About us

Edizioni Ca’ Foscari Venice University Press

Edizioni Ca’ Foscari (ECF) is the Open Access digital University Press of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Our activity is grounded in the principle of the free circulation and dissemination of research, contributing to the construction of an open, rigorous, and internationally shared space of knowledge.

ECF offers an editorial environment in which the dissemination of scholarly journals and volumes in Open Access digital format is supported by editorial, digital, and project-based expertise capable of sustaining complex projects and non-standard formats, with particular attention to the disciplines cultivated within the University. It also develops native digital projects, digital glossaries, custom web pages, museum and exhibition catalogues, and collaborates on research projects that require dedicated editorial, digital, and infrastructural solutions. This plurality of formats reflects a conception of academic publishing that goes beyond the mere publication of content, extending to the design of environments and forms of knowledge transmission suited to the complexity of contemporary research.

The mission of ECF is to promote the widest possible circulation of research outputs, fostering connections between the scholarly activities developed within Ca’ Foscari University and the broader national and international academic community. Open Access is not a simple model of distribution, but a scientific and cultural choice in favour of the free circulation of knowledge and against any form of restriction on access to it. All publications are made available online in full and free of charge, with the aim of overcoming economic and material barriers that limit access to research, expanding the reach of scholarly content, and supporting a model of academic communication that is open, transparent, and inclusive. The dissemination of knowledge does not coincide with mere visibility, but constitutes an essential condition for the vitality of scholarly debate and for the public responsibility of universities and research.

The works published by ECF are subject to a rigorous process of selection and scholarly evaluation. The ECF Editorial Board, together with the Scientific Committees of individual journals and series, ensures their quality and originality through peer review procedures. Once accepted, contributions are followed throughout the entire editorial process, from editing to publication, and prepared for indexing in the main international databases, in order to ensure maximum visibility, accessibility, and dissemination.

ECF combines its long-standing traditional editorial expertise with digital and project-based competences: its activity does not simply consist in publishing results, but in defining the ways in which knowledge is organised, accessed, and transmitted over time. Academic publishing is thus understood as an integral part of scholarly production: not a secondary stage, but a space in which research is formulated and disseminated.

Our Publishing Model
  • perm_device_information Positioning and editorial line

    Edizioni Ca’ Foscari carries out its activity in the field of scientific and academic publishing adopting the Open Access principles and following both the ‘Diamond’ and the ‘Gold’ roads, which ensure the direct and immediate accessibility of the published contents.

    Our editorial approach is founded on the principle that scholarly publishing should extend beyond the dissemination of results, necessitating an editorial environment that can support research in its various forms. ECF provides a range of professional services, including editorial, digital, and project-based expertise. These services are applied to the publication of scholarly journals and volumes, as well as to the development of native digital projects, digital glossaries, custom pages, catalogues, and collaborations with research projects that require dedicated solutions.

    Our method includes:

    1. an evaluation process carried out by subject-matter experts (peer review);
    2. integral editing and verification of compliance with editorial standards shared by the international scientific community;
    3. production and management of metadata useful for the dissemination of published research.

    Each journal or volume, and the individual contributions within them, are published in a PDF format for free consulation and download. Some publications are availabile also in HTML version.

    Many of the titles in our series (monographs and edited books) are also published in a printed edition, both at the direct request of interested readers (print-on-demand), and for commercial distribution in bookshops and online bookstores. In addition, the e-commerce channel makes it even faster to purchase our paper versions, which are periodically selected and updaetd. The two media, paper and digital, are allied and complementary.
  • lock_open Why Open Access?

    Why choose Open Access publishing?

