Focus and Scope

The International Journal of Design invites papers on a wide range of topics, including the following:

  • Social-Cultural Aspects of Design
  • Globalization and Localization Approaches to Design
  • Design Strategy and Management
  • Ergonomics and Perceptions in Design
  • Design Theories and Methodologies
  • Computer Applications in Design

 

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to the International Journal of Design are peer-reviewed according to the following procedure:

Initial review: The Editor-in-Chief evaluates each manuscript to determine if its topic and content is suitable for consideration by the International Journal of Design. Manuscripts that do not meet minimum criteria are returned to the authors within one week of receipt. This is in the best interest of the authors who could then decide to either correct the problems or to submit the manuscript to a more appropriate venue, avoiding delays from a lengthy review process that would nonetheless lead to rejection.

Peer review: Manuscripts that pass the initial review are assigned to an Associate Editor, who selects several referees based on their expertise in that particular field. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two referees under a double-blind peer review process, where both the referees and the authors are kept anonymous. Referees are asked to evaluate the manuscript based on its originality, soundness of methodology, impact to design research, and relevance to design practices. To facilitate timely publication, referees are asked to complete their reviews within one month. After collecting the referees' reports, the Associate Editor makes a recommendation on the acceptability of the manuscript to the Editor-in-Chief.

Recommendation: Based on the referees' comments and the Associate Editor's recommendation, the Editor-in-Chief makes a final decision on the acceptability of the manuscript and communicates to the authors the decision, along with referees' reports. The final decision can be "Accept Submission", "Revisions Required", "Resubmit for Review", "Resubmit Elsewhere", or "Decline Submission." A revised manuscript should be re-submitted within six months of the decision. It will usually be returned to the original referees for evaluation.

 

Review Guidelines

Double-blind Review
The journal employs the double-blind peer review process, where both reviewers and authors remain anonymous throughout the review process.

Criteria for Publication
For a manuscript to be published in the International Journal of Design, it must meet four criteria:

  1. Originality
  2. Soundness of methodology
  3. Importance to design researchers
  4. Relevance to design practices

Recommendation
Several types of recommendation are possible:

  1. Accept Submission
  2. Revisions Required
  3. Resubmit for Review
  4. Resubmit Elsewhere
  5. Decline Submission

Timely Review
Publication of manuscripts in a timely fashion benefits both the authors and the design community at large, where few journals are available to serve as common platforms for sharing research results. Reviewers are therefore kindly asked to complete their reviews within one month. If more time is needed, reviewers should contact the editor promptly.

Honest and Polite
After each round of the review, review reports are sent to the author(s) and all reviewers of the manuscript under consideration. It is important for a reviewer to be honest but not offensive when providing comments. Review reports with opinions expressed in a kind and constructive way will more effectively persuade the authors on the merit of the review.

Writing the Review
The purpose of the review is to provide the editors with an expert’s opinions on the quality of the manuscript under consideration. A good review report should identify both the strengths and weaknesses of the paper and should also provide constructive and specific comments on how to improve the paper. If the reviewer believes that the paper is not suitable for publication in the International Journal of Design, the review report should provide brief but sufficient information that enables the author(s) to understand the reasons for the decision.

Suggested Format
The following format is suggested for preparing the report:
  1. Summary and Recommendation
    What is the purpose of the paper? Is the paper appropriate for publication in the International Journal of Design? What are the main contributions of the paper? Are the contributions sufficiently significant? Are the methods or findings sufficiently novel? Are the results relevant to design practice? What are the major weaknesses of the paper? What is your recommendation for this paper and why? If the paper is unacceptable in its present form, does it show sufficient potential to ask the author(s) for resubmission?
  2. Detailed Comments on Methodology and Conclusions
    Is the method of approach valid? Is the execution correct? Does the paper provide adequate acknowledgement of prior research? Do the data support the conclusions? If not, what other data are needed? Does the paper offer enough details so that the research could be reproduced? Should the authors be asked to provide supplementary methods or data online?
    It would be very helpful to provide page numbers to the parts of the paper to which the comments apply.
  3. Detailed Comments on Readability
    Is the title appropriate? Is the abstract an accurate and useful summary of the paper? Is the paper clearly written? If not, how can it be improved? Can the paper be shortened? Are the tables and figures easy to understand? Does the paper contain typographical or grammatical errors?
    Again, it will be helpful to provide page numbers to the parts of the paper to which the comments apply.

Confidentiality
Reviewers should treat the contents of the manuscript under review as strictly confidential, not to be disclosed to others prior to publication. A reviewer should not use or share with others material from a manuscript he/she has reviewed. Nor should a reviewer distribute copies of a manuscript under review, unless it has been made public.

