Aims and scope

The Design Journal is Taylor & Francis' flagship design journal. It is globally established and the leading international peer-reviewed journal.

The Design Journal publishes thought-provoking work directly impacting design knowledge, leadership, and creative practice(s). It also aims to create an inclusive environment for design worldwide and for people at every stage of their careers. Today’s design and design research takes place globally, and The Design Journal is dedicated to equity and providing an international dialogue that qualitatively reflects the diversity of its community.

It is dynamic and directed at academics, professionals, and researchers concerned with all aspects of Design, its visual and interdisciplinary practices and new knowledge. It challenges assumptions and methods while being open-minded about design's future. Its subject range covers Design as a collaborator, a policy, a product, a process, a service and a system. Individually, these may cover a wide range of topics drawn from the discipline, including (but not limited to) the established subject areas of Industrial Design, Architecture, Design Management, Design Education and Pedagogy, Textile and Fashion Design, and Communication Design to the newer areas of Design-Driven Entrepreneurship, Design with Business, Design with Health and Wellbeing, Design Policy, Design Thinking, Interaction Design, Service Design, Social Innovation, Transition Design and other emerging design disciplines.

The Design Journal is the official journal of the European Academy of Design.

It is published six times a year and provides a lively forum for a broad audience of designers, design scholars, researchers, educators, and managers worldwide. It offers authors a range of submission formats.

To be considered for publication, articles must  clearly articulate their relevance to either design practice, design research, design theory, design management or design pedagogy and education. We welcome  high-quality, original articles in the form of:

Design Research Article
Article reporting on primary research with specific methods, findings, and results. It will normally contain an abstract and references. It may also contain figures, tables, and footnotes.

Design Discussion
Invited and/or a submitted discussion about a specific article or design/design research issue. It may be a critical design, speculative design, or propositional design – non-commercial, practice-based explorations that address significant contemporary issues in design and through design. It may also be a position paper and philosophical discussion by experienced academics offering their perspectives on important design-related issues.

Book/ Exhibition Review
Review or analysis of one or more printed or online books.
Review or analysis of one or more design or design-related exhibitions.

PhD Study Article
Article reporting on doctoral studies with specific methods, findings, and results. It will normally contain an abstract and references. It may also contain figures, tables, and footnotes.

Authors can choose to publish gold open access in this journal.

Read the Instructions for Authors for information on how to submit your article.Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English.

Manuscripts are likely to be desk-rejected if they do not state a clear objective, do not offer new knowledge or fresh insights, are insufficiently connected to the discipline of design and its interdisciplinarity (creative practices, pedagogies, theories), are poorly written with a lack of quality editing, make assertions without support, have inadequate references, are a graduate level essay, and-or are a literature review with no new and significant contribution to knowledge.

Peer review policy
Taylor & Francis is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Research articles published in The Design Journal have undergone peer review. After initial screening by the editor for quality and fit with the journal’s objectives, papers are reviewed by at least two anonymous referees with appropriate specialist knowledge. Find out more about what to expect during peer review and read our guidance on publishing ethics.