    • Higher citation and usage: publishing in Open Access expands the circulation of content and enhances its consultation, use, and citation within the scholarly community.
    • Greater public engagement: Open Access makes research available without economic, geographical, or institutional barriers, allowing content to reach wider audiences.
    • Greater media visibility: the open availability of publications facilitates their sharing across digital channels and increases their visibility beyond strictly academic contexts.
    • Stronger interdisciplinary connections: Open Access fosters dialogue across disciplines and makes it easier for different research communities to connect.
    • Broader collaboration: free access to publications and data creates more favourable conditions for collaborative research at both national and international levels.
    • Faster impact: Creative Commons licences enable a more immediate, clear, and transparent circulation of content, in accordance with defined conditions of reuse.
    • Control through copyright: with ECF, authors retain the rights to their texts and may allow others to share, adapt, and use the work commercially, provided that proper attribution is given, a link to the author is included, and the relevant Creative Commons licence is specified. Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts, or use them for any other lawful purpose without prior permission from the Publisher or the Author, who nonetheless retains full rights to the work and may reuse it for other purposes (including teaching).
    • Copyleft: publication is governed by a publishing agreement between ECF and the authors, establishing that rights remain fully with the authors from the moment of publication.
    • Compliance with standards: Open Access journals and volumes adhere to widely recognised international editorial standards, ensuring scientific quality and the proper dissemination of content.
  • perm_data_setting Editorial workflow and tools

    Our editorial production model is based on ECFPeerflow, a proprietary platform that integrates the core processes of scholarly publishing within a single environment. The platform supports:

    1. peer review (scientific validation);
    2. user management: editors, authors, reviewers;
    3. organisation of editorial contents;
    4. attribution of Creative Commons licences;
    5. standardisation of contents to shared standards;
    6. management of editorial planning;

    These processes are designed to make the editorial workflow more efficient, to optimise publication times, and to support a clear and transparent process of scientific validation. At the same time, they strengthen the transmission and dissemination of research outputs, ensuring that published works are not only scientifically sound and editorially curated, but also visible, accessible, and effectively integrated within the framework of Open Access.

    The editorial workflow is structured through clearly defined roles and stages, involving ECF, Editors-in-Chief, authors, and reviewers. Research teams focus on content creation, while the publisher supports and coordinates the process from submission and evaluation through to final production and publication.

    To know more
  • file_present Editorial projects, formats, and services

    In addition to publishing journals and volumes, Edizioni Ca’ Foscari develops editorial projects, formats, and services tailored to different research and dissemination needs, including native digital projects, custom presentation pages, exhibition catalogues, glossaries, and conference proceedings. To learn more, explore our dedicated page.
  • language Membership and Indexing

    Edizioni Ca’ Foscari participates in international networks and organizations dedicated to Open Access and scholarly communication, and positions its publications within shared systems for indexing, identification, and archiving. These include, among others, OASPA for publishing memberships, DOAJ for the indexing of Open Access journals, Crossref for DOI assignment, PHAIDRA for archiving, and COUNTER for monitoring content usage. Through these memberships and integrations, ECF operates in line with shared standards of quality, transparency, interoperability, and research dissemination.

    DOAB   DOAJ     OASPA  ERIH PLUS

  • people_outlineOur Authors and Reviewers

    Open Access breaks down all barriers, not only economic and legal, but also geographical: it allows you to create a network of unlimited international relations that involves all members of the various scientific communities, such as authors and peer reviewers, both in the creation phase of the contents and in the fruition phase, everywhere and in real time.

    Visit the interactive map
  • favorite_border Our supporters

    ECF is a publishing member of the Open Book Collective (OBC), a non-profit initiative that supports publishers working on the production and dissemination of open access books. Through its platform, the OBC enables libraries and other institutions to more easily support open access initiatives by subscribing to dedicated support programmes.

    The OBC promotes a more sustainable and diverse future for open access publishing. It brings together publishers, service providers, and scholarly initiatives, creating a trusted network supported by libraries and open to the participation of authors and readers. At the core of its approach are collaboration, a move beyond competitive models, and a commitment to rethinking funding structures beyond reliance on Book Processing Charges (BPCs).

    Open Book Collective

    We are grateful to the institutions that support our work via the OBC, which currently includes the following institutions:
Contacts and Administration

Fondazione Università Ca’ Foscari >
Santa Croce 507, 30135 Venezia
fondazione.cafoscari@unive.it
PEC fondazione.cafoscari@legalmail.it
CF 03387580271 - P. IVA 03387580271