Focus and Scope

América Crítica is a transdisciplinary journal published by the University of Cagliari and the CISAP, and is open to the contributions of scholars in North and Latin American studies.

The journal welcomes submissions on any aspect of American studies, and particularly encourages contributions that, moving from the field of literary studies, focus on questions such as self-determination, reappropriation and transformation of spaces and identities in America, so as to question the Eurocentric approach of traditional epistemology and advancing a global dialogue between the Americas and Europe.

América Crítica draws on the interdisciplinary tradition of cultural studies, literary studies, anthropology, gender studies, studies on native peoples, studies on migration, postcolonial and decolonial studies, urban studies, studies on popular cultures. It will also welcome submissions on history, linguistics, sociology, geography and history of ideas.

América Crítica will publish articles in French, English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Contributes in American native minoritized languages are also welcome, provided that an English, Italian or Spanish translation is submitted. The published articles have original, unpublished character and are the result of academic research. The majority of the published articles are by authors external to the publishing institution.

Peer Review Process

América Crítica adopts a double-blind peer review process to evaluate submitted articles. Upon receipt of a manuscript, the Editorial Board conducts an initial assessment to ensure its alignment with the journal’s editorial guidelines and compliance with formatting requirements. If the article does not meet these criteria, it will be returned to the author with a request for modifications or a rejection notification. If the manuscript passes this initial screening, the Editorial Board selects at least two specialized reviewers based on the topic, geographical and linguistic area of reference, and disciplinary field of the submission. Once the reviewers’ availability has been confirmed, the Editorial Board sends them the anonymized manuscript and requests the completion of the review within one month. If the article is accepted, the author must submit a revised version incorporating the reviewers’ suggestions within two weeks of receiving the feedback. In the event of conflicting reviews (i.e., one reviewer accepts the article while the other rejects it), the Editorial Board will engage a third reviewer for an additional evaluation. The entire review and revision process may take between one and six months. Acceptance of an article does not necessarily imply its publication in the next available issue.

Translations are not subjected to peer review, but will be revised for publication.

Critical notes, book reviews and interviews will be revised by the Editorial Board. 

Publication Frequency

América Crítica is a biannual journal.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

América Crítica is publishing undere a license Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) .

With the CC-BY 4.0 license, authors retain the copyright to their contributions, allowing anyone to: a) reproduce, distribute, and publicly share the Journal’s content; b) publicly display, perform, execute, and present the published materials; c) modify and create derivative works based on the published articles, provided proper credit is always given to the author and the Journal.

No Article Processing Charge (APC)

América Crítica does not apply any article processing charges (APC) or article submission charges (ASC).

Ethical Code

América Crítica is a scientific peer-reviewed journal which follows the publications’ ethical code developed by COPE Committee on Publication Ethics: Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

It is necessary that all parties involved – authors, director, editors and referees – know and share the following ethical requirements. The fact of sending a paper to the journal implies the transfer to the same of all copyright, and the acceptance of the following clauses.

Directors and Editors’ duties

Decisions on the publication

América Crítica adopts the scientific evaluation system of the submitted articles internationally known as peer-reviewing. Every paper is forwarded in anonymous form to two referees for evaluation. The Journal’s Directors, together with the Editors’ Coordinator are accountable for the referee processing. Referees are chosen according to a high standard of competence and best scholarship in the field. América Crítica’s Directors and Editors are accountable for the final decision on the submitted papers’ publication. Such decision shall take place within 90 days from the reception of the submitted paper.

Correctness

The Journal’s Directors and the Editors shall assess the papers proposed for publication upon their contents, without being affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political belief, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or academic situation of the authors. Decisions to edit and publish should not be determined by the policies of governments or other agencies outside of the journal itself.

Confidentiality and data storage

The Directors the Editors engage themselves not to reveal information on the submitted papers to other parties apart from the author, the referees and the publisher.

The Editors shall store in a confidential database the results of the referee processing of all papers submitted, whether or not accepted for publication.

Competing interests and transparency

The Directors and the Editors engage themselves not to employ in their own researches the contents of a paper submitted for publication without the author’s written consent.

América Crítica submits to the same evaluation process, anonymous and objective, the papers submitted for publication by the Directors and the Editors.

Quality

The Directors and the Board of Editors check periodically the peer-review processes in order to introduce possible improvements. They reserve moreover the choice of using a third referee in case of conflict between the two evaluations and when the decision on the paper’s publication cannot be taken within the Journal. The relationship with a referee shall be definitely terminated when, in one or more instances, the scheduled evaluation process’ times and ways are not complied with. 

Referees’ duties

Contributing to the editors’ decision

Peer-reviewing is a process which assists editors in deciding upon proposed texts and that may help authors in bettering their contribution.

Respecting times schedule

The referee who should judge himself not suitable to the proposed task or who should know himself not able to evaluate the text in the requested lapse of 30 days must inform in time the Editors’ Coordinator.

Confidentiality

Every paper anonymously given to the referees for assessing must be considered confidential. Therefore these papers must not be discussed with third parties without express permission from the Editors.

Objectiveness

Peer-reviewing must be implemented in an objective way. Every personal judgement on the author is inappropriate. The referees must justify appropriately their judgements following a standard form supplied by the Editors

Competing interests and disclosure

Confidential information or clues obtained in the peer-review procedure must be considered confidential and cannot be used for personal purposes. If the referee should recognise the authorship of the paper submitted to his evaluation and whether there were competing interests due to previous cooperation relationships he is bound not to accept the assignment. The same applies in case of competition.

In case the referee should ask changes to the text as a condition for publication, and the Editors should judge them suitable, he should have the opportunity of checking the author’s compliance – in the extent of the author’s acceptance – before giving his final assent to publication.

Authors’ duties

Genuineness and plagiarism

Authors are bound to submit to publication’s evaluation papers completely genuine and unpublished in every part and to quote every employed source.

Multiple publication, repetitious and/or competing

Authors pledge themselves not to publish papers describing the same research in more than one journal. Proposing simultaneously the same text to more than one journal implies an unethical conduct.

Sources’ quotation

Authors must always give the exact and complete reference of sources and contributions quoted in their papers.

Work’s authorship

Authors submitting a paper for evaluation must guarantee that all parties who have significantly contributed to the invention, realization and revision of the research on which is based a paper should appear as co-authors, and that they have given their approval to the paper’s final version publication on América Crítica.

If other parties have significantly participated to some stages of the research their contribution must be explicitly stated.

Conflict of interest

In sending their paper to América Crítica, authors implicitly admit that there are not conflicts of interest that could have conditioned the results obtained or the proposed interpretations. Authors must also indicate any financial source of the research and/or of the project that made possible the paper’s realization.

Mistakes in published papers

When an author finds in a paper of his a mistake or a significant inaccuracy, he is bound to timely inform the Editors’ Coordinator, giving all necessary information for indicating proper corrections.

Post-publication debate

América Crítica follows the international guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure transparency and fairness in post-publication scientific debate. Any comments, criticisms or rebuttals to published articles may be submitted to the journal and, if deemed relevant, are evaluated by the Editorial Board for possible publication.

Legal Deposit

América Crítica is experimenting the National legal deposition and long-term digital preservation service. Within the project the persistent identifier NBN (national bibliographic number) is assigned to each article.

deposito

Indexing

Databases and directories

Evaluation repertories