The Journal of Latin American Geography seeks to publish original and well-written manuscripts focusing on geographical issues in Latin America.  Papers are solicited from geographers and other scholars in the social and physical sciences, as well as the humanities, who are researching and writing about geographic topics concerning Latin America or Latin Americans.   The Journal is a peer-reviewed publication. At least two anonymous referees will normally evaluate papers and the review process usually takes from one to three months although every effort will be taken to respond as quickly as possible. The target length of manuscript papers is 7,000 words (about 30 typed double-spaced pages including notes and references) with no more than 7 additional pages of graphics and/or tables. Papers may be submitted and will be published in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French but must include an abstract in English.

Submission: All submissions must be made be made electronically as email attachments to the editorial office (jlag@maxwell.syr.edu) with a cover letter by stating that the manuscript has not been submitted for publication elsewhere and an estimate of the word count including notes and references.  Electronic review often results in shorter turn around.  We prefer manuscripts in Microsoft WORD.    Illustrations must be submitted electronically as separate files in order to reduce the overall size of a large manuscript file.  Please name your file with a convention that clearly indicates whom the file is from, preferable with the surname of the lead author and the date (smith010102text.doc and smith010102Figure1.jpg).

Please try to avoid comments in the text, in citations or in acknowledgements that would reveal the author’s identity until the final submission of an accepted manuscript.

Format: Text should be typed double-spaced in 12 point font (preferably Garamond) with 1 inch margins on all sides of the page. Please use only one type of font, although you may use bold and italic as necessary. Two levels of subheadings can be used with the first-level in bold and the second-level in italics, flush with the left margin, on a separate line  and in lowercase (with capitals only used for first letter and proper names rather than capitalized).  Headings and paragraphs should be double spaced like the rest of the text with new paragraphs indented with one tab.  Please use only one space between each word and one space after any punctuation. Notes and references may be single spaced, but with a double space between each entry.  The title page should include a title and the full names of the authors and their academic or professional affiliations together with an email address and phone number for the lead author.  Please repeat the title at the top of the first full page of the manuscript and number the text pages.  Do not use any embedded macros, special reference programs, or other features that can be lost in file conversions. Foreign words and phrases that have not been adopted in standard English dictionaries are italicized only the first time that they are used in the text.

Abstract: The abstract should summarize the purpose and major findings of the paper and be no more than 100 words and placed at the top of the first text page below the title. A list of four key words or phrases should be included on a line below the abstract (in lower case rather than capitals). We would appreciate copies of the abstract in both English and either Spanish, Portuguese or French as appropriate to the regional focus of the article. 

Units of measure: International System of Units (metric).

Notes: Should be signaled using a superscript font and placed immediately after the punctuation point. Notes should be listed numerically at the end of the paper (i. e. they are endnotes) immediately following the text and before the references.

References: References should be cited parenthetically within the text as author’s last name and year of publication, with a page number when a direct quotation e.g. (Smith 1970) or Smith 1970: 3-4). This is known variously as the author-date, Harvard, parenthetical, or scientific system.  All references should be listed, beginning on a separate page and titled “References”, after the text and notes, and before any illustrations.  References should be listed alphabetically by the author’s last name (and chronologically for each author).  Please use the full, unabbreviated title for all books and periodicals and the following styles:

• Article
  Name, A. and Name, B. C. 2002. Title of paper. Journal Title 8(1): 200-300. 

• Book, Book Chapter or Thesis
  Name, A. B. 2002. Book Title. Place of publication: Publisher.
  Name, A. B. 2001. Chapter Title. In Book Title, A. Name, B. Name and C. Name (eds.), pp. 200-300. Place of publication: Publisher.
  Name, A. 2005. Title of Thesis. Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Geography, University of Arizona.

• Newspaper article
  Name, A. 2006. Article Title. Newspaper Name. 1 January 2001, Section A, 12)

• Web page
  Author or Oganization. 2002. Title of page (http://www.title.org/pname/pg.html). Accessed 1 January 2006.

Tables: All tables should be referenced and discussed in the text and included on separated pages following the references.  They should use 12-point font (the same as the text), be numbered consecutively, and have a title included at the top of the page (e.g. Table 1: Title).

Illustrations: Maps, graphs and photos should be of high graphic standard and cited in the text. All graphics should be cited exclusively as "Figures". We assume that most graphics will be computer generated (or scanned with a high resolution--minimum 600) and will be submitted digitally as separate files, not in any packages format such as WORD. We prefer pdfs or greyscale TIFF files (at 600 dpi) with a note in the cover letter regarding the program used to create them. We prefer graphics produced in Freehand or Illustrator.   If authors wish they may submit duplicate color versions of their graphics that will be used in the online version of the Journal, but they should remember that the printed version is only in black and white. 

All illustrations should be submitted to fit within the Journal's 10.79 x 17.78 cm page text area [4.25 x 7 ins.] and should be numbered consecutively (Figure 1: title). A list of captions must be submitted on a separate page following the references.

Copyrights: If the paper includes any copyrighted material, the author(s) must obtain and submit with their manuscript a permission statement from the copyright owner.
Copyright for the paper, if accepted and published, will reside with the Journal of Latin American Geography.

Unique submission No paper may be submitted to the Journal that is currently under consideration by another journal or book editor. A statement corroborating that fact must be included in the cover letter to the Editor accompanying the submission.

Reprints: Each author will receive a copy of the volume in which the paper is published.

Book review guidelines

Guidelines for manuscript reviewers