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Diritto e politica dei trasporti is an on-line and open-access Journal. The Journal consists of Issues (I / 2018, II / 2019, III / 2019) and each Issue is considered closed at the end of each semester (June and December). The date of publication of accepted articles is indicated on the same page from which it is possible to download the writing.
The Journal contains writings about law and policy in the field of transports, submitted by academics, researchers, as well as professional and institutional experts.
The aim of the Journal is to contribute to the spread of the legal-regulatory knowledge as well as of the policies of the multilevel transport system (Italian, European and International).
The Journal constitutes a departure from the many other journals in this field because of its strong focus on transportation policies and because it publishes works by academics and theoreticians as well as by professionals and administrators who work in this sector. The Journal is therefore targeted not only to an academic audience, but also to operators in the transportation sector and to public decision-makers.
The Journal is divided into six sections:
- Doctrine
- Case-law
- Cases and issues
- Observatory
- Material
- Notices
In the “Doctrine” section, essays and scientific articles are collected, also written in a foreign language, regarding topics of particular legal and political importance, duly documented and supported by case-law and bibliographical references. This section also contains law notes, in-depth articles or analysis of judicial decisions, supported and documented by case-law and legal literature, as well as studies and research, like dossier, book reviews, conference reports.
The “Case-law” section contains integral versions of judicial decisions, including those issued in foreign jurisdictions, being of a current and particular interest for the transport sector. The decisions included in this section may include brief editorial notes.
The “Cases and issues” section includes contributions of qualified and highly specialized professional and institutional experts in the field of transport law and policy. Contributions hosted in this section are not necessarily accompanied by bibliographic or case-law references. Moreover, in this section decisions and measures adopted by authorities operating in the transport domain are collected.
The section “Observatory” contains a collection of legal sources published in the Italian Official Journal and in the EU Official Journal. Moreover, this section contains references to the most recent publications about navigation and transport.
In the “Material” section are included unpublished acts and measures, or acts not always easily available neither to the transport sector operators nor to those interested in the subject.
The “Notices” section hosts communications to academics and scholars interested to or involved in Administrative Law, Navigation and Transport Law to spread the knowledge of web sites, calls, research initiatives for which scientific collaborations are needed, awarding of prizes and recognitions, as well as any other relevant news concerning the institutional, political and legal environment to share in the transport community.
In the “Collaborators” section, a list indicating the Authors’ name and qualification who contribute to the Journal is published.
Submission of contributions
Manuscripts are sent in “.doc” format to the Journal’s e-mail address (redazione@dirittoepoliticadeitrasporti.it). The e-mail includes the following information:
- Author’s personal data, academic and/or professional qualifications, contacts;
- Abstract in Italian language of not more than 1.000 characters (including spaces), 5 key words;
- Authorization to process personal data provided by the Author to the Journal in accordance with Regulation EU 679/2016 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation), and Legislative Decree 30 June 2003, No. 196 (Italian Personal Data Protection Code);
- Request to publish the manuscript, which implicitly includes the following declarations by the Author that:
a) the manuscript is the result of research activity conducted by the Author and that it complies with the rules on intellectual property rights and on confidentiality of information, also with regards to the sources used;
b) the manuscript has not been already published nor has been submitted for publication to another on-line Journal;
c) the views expressed in the publication are the sole responsibility of the Author and do not reflect the views of the Journal;
d) the Author explicitly exonerates the Journal of all responsibility with regards to the choice to publish the manuscript, not to publish it, as well as to remove it from the Journal in the event of a breach of any legal provisions.
The Executive Editors reserve the right not to publish contributions that do not comply with the editorial criteria. Authors only are exclusively responsible for the contents of their writings. Anonymous writings are not accepted.
All contributions are published in PDF format. Off-prints may be downloaded and printed. Editorial criteria are available online, in the relevant section of the Journal.
Blind peer review
Contributions submitted to be published in the section “Doctrine” are subject to a blind peer review by the Journal’s Executive Editors, which reserve the right not to accept them. As for writings by authors of prestige or international repute, the Journal’s Executive Editors may take responsibility for publication without review. A note in the first page of the contribution mentions this circumstance.
Preliminary review of writings
The Executive Editors carry out a preliminary review of all contributions received. Such a review aims at verifying the pertinence of the topic to the transport sector, as well as the compliance of writings with the editorial criteria adopted by the Journal.
If the preliminary evaluation is positive, the blind peer-review process continues as follows. The Executive Editors submit each writing to an Italian or foreign referee for its evaluation. The referee will be a full or an associate professor or a well-known expert on the topic dealt with in the writing.
Referees are invited by email to assess a submission. The email includes an abstract of the article sent to the Journal. The referee declines or notes unavailability within the next three working days. Otherwise, the referee receives a confirming email together with the full article, and he/she is asked to evaluate it by filling out a detailed form (the “report”). The period provided for submitting the evaluative report is 30 days. About a week before the report deadline, the referee receives a reminder note from the Journal. The referee submits the report to the Executive Editors via email. If the referee needs a modest extension, an ad hoc request is sent to the Executive Editors. However, when a report is 30 days overdue, the Executive Editors will withdraw its invitation and assign the writing to another referee for evaluation. Authors shall be immediately informed of the assessment of the referee.
The Journal adopts the so-called double blind peer review, with the consequence that both the identities of the referee and of the author are unknown to each other.
In order to facilitate and speed up the review process, authors ensure that the submitted writing is anonymous, namely without any reference – both direct and indirect – to the author.
Criteria followed by the referees
In their evaluation activities, referees verify that the manuscripts have: (i) clarity; (ii) author’s scientific contribution to the topic, taking into account the “state of the art” both in the Scientific Community and in the case-law; (iii) adequacy of references and selected bibliography. It is possible that a writing is deliberately without bibliographical references; in such a case, the criteria sub (iii), does not apply.
Conclusion of the blind peer-review
The activity of the referees ends with (i) the unconditional acceptance of the manuscript; (ii) acceptance subject to changes recommended by the referee (in this case, the Executive Editors return the writing together with the anonymous report to the author in order to allow him/her to make the suggested changes. Once the changes have been made, the writing is returned to the Executive Editors, who will verify the appropriateness of the amendments; (iii) non-acceptance of the manuscript.
This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)