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Author Guidelines

Dear Author,

Please note that at this early stage we are solely accepting Book Reviews and Review Essays and cannot yet process submissions of full research articles or submissions to the other sections. Please stay alert for soon upcoming Calls for Papers.

 

Author Guidelines


confluences is a multilingual, diamond open-access, inter- and transdisciplinary journal dedicated to critical scholarship on Latin America and the Caribbean. The journal focuses on knowledge
asymmetries, transregional entanglements, and intersectional inequalities, and welcomes feminist, decolonial, anti-racist, and broader critical perspectives.


Languages

The journal publishes contributions in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.


Open Access

All content is published as Diamond Open Access. No article processing charges (APCs) are charged to authors.


Peer Review and Open Reporting

Research Articles undergo double-blind peer review. Following acceptance, reviewers and authors may voluntarily participate in Open Reporting. This means that revised review essays may be published as Open Reviews with the consent of all parties.

 

Ethical Principles

Authors must ensure originality, proper citation, research integrity, transparency regarding AI-assisted writing, informed consent where applicable, and appropriate permissions for images, audiovisual materials, and copyrighted content.


Submission Requirements
All submissions (except single book reviews) should include: title, abstract (150–250 words), 4–6 keywords, author affiliation, ORCID, funding information (if applicable), acknowledgements (optional), and complete references.


Citation Style

Chicago Author-Date style is used throughout the journal.

 

We publish original work in the following formats:

Focus section: Research Articles
7,000–10,000 words. Original theoretical, empirical, methodological, or conceptual research.
Double-blind peer review. Focus sections may contain 4–7 articles plus an editorial introduction written by the organizing team focus editors. 

confluence publishes peer-reviewed Research Articles that advance critical debates on Latin America and the Caribbean while situating the region within wider histories and geographies of global entanglement. The journal understands Latin America and the Caribbean not as isolated world regions or bounded objects of area studies, but as constitutive spaces in the making of modernity, coloniality, capitalism, ecological transformation, political struggle, and epistemic production across the globe.

We seek original contributions that push conceptual, empirical, methodological, and political debates beyond established boundaries. Articles should do more than merely apply existing theories or add regional examples to already familiar arguments. Rather, confluence encourages submissions that intervene in ongoing debates, unsettle inherited categories, open new analytical horizons, and critically engage the asymmetrical relations, dependencies, circulations, and co-productions that shape social worlds across and beyond Latin America and the Caribbean.

The journal welcomes scholarship inspired by decolonial, feminist, anti-racist, ecological, Marxist, queer, postcolonial, Indigenous, anarchist, anti-authoritarian, and other critical traditions, while remaining explicitly open to intellectual experimentation, dialogue across differences, and the emergence of new forms of critique. confluence is not committed to a singular theoretical orthodoxy, but to rigorous, reflective, and politically engaged scholarship capable of rethinking dominant forms of knowledge and power.

Research Articles may be theoretical, empirical, methodological, historical, ethnographic, comparative, collaborative, visual, or interdisciplinary in orientation. We particularly value contributions that reflect on the situated conditions of knowledge production, engage with multiple epistemic traditions, and connect regional processes to wider global transformations and struggles.

All Research Articles undergo double-blind peer review (please read the description of the review process).

If you are interested in curating a themed issue for the Focus section, please contact the Journal Manager (frank.mueller@fu-berlin.de) for further information. Please submit a short statement of interest, outlining the topic, its relevance for Critical LAC Studies, potential individual contributors and/or contributions, and a timeline.

 

Critical Fabulations

Flexible length. Experimental, multimodal, artistic, speculative, visual, audio, video, and hybrid contributions. All submissions must include sufficient contextualisation and a reflective statement explaining their conceptual, methodological, aesthetic, or political intervention.

Critical Fabulations invites contributions situated at the intersections of academic, artistic, and activist forms of knowledge production. Works may employ critical practices such as storytelling, collective mapping, or speculation to engage historically silenced absences and experiences, ongoing ecological transformations, and uncertain futures. We welcome experimental and hybrid forms of inquiry, including narrative, visual, sonic, multimodal, essayistic, ethnographic, and speculative contributions that critically engage questions of representation, archival absence, epistemic asymmetry, and political imagination. This way, Critical Fabulations pushes forward fabulation as a situated and reflexive practice capable of intervening in dominant regimes of knowledge production and marginalization and opening alternative ways of critical world-building.

