The information hereafter presented corresponds with the publishing workflow and main aspects to take into consideration for the journal's special issues. 

For information regarding the regular edition, please check here.

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There is currently an open call for papers for the 2026 Special Issue:
Design Practices Transitioning Towards Embracing Systemic Worldviews

 

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SPECIAL ISSUES CALL GUIDELINES 

 

Topic

Each special issue addresses a specific topic, chosen by the Editors-in-Chief in collaboration with the Editorial Board. Special issues are published every two years, and their call for papers is to be announced on the journal's website, Elisava's web and social media, and CfP platforms. 

 

Typologies of papers 

Temes de Disseny publishes the following type of contributions:  

(Footnotes, references and bibliography are not included in the word counts) 

• Original research papers which expose a hypothesis that is tested with a specific methodology and supported by results. Word count: between 3.000 and 5.000 words. 
• State-of-art papers collect the most recent information (i.e. methods, case-studies, product examples) of a specific topic. These are expected to provide more than 50 literature references which are properly discussed to identify future challenges. At least 75% of the literature must have been published in the last 10 years. Word count: between 4.000 and 10.000 words. 
• Case study papers aims to collect and properly describe multiple experiences examples of a specific topic. These must remark the strengths and weaknesses of the example/s. Case studies should be properly classified, and pictures of each case are mandatory. Word count: between 3.000 and 5.000 words. 
• Pictorials are illustrated capsules that presents a design project, a workshop or a research process with a strong focus on images or illustrations. Each image or set of images should be accompanied by descriptive texts (aprox. 200 words each) that puts them in context as well as describing what are they showing (aesthetics, processes, materials, concepts, results...). Pictorials should also provide an introduction of the project and the concluding remarks of its research process. Word count: maximum 2.000 words. 
• Provocations are short contributions that inspire debate and reflection on the presented topic. They should position the research topic in the current context with critical spirit and be up-to-date with social, cultural, economic and/or academic trends. Word count: maximum 2.000 words. 

Please note that for submitting your paper for a special issue, you should choose the title of the issue instead of the article typology when asked in which section you'd like to submit.

Language 

All texts should be submitted in English. 

The special issue will be published full-text in English and Catalan, and with abstracts in English, Catalan and Spanish. 

 

Ethics of publishing   

Authors are responsible of presenting totally original works and must properly cite others' work if used. Moreover, authors cannot submit and already published paper or submit a paper that have already been submitted to another journal which is still under a review process.

Authors are encouraged to acknowledge potential conflicts of interest and/or sources of funding in the submission form.

Any possible conflict will be specifically addressed by the Managing Editor –with the support of the Guest Editors and Editors-in-Chief– and discussed via email with all concerned parts. Temes de Disseny will followCOPE’s guidelines in dealing with conflicts or allegations of misconduct. If the affected part finds them unresolved by the editorial team, can address to a higher instance throug Elisava's general communication channels. The allegations of misconduct will be addressed by the Editorial Board if needed, and if any complain emerges in this process, it will be handled by higher instances of Elisava. 

 

Charges

Publishing in Temes de Disseny is free of charge. Article submission and processing do not have any cost for the authors. 

 

Licensing 

Authors hold the copyright of the text and its publishing rights, but must inform Temes de Disseny before using the complete or part of the article for another publication. 

The articles are published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), unless the authors request for another CC license under their article should be published. 
The CC BY-NC-ND licence permits to share (copy and redistribute the material) in any medium or format under the following terms:  
- Attribution: you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.  
- NonCommercial: you may not use the material for commercial purposes.  
- NoDerivatives: if you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material. 
For more information about these licenses, please visit this link. 

 

MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION 

Researchers willing to publish in a Temes de Disseny special issue must submit a full article manuscript related to the announced call. 

The submission must be done under the special issue's title, when asked for the journal section you'd like to apply.

Submission of a manuscript implies that it reports unpublished work (total or partial), and that it is not under active consideration elsewhere. 

Two versions of the manuscript must be submitted: 

1. A complete version with all relevant sections, headings and information, in Word. 
2. A version of the above with no authorship or affiliation information, suitable for blind peer review. This implies the substitution of any personal names into “Authors” within the text, and omitting author's works in the reference list. Authors must also delete all personal information metadata from the file properties before submitting. 

Authors must use the template, that includes the text styles and sections to ensure that all article information is provided in the required format. The use of inclusive writing styles with gender perspective is encouraged: please avoid masculine (his) as default, the use of neuter pronouns and collective nouns is recommended. Bibliographic references must follow the Chicago author-date style. 

Download here the submission template (please us this other template for Pictorials)

The submitter author is asked to provide information about all contributors to the article. Please fill out all the fields (with bio statements no more than 200 words). 

Authors are asked to provide additional information in a subsidiary document: 

• A statement on the rights holder of the graphic material included in the manuscript. Temes de Disseny will only publish graphic material that is original by the authors, that its license permits its publishing, that authors provide written permission by the rights' holder to be published in the journal (and attach a corresponding file in the submission), or that is included in the manuscript along its analysis, comment or critical judgement. In any case, figures must be described in their caption, mentioning the title and authorship of the content of the figure, as well as the authors of the images if known.  
• A conflict(s) of interest and funding statement. Authors should report any potential  or actual conflict of interest. 
• A proposal of 3-4 potential reviewers for the manuscript. 

