same evaluation procedures as those in regular issues.

All issues are available through the journal website. Earlier volumes (1985–2005) may be consulted through the resources linked in the archive and the Back Issues collection.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Types of contributions and section policies

The journal distinguishes original research articles, subject to double-blind peer review, from other contributions evaluated directly by the Editorial Board according to their respective purposes.

↑ Back to contents

EDITORIAL PROCEDURES

Editorial evaluation and peer-review procedure

Incontri pursues a fair, rigorous, and constructive editorial process. Original research articles undergo double-blind peer review, ensuring that the identities of authors and reviewers remain concealed from one another.

Initial editorial screening

After submission, the editorial team normally carries out an initial assessment within one to two weeks, considering relevance, originality, scholarly quality, and compliance with submission requirements. The manuscript may be referred for external review, returned for preliminary revision, or rejected. A positive initial assessment does not imply acceptance for publication.

Reviewers and criteria

Manuscripts approved for review are anonymised and assigned to two independent experts. The review normally takes four to six weeks. Where reports diverge significantly, an additional opinion may be sought.

Reviewers consider the research's originality and significance, methodological soundness, reliability of evidence, clarity of argument, engagement with relevant scholarship, and suitability for the journal. They are encouraged to provide detailed and constructive feedback, including when recommending rejection.

Decisions and revisions

The Editors-in-Chief collate the reviews and communicate the decision and feedback to the author. The final decision rests with the Editorial Board. Revised submissions may undergo further evaluation. The journal reserves the right to reject a manuscript at any stage if serious concerns about scholarly quality or research integrity arise.

Reviews, translations, interviews, features, and notices are normally evaluated directly by the Editorial Board, without external anonymous peer review.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Submission requirements and author responsibilities

Submissions must be original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Authors should consult the Author Guidelines and use the relevant editorial templates where required.

Research articles should include an abstract of approximately 200 words in English and Italian, five keywords in both languages, a short author biography, and an ORCID identifier. Manuscripts should be supplied in Word or RTF, following the requirements published on the journal's website.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, proper acknowledgement of sources, legitimate use of third-party materials, and complete and correct authorship attribution. Permissions for copyrighted illustrations and other materials must be obtained before publication.

The journal does not offer financial remuneration for submissions and charges no submission or publication fees.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Publication ethics and research integrity

Incontri draws on the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and regards editorial independence, confidentiality, fair assessment, and appropriate attribution of responsibility as essential to scholarly publishing.

Editors' responsibilities

The Director, Editors-in-Chief, and Editorial Board assess manuscripts solely on scholarly merit, without discrimination based on authors' personal characteristics, affiliations, or beliefs. They protect the confidentiality of manuscripts and editorial correspondence and must not use unpublished materials without explicit written permission. Editorial decisions must not be distorted by attempts to manipulate citation metrics.

Reviewers' responsibilities

Reviewers should accept assignments only when they have sufficient expertise and can meet the agreed deadlines. They treat manuscripts as confidential, supply reasoned and objective assessments, identify relevant omitted scholarship, and disclose any conflicts of interest. Information acquired during peer review must never be used for personal benefit.

Authors' responsibilities

Authors must accurately report methods, evidence, and findings; properly acknowledge sources; and guarantee the originality of their manuscripts. Authorship must reflect substantive intellectual contributions, and all co-authors must approve the submitted version. Funding and conflicts of interest must be disclosed. Where appropriate and compatible with legal and ethical constraints, authors should be prepared to supply supporting information or data for editorial verification.

Policies informed by COPE guidance; this reference does not imply COPE membership or certification.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Plagiarism and publication misconduct

The journal examines submissions for plagiarism and other breaches of scholarly integrity, where appropriate using specialist tools such as Compilatio, Turnitin, or iThenticate. Similarity scores are interpreted through editorial assessment rather than treated as automatic proof of misconduct.

Where plagiarism is alleged in a published contribution, the editors examine the evidence, compare the relevant texts, consult the editorial bodies, and contact the author with an opportunity to respond. If plagiarism is established, the journal's currently published policy provides for informing the authors and publishers concerned, issuing an official retraction, removing the contribution from the website, and declining new submissions from that author for five years.