Critical Fabulations requires reflexivity and dialogue. Contributions should articulate their intervention in ways that remain accessible to broader scholarly and public debate. Submissions, including multimodal and non-textual works, should therefore include a written reflection situating the contribution, explaining its approach, and engaging the questions it raises. Such reflections, even when written in an essayistic tone, are understood as part of the contribution itself. The section asks contributors to reflect on how artistic and activist practices might critically engage invisibilized subjects, fragmented histories, ecological crises, and political futures; how can fabulation become a method for engaging uncertain worlds and forms of experience that exceed conventional academic representation; and how can experimental forms of narration remain attentive to ethics, situated knowledge, and political responsibility?

 

Open Reviews
1,500–2,500 words. This section publishes edited review commentaries emerging from accepted Research Articles, given prior consent by all parties, that is, author(s) and reviewer. 

The Open Reviews section is part of confluences’ innovative review model. Following successful peer review, authors and reviewers may jointly decide to publish selected peer-review comments in revised form. These contributions are not intended as evaluations, but as independent reflections on the significance, scope, and challenges of a published article. The aim is to make scholarly discussions more visible, foster epistemic plurality, and explore new forms of academic dialogue.

 

Book Reviews
800-1,200 words. Critical assessment of a single recent publication. Editorial review.

Book Reviews at confluences provide critical engagement with recently published books relevant to Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Rather than serving as descriptive summaries, reviews should introduce readers to the book's central questions, situate it within broader scholarly debates, and assess its contribution to ongoing discussions in the social sciences and humanities.

A strong review should briefly present the book's overall structure and argument, highlighting how the chapters, empirical material, or theoretical interventions are brought together. Beyond summarizing the content, reviewers are encouraged to reflect on the originality of the work, its conceptual and methodological contributions, and the debates to which it speaks. Critical engagement is particularly welcome: reviewers should discuss both the strengths of the publication and its limitations, identify questions that remain open, and consider how the book advances, or challenges, existing scholarship.

In keeping with the editorial vision of confluences, reviewers are invited to consider the forms of confluence that a book creates. Which conversations does it bring together? Which disciplinary, geographical, linguistic, or epistemological boundaries does it cross? Does it connect debates that are usually treated separately? Does it amplify voices, perspectives, or intellectual traditions that have remained marginal within dominant academic discussions? These questions are not mandatory, but they reflect the kind of reflexive and dialogical engagement that the journal seeks to encourage.

Book reviews should conclude with a brief assessment of the audiences for whom the publication will be of particular interest, for example, researchers in specific disciplines, graduate students, practitioners, or readers interested in particular regional, thematic, or theoretical debates.

 

Review Essays

2,000–4,000 words, depending on the number of discussed works. Critical engagement with multiple books, literatures, debates, or intellectual trajectories, guided by a critical reflection on a research interest or question as posted by the reviewing author. Editorial review.

Review Essays follow similar considerations as outlined for the Book Review section above. In addition, Review Essays discuss multiple publications, fields of research, or scholarly debates and critically situate them within broader theoretical, political, or societal contexts. The section provides space for reflecting on current developments in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and, in particular, invites contributions that make visible connections between different bodies of knowledge.

 


Technical Specifications

Text files: DOCX preferred. Images: TIFF/JPG/PNG at minimum 300 dpi. Audio: WAV or
high-quality MP3. Video: MP4. Figures and tables must be submitted separately and clearly
numbered. Authors are responsible for permissions.


Accepted Contributions

Upon acceptance, authors will be asked to provide editable source files, high-resolution media,
captions, alt-text descriptions where appropriate, and final metadata

 

Author responsibilities

Before making a submission, authors are responsible for obtaining permission to publish any material included with the submission, such as photos, documents and datasets. All authors identified on the submission must consent to be identified as an author. Where appropriate, research should be approved by an appropriate ethics committee in accordance with the legal requirements of the study's country.

An editor may desk reject a submission if it does not meet minimum standards of quality. Before submitting, please ensure that the study design and research argument are structured and articulated properly. The title should be concise and the abstract should be able to stand on its own. This will increase the likelihood of reviewers agreeing to review the paper. When you're satisfied that your submission meets this standard, please follow the checklist below to prepare your submission.

