Review Process

Manuscript & Research Notes Review Process

LARR is conscious of the need to review manuscripts in a manner that is both rigorous and reasonably expeditious.

Initial Review

Manuscripts undergo a "quick-review" by the Editors at McGill University. This is an initial assessment about whether the manuscript fits within the guidelines of LARR, constitutes original research, and warrants full external review. Our aim is to complete this initial review process and to inform the author inside one month. Unfortunately, it is not possible to offer detailed feedback to authors about the manuscript in these cases.

Full Review

If the internal review is positive, LARR may contact the author to request an electronic blind version of the manuscript if one has not already been provided. This manuscript is then sent out to be reviewed--usually by three or more external reviewers. (It is editorial policy not to make a decision on a paper until it has received three reviews.) Again, we urge reviewers to be expeditious, and we anticipate having a decision and response to the author within three to four months of first receipt of the paper.

In all of the following cases after external review the author will receive the reviewers' comments with identifying notes removed:

Acceptance and Conditional Acceptance

If the external reviews are favorable, the manuscript will usually be conditionally accepted subject to the author's adequately addressing any concerns of the reviewers. Only very rarely is a manuscript accepted without any revision at all.

Revise and Resubmit

If the external review is generally favorable, but substantial revision is required before being accepted to LARR, the paper will be rejected with the encouragement to revise and resubmit after addressing the reviewers' concerns. Where the author later resubmits a manuscript, it is sent back to at least one of the original external reviewers and often to one new reviewer; in both cases this is largely to ascertain that suggested revisions have been adequately addressed. (Reviewers will receive the original "blind" assessments.) If both reports are positive, the manuscript is likely to be accepted for publication.

The period between receipt of a final manuscript incorporating all required revisions for acceptance, and the actual publication, is likely to be two or three issues (i.e., eight months to one year).

Reject

This speaks for itself and may occur both after full review, as well as after revision and resubmission. While naturally a disappointment, LARR hopes that authors will recognize the importance of a rigorous peer review process to ensure high-quality scholarship. Although no system is infallible, our editorial policy is to ensure we maintain the quality of what is widely regarded as the premier journal in Latin American Studies.