Procedures are informed by COPE guidance. Decisions should be reasoned and documented, with due consideration for all parties and for the integrity of the scholarly record.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Statement on the use of artificial intelligence

Incontri recognises both the opportunities and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence in scholarly research and communication. Authors who use AI tools in manuscript preparation, the production of images or graphical materials, or the collection and analysis of data must explicitly disclose such use.

Authors remain entirely responsible for the accuracy, originality, and ethical compliance of their work. To safeguard confidentiality and independent scholarly judgment, current journal policy prohibits editors and reviewers from using AI tools to process or evaluate submitted manuscripts.

↑ Back to contents

ACCESS AND SCHOLARLY RECORD

Open access policy

Incontri provides immediate open access to its published content. Articles and issues may be read and downloaded without subscription or payment, reflecting the belief that freely available research advances international scholarly exchange.

The journal operates a Diamond Open Access model: neither authors nor readers are charged, and there are no submission fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs). Editorial decisions are independent of commercial considerations.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Copyright and licensing

Authors retain copyright while granting Incontri the right of first publication. The currently published Author Guidelines and recent article records specify the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

This licence permits sharing and adaptation, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given, the original publication is acknowledged, the licence is linked, and changes are indicated. Authors may enter further non-exclusive distribution agreements while acknowledging the first publication in Incontri.

The licence shown on each individual article record governs that article. Earlier works bearing a different licence are not relicensed retrospectively.

CC BY 4.0

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Corrections, retractions, and post-publication debate

Incontri welcomes substantiated criticism of published work, studies that challenge previous findings, and research reporting negative results. Its scholarly responsibilities extend beyond initial publication.

Substantial errors or concerns about a published article may be reported to the editorial office with sufficient information to identify the contribution. The Director, Editors-in-Chief, and Editorial Board will assess the need for corrections, clarifications, or retractions. Authors must have the opportunity to respond to criticism concerning their work.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Privacy and personal data protection

Data collected from registered and non-registered users are used for purposes directly connected with editorial management, communication with authors and reviewers, publication, and aggregate usage analysis.

The editorial team may share aggregate or anonymised information required to improve publishing services with the platform developer, the Public Knowledge Project (PKP), with relevant exceptions for publication metrics. Personal information is not sold or used for unrelated commercial purposes.

Processing is intended to comply with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Data-subject rights are considered alongside the public interest in preserving a reliable scholarly record. Authors are responsible for the lawful handling of any personal data included in published research.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Indexing, identifiers, and digital discoverability

Incontri is listed in international bibliographic databases and discovery services, including the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), ERIH+, MLA International Bibliography, MLA Directory of Periodicals, VABB-SHW, ITALINEMO, BASE, Google Scholar, JournalTOCs, OAIster, WorldCat, and MIAR.

Published contributions are registered through Crossref and assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), supporting persistent citation and discovery. The journal's metadata can be harvested through OAI-PMH.

The journal is identified by e-ISSN 2214-7705 and p-ISSN 0169-3379. Readers may suggest additional discovery services to the editorial office.

Individual articles from Incontri are also available through author profiles on Academia.edu. For supplementary historical discovery, researchers may consult Internet Archive (Archive.org). These external platforms should not be confused with the journal’s official publication archive.

Selected services and identifiers

JournalTOCs

↑ Back to contents

INSTITUTIONAL INFORMATION

Institutional support and editorial independence

Incontri is sustained by the voluntary work of its editors, reviewers, and contributors, and by financial support from the Werkgroep Italië Studies, the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), and the Netherlands Institute for Art History in Florence (NIKI). The University of Amsterdam also provided exceptional financial support in 2021.

Its collaboration with Openjournals.nl supports open-access dissemination. Funders and supporting organisations do not intervene in manuscript selection or scholarly publication decisions.

↑ Back to contents

• EDITORIAL POLICIES

Editorial contacts and further information

For submissions, special-issue proposals, questions about editorial policies, or concerns relating to published contributions, please contact the editorial office.

Editorial correspondence: redazione@incontrijournal.nl
Journal website: rivista-incontri.nl
Publisher: Werkgroep Italië Studies (WIS)
E-ISSN: 2214-7705   ·   P-ISSN: 0169-3379

Submission requirements, editorial templates, and the composition of the editorial bodies are available on the relevant pages of the journal website.

↑ Back to contents