Editorial Criteria

Text

Academic articles or Fᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ should follow one of the recognized citation styles: MLA, APA, or ABNT, and maintain consistency throughout the document. Creative works, including submissions to the Lɪᴛᴇʀᴀᴛᴜʀᴀ, Bʟᴏɢꜱ, or Eɴᴛʀᴇᴠɪꜱᴛᴀs categories, may adopt a more flexible format, as long as the layout remains clean and stylistically coherent.
Titles of books, artworks, and films should appear in italics, while titles of poems, short stories, or chapters should be placed in “quotation marks.”
For bilingual or multilingual texts, we encourage authors to preserve the spelling, accentuation, and dialectal features of each language, avoiding unnecessary standardization. For additional details, please consult our Orthographic Guidelines.

Images

If your submission includes images, illustrations, or photographs, please attach them to the main email as separate files in .tiff or .jpg format. Each file should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and a size of 8 × 10 inches. The maximum size must not exceed 2560 pixels.
Within the main manuscript, indicate where each image should appear using the following format:

<Insert Figure 1 here>
Caption for the image

Please also include a separate document listing all image captions, containing the following information:

• Name of the artist or photographer
• Title of the work (in italics)
• Year, medium, and dimensions
  
  

Authors are responsible for securing permission to reproduce any material protected by copyright, including images, epigraphs, and excerpts from song lyrics.

Submission Categories

1. FEATURES (Academic Articles)

This section welcomes both traditional scholarly essays and hybrid proposals that merge theoretical analysis with creative inquiry. Fᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ include research-based and critical reflection pieces that expand conversations across literature, linguistics, and cultural studies. We particularly value work that combines conceptual rigor with stylistic precision, positioning language as both the object and the method of study.

Style Guide

• Length: 2,500–7,000 words (including notes and references)
• Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt; 1.5 spacing; 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins
• Abstract: 200-250 words
• 3–5 keywords
• References: Include a complete list of works cited in the text
• Citation style: MLA, APA, or ABNT

All submissions in this category undergo a double-blind peer review process. The editorial team will notify the author of the review outcome and any subsequent revision stages.

 

2. LITERATURE (Prose, Poetry, Chronicle, and Literary Essay)

This section features creative works in prose and poetry, including short stories, chronicles, and hybrid forms that merge a personal voice with literary experimentation. At its core, Lɪᴛᴇʀᴀᴛᴜʀe represents the creative heart of the journal: a space for linguistic risk and poetic invention. Works may be lyrical, narrative, or fragmentary, but should demonstrate craft, voice, and a clear awareness of language as a living instrument.

SHORT STORY: Short stories should not exceed 7,000 words and must follow the journal’s general formatting guidelines. The first page should include the title and subtitle (if applicable) of the story, as well as the author’s full name.

POETRY: Authors may submit up to five poems or one long poem with a maximum length of 20 pages per publication.

CHRONICLE: Chronicles should range between 1,000 and 2,500 words. This genre blends testimony with personal style, allowing space for the textures of memory, regional inflections, and linguistic nuance.

ESSAY: Essays should be 1,500 to 3,000 words in length (including notes and references) and follow the journal’s editorial guidelines. Use one of the recognized citation styles (MLA, APA, or ABN) consistently throughout. Notes should appear as footnotes, numbered consecutively in superscript, and always placed before punctuation marks.

 

3. REVIEWS / OPINION PIECE

This section features critical reflections on recent publications and cultural works that engage with the Lusophone and Hispanic worlds, including academic books, novels, poetry collections, exhibition catalogues, and other materials of scholarly or artistic interest. Works reviewed should have been published or presented within the past two years of the issue’s release.

Style Guide

• Length: 750–1,200 words
• Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt; 1.5 spacing; 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins
• References: Provide the complete citation of the work under review, formatted according to MLA, APA, or ABNT. Include ISBN and DOI where applicable
• Visuals: Whenever possible, include an image of the work reviewed (e.g., book cover or exhibition poster).

