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Author Guidelines

Authors are invited to make a submission to this journal. All submissions will be assessed by an editor to determine whether they meet the aims and scope of this journal. Those considered to be a good fit will be sent for peer review before determining whether they will be accepted or rejected.

Before making a submission, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study's country.

An editor may desk reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. Before submitting, please ensure that the study design and research argument are structured and articulated properly. The title should be concise and the abstract should be able to stand on its own. This will increase the likelihood of reviewers agreeing to review the paper. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

Author Guidelines

Please read this page carefully before you start your submission.
ERLACS - European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies publishes articles, “Explorations”, review essays, and book reviews. ERLACS welcomes articles on Latin America and the Caribbean that reflect substantial empirical research, primarily based on qualitative methods, and/or are theoretically innovative regarding major academic debates across a wide range of social science fields, including history, (political) economy, political ecology, and human geography. The articles should appeal and be comprehensible to a broad readership. Articles should not exceed 8000 words, including notes and references.

The section called “Explorations” is a fast-track publication meant as a niche in which emergent themes are presented and new debates are stimulated. The contributions to this section should comply with normal academic requirements, and more importantly, should be innovative, thought-provoking and pointing toward new research directions. Thus, contributions should be brief and incisive. They are shorter than regular articles, contain fewer references, and have clear and articulate conclusions (maximum 4000 words including notes and references).

The online open-access journal European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies | Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe (ERLACS) provides a forum for Latin Americanists who wish to publish in a European journal. ERLACS welcomes articles specifically about Latin America that reflect substantial empirical research and/or are theoretically innovative concerning major debates within the various fields of the social sciences or problems of historical interpretation. The articles should appeal to and be comprehensible, to a broad readership. Unnecessary disciplinary jargon and too advanced quantitative methods (such as econometric models) should be avoided. It will consider papers in English or Spanish that represent original work, not previously published, nor submitted to any other publication at the same time. All articles are subject to independent peer review to determine acceptance for publication. The article will first be screened by the editorial board and then, if it is suitable for our journal, it will be sent to two impartial reviewers who are specialized in the subject handled (double-blind peer review). Since we are dependent upon the evaluation of articles given freely by external reviewers for this journal, we hope that we will have their evaluation within two months, but it often takes longer. The acceptance procedure usually takes around four to six months, depending upon the required revisions. Accepted articles are placed within one year of acceptance.

ERLACS only accepts manuscripts that have not been published or are not under evaluation for publication in any other peer-reviewed journal (in print or online). If you have submitted this manuscript elsewhere, we request that you withdraw it from consideration for publication in our journal. If related material has been published or is under consideration or in press elsewhere, that must be disclosed to us. Similarly, if part of a submission has appeared or will appear elsewhere, contributors must specify the details in a cover letter accompanying the submission. Please also inform us if the manuscript is a reworked version of published material (e.g. the chapter of a book or a journal article), a translation, or if it has been posted on the Internet (for evaluation of manuscript originality and/or copyright infringement).

The article in English or Spanish will first be screened by the Editorial Board and then, if it is suitable for our journal, it will be sent to two impartial reviewers who are specialized in the subject handled (double-blind peer review). Since we are dependent upon the evaluation of articles given freely by external reviewers for this journal, we hope that we will have their evaluation within two months. These review reports form the basis of the selection procedure taken by the editorial board for inclusion in a future issue of ERLACS. The acceptance procedure usually takes around four months if everything goes as planned. Articles are published online soon after they have been accepted.

The Editorial Board screens the reviewers' comments before sending them to the author. The author should consider the reviewers' comments as constructive criticism when making revisions. An article subject to minor revisions will generally be accepted. If major revisions are necessary, the article must be re-submitted for a second complete evaluation, and acceptance is not guaranteed. All revised articles should include a report by the author of the revisions regarding reviewers' points of criticism. Articles will then be revised by a member of the Editorial Board and/or one of the previous reviewers. The Editorial Board will make the final decision based on their comments.