 

Download here the Additional Information document. 

 

PROPOSAL SELECTION 

The Guest Editors of each issue, and the Editors in Chief, review all the proposals, and are responsible for the selection of the manuscripts that present the topics that are more appropriate to the scope and discourse of each issue. 

The editorial team will select the proposals based solely on their 

• Original articles, Case studies and State-of-the-art: 1) Fit to the scope of the special issue's call for papers, 2) contribution to the research field 3) up to date references, 4) novelty of the proposal and 5) quality of the text.  
• Pictorials: 1) Fit to the special issue and to research through design; 2) Provides a rellevant contribution to the research field; 3) Proposes appealing images that convey knowledge; 4) Novelty of the proposal; 5) Quality of the text. 
• Provocations: 1) Fit to the special issue; 2) inspire debate and reflection on the presented topic; 3) position the research topic in the current context with critical spirit and be up-to-date with social, cultural, economic and/or academic trends; 4) Quality of the text. 

They commit to a selection process that is not biased with personal interests, and select the proposals without discriminating any author for their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or nationality. 

 

REVIEW PROCESS

Each selected article is sent to two expert scholars (PhD), chosen by the Editorial Team according to the article topic, for a double-blind peer review evaluation, where both the referees and the authors are kept anonymous. 

The editorial team is responsible for finding reviewers whose line of research is close to the one presented on the article, and therefore are qualified to deliver a critical and expert appreciation of the submitted work. Reviewers who receive the manuscript must treat it with confidentiality, and provide a critical, honest, constructive, without bias, and justified review. If he or she cannot commit to this requirements, should decline reviewing the paper. 

Reviewers are asked to complete the evaluation through a form in the journal's online platform, justifying every answer to facilitate the author’s understanding of the issues to be addressed. The questions the reviewers address deal with the following aspects: determine if the manuscript is providing an original and significant contribution to the field and to the special issue; if the goal of the study, the methodology used, the results and the references are relevant and of quality; the strongest and weakest aspects of the manuscript, and the adequacy of its structure and readability; the quality of the writing. Reviewers also have the task to suggest if the article should be rejected, or accepted as it is or with major or minor revisions.  

The article is analysed with Urkund, a plagiarism screening software.  If the results of the report shows that article has more than 20% of already published text, the editors can reject the paper or ask for major changes before continuing the process.

The Graphic Editor reviews the figures presented to ensure the quality of the graphics accompanying the text, and the journal’s overall art direction. 

The Editors-in-Chief and the Managing Editor check that the submission complies with the aforementioned requirements, and the Guest Editors take into consideration the reviewers' comments to decide about the acceptability of the proposal to be published. If the editorial team has doubts about the decision, can ask for a third review or seek for expert advice within the Editorial Board or colleagues with expertise on the article's topic. The decision outcome can be: 1) accept as is, 2) accept with minor changes, 3) accept with major changes, 4) transfer to regular edition, or 5) reject. 

Authors of accepted papers receive the decision along with the reviewers’ reports, and are asked to apply the changes within 3-5 weeks depending on the suggested changes. After submitting the final version, Guest Editors check that all changes asked have been applied in order to decide upon the publication of the article.

At this stage, Authors are asked to provide a folder with high quality image and vector or editable files for each of the figures.

• In separated files, named after the figure number (e. g. Fig01.jpg ; Fig02.tiff ; Fig03.ai ; etc.). For figures that have more than one image, a separate file must be provided for each (Fig01-1.jpg, etc.). 
• Vector editable files (i.e. svg; illustrator) are highly recommended for figures. 
• TIFF or PSD editable files are highly recommended for images (JPG and PNG files can also be used). In any case, images must be at least 300 dpi and approximately A4 size. 
• Tables must be provided in excel files. 

If the paper is rejected at this stage, it cannot be re-submitted for inclusion in the same special issue in order to meet the planned schedule. Articles that are not selected for the special issue can be transferred to the regular edition workflow, if the editors consider it so. 

 

FINAL EDITING  

Special issues of Temes de Disseny are published both online and in printed format.

Temes de Disseny publishes the special issues' full-texts in English and Catalan, and with abstracts in English, Catalan and Spanish. After the final version of the article is received, each article is sent to a linguistic services company for a spelling and grammar check, and to make the necessary translations. Also, a revision of references style and consistency is undertaken by Elisava's librarians. The author will receive a version of the manuscript with all changes visible, for their acceptance.

The Graphic Editor introduces all the content in the layout, including relevant metadata –such as the DOI– provided by the managing editor. A big effort is put on graphic design, to give scientific research an appealing look. 

The Managing Editor and the Guest Editors proofread the final version of the issue before sending it to the printer and uploading the digital version. When relevant data is shared for reproducibility, it will be hosted in the journal's website system and a link will be provided in the article. 

 

PUBLISHING TIMING AND DISSEMINATION  

Special issues are published every two years. The expected duration of the described editorial process is approximately one year after the announcement of the call. 

The full special issue is freely available online without embargo, and authors and reviewers receive gratis printed copies. 

Published articles will be shared with academic networks, and through Elisava's social media accounts. 

An official presentation of each special issue is held at Elisava after its publication.