About the Journal

Aims and Scope

Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens (ISSN: 2183-7198) is a half-yearly thematic academic journal, with an open-access format and anonymous peer review, published by the NOVA Institute of Communication - ICNOVA of NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal.  It welcomes a diverse range of contributions in the field of communication and culture, with a particular emphasis on the discussion of contemporary culture and technologies, visual and artistic studies, visual culture and media archaeology.  The journal favours original multidisciplinary approaches to the theme of each issue. It accepts complete articles, critical reviews, interviews and visual essays and positions itself as an international and multilingual forum, publishing in Portuguese, French, Castilian and English.

The journal aims to provide a significant resource to diverse communities, including academics, curators, visual artists, photographers, collectors, independent scholars, undergraduate and postgraduate students - indeed, anyone with an interest in contemporary culture, arts and technologies, mediation processes and languages.

RCL was created in 1985 by the Centre for Communication and Language Studies - CECL of NOVA University of Lisbon and is one of the oldest scientific publications in the field of communication in Portugal. A total of 46 issues were published in print, and since 2017 the journal has been published solely in a digital and open-access format.

Each issue of RCL is dedicated to a theme proposed by one or more editors within the scope of the journal. These editors may be researchers of ICNOVA or external researchers, either national or foreign. Two Calls for Papers are launched annually.  

The texts and visual essays submitted to the editorial office will be subject to an initial evaluation by the issue editors, to check for compliance with the formal criteria and overall relevance to the theme of the Call for Papers.  Once accepted, they will be assigned two reviewers, in accordance with the process of double-blind peer review.

Authors are therefore invited to check the rules for publication presented in the  Author Guidelines, which must be strictly followed. In addition, they should also check the  Journal Policies, Review Process and Code of Ethics.

Registration in the system, and subsequent access or authentication, are required to submit articles, as well as to follow the ongoing editorial process.

Periodicity

RCL - Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens is a half-yearly publication (Spring/ Autumn).

Journal Policies

Articles must clearly identify and define the subject matter; critically discuss previous approaches to the same objects of research; be an original approach to the theme and to the works analysed; favour a critical use of theoretical concepts; have a clear structure with an introduction and a conclusion; use a coherent line of argument and a clear and concise writing style. 

In the case of visual essays, the visual element must be an integral part of the argument or the ideas being expressed rather than serve as an example or illustration. Page layout is an integral part of their form of expression, and authors must present their page design solutions.

Interviews are an initiative of the issue editors and are not a mandatory section of the journal. 

Only complete texts will be accepted (abstracts will not be considered).

Only unpublished texts will be accepted, and they may not be submitted to other journals while the submission process at RCL - Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens is ongoing.

Articles with incomplete or incorrectly formatted bibliographic references will not be accepted.

The rules of the Review Process must be complied with to ensure a blind Peer Review. For example, authors must not include references to their previous texts that compromise the anonymous nature of the submitted text.

Authors are not charged Article Processing Charges (APCs) for publishing their articles in the journal.

Open Access Policy

This journal offers immediate open access to its content, pursuant to the principle that providing the public with non-paid access to scientific knowledge promotes a greater democratization of knowledge worldwide.

Digital Preservation Policy 

This journal is digitally preserved through the Public Knowledge Project.

 

Peer Review Process

All articles submitted to the RCL journal will be evaluated through a process of double-blind peer review. The authors of the articles must ensure their anonymity by making sure that the anonymous file they submitted does not allow their identification through the document’s information or properties, nor otherwise. 

RCL’s editorial process is divided into three phases:

1. Evaluation by the editors

After the successful completion of the online submission process, articles are read and evaluated by the issue editors, to check whether the article meets the journal’s editorial criteria (in terms of their original nature, relevance of the theme and clarity of the approach) as well as its compliance in terms of formatting. Received articles that are not in alignment, either in whole or in part, with the Journal Policies and that do not ensure the author’s anonymity will be automatically rejected. If the article is rejected on the grounds of not meeting the editorial criteria or the journal’s rules, the decision will be communicated to the author within 1 month after the closing of the Call for Papers.

2. Blind peer review

If the article, review or visual essay is accepted by the editors, the blind peer review process will be initiated. The article will be forwarded to two reviewers with clear expertise in the field or the theme of the article. The reviewers do not know the identity of the author of the submission; the author will not know the identity of the reviewers. Reviewers must pay special attention to the following criteria: originality and relevance of the article in relation to other works on the same theme; methodological coherence; clear contribution to the field of study; clarity of the line of argument; quality of the writing.

Opinions may include the following recommendations: rejection of the article; acceptance with the obligation to make changes; acceptance without changes. The final decision concerning the acceptance of an article/  review/ visual essay for publication following the blind peer review is the sole responsibility of the editors and will be communicated to the author within 6 months after its receipt. The decision will be communicated together with the opinions of the reviewers.

If changes to the manuscript are suggested, a deadline will be given to the author(s) to implement the changes requested by the reviewers and submit a new version of the article through the journal’s online system.

 3. Copyediting

If the new version is accepted by the editors, the text will then be copyedited, and the author must give his or her opinion on it within 1 week. Once the article has been formatted and its page layout has been set, the author will have the opportunity to approve the final proof in pdf format. 

 

Ethics Code

Duties and responsibilities of editors

The issue editors as well as the editors-in-chief are responsible for all the content published in the journal Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens.

Their code of conduct recommends that they:

  1. strive to meet the needs of readers and authors; 
  2. ensure the quality of the material they publish;
  3. uphold freedom of expression;
  4. be alert to and condemn conducts of falsification of data and results;
  5. condemn all forms of plagiarism;
  6. pay attention to the originality of published texts so that they do not publish texts that authors have already published, either in whole or in part, in other publications;
  7. condemn false statements concerning the curriculum;
  8. always be available to publish corrections, clarifications and apologies when necessary.
  9. Issue editors may not publish their own articles in their issue. They must only sign the introduction presenting the topic and the issue.

 

Relationship with the readers

Readers must be informed about the funding of the research that led to the article and about the role of the funders in that research.

 

Relationship with authors

Editors undertake to make every effort to ensure the quality of the material they publish.

The editors’ decision to publish or reject an article submitted for publication will be based solely on its relevance, originality and clarity and will not be based on criteria of a personal or different nature.

Editors ensure that the description of the peer review process is clear and public. It is the responsibility of the editors to provide a justification for any deviation from this process.

The relationship with authors is based on mutual trust and on the assumption that the information provided by the authors is true, including, among other information, the one provided with regard to their curriculum, the original nature and the authorship of the submitted texts. Any deviation from this ethical rule constitutes a ground for refusal of the article by the editors.

 The journal provides a mechanism for authors and readers to submit complaints. For that purpose, please use ICNOVA’s email: patriciacontreiras@fcsh.unl.pt

 

Editorial Decisions

Editors undertake to publicize and apply in their own decision-making the guidelines laid down in the Journal Policies and the Author Guidelines, as well as ensure that the information contained therein is updated.
Editors undertake not to revert any of their decisions to accept a submission unless serious problems are detected in that submission.
Editors in office must not revert the decisions to publish of previous editors unless serious problems are detected in the submission.

Relationship with the Reviewers

Editors must publish guidelines for reviewers covering all that is expected of them. This guidance must be up to date at all times.
Editors ensure that there is a system in place to protect the identity of reviewers and authors.