Preparing your paper:

  • All authors should include their full name and affiliation. Please, also add ORCIDs. A brief biographical paragraph describing the author’s current affiliation and research interests, noting one or two recent publications, should accompany the manuscript and a 150-word abstract of the article in Spanish and English. Add 5 keywords both in English and Spanish.
  • Articles accepted for publication may be copy-edited for clarity and conciseness.
  • Articles should not exceed 8000 words, including notes and references.
  • Articles should be submitted in Word. Please do not submit your paper as a PDF.
  • Use the font in size 12 with 1,5 spacing.
  • Margins should be at least 2,5 cm.
  • Limit the use of endnotes.
  • We only accept 2-level headings: the first-level heading should be in bold and the second-level heading should be in italics.
  • Avoid Latin abbreviations such as e.g., etc., cf., op. cit., i.e., f., ff., passim, ibid.
  • We prefer the ‘author-date’ system inserted in the text and keyed to the list of references, for example: (Klaufus, 2012, pp. 689-705).
  • Please use the British (-ise) spelling style consistently throughout your manuscript.
  • Please use double quotation marks, except where “a quotation is ‘within’ a quotation”.
  • Please note that long quotations (more than 60 words) should be indented without quotation marks.
  • Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour, at the correct size).
  • Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text. Please supply editable files.
  • Show clearly in your article where the tables and figures should appear. / 
  • Use per cent and not %.
  • Include also any funding details and grant-awarding bodies.
  • Obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in your article.
  • If you want to add acknowledgements, please add them in an independent document. / 

• A list of references should be given in full, following the notes, in alphabetical order of authors’ sur-names, according to the APA citation style, for example: 

 

  • Brablec, D. & Canessa, A. (2023). Urban Indigeneities: Being Indigenous in the Twenty-First Century. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
  • Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, V. (ed.) (2022). Indianidad evanescente en los Andes de Ecuador. Quito/Lleida: FLACSO Ecuador / Edicions Universitat de Lleida. Retrieved from https://www.flacso.edu.ec/sites/default/files/202201/intro_Indianidad_evanescente.pdf o Bull,
  • & Rosales, A. (2020). The crisis in Venezuela: Drivers, transitions, and pathways. European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Revista Europea de Estudios Latinoamericanos y del Caribe, (109), 1-20. DOI: 10.32992/erlacs.10587.
  • Klaufus, C. (2012). The symbolic dimension of mobility: Architecture and social status in Ecuadorian informal settlements, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research36(4), 689-705.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • This submission has not been previously published, nor is it under consideration by another journal. Please inform us if the manuscript is a reworked version of published material (e.g. the chapter of a book or a journal article), a translation, or if it has been posted on the Internet (for evaluation of manuscript originality and/or copyright infringement). (Please explain in Comments to the Editor). 
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labelled.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.

  • All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • The submission file is in Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.

  • The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements.

  • Check that your contribution reflects substantial empirical research and/or is theoretically innovative concerning major debates within social science research (understood in the broadest sense, including history and economics) on Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Articles

Section default policy

Book Reviews | Reseñas

Wish to review a book?

If you want to review a book that has been published within the last three years, you can contact our book review editor Christien Klaufus to check whether the book fits the scope of ERLACS. ERLACS will contact the publisher to provide a digital version for review only. When submitted, a book review undergoes a quick review process and when accepted, it will be published online very soon. 

Please include your experience, university or institution, work or private address, and email address. You may also recommend a book that pertains to the social sciences and history of Latin America in a broad sense to be reviewed.  

Book reviews can be submitted in either English or Spanish and should have a length of 800 to 1000 words. Please include the following elements in your review: a very brief description of the book's nature and structure, a summary of the book's main arguments, and your opinion about the book's main contributions and flaws. The review should be submitted by e-mail. All book reviews are screened for their suitability.

