Shortcuts

1.   Reasons for Founding the Journal

2.   Publication Frequency

3.   Partnership with Journal of Architecture History in Secondary Publications

4.   Original Research Articles

5.   Review Articles and Reports

6.   Viewpoints

7.   Book Notes

8.   Book Reviews

9.   Editorials

10. Secondary Publications

11. Editorial Policies

12. Peer Review Process

13. Reviewers

14. Open Access Policy

15. Conflict of Interest

16. Publishing Ethics

17. Errata and Correction in Published Articles

18. Article Withdrawal

19. Article Retraction

20. Copyright and License

21. Reprints

22. Quality

23. Appeals and Complaints

24. Indexing and Archiving Service

25. Advertising Policies

26. Disclaimer

27. Sponsors

 

Reasons for Founding the Journal

Following in the footsteps of other academic journals in English focusing on Chinese Studies, such as the Journal of Chinese History, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Journal of Chinese Religions, Journal of Chinese Humanities, Journal of Chinese Sociology, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Journal of Chinese Writing Systems, Journal of Chinese Linguistics, Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture, Journal of Chinese Medicine, Journal of Chinese Clinical Medicine, Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences, Journal of Chinese Governance, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Journal of Chinese Military History, Journal of Chinese Overseas, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, International Journal of Chinese Culture and Management, and so on, the launching of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism is a logical next step. It is a way of honoring Chinese architectural culture, and a response to the overwhelming criticisms about Chinese urbanization in recent decades that has departed too far from its national architectural heritage and has lost its local and regional identity. This problem cannot be entirely blamed for the internationalization of architectural styles, or the numerous so called “International Journal of …” that instill a sense of “internationalism” to readers’ minds. In their book “Identity by Design,” Oxford Brookes University Professors Georgia Butina Watson and Ian Bentley (2007) observed: “In a world of increasing globalisation, where one high street becomes interchangeable with the next, Identity by Design addresses the idea of place-making and the concept of identity, looking at how these things can be considered as an integral part of the design process.” In a similar vein, the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism will hopefully exert positive influence on China’s urban development from now on.

Publication Frequency

The publication frequency of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism is biannual (2 issues per year).

Partnership with Journal of Architecture History in Secondary Publications

In a collaboration between AccScience Publishing (formerly known as Inno Science Press) and China Machina Press, Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism will translate and publish selected articles of Journal of Architecture History (transliterated as Jianzhu Shi Xuekan) in the Secondary Publication Section.

The Editorial Office of Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism selects the articles published in Journal of Architecture History based on the scope below:

• Topical interest to Western audience in architecture and urbanism related disciplines
• Topical connection and relevance to Western scholarship
• Topics of wider concerns, such as ecological and climatic issues, etc.

The selected articles will be translated into English by scholars who are proficient in both languages and well-versed in this field of study. The translated articles, however, will not be peer-reviewed again as they have been rigorously evaluated by reviewers of Journal of Architecture History.

Original Research Articles

Original Research articles, sometimes referred to as empirical or primary sources, report on original research. Original research articles should provide details regarding essential and unpublished investigations and ought to describe the aims and hypothesis, methods, results, analysis of the of results and conclusion. The journal allows the original research articles to explore confirming studies and disconfirming results, which allow hypothesis elimination, reformulation or potentially provide details regarding the non-reproducibility of previously published results. Articles should include the following sections:

1. Introduction
2. Research Method
3. Findings
4. Conclusion
5. Recommendation
6. Acknowledgements
7. Conflict of Interest
8. Funding
9. References and Notes

Original research articles are peer-reviewed with the following requirements:

• Word count of 6,000 - 8,000
• Up to 20 figures/tables.
• After the first two issues, authors are required to pay a publication fee to publish an original research article.

Review Articles and Reports

Review articles, sometimes called literature reviews or secondary sources, synthesize or analyze research already conducted in primary sources. They generally summarize the current state of research on a given topic. Review articles and reports should have the following requirements:

• Word count of 3,000 - 8,000
• Up to 10 figures/tables/videos
• After the first two issues, authors are required to pay a publication fee to publish a review article or report

Viewpoints

Viewpoints are the articles that give the authors an opportunity to present their distinctive viewpoints on contemporary issues, controversies, recent research developments or new research findings within a particular research area, or to challenge dogma. The nature of viewpoints should be timely and compelling, and should aim to stimulate debate or new research.

There is no rigid section format in a viewpoints article. An Abstract is not needed for a viewpoints article. The authors are free to use multiple sections to voice out their viewpoints on a particular topic.

The length of each viewpoints article should not exceed 1,000 words. Each article contains no more than 10 references and notes. Only one figure or table is allowed. Footnotes should be avoided and incorporated into the text. Manuscripts must be in the final form during submission and the figure and table must be properly presented.

