About the Journal

Aim and scope

The journal SPONDE, founded by the faculty members of the University of Zadar’s Department of Italian Studies, aims to publish research and professional papers covering a wide range of topics in the fields of linguistics, history and theory of literature, history, and culture in the broader sense and viewing the Adriatic region and its hinterlands through the lens of comparison, contact, relationship, hybridization – a perspective which has been an identifying mark of the Department for decades.

Supported by the Ministry of Science and Education, it was first published in 2022 and has since been released semiannually in electronic format.

We welcome submissions relating to the languages, literatures, and cultures of the regions in the Adriatic basin and following the logic of “comparing”, in the manner of comparative literature, contact linguistics, translation studies, and cultural studies.

As regards methodology, the journal, as its name SPONDE suggests, also looks forward to encouraging the contact between different approaches and disciplines. Therefore, we publish research findings in other humanities that encourage theoretical and methodological innovations in language and literary studies.

We accept submissions of exclusively unpublished articles written in Italian, Croatian and English, accompanied by abstracts in both English and Italian. We might exceptionally consider papers in other languages.

Prior to publication, the papers are subject to double-blind peer review process. Submissions can fall in one of the following categories: original research paper, preliminary communication, review paper, and professional paper.

Book reviews do not undergo the peer review process; instead, the decision on publication rests with the journal’s editorial board.

Sponde is an open access journal, published on a semiannual basis. Submissions are open year-round.

The journal is listed in Hrčak (the Portal of Croatian Scientific and Professional Journals) and classified as A2 journal in the field of humanities by the National Council for Science, Higher Education, and Technological Development (NN 42/2026). From 2024, it has been indexed in ANVUR (Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research).

Articles are exclusively received in electronic form at sponde@unizd.hr.

Reviewing: double blind review, national and international, categorised papers only

First year of publication: 2022

Frequency of publication: 2

ISSN: 2939-3647

Scientific disciplines and subdisciplines: philology, literature, linguistics, humanities

Open Access

The journal follows open access principles following the Directory of Open Academic Journal (https://doaj.org).

Except on Hrčak https://hrcak.srce.hr/en/sponde, Sponde is published on the online Publishing Platform by the University of Zadar on https://morepress.unizd.hr/journals/index.php/sponde/en/index.

The content is completely free of charge for readers and authors. Neither authors nor reviewers are paid for their work.

Review process

Received contributions are treated as confidential. Upon submission, contributions are anonymised in order to ensure fully impartial editorial evaluation based on the content.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to reject, in a written justification, without starting the review process, research manuscripts which are deficient in research or whose content is not connected with the scope of the journal.

The Editorial Board makes a decision about publication of research articles as well as their classification after two positive external double-blind reviews. Manuscripts which receive one positive and one negative review in the first round of reviews must be evaluated by a third reviewer. Authors are provided with anonymised reviews.

The editors must categorize scientific and professional papers published in the journal, according to the guidelines applicable in the Republic of Croatia and the recommendations of the reviewers. Original scientific papers are: “Original Research Paper” (izvorni znanstveni rad), which distributes research results, “Review Article“ (pregledni rad), which critically reviews the state of the art and new trends in current research, or “Preliminary Communication” (prethodno priopćenje), which informs of preliminary results of continuing research work, whose topicality, however, demands immediate publication. Professional contributions are categorized as a “Professional Paper”. The editorial and peer review process should take not more than six months as a rule, unless peer reviewers require substantial revisions of the article from the author.

Copyright and license

The electronic users may read and research, download, print, and copy, distribute and redistribute articles free of charge, without suspension, and as long as they attribute the source in an appropriate manner according to CC BY licence.

Authors retain the copyright to their paper and the right to publish without restrictions.

Archiving policy

All issues of the journal Sponde are electronically archived and preserved on Morepress platform, in the National and University Library in Zagreb, and in HRČAK: https://hrcak.srce.hr/sponde.

Publication ethics, malpractice statement and rights of use

The statement of publication ethics, publication malpractice and authorship criteria at University of Zadar can be found here.

Duties and responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers are based on the COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org and https://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf).

The use of AI tools

Authors are encouraged to use artificial intelligence tools transparently and responsibly, following the guidelines established in accordance with the University of Zadar’s Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence and the European Association of Science Editors (EASE) Recommendations on the Use of AI in Scholarly Communication.

GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS

GUIDELINES FOR REVIEWERS

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

IMPRESSUM

Publisher

University of Zadar

Mihovila Pavlinovića 1, 23000 Zadar, Hrvatska

Publishing Committee

Lena Mirošević (Chair)

Address of the Editorial Board

Sponde

Sveučilište u Zadru, Odjel za talijanistiku