Submission Preparation Checklist

All submissions must meet the following requirements.

  • This submission meets the requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
  • This submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration.
  • All references have been checked for accuracy and completeness.
  • All tables and figures have been numbered and labeled.
  • Permission has been obtained to publish all photos, datasets and other material provided with this submission.

Privacy Statement

Privacy Notice

The principles governing the processing of personal data are defined by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter “GDPR”). Personal data are information that can be clearly attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person. This includes, for example, information such as your name, age, address, telephone number, date of birth, email address, IP address, or user behaviour. Information that cannot be linked to you personally—or can only be linked to you with disproportionate effort—for example because it has been anonymised, does not constitute personal data.

When we collect and use personal data, we strictly limit this to what is technically necessary and comply with the applicable legal provisions. We collect and use personal data only where you have consented to this or where we are legally permitted to do so. It is important to us that you understand why we collect particular data and how we use them. The following Privacy Notice explains this in detail.

When you use websites under the domain specified below, usage data are stored. These data are used to identify and trace unauthorised attempts to access the website. They are also used to compile anonymised access statistics and thereby improve the website’s structure.

These personal data will not be disclosed to third parties or used outside confluences, Berlin Universities Publishing, or Freie Universität Berlin, unless you have given your consent or we are legally required or permitted to disclose data (for example, for law-enforcement purposes, in the event of suspected plagiarism, or other copyright infringements).

Data Controllers and Scope

The data controllers within the meaning of the GDPR, other national data-protection laws of Member States, and other applicable data-protection provisions are:

Dr Frank I. Müller
Boltzmannstrasse 1
14195 Berlin, Germany

Prof Dr Stephanie Schütze
Rüdesheimer Str. 54–56
14197 Berlin, Germany

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, please contact the editorial office of Berlin Universities Publishing:

Telephone: +49 (0)30 838 61022
Email: frank.mueller@fu-berlin.de

This Privacy Notice applies to confluences, which is hosted at Freie Universität Berlin under the domain confluences-journal.org using the Open Journal Systems content-management system.

Individual Processing Activities

1. Provision and Use of the Website

a. Type and Scope of Data Processing

When you access webpages under the domain referred to above, data are stored in log files automatically generated by the server. These include:

  • the webpage you visited;

  • the page from which you accessed our website (in the case of search engines, this may also include the search terms entered);

  • date;

  • time;

  • the operating system you use;

  • characteristics of the display you use (resolution in pixels and the so-called pixel ratio for detecting high-resolution displays); and

  • the browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera).

In addition, the size of the transmitted data, an HTTP status code (for example, indicating that a webpage was transmitted successfully), and the IP address of the accessing device (e.g. PC or smartphone) are stored. The IP address is anonymised by deleting its final octet.

The collection and use of the information stored in log files serve solely to produce anonymised statistical evaluations—for example, to analyse user behaviour, the webpages of the above-mentioned sites or subdomains that are accessed, or the browsers used—and thereby improve our services. As IP addresses are anonymised as described above, it is not possible to attribute the results of these evaluations to a particular IP address.

b. Legal Basis

The legal basis for this data processing is Article 6(1), first sentence, point (e) GDPR in conjunction with sections 3 Berlin Data Protection Act (BlnDSG) and 4 Berlin Higher Education Act (BerlHG), as well as Article 6(1), first sentence, point (c) GDPR in conjunction with section 13(7) German Telemedia Act (TMG). The processing of these data is necessary for the provision of a website and thus serves the performance of a public task of Freie Universität Berlin.

c. Retention Period

For evaluation purposes, log files are stored for the current and preceding calendar year, with IP addresses anonymised. The data are then deleted.

2. Registration

Authors and reviewers must register and log in to our website in order to submit or review articles. Registration is necessary for carrying out the review process. The legal basis for collecting and processing registration data is Article 6(1), first sentence, point (b) GDPR.

The data requested in the registration form are stored. They serve to uniquely identify the registering person, which is necessary for managing access rights for the submission and review process. The email address provided during registration is used for communication during the review process.

Registered users may request deletion of their account by contacting us at the email address given above. Please note that information from the submission and review process is not affected by this deletion, as it forms part of the submitted or reviewed manuscript. Only the account and the personal data contained in it will be deleted.

