Landscape Architecture follows a transparent editorial process designed to ensure academic quality, ethical integrity, originality, and relevance to the journal’s aims and scope. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are handled with confidentiality and are assessed according to scholarly merit, methodological soundness, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the field of landscape architecture and related disciplines.
1. Manuscript Submission
Authors may submit manuscripts in any standard academic format. Submissions may be prepared in Microsoft Word or LaTeX. At the initial submission stage, the journal does not require a strict template, but manuscripts should be complete, clearly organized, and suitable for academic review.
A complete submission should normally include the manuscript file, title page, abstract, keywords, main text, references, figures, tables, and all required statements, such as funding information, conflict of interest declaration, ethical approval statement, and data availability statement where applicable.
2. Initial Editorial Screening
After submission, the editorial office conducts an initial screening to confirm that the manuscript is complete and suitable for consideration. At this stage, the manuscript is checked for basic formatting, readability, authorship information, ethical declarations, journal scope, and overall academic presentation.
Manuscripts may be returned to authors before peer review if they are incomplete, outside the aims and scope of the journal, insufficiently developed, difficult to evaluate, or not prepared according to basic scholarly standards.
3. Scope and Quality Assessment
The editor evaluates whether the manuscript fits the academic focus of Landscape Architecture. Submissions should contribute to landscape architecture, architecture, environmental science, engineering, arts and humanities, nature and landscape conservation, urban studies, cultural landscapes, ecological planning, or related areas.
The editor may decline a manuscript without external review if it does not meet the journal’s scope, lacks originality, has major methodological weaknesses, contains insufficient scholarly content, or does not meet ethical and publication standards.
4. Similarity and Ethical Checks
The journal may screen submitted manuscripts for similarity, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate text reuse, image manipulation, data concerns, authorship issues, or other possible ethical problems. Authors are responsible for ensuring that all sources, data, images, maps, drawings, plans, tables, and third-party materials are properly cited and used with permission where required.
If ethical concerns are identified, the editorial office may request clarification from the authors, seek additional documentation, pause the review process, reject the manuscript, or take other appropriate editorial action.
5. Assignment to an Editor
Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are assigned to an editor with suitable subject knowledge. The assigned editor oversees the review process, selects reviewers, evaluates reviewer comments, communicates editorial decisions, and ensures that the manuscript is handled fairly and confidentially.
Editors are expected to avoid conflicts of interest. If an editor has a personal, professional, financial, or institutional conflict with a manuscript, the manuscript should be reassigned to another qualified editor.
6. Single-Blind Peer Review
Landscape Architecture uses a single-blind peer review process. In this model, reviewers know the identity of the authors, but the identities of reviewers are not disclosed to the authors.
The editor invites qualified reviewers with appropriate expertise in the subject area of the manuscript. Reviewers are asked to evaluate the originality, scholarly contribution, research design, methodological quality, clarity, structure, literature engagement, ethical compliance, and relevance of the manuscript to the journal.
Reviewer comments are treated as confidential. Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, and evidence-based evaluations. Personal criticism, discriminatory language, or inappropriate comments are not acceptable.
7. Reviewer Evaluation
Reviewers may be asked to comment on the following aspects of the manuscript:
Relevance to the aims and scope of the journal
Originality and contribution to knowledge
Clarity of research purpose and argument
Adequacy of literature review and theoretical context
Suitability of research methods or analytical approach
Quality and reliability of findings, interpretation, or discussion
Use and presentation of figures, maps, tables, drawings, and visual materials
Ethical compliance and transparency
Quality of language, organization, and academic style
Overall suitability for publication
Reviewers provide recommendations to the editor, but the final editorial decision rests with the editor.
8. Editorial Decision
After considering the reviewer reports and the editor’s own assessment, the journal may issue one of the following decisions:
Accept: The manuscript is suitable for publication with no further substantive changes.
Minor Revision: The manuscript requires limited corrections or clarifications before acceptance.
Major Revision: The manuscript requires substantial revision before it can be reconsidered.
Revise and Resubmit: The manuscript shows potential but requires extensive revision and may undergo further review.
Reject: The manuscript is not suitable for publication in the journal.
The decision letter normally includes editorial comments and reviewer feedback. Authors should carefully address all required revisions before resubmitting the manuscript.
9. Revision by Authors
When a revision is requested, authors should submit a revised manuscript along with a detailed response letter. The response letter should explain how each editor and reviewer comment has been addressed. If the authors disagree with a comment, they should provide a clear and respectful explanation.
Revised manuscripts should clearly indicate changes using tracked changes, highlighting, or another method requested by the editorial office. Depending on the extent of revision, the manuscript may be assessed by the editor or returned to reviewers for further evaluation.
10. Final Editorial Assessment
After revision, the editor reviews the revised manuscript and the authors’ response letter. The editor determines whether the manuscript has adequately addressed the comments and whether it now meets the journal’s standards for publication.
The editor may accept the manuscript, request further revision, seek additional review, or reject the manuscript if the required improvements have not been made.
11. Acceptance
A manuscript is accepted only after it has successfully completed editorial evaluation, peer review, required revision, and final approval by the editor. Acceptance confirms that the manuscript is suitable for publication in Landscape Architecture, subject to copyediting, formatting, proofreading, DOI assignment, and production.
Acceptance does not depend on payment of publication fees. Landscape Architecture is a diamond open access journal and does not charge article processing charges, submission fees, publication fees, page charges, or DOI registration fees.
12. Copyediting and Production
After acceptance, the manuscript enters the production stage. The article may be copyedited for grammar, clarity, consistency, journal style, references, figure captions, table formatting, metadata, and layout.
Authors may be asked to review proofs before publication. Proof corrections should be limited to typographical errors, formatting issues, and minor factual corrections. Substantial rewriting, new data, major authorship changes, or major structural changes are not normally permitted at the proof stage.
13. DOI Assignment and Online Publication
Each article published in Landscape Architecture receives a unique Digital Object Identifier. The DOI provides a permanent link to the article and supports indexing, citation, metadata registration, and long-term access.
The journal publishes one volume per year with four issues annually. Issues are published in March, June, September, and December. Accepted articles are assigned to an upcoming issue after completion of the editorial and production process.
14. Post-Publication Updates
The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record. If errors are identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, clarification, expression of concern, or retraction, depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue.
Requests for post-publication corrections should be sent to the editorial office with a clear explanation of the issue and supporting information where necessary.
15. Editorial Independence
Editorial decisions are based on academic quality, originality, relevance, ethical compliance, and peer-review evaluation. The journal does not accept payment in exchange for acceptance, accelerated review, guaranteed publication, or favorable editorial treatment.
All manuscripts are handled according to the same editorial standards, regardless of the authors’ nationality, institution, seniority, gender, personal background, or ability to pay.