About the Journal

The Latin American Journal of Criminology is within the context of the Law Postgraduate Program Line 5 activities - Criminology, Ethnic-Race and Gender Studies of the Brasilia University. The periodical is classified as within the evaluation of Applied Social Sciences - Law - and also publishes articles of related fields, such as Sociology, Anthropology, Political Sciences, History, Communications, Urbanism, and Demography, provided they concern a criminal issue and seek to set a dialog with the criminology field. The journal is particularly interested in publishing empirical material about any criminal subject, especially subjects related to the Latin-American context.

1 Standards for publication

  • 1.1 Submitting articles presume acceptance of the standards for publication and evaluation of articles. Submission also implies that copyright of the manuscript sent is assigned to the Latin American Journal of Criminology. Editors may decide about the editorial and graphic characteristics, the methods of distribution and how to make the material available, as well as the date the article will be issued.
  • 1.2 Texts submitted must have not been published elsewhere regardless of the publication method, i.e. printed or digital, and evaluation of articles submitted simultaneously to more than one periodical is barred.
    • 1.2.1 It should be stressed that an article never published before should not be confused with originality, while the subject the article covers can be one that has already been addressed by other author(s) and/or publications;
    • 1.2.2 With the exception of summaries, texts published in annals of scientific events are not considered as material never published before.
    • 1.2.3 Articles consisting of reduced versions of Master’s dissertations or thesis will be considered as material never published before, even if they have been published in full in postgraduate program thesis databases and articles published in the past in annals of scientific events but show actual improvements as a result of debates and subsequent studies (specify such changes to the editorial team in your submission e-mail).
    • 1.2.4 Translations of articles may also be submitted for evaluation by the journal, provided they enclose an authorization from their respective authors and, whenever necessary, from the journal holding publication rights of such material. Nevertheless, the decision of whether or not publishing the material will be a prerogative of the Journal’s coordination.
  • 1.3 Articles must be exclusively submitted through the platform created for the double-blind review and be in *.doc or *.docx files.
  • 1.4 The articles must have not more than 3 authors.
  • 1.5 The articles must enclose a cover sheet containing the personal information of each author.
    • 1.5.1 Qualifications of the authors must follow these criteria: begin with their academic title (from last to first); if they are a faculty member, provide the relevant information right after their title; subsequently, fill out any additional information (associations or other institutions they are a member of and the federation state and city of such institution/association); lastly, provide their position or job they hold (other than in the academic field). Provide the ORCID identifier, e-mail for contact and link to their profile in the LATTES platform (dispensable requirement for non-Brazilian authors)
  • 1.6 The articles may be in any language provided they follow the respective formal grammar.
    • 1.6.1 The following are compulsory elements: introduction, development, conclusion and references. Also, the text should indicate its title in the language of the article; title in English and Spanish; summary in the language of the article; keywords in the language of the article; summary in English and Spanish; keywords in English and Spanish; table of content. If the main language of the article is other than Brazilian Portuguese, then the title, summary and keywords will also have to be in Brazilian Portuguese.
    • 1.6.2 Summaries must contain between 100 and 250 words followed by 4 to 6 keywords.
    • 1.6.3. Manuscripts must be 15 to 45 page-long. The font to be used is Times New Roman, size 12, in the body of the text. Furthermore, the line spacing must be 1.5, top, bottom and side margins at 2.0 cm. The page size must be A4 and justified. Exceptions to the number of pages will be subject to a preliminary evaluation.
    • 1.6.4 If the authors wish to emphasize anything in their text, they must use bold while italic should be reserved for words, expressions and quotes in a language different from the original language of their article. Quotation marks must be used for quoting other authors .
    • 1.6.5 The following are post-textual compulsory elements: references containing only references that have been effectively quoted in the development of the text.
    • 1.6.6 Bibliographical references and quotes must follow the Brazil’s standards guide (NBRs) 6023:2018 and standards set by Brazil’s technical standards association (ABNT) 10520:2002.
      • References must follow the NBR 6023/2018 standard (from ABNT). References must be informed in the body of the text in the author/date/page order (BERTÚLIO, 2019, p. 40). Bibliographical references in full must be indicated in the REFERENCES list only, at the end of the text. Example: BERTÚLIO, Dora Lúcia de Lima. Direito e Relações Raciais. Rio de Janeiro: Lumen Juris, 2019.
    • 1.6.7 The author is required to inform in the footnote any funding or benefits s/he may have received from business funders (for example, if the article is the result of an opinion that has been commissioned) and to make a no-conflict statement that would otherwise compromise the scientificity of the paper submitted.
    • 1.6.8 References to laws or case law should contain all data necessary to adequately identify and find them. When Internet websites are mentioned, their link must be informed after the expression “Available on:” and the date the link was accessed right after the expression “Access on:”. Dates must follow the universal abbreviation standard set by ABNT. Example: 20 Aug. 2012; 15 Sep. 2018; 22 Mar. 2019, etc.
    • 1.6.9 Inserting diagrams, schemes, charts, tables and graphics in the text by using images is suggested to avoid distortions in the subsequent diagramming.
  • 1.7 The Journal’s team will not complement any publication requirement, and manuscripts submitted without having met such requirements in full will not be accepted for evaluation.

2. Review and selection of manuscripts

  • 2.1 Authors will be informed if their manuscript is selected. The editor will make a preliminary evaluation of the material and formal elements, further to elements as to how original, novel and relevant the article is.
  • 2.2 Having met all minimum requirements, the material will be evaluated in a double-blind peer-review system. In case of a divergence among the original reviewers, the manuscript will be submitted to a third reviewer.
  • 2.3 Authors will be informed of the result of the review and given access to the reviews with no identification of the reviewers.
  • 2.4 If the article is approved - on a condition or not -, editors will evaluate how relevant the article is and whether there is an opportunity for publication. The editors of the Journal will have the decision of publishing the text.
  • 2.5 Pursuant to the double-blind peer-review system, papers by invited authors will be exceptionally accepted whenever their scientific contribution is considered to be of great relevance for the scope of the journal.
  • 2.6 The Journal will make available an e-mail for consultation to answer doubts.

