Editor's Foreword: Pioneering Multidisciplinary Research on Latin America

For more than forty-five years, the Latin American Research Review has been recognized as a leading venue for publishing multidisciplinary research. As a result, it is one of the oldest journals of its kind in the Americas, regularly publishing articles from a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and the social sciences. But apart from trying to meet LARR 's demanding standards, what does this actually imply for researchers who might want to submit their work to LARR for possible publication? When should they consider submitting their manuscripts to LARR rather than to more traditional disciplinary journals? As a multidisciplinary journal, what do we look for when considering a manuscript's potential for publication? And after four decades of publishing, what would we like to see submitted to LARR that we do not necessarily receive now?

When to Submit to A Journal Like LARR

Researchers have a variety of alternatives when it comes to publishing their work. One key to their success is being able to match a particular manuscript with the most appropriate venue for its eventual publication. This involves many factors, not the least of which is knowing when a more traditional disciplinary journal might be best. Although there is no simple answer, especially given the fact that many articles could be published in either a disciplinary journal or a multidisciplinary journal, there are a few useful rules of thumb to follow.

First, does the manuscript itself use more than one traditional methodology, or does it make use of a hybrid methodology that does not neatly fit into any single discipline? In either case, a multidisciplinary journal such as LARR would be an appropriate choice. Yet the vast majority of manuscripts that are published in the humanities and social sciences do not fit either category. So what other factors might be considered?

Researchers generally want to achieve the largest readership for their work, but this is not necessarily the same as the widest readership or even the most appropriate readership. Multidisciplinary journals offer an exceptionally wide audience in terms of disciplinary breadth. At the same time, area studies journals offer a targeted readership in terms of geographical interest. LARR epitomizes these strengths, as more than five thousand members of the Latin American Studies Association receive it, as well as hundreds of institutional subscribers and the countless others who have access to LARR through institutional subscriptions.

So why should an author opt for multidisciplinary breadth over interdisciplinary depth? The most obvious reason is to attempt to reach a wide audience because the research likely appeals to a variety of disciplines. Multidisciplinary journals like LARR are an ideal vehicle for this because people who would otherwise tend to concentrate on their own discipline's flagship publications regularly consult them. Disciplinary boundaries are often notorious for the artificial barriers they create, but sometimes the convenience of having various disciplines represented in the same volume can begin to break down those barriers.

At the same time, cutting-edge research in Latin American studies may not necessarily be considered cutting edge in more traditional disciplinary journals; the issues, both theoretical and empirical, just may not be the same. A disciplinary journal may be less likely to publish a manuscript that LARR might endorse enthusiastically simply because other issues appear to be more prominent in the field. And if the journal does publish the article, those same issues dominating a particular discipline may drown out the article such that it becomes lost. By targeting an audience with similar shared regional interests, an author's impact on the profession may therefore be higher through publishing in a journal like LARR.

What We Look for in A Manuscript

Because LARR is a multidisciplinary journal, we also look for certain qualities in prospective manuscripts that may be less relevant to more traditional disciplinary journals. Aside from the requisite focus on Latin American research, it is important that articles published in LARR address larger issues that are of interest to its disparate readership. For some, there is a myth that LARR is not interested in more theoretical work because we publish actual...