Instructions for Authors

PROSTOR: a scholarly journal of architecture and urban planning publishes three types of papers and book and conference reviews and reviews of doctoral dissertations. When you submit a paper, please check all the categories so it can be reviewed appropriately. Authors are required to indicate whether their paper fits the criteria for these categories during the submission process.

The preferred length of the manuscript is 28800 characters with spaces. The text should be logically and clearly structured, divided into entitled chapters. All pages should be numbered. Figures, tables, graphs, and other graphic contributions should be inserted within the text. It is highly recommended to have the text proofread before submitting it to the Editorial Board. 

All received manuscripts are subject to routine disclosure of similarity with existing literature (plagiarism and self-plagiarism).

In the case of suspected plagiarism and redundancy, the editorial board will act in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Structure of the paper
It is recommended to organize your manuscript in the following structure and sections or their equivalents for your field:

Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a summary of the results. Prior work based on the same project and/or data must be referenced, and the unique contribution of the new submission must be stated explicitly. State the purpose of the work in the form of the hypothesis, question, or problem you investigated. Briefly explain your rationale and approach and, whenever possible, the possible outcomes your study can reveal.

Materials and Methods
Explain clearly how you carried out your study. It should contain sufficient detail so that when read in conjunction with cited references, all procedures can be repeated.

Results
Results should be clear and concise to objectively present your work, without interpretation, in an orderly and logical sequence using both text and illustrative materials (Tables and Figures).

Discussion
This should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature. Discussions should cover the key findings of the study: discuss the potential shortcomings and limitations, discuss the integration into the current understanding of the problem and how this advances the current views speculate on the future the direction of the research, and freely postulate theories that could be tested in the future.

Conclusions
The main conclusions of the study may be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.

Formatting and Templates
All manuscripts must be submitted online in MS Word format (.doc or .docx) using Open Journal Systems. The whole manuscript should be prepared according to Article Template. The cover page and figures or tables should be submitted as separate files.

For more detailed guidelines, authors should consult the Instructions for Authors, as well the Etics Statement.

All our contributors are also welcome to consult the Instruction for Reviewers. 

Anonymized manuscript
Authors are required to anonymize their manuscripts prior to electronic submission. Anonymization is not necessary for the submissions to the sections of book and conference reviews. All identifying information should be removed from the manuscript. This also includes references to the institution or the project to which the manuscript is associated.

Personal information about the author noted in the file title and file properties should also be removed.

Contributions for Current Theme Section

  • Reviews of books, journals, and scientific conference proceedings or books of abstracts present Croatian and international publications published in the last two years. It should be accompanied by general information from impressum (publisher, reviewers, proofreading, design, ISBN, etc.).The length of the contribution should not exceed 6500 characters with spaces. Including an abstract of 450 characters with spaces. It should be written in English only.
  • Review on Doctoral Dissertation defended in the current year should be accompanied by the title, supervisor and committee in charge, as well as brief biography of the author. The length of the contribution should not exceed 6500 characters with spaces. Including an abstract of 450 characters with spaces. It should be written in English only.

Article processing charge (APC)
Due to a substantially reduced budget for the journal PROSTOR, and to maintain quality and ensure continuous publication of scientific papers, the Faculty of Architecture Council, along with the PROSTOR Editorial Board, has decided to introduce the obligatory Publication Fee starting January 1, 2013. Following recent budget cuts, we hereby inform you that starting from July 1, 2024, based on the Editorial Board's decision, a new APC amount will be introduced, along with the regulation of discounts for authors.

The publication fee is paid per article. If the manuscript receives two positive blind peer-reviews and the author(s) make the necessary corrections according to the reviewers' suggestions, the author(s), their institution, or their research funder shall pay a €800.00 publication fee (25% VAT included). The editorial board will email the author(s) a pre-invoice according to the information provided on the Cover Page. The author(s) should then email the certificate of payment to the Editorial Board at prostor@arhitekt.hr or via OJS. Following that the manuscript can be prepared for editing and printing.

Color figures will be reproduced in color only in the online edition on-demand and with additional cost to
the author(s). The author(s) shall pay additional 70€. If the author(s) opt for black and white, they will not
have to pay the additional charges

If the author is not satisfied with the categorization of the article, we will not return the money and the article will not be published.

Waiver policy:

  • University of Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture employees, retirees, students and Ph.D. students: 100% waiver on the actual APC
  • Authors who publish with a co-author from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Architecture: 50% waiver on the actual APC
  • Reviewers who reviewed for Prostor in the last three years: 10% waiver on the actual APC
  • Lower-middle-income economies (classification by income): 30% waiver on the actual APC
  • Low-income economies (classification by income): 50% waiver on the actual APC

The aforementioned fee is to be paid solely on a basis of the pre-invoice of the Faculty of Architecture, NOT BEFORE, due to the procedure of determining a tax liability which depends on the status of the institution/author(s) that pays the fee. Please fill the form.

The Faculty of Architecture will pay all additional expenses that are not covered by the fee, as mentioned above.

After the payment is made, an invoice will be sent to the author(s).

We thank you for your understanding and hope to continue our successful collaboration.

PROSTOR Editorial Board