About the Journal

Acta Periodica Duellatorum (APD) is an international academic journal for researchers working in the field of martial arts studies with a focus on European martial arts. From the beginning in 2013, APD has been publishing in diamond open access: articles are freely available to all readers under a Creative Commons license and authors pay no article processing charge.

Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) studies encompass all forms of martial arts in European territories, or spheres of influence, where the tradition has been broken or heavily transformed over the course of history. HEMA studies have strong interdisciplinary dimensions, with crossovers from disciplines or fields such as history, anthropology, historical sciences, art history, history of science and technology, archaeology, sport sciences or martial arts studies.

APD recognises classical research approaches defined by best practices within academia while also supporting research initiatives that stem from the communities of practitioners, as well as the concept of "Practice as Research" (PaR). Therefore, APD works towards two core principles; one of fostering an academic recognition of the field and the other of creating a link between professional scholars and museum professionals and experienced martial artists and independent researchers.

Aims and scope

To foster this emerging field of research, APD publishes contributions that conform to the highest scientific standards. We welcome submissions in the form of research articles, "states of research" or historiographical studies, editions of short texts, research notes, and book reviews.

Publication Frequency

APD is published twice a year, usually with an open issue and an edited issue

Peer review

All content of APD is peer reviewed. Accepted articles in open issues (standard issues) are reviewed by a double blind peer review process. Articles in edited issues (proceedings or thematic issues) are reviewed by the editors and a single blind peer review process.

Open Access Policy

APD is an open access journal. This means that all content is freely available to the user without charge in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, and use the content for any lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. The content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0).

APD does not charge any Article Processing Charges or Article Submission Charges and does allow the author(s) to hold the copyright without restrictions.

Publication ethics and Plagiarism

APD endeavours to ensure the high quality of its publications. It adheres to high standards of ethical behaviour and expects them to be adhered to by all parties involved in the publication. This includes the author, journal editor, peer reviewers, and publisher. APD follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for the preservation of scientific integrity.

Publishing partner

APD was first published by De Gruyter Open and then Sciendo. As of 2020, it  is hosted by Bern Open Publishing (BOP). The physical books were printed by Adamas Studio and Book On Demand (BOD). As of 2021, the books are printed by Sacauntos and distributed by AGEA Editora.

Archiving

To ensure the long-term availability of scientific information, the contents of the journal are archived with LOCKSS.

The journal is owned by a scholarly non-profit association based in Switzerland (APD Association).