Book Notes

Book Notes are normally written by the members of the Editorial Board. Thus, book notes are invited pieces that give short introduction or summary about newly published books of the Editorial Board members. Submissions of Book Notes will not be reviewed by external reviewers.

The book to be introduced in Book Note must have been published in less than two months by the time of book notes submission. If there are more than one author of a book, a consent of all authors is necessary before the publication of the Book Note in JCAU.

Each Book Note should contain only one paragraph with a length ranging from 150 to 300 words. Book title, publisher, year of publication and ISBN must be mentioned in the beginning of Book Note.

Book Reviews

(This guideline is modified based on Oxford Journals - Oxford University Press https://academic.oup.com/envhis/pages/Book_Review_Guidelines)

Book reviews are an important part of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism (JCAU). Book reviews demonstrate thoughtful engagement and contain stimulating insights about recent publications of interest to the readers. The reviewers, some of the most knowledgeable scholars in the field, typically provide the following: 

1. A careful summary of the work's central features, including its subject matter, organization, and how the argument is structured; and
2. Analysis of how the work contributes to the field of knowledge and/or theoretical literatures, including any perceived shortcomings.

Length

A typical book review length is 3,000 words (including bibliographic information and reviewer information). It should give readers an engaging, informative, and critical discussion of the work. In rare cases, when reviewers are writing about several books in one review, the book review editors will allow a higher word count up to 3,200.

Format

Book reviews should adhere to the following protocols:

• Written in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, single-spaced, and use tabs to denote paragraphs.
• Contain the following bibliographic title: Title of Book. By Author's First and Last Name. Publication City (or Cities): Publisher, Date. Arabic numbered pages. Illustrations, notes, tables, bibliography, and index. Book price.
• Reviewer's name and institutional affiliation should appear at the end of the review, along with their email address; the email address will be removed prior to publication.

Tone

The reviews should be professional. Authors and readers alike deserve impartial assessments.

Coverage 

Most readers will want to know:

1. What is the book about? What are its main points? What is the author arguing?
2. Where does the book fit into the literature? Whose work does it support or rebut?
3. Is it novel in topic, argument, or methods?
4. How well does the author succeed in their intent for the book? What are the book's strengths and weaknesses?
5. What is the quality of the prose? Is the writing clear and accessible?
6. Who would you recommend this book to? The general public? Scholars in a particular field? Graduate students? Undergraduate students? Would this book work as a classroom text?
7. Is the book's quality of production unusual? In what way?
8. What is your overall assessment of the book? How does this book compare to its peers?

If the book is an edited collection, give the reader an overview of the book. Illustrate your points with examples from one or more chapters. Perhaps identify chapters that stand out and discuss them in more detail.

Style Tips

• Avoid “I,” “we,” “this writer,” and other self-referential words and phrases. 
• Keep quotations from the book brief and cite the page number in parentheses. For example, “quote” (p. 76). Do not use footnotes.
• If you refer to other books or articles, cite the author, title, publisher or journal, publication date, and page numbers (if needed) in parentheses. 
• Spell out whole numbers from one through nine unless in a list; above 10 use Arabic numerals. 
• Use Arabic numerals to particular centuries but hyphenate when they are used as adjectives (“20th century,” “19th-century standards”). 
• Use upper case and Arabic numerals to refer to numbered parts of a book (for example, “Chapter 3” or “Part 2”).

Editorials

An Editorial is a solicited, concise commentary that highlights prominent topics in particular issue. The Editorials are the official opinions of the editors of the journal or special issue. Typically, an Abstract is not required and only one figure/table is allowed.

Secondary Publications

Through a collaboration between AccScience Publishing (formerly known as Inno Science Press) and China Machina Press, the selected articles of Journal of Architecture History will be translated and published in the Secondary Publication Section of Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism. The submission to this section is not open to general authors.

The Editorial Office of Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism selects the articles published in Journal of Architecture History based on the scope below:

• Topical interest to Western audience in architecture and urbanism related disciplines
• Topical connection and relevance to Western scholarship
• Topics of wider concerns, such as ecological and climatic issues, etc.

The translated articles, however, will not be peer-reviewed again as they have been rigorously evaluated by reviewers of Journal of Architecture History.

