Papireto’s referees are experts in the disciplines addressed by the journal, who evaluate submitted scholarly articles with a view to possible publication. The referees therefore serve a vital function, being as the quality of the journal’s content depends on their work.

The referees’ judgement is non-binding insofar as the publication or rejection of a given article is ultimately at the editors’ discretion (especially in the case of differences of opinion between referees). Their judgement is nonetheless extremely important in that they are charged with examining submissions with the utmost scrutiny. It is almost always they who recommend necessary changes if an improved version is required from the author.

Papireto’s referees always evaluate articles according to either a 'double-blind’ format. The latter requires that the referee not know the authorship of the article under review, just as the author does not know (and nor will ever know) the identity of the article’s reviewer. In single-blind format, the author’s identity is known to the reviewer while the reviewer remains anonymous. Only the editors know the names of both, which will remain confidential. This factor is of great importance to scholarly literature; indeed, referees’ anonymity allows them greater objectivity and greater freedom of even negative judgement, alleviating any fear of wounding the pride of colleagues whom they may know. The editors send articles to referees after removing the name of the author(s) and all possible references thereto, including metadata.

Although articles are forwarded to referees anonymously, it may occur that a referee will guess an author’s identity, especially if they share a field of expertise (and thus, for example, they know the author’s research focus or rhetorical style, etcetera). In such event, the referee must disclose the fact to the editors alone, who (while neither confirming nor denying the referee’s impression) must be made aware of the referee’s potential bias. It is equally possible, of course, that the referee will come to know the author’s identity upon the article’s acceptance and subsequent publication in the journal. Even in this eventuality, referees must keep their role as peer reviewers a strict secret.

Papireto’s peer-review process employs referees from the staff of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo and, above all, external referees expert in the journal’s various fields of interest. To avoid any possible bias, those articles proposed by scholars in any way associated with the Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo (professors, researchers, teaching assistants, doctoral candidates or students) are reviewed exclusively by external experts. Contributions from independent researchers or scholars attached to other institutions may be reviewed by external or internal referees.

The referees’ judgement, delivered via a dedicated form provided by the editors together with the article, consists of two sections: in the first, referees must decide whether the article is publishable in the journal and whether revisions are needed; in the second, they must provide a discursive comment (270 to 1,000 characters) on the article, outlining its positive and negative aspects and specifying any recommended changes.

The Editor-in-Chief will be responsible for communicating to the authors, without in any way revealing the identity of the reviewers, the outcome of the review, transmitting the individual comments made, any changes requested and whether or not the article will need to be resubmitted for review.

Listed below are referees who have contributed to the journal, alongside the institutions to which they belong.