Conflicts of Interest
Reviewers are requested to inform the editor of any conflicts of interest in reviewing a manuscript. Such conflicts of interest can occur if the reviewer is asked to referee a paper written by a colleague of the same organization, former or current student, former advisor, or closely-related person. Another type of conflict occurs, for example, when the reviewer is a direct competitor of the author of the paper for a grant. If the conflict is severe, the reviewer should recuse himself/herself.

 

Open Access Policy

All journal content is open-accessed and allowed to be shared and adapted in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License. Copyrights are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the International Journal of Design. Authors also have full publishing rights without restrictions.

 

Special Issue Guidelines

The International Journal of Design encourages the submission of proposals for special issues on timely topics by recognized experts in the design area. The Editor-in-Chief will also request suggestions for special issues from the Editorial Board of the journal.

Proposal for a Special Issue
A special issue includes an editorial from the guest editors, and about 6~10 papers. The proposal for a special issue should contain the following information:

  • Proposed Title of Special Issue.

  • Guest Editors' Information, including names, affiliations, contact information, and selected publications in the area of the proposal. To encourage the exchange of ideas and findings across different cultures, it is suggested that there be at least two guest editors from different regions of the world.

  • Description. A 200-word summary about the proposed topic, including its importance and timeliness. If similar topics have been addressed in other publications, describe how this special issue differs.

  • Proposed Time Schedule, including submission deadline, first decision notification, submission of revised manuscript, final decision notification, and tentative publication date. Here is a reference schedule:
    • Month 0: Approval of special issue proposal; begin to solicit manuscripts; distribute call for papers.
    • Month 4: Submissions due.
    • Month 5: Reviews due; first decisions made; authors notified and asked to revise.
    • Month 6: Revised manuscripts due; final decisions recommended by guest editors; final decisions made by Editor-in-Chief.
    • Month 7: Editorial of special issue due.
    • Month 8: Final version edited; published.
  • List of Potential Authors and Reviewers. A guest editor cannot appear as author or co-author on more than one submission to the special issue. All manuscripts submitted to the special issue must be refereed with no guarantee of acceptance. With the Editor-in-Chief's approval, good papers that are not selected for the special issue may be accepted into regular issues.

Proposal Review
Proposals for special issues are thoroughly discussed and voted upon by the Editorial Board members. The Editor-in-Chief will inform the proposers about the decision of the Editorial Board and may request revision and resubmission of the proposal based on comments and recommendations from the Editorial Board.

Responsibilities of GuestEditors

  • Solicitation Process
    Within two weeks of the approval of the special issue proposal, the Guest Editors should prepare a call for papers and publicize the call by distributing it at appropriate conferences, posting it to mailing lists, and other means. The Guest Editors should also send the finalized call to the editorial office, so that it can be displayed as an announcement on the journal's website. In addition, the Guest Editors should contact prospective authors and encourage them to contribute as either authors or reviewers.
  • Submission Process
    All manuscripts must be submitted online at www.ijdesign.org. If a Guest Editor receives a submission directly from an author, the Guest Editor should ask him/her to submit it through the journal website. In the online submission system, the title of the special issue will be listed as one of the article types. An author can submit a manuscript to the special issue by choosing the title as the article type. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the Author's Guidelines of the journal and ready for double-blind review.

  • Review Process
    Submitted manuscripts that pass initial reviews by the Guest Editors should then be reviewed following the Peer Review Process and according to Review Guidelines of the journal. In particular, each manuscript must be reviewed by at least two referees under a double-blind review process. If a Guest Editor submits a manuscript to the special issue, that manuscript will be handled by the Editor-in-Chief. To uphold the standard of the journal, the Guest Editors are reminded that conflicts of interest should be avoided when assigning reviewers to evaluate the manuscripts.

  • Recommendation Process
    After all the reviews are back, the Guest Editors should make recommendations to the Editor-in-Chief. The recommendations could be accepted (for the special issue), minor revisions, major revisions, or reject. The Editor-in-Chief makes final decisions about the manuscripts after thorough discussions with the Guest Editors. It is possible for accepted manuscripts not selected for the special issue to be published in regular issues. However, the Guest Editors should wait for final decisions from the Editor-in-Chief before informing the authors.

  • Preparing for Publication
    The Guest Editors should prepare an editorial introduction for the special issue to set the scope of the special issue and explain the importance of the topic.

 

Post-Acceptance Fee

Submitting papers to IJDesign is free of charge. After the paper is accepted for publication, the authors will pay a post-acceptance fee of US$1,000 per article to support the journal production, open access, and online hosting and archiving. Upon the notification of acceptance, we will send an invoice to the authors via PayPal. Authors can pay this fee using various payment methods offered by PayPal. If the authors prefer other payment approaches, please contact the Managing Editor to make other arrangements.

We can offer partial or full waivers when the first and corresponding authors are unable to pay the fee, due to the lack of funding supports or economic siituations. In such cases, the authors need to fill out the waiving request form and send it to the Managing Editor. The editorial office will review the request and communicate with the authors onwards to find a solution.