3. Presumed Ethical Integrity in Research

  • 3.1 Authorship: All persons who contributed with the research should be named.
  • 3.2 Ban on Plagiarism: Whenever an idea or phrasing used in the manuscript is evidently not of public domain in the research field in question, then such idea or phrasing is presumed as an original contribution. Otherwise, any idea or phrasing should expressly be given credits under penalty of plagiarism.
  • 3.3 Ban on Self-Plagiarism: In case of any identical or substantially similar article having been published elsewhere, even if in a different language, such fact must be expressly reported in the text and informed to the editor at the time of the submission. Failure to expressly mention such fact will characterize self-plagiarism and submission will be refused.
  • 3.4 Free and Informed Consent (TCLE): Whenever interviewees are identifiable by virtue of the subject-matter or other circumstances of the research, such identifiable interviewees will be required to submit a Free and Informed Consent (TCLE).
  • 3.5 Data Responsibility
    • 3.5.1 Sources: Whenever data is referenced, the source of such data must be indicated.
    • 3.5.2 Confidentiality Agreement: Whenever an article uses data obtained through a Confidentiality Agreement, its authors should send such agreement at the time of submission so compliance with the agreement may be ascertained.
    • 3.5.3 Handling data: Whenever methods to correct statistics are used, such methods should be identified and justified.
  • 3.6 Editorial responsibility
    • 3.6.1 Double-blind review should be delivered with rigor, objectivity, impartiality and readiness. The interest of making the best evaluation should prevail over other interest, such as strict compliance with the deadlines imposed. Divergence in opinion should not be considered as sufficient reason for an unfavorable review.
    • 3.6.2 The reviewer should hold in confidentiality and not use the information s/he may have had access to while on his/her duty as a reviewer for his/her own use.
    • 3.6.3 The reviewer should resign as a reviewer due to any potential conflict of interest whenever the reviewer has a regular scientific cooperation in a research, publication, supervision or tutorship activity, or in case of a familial or affectionate tie with any of the researchers in charge of the manuscript submitted to his/her evaluation.

4. Revision, diagramming and publication

  • 4.1 Once the editorial process to select articles is through, the approved articles selected for the respective issue will be sent for revision and diagramming.
  • 4.2. The revision concerns grammar and spelling, as well as formatting (diagramming) of the files. Subsequently, on a date closer to publication, the author will be contacted again to go through the post-revision correction suggestions and check formatting in a three (3)-day turnaround deadline. Lack of response will imply the corrections suggested in the revision are accepted in full. At this stage, the author is required to refrain from making any substantial change in the text but only make the suggested revision and indispensable updates.
  • 4.3 With regard to the spelling revision, the spelling correction (orthography, accent marks, hyphen, etc.) will be made according to the most recent Orthographic Agreement of Portuguese Language (2009) in effect (mandatory since 01 Jan. 2016), even for quotes of original statements prior to such Agreement. Exception is made to ancient documents in contexts where preserving their original spelling is relevant and meaningful in historiographical and/or linguistic terms, etc.
  • 4.4 Subsequently, upon the approvals and rejections from authors of the revision suggestions, the articles are sent to final diagramming and publishing.

5. Waiting criteria and publication preference

  • 5.1 Publication of articles approved in the peer control and selected by the editors of the journal will follow the chronological order of their submission and approval, with the exception of invited authors. Nevertheless, because of the rules imposed by the Qualis/CAPES commission, there are criteria for evaluation and publication preference that may be met by authors seeking to expedite publication of their material. Criteria for preference in the publication order are defined in the items below.
  • 5.2 Because of the exogenous work rule, articles by authors representing the Federal District in Brazil are limited to 25% of the total of material published per issue and, accordingly, there is a specific line-up for articles that fit such circumstance;
  • 5.3 In view of the quality rules imposed, each issue published will preferably contain between 50 to 60% of the articles with author (at least one) whose title is doctor and, accordingly, publication of material with no authors holding such title is limited;
  • 5.4 Articles whose co-authorship comprises permanent professors in university-level programs from different federation units, with their membership duly identified;
  • 5.5 Original articles by professionals connected to foreign university institutions;
  • 5.6 Articles in English, Spanish or in other languages even if the author is Brazilian;
  • 5.7 Articles resulting from researches funded by sponsoring organs duly identified in the text.
  • 5.8 Further to such circumstances, material that cover an imminent topic of the current time and which may become obsolete as the time passes for taking too long to be published takes preference in publication. Such situation is determined by the editorial team of the Journal and may be suggested by those delivering an opinion on reviews.
  • 5.9 It should be emphasized, however, that the criteria exposed in this topic determine the preference an article takes in the evaluation and publication process, but they are not indispensable requirements. For example, although texts whose authorship consists of an author with doctor title take preference because nothing impedes publication of articles with such feature. They will all be submitted to peer control that will adopt identical parameters in the selection aiming at a quality scientific production in the journal.
  • 5.10 Pursuant to a Qualis/CAPES rule, the percentage of articles by invited authors is limited to 25% per issue.
  • 5.11 The Journal may publish special issues or specific dossiers inside its usual issues by reason of the relevance, significance of the topic, as decided by the editorial team and its editorial council. The issue or dossier may be assigned to an associate editor with relevant knowledge about the subject. In such situation, a notice containing all necessary information, such as rules and deadlines for submission, will be released. No matter the circumstance, double-blind peer review will be in place.