Editorial Policies

This journal follows a strict editorial policy set by AccScience Publishing (formerly known as Inno Science Press). All manuscripts are only eligible if submitted by principal/corresponding author(s) or co-authors of the manuscript and should not be submitted by someone that is not in the list of authorship on their behalf. Along with the paper submission, the principal/corresponding author is required to enclose a cover letter on behalf of all co-authors (if any), stipulating that they do not make multiple submissions and have followed the necessary ethical codes in conducting their research and paper writing as well as the paper is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The journal will not accept a manuscript that has been submitted for consideration or published in any other journal, except for selected articles by our partner, Journal of Architecture History, that are published as secondary publications in Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism. The authors need to notify the journal editors through cover letter if the data presented in the manuscript has been ever presented at conferences or other forums. The author is required to check the online submission checklist to ensure that these criteria are fulfilled. After acceptance, the Publisher will have the right to edit the work for the original edition and for any revision. Furthermore, authors must disclose to the journal editors if any illustration, structure or table used in the manuscript that has been published elsewhere, and it is the authors’ responsibility to obtain permission of the copyright owner for reproduction.

Peer Review Process

AccScience Publishing follows a double-blind peer review procedure for submissions of all manuscripts to its journals.

All submitted manuscripts are subjected to a fair, unbiased and extensive peer review in consultation with the assigned journal's Editorial Board Member and independent internal or external referees (usually two reviewers), which have expertise in the field of the submitted manuscripts. The peer review applies a short and rapid, but fair and professional assessment on all submitted manuscripts. The journal's Editor-in-Chief is then decided on the submitted manuscripts based on all the peer reviewers' comments before conveying to the author(s).

All submissions from the Editor-in-Chief will undergo independent peer-review and assess by the journal's Editorial Board Member or in-house Editor for the decision on acceptance.

All manuscripts submitted to the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism will follow the following procedure:

(1) Initial submission is reviewed by in-house editors to ensure adherence to journal policies and for double-blind review

(2) Editor-in-Chief decides on the manuscript to be sent out for review process and assigns the manuscript to one of the editors according to the particular topic.

(3) Editor assigns reviewers from inside the editorial board or outside depending on the topic.

(4) After evaluations by the reviewers have been received, the editor-in-chief makes one of the following recommendations: accept, minor revision, major revision, reject and resubmit, and reject.

(5) If decision is minor revision, the authors have 7 days to resubmit the revised manuscript.

(6) If decision is major revision, the authors have 14 days to resubmit the revised manuscript.

(7) Upon resubmission, the same procedure is applied as for the initial submission.

(8) Authors may appeal for a rejected submission. Appeal requests must be made in writing to editor.jcau@accscience.com with detailed reasons for the appeal and point by point responses to the reviewer's remarks. Decisions on appeals are final without exception.

(9) For all manuscripts accepted for publication, the peer review process will be deemed to be completed. The manuscript will proceed to be copyedited, layout edited and proofread before being published online.

Reviewers

Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism follows a set of established standards for reviewers. The primary qualification for reviewers is the publication of one major monograph or several major articles in significant journals, although we occasionally ask reviewers with special qualifications who have fewer publications. We also generally require that reviewers have a PhD or its equivalent. The intent is to ensure that reviewers have experienced the peer-review process and understand the nature and production of architectural and urban studies monographs. If you meet these qualifications and would like to be added to our list of potential reviewers, please email us your name, affiliation, CV, and a short bio stating the field in which you are interested in reviewing. Please contact the Journal editors at: editor.jcau@accscience.com. Thank you for taking the time to help contribute to the study in Chinese architecture and urbanism.

Open Access Policy

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.

Conflict of Interest

The author(s) should hold responsibility in declaring any conflict of interest with respect to their work. The author(s) must provide details of any relationship with the financial bodies or funding agencies that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All authors, Editorial Board Members, reviewers and editors must disclose any association in the manuscript that presents a conflict of interest. The principal/corresponding author must, on behalf of all co-authors, disclose any potential conflictc of interests in the cover letter as well as in the back matter of the submitted paper. 

Publishing Ethics

AccScience Publishing requests all members involved in the journal publishing process to adhere to the Core Practices on publication ethics as stipulated by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics: https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

The Publisher strictly adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing developed by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), which are relevant to the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism.

All complaints submitted by the authors to the journal will be addressed promptly according to the procedure set out in the COPE flowchart on complaints. The complainant may direct all inquiries and correspondence to journal editors and the Publisher at: editor.jcau@accscience.com and editorial@accscience.com. 

Plagiarism Prevention

AccScience Publishing will not accept any submission with high similarity to the published texts in the articles or that are plagiarized under any circumstances. The journal will check the text similarity and the originality of the submitted manuscripts using commercial and widely acceptable plagiarism detection software. The plagiarism software checks the content against a database of periodicals, the Internet, and a comprehensive article database. Additionally, the report states the percentage of similarity between the uploaded manuscript and the published materials that are available in the system. Any overlapped content in the manuscript is further scrutinized for suspected plagiarism based on the publisher's Editorial Policies. In general, the publisher allows an overall similarity of 25% for a manuscript to be considered for publication, but this is subject to the extent of similarity with the individual, published contents. If necessary, the journal reserves the right to request authors for rewrite, rephrase and/or restructure even if the maximum score of 25% is not exceeded.

