About the Journal

Founded by Bella Farruggia, third-year History of Art and Museum Studies student, with support of Dr. Rebecca Smith, Senior Lecturer in History of Art and Museum Studies in 2025, LSACI Journal is a peer-reviewed journal, that is run by and for students at the Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries (LSACI) at Liverpool John Moores University. The journal publishes writing, artwork and creative content in a variety of forms from students at all levels.

The journal aims to provide experience of publishing written and creative work in a recognised academic format prior to graduation and to enhance graduate outcomes. The journal also acts as a repository to capture the diverse range of quality outputs students at the LSACI produce and demonstrate the thriving research culture of our student population.

The journal welcomes writing, artwork and creative content, including but not limited to articles, reviews, interviews, practice-based research, visual essays, art, photography and other forms of creative practice. We encourage both traditional and unconventional submissions.

Our first issue is an open call and does not have a theme, this issue aims to act as a celebration of diverse voices and practices. This is a unique chance to publish your work and contribute to celebrations for the 200-year anniversary of the Liverpool School of Art and to mark its upcoming merger with the Liverpool Screen School to become the Liverpool School of Art and Creative Industries.

General submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis and calls for themed issues will be shared in the future.

Review Process

Our review process includes the following steps:

1. Initial review: After submission, we will complete an initial review of the manuscript, focusing on its suitability for publication in the LSACI Journal. We will make one of the following decision: a) commence the peer review process; b) reject the manuscript for publication; or c) return the manuscript to the author for revision before the peer review process can be initiated. In case c), we invite the author to re-submit the amended manuscript and the initial review process will be carried out again with the same possible outcomes.

2. Peer review: Once the manuscript is ready, we will invite one or two peer reviewers to provide feedback on content, analysis, structure, language, research, and referencing, depending on what is relevant to the submission format. Reviewers will make one of the following recommendations: a) accept the manuscript for publication; b) reject the manuscript; or c) accept the manuscript for publication, subject to revision. In case c), we will agree a deadline to re-submit the revised manuscript with the author and the review process will begin again with the same possible outcomes. Revisions will be reviewed by a peer reviewer and/or the editorial team. The peer review process is anonymous. Authors should allow 6 weeks for a decision. Decisions cannot be appealed.

3. Copy editing: When the manuscript is accepted for publication, we will check it for grammatical errors, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and compliance with the house style. We will send proofs copies to the author for approval.

4. Publication: Once the proof copies have been approved by the author, we will publish the article.

Please note that the editorial team can reject a manuscript at any stage of the publication process. Decisions cannot be appealed.

Open Acces Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content with no submission or publication fees. The copyright of content is retained by the author and the majority of the  content in this journal is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence. Artworks are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence. These licences allow others to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of works in this journal, or to use them for any other lawful purpose in accordance with the licence.  

Notice and Takedown Policy

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material in LJMU Open Journals which infringes UK law, please contact us by emailing openjournals@ljmu.ac.uk, stating the following:

  1. Your contact details and the reason for the withdrawal request, some examples are:
    1. Unauthorised use by reason of reproduction and/or making available the material
    2. Breach of moral right of [paternity/integrity/right not to have my work subjected to derogatory treatment]
    3. Other complaints, e.g. defamation, breach of confidence, data protection
  1. The full bibliographic details of the material and the full URL
  2. Proof that you are the rights holder or are an authorised representative.

 Upon receipt of notification the ‘Notice and Takedown’ procedure is then invoked as follows:

  1. LJMU will acknowledge receipt of your complaint by email or letter and will make an initial assessment of the validity and plausibility of the complaint. We aim to acknowledge and assess the complaint within seven days of receipt.
  2. Where grounds for complaint are plausible, the material will be temporarily removed from public view in LJMU Open Journals pending an agreed solution.
  3. LJMU will contact the contributor who deposited the material, if relevant. The contributor will be notified that the material is subject to a complaint, under what allegations, and will be encouraged to assuage the complaints concerned.
  4. The complainant and the contributor will be encouraged to resolve the issue swiftly and amicably and to the satisfaction of both parties, with the following possible outcomes:
    1. The material is replaced on LJMU Open Journals unchanged.
    2. The material is replaced on LJMU Open Journals with changes.
    3. The material is permanently removed from LJMU Open Journals.
    4. In some cases a metadata record will remain. This will be on a case by case basis.

If the contributor and the complainant are unable to agree a solution from receipt of notification, the material will remain unavailable through LJMU Open Journals until a time when a resolution has been reached. It may be necessary for us to seek legal advice before the complaint can be fully resolved.