 

4. BLOGS

This section is a space for brief reflections, personal essays, and literary experimentation. Its tone may be conversational or reflective, yet should maintain intellectual depth and attention to style. Submissions may address current events, cultural debates, artistic practices, experiences of writing or migration, as well as opinion pieces that engage the present through a personal or critical voice.

Style Guide

• Length: 800–1,200 words
• Register: Accessible, essayistic, or testimonial
• Visuals: Include one image or illustration, either original or free of copyright restrictions
• Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt; 1.5 spacing; 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins

 

5. INTERVIEWS

The section features conversations with writers, artists, and scholars whose work expands or challenges contemporary cultural landscapes. We welcome edited transcriptions of recorded dialogues as well as written interviews, provided that the interviewee has given explicit consent for publication. Interviews should move beyond biography or promotion, fostering a thoughtful exchange about the interviewee’s ideas, creative process, and intellectual or artistic vision.

Style Criteria

• Length: 500–4,000 words
• Introduction: Include a brief introduction presenting the interviewee and the context of the conversation
• Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt; 1.5 spacing; 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins.

 

6. PODCAST

This section extends PTERODÁCTILO’s commitment to sound, orality, and experimentation. It features audio episodes, sound pieces, interviews, and hybrid projects that explore the auditory dimensions of language, identity, and artistic creation.

Style Criteria

• Proposal: 300–500 words including the names of all participants and a short description of the topic, concepts, experiences, and/or projects discussed
• Format: Times New Roman or Arial, 12 pt; 1.5 spacing; 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins
• Duration: 15–45 minutes
• Audio Format: MP3 or WAV
• Biographies: Include a short bio (50–100 words) for each participant (host, guests, etc.)

 

Orthography Guidelines

To ensure linguistic accuracy and respect for the multilingual nature of PTERODÁCTILO’s, submissions must follow the current orthographic and stylistic conventions of the language in which they are written. Authors should review their work carefully before submission to maintain editorial consistency and quality. Submissions may use either American or British English, but the choice must remain consistent throughout the text. Follow standard spelling, punctuation, and formatting conventions of the selected variety.

Capitalization

• Capitalize major words in titles and subtitles (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns): To Kill a Mockingbird, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
• Do not capitalize articles, conjunctions, or prepositions unless they begin the title or subtitle.
• Institutional names capitalize all significant words: Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The University of Texas at Austin.
• Days of the week, months, and demonyms are capitalized in English: Monday, May, Puerto Rican.
• Centuries are written with lowercase century and Arabic numerals: the 21st century, the 19th century.

Italics

• Use italics for:
  • Titles of books, films, artworks, and radio or television programs: Beloved, Inception, The Starry Night, The Crown.
  • Foreign words not naturalized in English: raison d’être, per se, zeitgeist).
  • Concepts or terms referred to as objects of discussion: The term intersectionality has evolved over time.
• Use quotation marks for titles of short stories, poems, book chapters, and articles: “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
• Italics for emphasis should be minimal and consistent, for example: The word displacement carries both emotional and political weight.

Numbers and Dates

• Numbers from one to ten should be written out in words; 11 and above should appear in numerals (three poets, 12 essays).
• Dates follow the month–day–year format in English: May 23, 2025.
• Centuries are written with lowercase century and Arabic numerals: the 21st century.
• Decades are written without an apostrophe: the 1980s, the 1990s.
• Page ranges use an dash (–): pp. 13–17.
• Approximate or stylistic quantities may be spelled out for tone or rhythm (around twenty votes).

Reference Examples by Citation Style

MLA (Modern Language Association, 9.ª edición)
Joyce, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922.

APA (American Psychological Association, Joyce, J. (1922). Ulysses. Shakespeare and Company.

ABNT (Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas – NBR 6023:2018)
JOYCE, James. Ulysses. Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1922.