Types of Plagiarism

AccScience Publishing understands that it is not easy to have a clear boundary between legitimate representation and plagiarism as the scholarly manuscripts are written after thorough review of previously published articles. Therefore, the publisher has outlined several important features to assist in identifying different kinds of plagiarized content, as below:

1. The plagiarized words, sentences, ideas or findings from others as one's own without proper citation and acknowledgment.
2. Text recycling or self-plagiarism. The authors use a previous publication in one of the articles of the author without proper citation and acknowledgment of the original source.
3. Poor paraphrasing. All copied text by copying complete paragraphs and modifying a few words without proper paraphrasing or changing the structure of original sentences or changing the sentence structure but not the words.
4. Verbatim copying of text in any original source without placing quotation marks and citing or acknowledging the original author.
5. Unintentional plagiarism. The authors have properly cited an article of the original author but without sufficient paraphrasing the original text is considered. Similarly, manuscripts with language somewhere between paraphrasing and quoting are not acceptable. Authors should either paraphrase or quote and in both cases, cite the original source.
6. It is understandable that sometimes similarity in technical terms and/or standard procedures is hard to be a paraphrase, particularly in the sections of abstract, introduction, materials and methods, discussion and conclusion. Editors must review these sections carefully before making a decision, together with the explanation from the authors. 

 

Errata and Correction in Published Articles

It is encouraged that authors or readers can report the journal's editorial office or the Editorial-in-Chief on any identified errors in the published articles, authors' name or affiliations or if they have reasons for concern over the legitimacy of a publication. In such cases, the journal will publish an ERRATUM after verifying and authorized by the Editor-in-Chief and authors of that particular article and/or replace or retract the article.

Article Withdrawal

Accepted papers that have any identified errors or violation of the publishing ethics guidelines (such as multiple submission, fake claims of authorship, plagiarism, deceitful use of data or the like), but which have not been formally published with volume/issue/page information, may be "withdrawn" from the journal.

Article Retraction

For any violations of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submission, fake claims of authorship, plagiarism, deceitful use of data or the like, the published articles will be retracted immediately from the journal. Upon the approval of the Editor-in-Chief and/or authors, the title of the article will be modified by including the word "Retraction" at the beginning of the article title. Such a change will be executed in the article webpage and the article (PDF). A watermark bearing the word “RETRACTED” will be inserted on every page of the retracted article (PDF). In addition, a retraction note will be published, offering explanation and justification of article retraction.

Copyright and License

The journal is an open access journal that publishes articles, including secondary publication articles (as per our partnership with Journal of Architecture History), under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. Under this publishing license, the authors shall retain the copyright of their work but allow the Publisher a license to publish, copy, distribute, and convey the work, provided the correct attribution of the original creator is stated. Nevertheless, as per the copyright policy of Journal of Architecture History (our partner), the copyright of the secondary publication articles published in Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism will be owned by Journal of Architecture History. This broad license intends to facilitate free access to as well as the unrestricted reuse of original works, provided that the nature of access and reuse is non-commercial.

Copyediting and Proofs

Manuscripts must be written either in good American or British English, in a clear language, correct punctuations and consistent style throughout the manuscript. Authors are advised to send for professional English language editing service before submission. If authors need the English language editing service from AccScience Publishing, please get the quotation by emailing to editorial@accscience.com. All manuscripts are copyedited before publishing in the journal.

Reprints

High-quality, bound/unbound, print/e-prints can be purchased for all published articles.

Quality

AccScience Publishing ensures that each article published in the journal is with the highest quality by mutual contribution and cooperation given by genuine authors, reviewers and editors. AccScience Publishing is well-aware of the potential impact of published works both on future research and society, thus, any low-quality and irreproducible review publishing models will be rejected. Additionally, AccScience Publishing applies the most rigorous and unbiased peer review system to ensure that the research works published in the journal are well-recognized by peers.

Appeals and Complaints

Appeals of paper rejection can be forwarded to editor.jcau@accscience.com. Complaints to AccScience Publishing can be forwarded to editorial@accscience.com.

Indexing and Archiving Service

The contents of the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism is archived and preserved by Portico.

Disclaimer

Responsibility regarding the substance distributed by AccScience Publishing in any of its journals, including any conclusion communicated in that, rests solely with the author(s) of such substance. To the most extreme degree allowed by pertinent law, the Publisher (all alone sake, and for the benefit of its staff and individuals from its editorial board) disavows responsibility on all damage and additional harm (regardless of whether monetary or something else) to people or property, coming about specifically or in a roundabout way from any thoughts, strategies, directions, or items (counting mistakes in the same) alluded to in the substance of any of the Publisher's journals.

Sponsors

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