ERLACS is publishing content soon after it is ready in two ongoing issues: January-June and July-December. For book reviews, this means that each one will be published individually in the online Book Review section soon after the author has checked the proofs. Each review will have its own DOI (digital object identifier) number. For authors of book reviews, this also means that there is no specific deadline, and at the same time, the review will be made available to a broad public much sooner.

ERLACS also publishes review essays. These essays handle three to six recently published books within the context of one theme, and are from 2000 to 5000 words in length, depending on the number of books included. All review essays are screened for their suitability. If you want to write a review essay, please get in touch with the Book Review Editor: reviews@cedla.nl.  

Guidelines for Book Reviewers

Book reviews should be approximately 800-1000 words and not exceed 1200. Reviews should provide a clear and concise description of the book and its thesis, situate the book within the relevant literature, and present its contribution to the field of Latin American Studies. It should speak to the broad and interdisciplinary readership of ERLACS, avoiding discipline-specific jargon. The review should also consider how the book meets its objectives and draws on relevant source material. Please, include:

  1. Bibliographic details: (Élites, radicalismo y democracia: Un estudio comparado sobre América Latina, by Asbel Bohigues, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, 2021; Indianidad evanescente en los Andes de Ecuador, by Víctor Bretón Solo de Zaldívar, FLACSO Ecuador / Edicions Universitat de Lleida, 2022)
  2. A brief description of the contents of the book.
  3. An assessment of the author's authority/biases.
  4. An evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the book taking into account the author's objective/s in writing the book, and drawing on relevant evidence to support the reviewer's judgments.
  5. An overall assessment of the book and its contribution to recent academic debates (or studies) on the topic.

Reviews should be 1,5-spaced, in 12-point font.

Upon reception of the review, the book review editors will edit it for clarity, length, and grammar. Minor edits will be returned to the author for your approval. When major revisions are necessary, the editors will return the review with a list of requested changes. Once the editing process is complete, the editorial office will contact you with page proofs.

Special Issues

Special Collections (SC) should focus on important (sub)regional dynamics and major social science debates on Latin America and the Caribbean.  While we prefer thematically organized SCs, these can also be country specific. If the SC focuses on one country, the issue needs to offer insights that resonate beyond political conjecture, be anchored in a strong contextual frame, and showcase a clear understanding of the key (theoretical) debate(s) pertaining to that geographic region. 

SCs consists of an elaborate introductory article and 4 to 6 research articles that are jointly published in an issue of ERLACS. All articles, including the introduction, need to go through peer review, and of course, may be rejected in the process. Reviewers will receive a copy of the special collections abstract to understand and sympathize with the set-up of the issue as a whole and will be asked to formulate their comments with that abstract in mind. 

The Guest Editors are responsible for soliciting manuscripts and making sure that they adhere to publication deadlines and ERLACS standards. Guest Editors (GEs) will inform their authors about ERLACS procedures and policies, including the fact that all contributions are submitted for blind peer-review.

Special Collection proposals are to be sent to the Editorial Board at erlacs-cedla@uva.nl and must contain:

• Title and abstract of the Special Collection  

• Name, short biography and bibliography of the Guest Editor(s).

• Title, author (name, academic position and institutional affiliation), and abstract of all the articles.  

• A 1500-word rationale for the Special Collection (this includes motivation, academic relevance, and how it fits in ERLACS), and a note concerning the strength of the combination of contributions and authors.

Pre-Submission Review 

Before officially submitting their manuscripts, individual authors should submit drafts to the GEs and the ERLACS editor (EE) tasked with following the issue. The GEs and the EE will read them over with an eye towards insuring that they form a coherent collection and together will come up with general suggestions for authors to incorporate into the versions they do submit for blind peerreview. 

Review Process

After this initial process, all the SC papers should be submitted at the same time for blind external review. It is the GE’s role to shepherd authors towards these deadlines. As a result of the review process, additional minor or substantial rewriting may be requested, and articles may be rejected.  GEs may suggest reviewer names. 