3. Use of reCAPTCHA

When registering on our website, we use Google reCAPTCHA to prevent misuse by spam bots. To complete registration, the protected reCAPTCHA checkbox must be selected. When the registration page is accessed, personal data (such as IP address, location of access, and time of access) are transmitted to Google. Further information is available at: https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/

If you wish to create an account without using Google reCAPTCHA, please email the contact address stated above.

4. ORCID iD

When submitting an article or registering an account, users may provide their ORCID iD and have it verified through their ORCID account. To do so, authors must actively log in to ORCID using their ORCID credentials and authorise access to their ORCID profile. This authorisation constitutes consent to the use of the ORCID iD in the publication process.

Verified ORCID iDs are made publicly available as publication metadata. Their use is based exclusively on consent, pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (a) GDPR.

5. Personal Information Submitted with Contributions

Personal information submitted together with contributions—particularly names, institutional affiliation, biographical information, email addresses, and website addresses—will be published together with the contribution if it is accepted for publication. The legal basis is Article 6(1), first sentence, point (b) GDPR: processing in the context of a contractual relationship.

6. Newsletter

Where you have given your express consent pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (a) GDPR, we use your email address to send you a newsletter on a regular basis. By subscribing to the newsletter, the registered user expressly agrees to the processing of the personal data provided. Only an email address is required to subscribe.

You may unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. To do so, please send a corresponding request to the contact address stated above.

7. Data Processing When You Contact Us

a. Type and Scope of Data Processing

Our website provides, in some cases, the opportunity to contact us by email. If you use this option, we process the sender’s email address as well as any other personal data contained in the message (such as name, subject of the enquiry, attachments, date, and time). This processing serves to assign your enquiry and respond to it. Your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

b. Legal Basis

The legal basis for processing personal data in connection with enquiries by email is Article 6(1), point (e) GDPR in conjunction with section 4 BerlHG.

c. Retention Period

As soon as your enquiry has been dealt with and the matter concerned has been conclusively resolved, the personal data processed through the contact form will be deleted. Further storage may occur in individual cases where this is required by law.

8. Usage Statistics

For the purpose of analysing the use and reach of our journal, we document and store access to the journal’s homepage, issues, articles, galleys, and supplementary files. All information is anonymised. IP addresses are anonymised using a SHA-256 hash algorithm combined with a secure 64-character salt. The salt is automatically generated at random and overwritten daily. Consequently, IP addresses cannot subsequently be reconstructed.

In addition to anonymised IP addresses, the following data are collected:

  • type of access (e.g. administrative access);

  • time of access;

  • URL accessed;

  • HTTP status code; and

  • browser.

The information collected is used solely for statistical evaluation of the use of our content. IP addresses are not linked to user IDs. It is technically impossible to subsequently trace a specific data record back to a specific IP address.

Disclosure of Data

We disclose your personal data to third parties only where:

  • you have given your express consent pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (a) GDPR;

  • disclosure is legally permissible and necessary pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (b) GDPR for the performance of a contractual relationship with you;

  • disclosure is required to comply with a legal obligation pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (c) GDPR; or

  • disclosure is necessary pursuant to Article 6(1), first sentence, point (e) GDPR for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in Freie Universität Berlin.

Where disclosure occurs in an individual case, we will inform you separately.

Use of Cookies on Our Website

a. Type and Scope of Data Processing

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small files that are sent by us to your device’s browser during your visit to our webpages and stored there. Some functions of our website cannot be provided without technically necessary cookies. Other cookies, however, enable us to conduct various analyses. For example, cookies can recognise the browser you use when you return to our website and transmit various information to us.

Among other things, cookies enable us to make our website more user-friendly and effective by tracking your use of our website and identifying your preferred settings, such as country and language settings. If third parties process information through cookies, they collect this information directly through your browser. Cookies do not damage your device. They cannot run programs or contain viruses.

