About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Matraga, a journal published by the Graduate Program in Letters at UERJ, is a senior publication, aiming at promoting a critical review on issues in the field of literature, linguistics and cultural studies. It welcomes original articles and reviews, submitted to specific thematic issues.
Peer Review Process
The works that meet the standards will be sent and appreciated by two consultants from the Editorial Board or external ad hoc consultants. In case reviewers disagree, the text is sent to a third reviewer, who is responsible for the final result.
The following criteria is considered: appropriateness to the journal’s theme; originality of thought; relevance to the area; updated references; objectivity and clarity, and the proper use of technical-scientific language.
The authors will be notified of the full or conditional acceptance or rejection of their manuscripts.
Plagiarism is not tolerated. In the event of research misconduct, MATRAGA shall publish retractions, clarifications and corrections.
For technical reasons, such as a large number of submissions, the editors reserve the right to establish priorities for the inclusion of the article in the issue. Thus, an article approved by the reviewers may not be considered for publication.
Publication Frequency
Matraga publishes quarterly issues. Two of them are thematic issues, focusing on linguistic and literary studies respectively, and there is also an athematic miscelaneous issue, welcoming both linguistic and literary studies.
Matraga has now three issues per year, scheduled for April, August and December.
Open Access Policy
This journal offers free and immediate access to its content, following the principle that the availability of scientific knowledge to the public provides the democratization of knowledge worldwide.
The journal does not charge for submission, neither any article processing charges (APCs).
Declaration of Ethics and Good Editorial Practices
Matraga – created in 1986 inspired by the name of the character in the novel “A hora e a vez de Augusto Matraga”, by Guimarães Rosa and since then published uninterruptedly – is a scientific publication that seeks to ensure the best standards of ethics. Therefore, everyone involved in Matraga's publishing processes follows standards based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE (available at https://publicationethics.org/ ).
Publications of research involving human beings must demonstrate compliance with the ethical standards in current research and, therefore, it is recommended to include the CAAE number in the article (Certificate of Presentation of Ethical Appreciation).
Texts submitted to the journal may be checked using Crossref's Similarity Check software. If plagiarism is found, the author(s) will be informed and the article removed from the evaluation process.
Conflict of interests
It is required, for the submission of papers, a written declaration on Conflict of Interests, which may influence the results or interpretation of the article(s). All sources of financial support must be disclosed.
Responsibilities of the Editorial Board (Editor/in-Chief and Associate Editors)
Protect intellectual property and copyright;
Ensure that all evaluation and publication processes respect the legal premises to avoid defamation and offenses, violation of copyright, plagiarism;
Respond by taking reasonable steps in the event of complaints made about a submitted or published article. In the event of suspected misconduct, follow the COPE flowcharts, available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/Full%20set%20of%20flowcharts.pdf;
Publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies whenever necessary;
Convene and preside over ordinary and extraordinary meetings;
Publish resolutions in accordance with the decisions of the Editorial Board;
Request, when applicable, opinions prepared by an ad hoc specialist or by the board members regarding the content of the editorial proposals presented to the board;
Develop and maintain a board of relevant and frequently updated evaluators;
Guide and update Executive Editors on editorial policies.
The Editorial Board is responsible for:
The definition of editorial guidelines for Matraga;
The Editorial Board will decide on the theme of the magazine's issues, and may receive proposals from the Collegiate of the Graduate Program in Letters at UERJ;
The planning and scheduling of issues for the subsequent year;
The establishment of criteria for editing the number in preparation (determination of the themes and wide distribution of the calls for papers);
The appointment of two executive editors for each issue of the journal, with two professors belonging to the areas that make up PG-Letras for the miscellaneous issue, and for the thematic issues one professor from the area, who will choose an external co-editor;
Contribute to the good management of the journal, either by assisting the editor in decisions or by acting as promoters of the journal.
Is it the responsability of the Executive Editors to:
Receive proposals for articles and reviews for each issue of Matraga;
After evaluating the technical specifications of the material received, forward the article proposals to internal and external reviewers;
Evaluate articles exclusively based on their academic and intellectual merit, regardless of factors such as: race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, religious belief, nationality, political orientation or social class of the authors;
Ensure that the scientific refereeing process for articles is fair and impartial, and until the precepts of transparency and collaboration of Open Science are widely adopted by the Journal, ensure anonymity (double-blind peer review) and confidentiality of all information concerning reviews. Also ensure the protection of the identity of the authors and reviewers;
Ensuring an adequate selection of evaluators;
Forward to the Editorial Board information about the progress of the editorial;
Establish a work schedule for the stages of scientific arbitration, review, writing the Submission of the number, ensuring that all deadlines are met.
It is the responsibility of the authors to:
Take full responsibility for the content of the texts they submit to the journal;
Participate and be collaborative in the evaluation processes;
Confirm that the works represent their own contributions, without having been copied or plagiarized, in whole or in part, without the respective source being clearly cited;
Be aware that plagiarism represents unethical and unacceptable behavior in all its forms;
Ensure that there is consensus among all co-authors in approving the final version, submitting it and describing each one's contribution.
It is the responsibility of the evaluators to:
Assist the editor in making editorial decisions;
Offer suggestions to authors to improve the submitted text;
Notify the editor if they feel prevented or disqualified from carrying out the opinion or if they have any information about the identity of the author of the submitted text;
Treating the texts received for evaluation as confidential documents and the information contained therein must not be used for personal gain;
Inform the Executive Editors of any hypothesis of copyright infringement, plagiarism, defamation or offenses;
Perform the evaluation of the articles based on the content they present, without considering factors such as: race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, nationality, political orientation or social class of the authors;
Not evaluate originals with which they have conflicts of interest resulting from relationships or competitive, collaborative or other connections, with any of the authors, companies or institutions related to the articlesJournal History
MATRAGA journal was first published in 1986 by the Departamento de Cultura e Literatura Brasileira, an initiative sponsored by Professor Dirce Côrtes Riedel. From then to 2002, there were many relevant contributions to the journal: Gerd Bornheim, Alfredo Bosi, Eneida Maria de Souza, Eneida Leal Cunha, Eduardo Lourenço, Vilém Flusser, Marisa Lajolo and Massaud Moisés. among others.
In 2003, the journal was incorporated by the Graduate Program in Letters at UERJ, editing two issues a year (Literature Studies and Linguistic Studies). The journal published important papers from Brazilian and overseas researchers: Regina Zilberman, Benedito Nunes, Kathrin Rosenfield, João Adolfo Hansen, Helmut Galle, Silviano Santiano, Toril Moi, Maria Teresa Horta, Raul Antelo, Vanda Anastácio and Inocência Mata, among others.
MATRAGA welcomes original articles and reviews, in all areas of Literature, Language and Cultural studies, from contributors with doctoral degrees. It operates a blind, peer-reviewed acceptance process. The Executive Editors select among the approved papers those that wil compose a thematic issue.
The Editorial Board is composed of Full Professors from the Graduate Program in Letters, renowned researches from other Brazilian Universities (usually CNPq researchers) and foreign professors from prestigious universities abroad. The journal is run by a group of Associate Editors, professors at the Graduate Program in Letters from different areas, responsible for ensuring the high quality of the journal.
In 2008, MATRAGA entered the world wide web. All issues are available on-line. In 2009, the journal reached the top evlaluation at Qualis.
Since 2017, Matraga publishes quarterly issues. Two of them are thematic issues, focusing on linguistic and literary studies respectively, and there is also an athematic miscelaneous issue, welcoming both linguistic and literary studies.
