P.A. Persona e Amministrazione

Legal Research on Public Administration and Economics

The journal P.A. (Persona e Amministrazione) was born from the research journey initiated in 2006 with the first conference in Urbino. Therefore, it is not a journal that arises in the abstract or solely as a result of a project; instead, it is the outcome of a decade-long journey. This does not mean presenting itself without a program and an identity. Rather, it is relevant that these have been constructed over the years with a multi-voiced, intense, and ongoing dialogue. As such, the program and identity are, on one hand, collective, while, on the other hand, they do not remain constant and are instead open to growth and modification.

The journal P.A. (Persona e Amministrazione) thus emerges from an experience, and the results of that experience will support and enrich it.

The journal will be published biannually and is structured into three sections:

(I) "Monographic Section" (with double-blind peer review);

(II) "Studies" (with double-blind peer review);

(III) "Opinions and Reviews" (without peer review).

In the "Monographic Section", reflections will be hosted primarily but not exclusively originating from research conducted during the conference and as a result. These are not the conference proceedings. It has become clear that publishing conference proceedings has limited interest compared to publishing studies inspired by or connected to the conference's themes. Since the conference has functioned as an open space for reflection and discussion in its first ten years, the research of the scholars it gathers continues, like an uninterrupted flow, both before and after the conference. The decision, therefore, is to publish, after review by the journal's editorial board and two anonymous referees, studies that contribute to the scientific dialogue, both nationally and internationally, that the conference aims to foster and stimulate. This means that there will be quite a few conference presentations that will not lead to original essays published in the journal, and those that find a place in the journal will not be reproductions of the presentations but rather the development, perhaps provisional, of the reflections initiated during or after the various conference editions.

In the "Studies" and "Opinions and Reviews" sections, essays, contributions, and comments submitted by Italian and foreign scholars or solicited by the journal's editorial board will be openly welcomed.

The journal, in addition to its regular biannual issues, will also publish, at variable intervals, special issues intended to host, once selected and subjected to double-blind peer review, thematic studies arising from past conference editions and the results of national and international research groups that occasionally gather around the journal.

Its method and research subjects characterize the journal P.A. (Persona e Amministrazione). Regarding the method, the journal explicitly adopts an open approach, seeking to facilitate a discussion of clear and debatable positions in line with the nature of legal discourse - common in major foreign journals and not always present in national ones. The journal is not aimed at hosting merely reconnaissance contributions but rather the results of original, reconstructive, well-argued research deeply rooted in the national and international theoretical debate. As for research subjects, the core issue that the journal aims to privilege is the relationship between society and powers - both from the perspective of public law and economics - between the fundamental rights of the individual, considered in its normative value as the foundation of the legal order, and authority. The journal aims to stimulate the debate on the overall evolution of these legal relationships, renewing the theoretical discourse on authority beyond the mere observation of its morphological changes, focusing critical analysis on its legitimacy, tasks, and limits, especially in light of the progressive dissolution of national authorities, the insufficient emergence of global-level substitution formulas, and the increasingly evident displacement of real power beyond public structures.

Finally, the journal P.A. (Persona e Amministrazione) is characterized by (i) international openness: the journal publishes essays written by Italian and foreign authors; the journal's scientific and refereeing committee consequently has a multinational composition, bringing together eminent scholars of public law, administration, and economics from various European and non-European countries; (ii) multilingualism: the journal accepts essays written in Italian, French, English, Spanish, German, or Portuguese, provided they are accompanied by a double abstract in the original language and in English; (iii) anonymous evaluation: all contributions are subjected to double-blind peer review by at least two evaluators chosen from among those who make up the scientific and refereeing committee published in the journal; (iv) open-access online consultation by users; (v) publication in both online and, upon request, print format (using the print-on-demand system).