The Open Journal Systems publication platform used by us employs only a session cookie, which is deleted when the browser is closed. Additional plugins installed or activated by PKP or third-party providers may use further cookies.

b. Legal Basis

The processing of technically necessary cookies is based on Article 6(1), point (e) GDPR in conjunction with sections 3 BlnDSG and 4 BerlHG, as well as Article 6(1), first sentence, point (c) GDPR in conjunction with section 13(7) TMG. We require your consent for technically non-essential cookies and so-called third-party cookies. If you have given us consent to use cookies on the basis of the notice provided on our website (the “cookie banner”), the lawfulness of their use is additionally based on Article 6(1), first sentence, point (a) GDPR. You may withdraw this consent at any time with effect for the future by disabling cookies in your browser settings.

c. Retention Period

As soon as the data transmitted to us through cookies are no longer necessary for the purposes described above, these data will be deleted, in particular when cookies are deactivated. This normally occurs when the browser window is closed. Further storage may occur in individual cases where this is required by law.

Social Media Channels

Our journal gives you the option to share content from our website on your social media channels. For this purpose, we use a dedicated plugin that uses the Shariff tool provided by Heise Online. By using Shariff, providers of the respective social media channels are unable to track your user behaviour on our website.

As soon as you use the Shariff social media buttons, you will be redirected to the respective provider, where you must log in using your personal credentials in order to share content on your channels. At that point, you are no longer on the confluences website. Please note that the processing—in particular the storage, deletion, and use—of personal data from that point onwards is the responsibility of the respective service provider, over which we have no control. Many providers are not based in Germany and may therefore be subject to other legal provisions that may not provide the level of protection required under German data-protection law.

For information on the scope of the processing of your personal data by social-network providers and on ways to protect your privacy, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective providers.

Data Subject Rights

Under the GDPR, you have the following rights as a data subject whose personal data are processed:

  • Pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, you may request access to the personal data we process about you. In particular, you may request information on the purposes of processing; the categories of personal data; the categories of recipients to whom your data have been or will be disclosed; the planned storage period; the existence of a right to rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, or objection; the existence of a right to lodge a complaint; the source of your data where they were not collected by us; transfers to third countries or international organisations; and the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, as well as meaningful information about the details thereof, where applicable.

  • Pursuant to Article 16 GDPR, you may request the prompt rectification of inaccurate personal data stored by us or the completion of incomplete personal data.

  • Pursuant to Article 17 GDPR, you may request the erasure of personal data stored by us, unless processing is necessary for exercising the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest, or for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

  • Pursuant to Article 18 GDPR, you may request restriction of the processing of your personal data where you contest the accuracy of the data; the processing is unlawful; we no longer need the data but you oppose their deletion because you require them for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims; or you have objected to processing pursuant to Article 21 GDPR.

  • Pursuant to Article 20 GDPR, you may request to receive the personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, or request that they be transmitted to another controller.

  • Pursuant to Article 7(3) GDPR, you may withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future. As a result, we may no longer continue to process data on the basis of that consent.

  • Pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. As a rule, you may contact the supervisory authority at your habitual place of residence, place of work, or our registered office.

Right to Object

Where we process your personal data on the basis of Article 6(1), first sentence, point (e) or (f) GDPR, you have the right, pursuant to Article 21 GDPR, to object to the processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation. In this case, confluences, Berlin Universities Publishing, and Freie Universität Berlin will no longer process your personal data, unless they can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or where the processing serves the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

Data Security and Safeguards

We are committed to protecting your privacy and treating your personal data confidentially. To prevent manipulation, loss, or misuse of the data stored by us, we implement comprehensive technical and organisational security measures. These measures are regularly reviewed and adapted to technological developments. They include, among other things, the use of recognised encryption methods (SSL or TLS).

Please note, however, that because of the nature of the internet, data-protection rules and the safeguards described above may not be observed by persons or institutions outside our sphere of responsibility. In particular, data disclosed without encryption—for example, by email—may be read by third parties. We have no technical control over this. It is the user’s responsibility to protect the data they provide against misuse through encryption or other means.

Data Protection Officer

The external Data Protection Officer of the data controllers is:

Dr Karsten Kinast, Attorney-at-Law, LL.M.
KINAST Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH
Nordstraße 17a
50733 Cologne, Germany
Telephone: +49 (0)221 222 183 0
Email: datenschutz@fu-berlin.de

The Deputy Data Protection Officer of Freie Universität Berlin is:

Andreas Hübinger
Kaiserswerther Straße 16–18
14195 Berlin, Germany
Email: datenschutz@fu-berlin.de