About the Journal
Focus and Scope
452ºF. Journal of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature (www.452f.com) is a scholarly, digital and multilingual research journal founded in 2009. It is edited jointly by Universitat de Barcelona and Asociación Cultural 452ºF. Its main aim is to publish and disseminate academic articles devoted to the study of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature and their related issues, themes, and debates from a critical perspective that is both innovative and rigorous. We therefore welcome, within the vast and varied field of Literary and Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary and dialogic approach to the different branches of the Humanities.
The journal is aimed at scholars interested in the different areas of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature and is published twice a year, in January and July. The journal’s Advisory Board is made up of renowned national and international scholars in the field and is supported by expert peer reviewers. An ample team of illustrators contributes their work to the journal since its very beginnings, in order to help advance the interdisciplinary dialogues the journal promotes.
In light of the key role of translation processes in the production and circulation of knowledge, the journal is defined by linguistic plurality with the aim of reaching a heterogenous and multilingual readership. Therefore, besides accepting submissions in the journal’s official languages —Spanish, Catalan and English—, the journal also considers submissions in other Romance languages.
The journal has four sections:
Monographic Dossier: thematic issues that are edited by invited scholars who are experts in the field. Calls are published twice a year and remain open for a period of six months each. Once the call is closed, articles undergo a strict process of double blind peer review that can take up to four months.
Miscellaneous: the call for papers for this section remains open during the same period as the monographic dossier. Not restricted by theme or critical approach, it welcomes submissions within the fields of literary theory and comparative literature. Once the call is closed, articles undergo a strict process of double blind peer review that can take up to four months.
Critic’s Notes: this section publishes invited articles by renowned scholars who offer their reflections on current debates in the fields of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature. The articles do not necessarily follow the traditional form and rules of academic writing, with the aim of avoiding the constraints that form sometimes imposes on thinking processes. These articles do not undergo the double-blind peer-review process.
Reviews: this section is dedicated to new releases in the fields of Literary Theory, Critique, and/or Comparative Literature. Reviews can be submitted during the period that the call for papers is open and they are reviewed by the journal’s Editorial Board.
Each of the articles submitted to the Dossier and the Miscellaneous sections undergoes a strict process of double-blind peer review that guarantees both the quality of the works published as well as the fairness and objectivity of the review process. Therefore, it is a requirement that all the articles submitted to each call are original and not previously published or submitted elsewhere.
The journal charges no fees for the submission, processing or publication of articles.
Peer Review Process
Blind peer-review system
In order to ensure the high quality of the journal, the following peer-review system has been set up.
The evaluation process that all the papers received will undergo is the one detailed as follows:
1. Call for papers: original (unpublished) scientific papers, sent by email to the Journal’s email address. The CFP will be made public through the journal’s website, emailing, updates in our Facebook page, and shares in Comp Lit websites and organizations. All CFPs will be open for six months.
2. Evaluation by the Editorial board. The system will be of blind peer-review, according to which all papers will be read by at least two different members of the board. In case it is necessary, a third member will also read the paper. The evaluation will be based on qualitative and formal requirements, available in the journal’s website before the opening of the CFP.
3. We will notify by email all authors whose articles are rejected for publication the reasons for that decision within approximately a month after the CFP is closed.
4. All preselected articles will be subject to evaluation by two external reviewers, following a double-blind peer review process. Two members of the board will ideally read the article. The advisory board will have 60 days to complete the assessment.
5. We will notify by email all authors whose articles are rejected for publication by the external reviewers the reasons for that decision. We will also notify the recommendation for publication of their articles to all authors who are finally selected. These notifications will take place no later than four months after closing the CFP.
6. Within 60 days we will proceed to the publication of the issue, which will have between six and twelve articles.
Publication Frequency
The journal is published every semester: on January 31st and July 31st.
Open Access Policy
This journal offers free and immediate access to its contents, based on the principle that providing free access to research outcomes favors the global exchange of knowledge. All content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.
Good practices in gender equality
This journal promotes good practices for gender equality and therefore encourages the inclusion of the category "gender" in research and the use of inclusive language.
Archiving
This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...
Declaration of publishing ethics and best practices
452ºF. Journal of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature subscribe the Declaration of publishing ethics and best practices for scientific journals published by the University of Barcelona.
The University of Barcelona promotes the open access publication of digital journals and endeavours to guarantee quality and conscientiousness in the transfer of scientific knowledge. The University is committed to ensuring that the articles it publishes and the publishing process itself observe the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). It is therefore essential that all of the stakeholders in this process—journal editors, reviewers, technical editors and authors—know and act according to the Code.
- Journal editors should :
- ensure that the decision to publish is not dependent on the author’s race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, country of origin, citizenship or political persuasion;
- publish regular updates on the responsibilities of authors, submission requirements, the arbitration system used to select the articles and the evaluation criteria to be applied by reviewers;
publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed and not make use of any article received for UB-specific research assignments without the author’s consent;
- guarantee confidentiality during the review process, meaning (a) the anonymity of reviewers and authors and the confidentiality of the content of the articles, the reports submitted by reviewers and any other type of correspondence with or between the editorial, consultant and scientific committees and (b) confidentiality in the correspondence between the author and the journal committees or reviewers when the author wishes to clarify, change or complain about some aspect of the article;
- make certain that the integrity of articles already published is respected;
- act swiftly to eliminate from the journal or refuse to publish any article that has been found to plagiarise information from other sources.
- Authors should
- understand that they are responsible for all submitted content;
- notify the journal editors of any errors in their published articles so that the appropriate corrections can be made;.
- guarantee that the article and associated materials are original and do not infringe on the rights of third-party authors and, when there are co-authors, guarantee that the consent of all the authors is obtained before the article goes to press.
- Reviewers and technical editors should
- apply revisions that are objective, informed, critical, constructive and unbiased, where acceptance or rejection is based only on the work’s relevance, originality, interest to the public in question and compliance with the style and content regulations in the evaluation criteria;
- meet deadlines when this is possible and promptly inform the journal editor when it is not;
- avoid sharing, spreading or reproducing any information from articles still under review without permission from the corresponding journal editors or authors.