Pre-Acceptance

Once the individual papers are almost ready for acceptance, the EE, GEs, and individual authors will (either via email or, if possible, Zoom) review all the papers together and discuss ways to finalise the individual papers with an eye to emphasising common themes and cross-referencing. 

Publication 

The introduction is published first. Then all the other articles are published within the issue period.  The GEs will suggest an order of publication; however, the EE has the final decision. 

Review Essays | Ensayos de reseña

ERLACS also publishes books and film review essays. These essays cover 3 to 6 books or films within a single theme and are 2000 to 5000 words in length, depending on the number of films included. All review essays are also screened for their suitability. If you are interested in writing a film review essay, you can also contact our book review editor, Christien Klaufus or our film review editors, Emiel Martens and Débora Póvoa.

Explorations | Exploraciones

ERLACS invites the submission of “Explorations”, a fast-track publication meant as a niche in which emergent themes are presented and new debates are stimulated. These contributions should comply with standard academic requirements, and more importantly, should be innovative, thought-provoking and pointing toward new directions of research. Thus, contributions should be brief and incisive. They are shorter than regular articles, contain fewer references, and have clear and articulate conclusions (maximum 4000 words including notes and references). 

Purpose

“Explorations” is a fast-track, niche section that showcases emergent themes, provocative academic ideas and new debate-starters that point toward future research directions. Short, original conceptual pieces that introduce an emergent theme, propose a new conceptual framing, methodological innovation, or outline a nascent research agenda.

 

Scope and article types

Contributions are scholarly (meeting normal academic standards) and intentionally concise, innovative and aimed at stimulating further work and discussions. The aim is to stimulate debate and future research, not to present exhaustive primary data. Must be evidence-based where appropriate, but may be speculative so long as claims are clearly marked as timely and grounded in argument.

Intended readership: scholars and advanced students in the field, plus practitioners and policymakers with technical knowledge.

 

Length and format

  • Length: 3,000-4,000 words.
  • Abstract: 150-250 words.
  • References: concise and representative, not exhaustive. Typical range: 10–25 references
  • In case of Tables/Figures/Boxes: up to 2 combined graphical elements (figures, tables, or boxed text). Keep them simple and directly supportive of the argument.
  • Authors: no more than 4 authors unless the contribution requires more.

 

Quality criteria:

Contributions should be:

  • Innovative and thought-provoking. Present novel research angles or agendas rather than retreading established ground.
  • Scholarship and integrity. Even when speculative, claims must be supported by evidence or clearly presented as arguments.
  • Concise and incisive. Arguments must be tightly written, with clear logical flow.
  • Actionable guidance. The piece should point to concrete research directions, methods, or cases that would advance the idea. The piece should close with a short, explicit conclusion or a “next steps” section listing research directions or questions.
  • Accessibility. While scholarly written should be readable across disciplines and subfields (minimise jargon; define technical terms).

 

Selection criteria for editors and reviewers

Reviewers and editors will evaluate:

  • Originality: Is the idea novel and likely to open new debate or research directions?
  • Significance: Is the topic timely and of interest to the journal’s audience?
  • Argument quality: Are the claims logically coherent and appropriately evidenced?
  • Clarity & concision: Is the manuscript well organised and readable within the length constraints?
  • Ethics & transparency: Appropriate referencing and absence of plagiarism.

 

Practical author guidance (how to write a successful Explorations piece)

  • Start with a 2–3 sentences that state the novel idea, claim or question.
  • Provide a short background (≤2 paragraphs) that situates the issue.
  • Devote the body to the main argument, structured as a few headed sections if useful.
  • Use subheadings and signposting so readers and reviewers can quickly follow the logic.
  • End with a concise Conclusions & Next Steps section listing 3–6 concrete future research directions.
  • Keep references tight — cite only the most influential and recent works (10-25 maximum).

 

 

Editorial

no section policy

Copyright Notice

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International (CC BY-4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process.

Authors are explicitly encouraged to deposit their published article in their institutional repository.

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