Finisterra's Editorial Status

Editorial Policy of Finisterra

Finisterra – Revista Portuguesa de Geografia is published by the Centre for Geographical Studies, Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon. While committed to promoting and developing geographical knowledge in the Portuguese-speaking world and in the Portuguese language, Finisterra is an international journal focused on current debates and the state of the art in sciences related to territory. It publishes original and innovative works in Physical and Human Geography, Landscape Studies, Environmental Risks and Change, Urban and Regional Studies, Development, Regional and Local Planning, Spatial Planning, Spatial Modelling, and Geographic Information Science. Among the formats it publishes, the journal prioritises research articles, review articles, book reviews, and author commentaries.

Finisterra promotes multilingualism. It accepts manuscripts in Portuguese, as well as in English, Spanish, and French. All manuscripts, regardless of the original language, must include an English version of the title, abstract, and keywords, as well as an english traduction of figure and table captions.

The journal publishes both regular issues and thematic issues. Thematic issues are coordinated by recognised researchers in the respective fields (reviewer guidelines), following proposals approved by the Editorial Board and Executive Editors of Finisterra. Both regular and thematic issues undergo equivalent peer-review processes, using a double-blind system, and are subject to the same rigorous standards.

The article review process follows these steps:

  1. Manuscripts are submitted by the authors via the journal’s platform hosted on RCAAP.

  2. An acknowledgement of receipt is sent to the authors.

  3. The Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor, or a member of the Executive Editorial Board designated by them, or both jointly, together with the Editorial Support Team, carry out an initial screening to verify whether the manuscripts: a) comply with the formal requirements; if not, they are returned for revision; b) fall within the scope of Finisterra and have the relevance and quality to proceed to peer review.

  4. Once the screening stage is passed, the manuscripts are forwarded to two scientific reviewers for double-blind peer review: the reviewers are unaware of the authors’ identities, and vice versa.

  5. Upon agreeing to review, the scientific reviewers commit to completing the evaluation within one month, submitting the respective Evaluation Form via the journal’s platform hosted on RCAAP.

The acceptance of manuscripts for publication is based on criteria of relevance, interest, alignment with the journal's scope, scientific quality, and respect for a plurality of perspectives. Finisterra asserts its independence from any political, ideological or economic power, and adheres to principles of rigour, impartiality and inclusiveness.

Dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of publishing ethics, Finisterra’s editorial boards base their Code of Ethics on the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (March 2011 and Septeber 2018 versions). This code outlines the responsibilities of all parties involved in the publication process.

Finisterra uses the PKP Preservation Network (https://pkp.sfu.ca/pkp-pn/) for the digital preservation of its contents.

Finisterra is made available in open access through the RCAAP platform at https://revistas.rcaap.pt/finisterra. It provides submission and publication guidelines, as well as an annual list of the peer reviewers who contribute to the scientific evaluation of manuscripts.

The editorial boards of Finisterra are committed to complying with the Portuguese Press Law and to upholding the ethical and deontological principles that guide scientific research, along with respect for the good faith of its readers.

Open Access Policy

Finisterra is indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The journal provides immediate and free open access to its articles through the RCAAP platform at https://revistas.rcaap.pt/finisterra. All works are published under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY).

No article processing charges are applied to authors (article publishing charge-free journal).