Information For Authors

Click here for Editorial Guidelines 

The Journal has no article submission charges or article processing charges.
The Journal has no waiver policy.

Online Publication

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

This Journal is a CC-BY 4.0 publication (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This Licence allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this Journal, providing a link to the Licence and explicitly underlining any change (full mention of Issue number, year, pages and DOI is required). See Open Access Policy (About the Journal).

Open Call for Papers 

Open Call for Papers
Skenè. Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies

SKENÈ. JOURNAL OF THEATRE AND DRAMA STUDIES, a peer-reviewed academic journal ("Classe A", Italian Journal Evaluation System), invites scholars and researchers to submit manuscripts for publication. Our journal encourages contributions that aim at stimulating a discussion on critical approaches to the play text and the performance text within an interdisciplinary context. Philological, linguistic, rhetorical, semiotic, and translation studies, as well as literary and philosophical hermeneutics, reception studies, sociology of theatre, and performance studies may all contribute to a lively confrontation between different perspectives and critical views. Skenè. JTDS also promotes the interaction between international scholars of various humanistic areas, furthering a dialogue between renowned and younger researchers. Articles on issues, questions, and specifics of drama and theatre texts from antiquity to the present are welcome. Areas of special interest are the forms, modes and genres of play texts, and the impact of dramaturgy and performance on their codification.

A special section including shorter pieces welcomes artists’ writings, interviews, performance and book reviews, festival reports, etc.

Please send a 300-word abstract and a 150-word bio-biblio to the Managing Editors (valentina.adami@unibg.it and emanuelstelzer@skeneproject.it).

Spring issue abstract deadline: 1 December (e.g. 1 Dec 2020 for 2021 Spring issue)

Spring issue article submission deadline: 1 January

Fall issue abstract deadline: 1 June (e.g. 1 June 2020 for 2020 Fall issue)

Fall issue article submission deadline: 1 July 

All selected articles will be sent to external reviewers for double blind peer review.
Length of articles: 7,000–9,000 words.
Special section pieces: 3,000–8,000 words.
The editorial board will evaluate longer articles and pieces. 
Abstracts and articles must be in English.

Call for Special Issues

Open Call for a Special Issue of Skenè. Journal of Theatre and Drama Studies

Skenè. JTDS solicits high-quality proposals for a Special Issue that will be evaluated in a highly competitive procedure. The proposed issue should focus on a substantive or methodological question of broad interest to scholars of theatre and drama with special regard to the journal’s main areas of interest: critical approaches to the play text and the performance text within an interdisciplinary context; philological, linguistic, rhetorical, semiotic, and translation studies, as well as literary and philosophical hermeneutics, reception studies, sociology of theatre, and performance studies. 

The papers may exemplify a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches and the topic must represent an area of high interest and relevance for the journal. Special Issue proposals do not have to focus on research areas that have already been covered in the journal (see the Back Issues page for further information) or are being addressed in the special issues under preparation (see the Announcements page for further information).

Proposals for a Special Issue should have a well-articulated unifying theme and reflect, at an international level, the best work in a particular research area, either a mature area or an emerging one, in which future investigation may be boosted by the publication of a set of excellent papers. 

Specifically, a proposal for a Special Issue should include: 

-       the name and address for communication of the guest editor(s);
-       a 250-word bio-biblio of the guest editor(s) and a list of publications;
-       a 500-word rationale explaining the scope and significance of the proposed theme;
-       a list of the authors (and their affiliations) of a sufficient number of contributions to secure at least seven final articles;
-       a 300-word abstract for each of the contributions;
-       at least two possible reviewers of the single papers, who are not involved in any of the contributions.   

Please take into account that an author can be involved in only one paper and the guest editor should not be an author as well. The length of a paper and the editor’s introduction to the issue is 7,000-9,000 words (including footnotes, works cited, tables and figures). 
See the Guidelines for Authors for further details. 

Time schedule

Proposals should be sent to the Managing Editors (valentina.adami@unibg.it and emanuelstelzer@skeneproject.it) who will forward them to the Editorial Board for evaluation, by: 

1 June for Fall Issues (deadline for final submission of accepted papers: 1 July)

1 December for Spring Issues (deadline for final submission of accepted papers: 1 January) 

Evaluation criteria

The major criteria in the selection process concern the originality of the contribution and its significance to the field of theatre and drama studies. The following criteria will also be taken into consideration: 

  • Suitability of the topic for Skenè. JTDS;
  • Theoretical background and rationale of proposal and individual papers;
  • Methodological adequacy of the individual papers;
  • Clarity and significance of the results;
  • Quality of discussion and conclusions;
  • Completeness of the proposal;
  • Guest editor(s)’ experience in editorial work. 

The proposal review process will take 1 to 3 weeks. Once the highest-quality proposal has been selected among those submitted, it will be the responsibility of the Guest Editor(s) to proceed within the agreed timeline. The papers for the selected proposal should be submitted online via the Skenè OJS platform. Each will undergo a regular double-blind peer review for final acceptance. 

Please note that an issue containing less than seven contributions (editor’s introduction excluded) will not be published. Therefore it is advisable to gather a higher number of contributions for each issue, in case some should fail the peer review or the Editorial Board evaluation. 

Please do not hesitate to contact the Managing Editors for further details and clarifications.