Sophia Journal is an international academic, open access, peer-reviewed journal, published by the Centre for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism (CEAU) - Research group Architecture, Art and Image (AAI) at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto, Portugal (FAUP), in collaboration with the association Cityscopio and their publishing imprint scopio Editions.
AIMS AND SCOPE
Created in 2016, Sophia Journal supports and disseminates scientific research through the publication of theoretical articles and visual essays that investigate and think critically the intersections between the image and architecture. We understand both terms in a wide sense: the image of photography, painting, drawing, cinema, video, T.V. and new media; acknowledging architecture as an extended discipline and practice with an interest, on one side, in the real space and its experiences and, on the other side, in how architecture operates within larger systems: artistic, socio-cultural, political, historical and technical.
The etymology of the word “sophia” is related to the concepts of sapience and wisdom: (Greek Σοφία, sofía) it is what the “wise person” has, and from this word derives also philo+sophia (“love of wisdom”). Our aim is that Sophia Journal provides an “instrumenta mentis”, enabling critical and innovative questioning and extending our speculative knowledge about architecture in its relationship with art and the image, and about the image in its relationship with architecture.
Sophia Journal adopts standard academic publication procedures, nevertheless it is not limited to traditional academic papers but also includes visual essays that are the result of practice-based research. This means that we are interested in traditional papers, where the incidence is the mode of writing that uses predominantly text, which may or may not be combined with images, as well as in the visual essay format, which allows more freedom and in which discourse takes place predominantly through images.
EDITORIAL POLICIES
Sophia Journal wants to challenge diverse creators to submit original articles, visual essays, reviews, book reviews and other texts of interest that have not been published previously.
Sophia Journal invites submissions from all fields and disciplines coming from the Architecture, Art and Image universe, in which artistic research within architecture may be considered relevant.
The Visual Essay format allows authors to combine text and image, either still or moving, on its web platform, creating space for practice research and in this way challenging the dominance of writing in academic research. We encourage the submission of work exploring visual strategies which are able to integrate technical and artistic aspects by using imagery, namely photography, as a mental device that leads to a new perception of architecture, space and their experiences.
PEER-REVIEW PROCESS
Submitted articles are subject to a process of double-blind peer review, which means that both the reviewers and the author identities are concealed throughout the review process. Articles will be reviewed by two scholars. Submitted articles can be accepted, rejected or returned with the recommendation to revise and resubmit after the process of revision, as per the comments of Sophia Journal reviewers. Please see our Reviewers Guidelines.
Visual essays are subject to double peer review by the Editors.
SOPHIA JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES
In addition to regular journal content, Sophia Journal may also publish whole issues dedicated to a specific theme. These are handled in the standard way by the editorial team of the journal, which may include invited guest editors.
The regularity with which these are published can vary, and the articles may or may not be commissioned /invited to be part of the grouped content. All are subject to the usual standards of the journal´s editorial policies and the peer review policies.
Frequency
Sophia Journal publishes one volume per year, both in print and digital format.
Language of submission and publication
The language of submission and publication is English. We are currently considering extending the submission and publication also to Portuguese and Spanish.
Author charges
Sophia Journal does not charge any article processing charges nor submission charges; submission is entirely free for authors.
Plagiarism
We use the services of Crossref Similarity Check and iThenticate to scan all the submissions received, before these are sent to the Reviewers. Sophia reserves itself the right to refuse all the articles that after the scan reveal an inadequate percentage of similarity.
Sections
Each issue of Sophia is composed of the following sections:
Introduction to the issue.
Editorial by the guest editors.
Articles submitted in response to the call for papers, presenting unpublished research work.
Interviews, articles, perusal or projects commissioned by the Editorial Committee: presenting unpublished research work, critique or scientific activities in the fields of architecture, art and image.
Papers submitted the content of which does not fit in the specific subject of the issue; visual essays and/or papers considered of interest.
Critical reviews of publications, exhibitions and conferences in the field of architecture and image, written by a third person.
Ethical Guidelines
Sophia Journal is committed to ensuring the highest standards of ethics in publication and quality of articles. Conformance to principles of publication ethics is expected of all parties involved in the act of publishing. Editors, Authors and Reviewers are required, in particular, to abide by the following standards (based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE).
Editors: Based on the review report of the referees, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript. The editor must ensure that each manuscript is evaluated solely on the basis of academic merit and that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is not disclosed to anyone other than the reviewers and other editorial advisers, as appropriate. The editor must not use unpublished information in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Editors must take reasonable responsive measures when ethical complaints are presented concerning a submitted or published manuscript.
Authors: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works and that any work of others authors, or sources have been appropriately credited and referenced. Plagiarism in all its forms is unacceptable: Sophia Journal uses the software “Turnitin” for its detection. Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one publication at a time. The corresponding author should ensure that there is a full consensus of all co-authors in approving the final version of the paper and its submission for publication.
Reviewers: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage. If the selected referee feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, he should excuse himself from the review process. If the reviewer feels he does not meet the conditions to complete the review of the manuscript within the stipulated time, this information must be communicated to the editor immediately. Reviews should be done objectively and observations should be formulated clearly with supporting arguments. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have any conflicts of interest.