Portuguese Studies

The literatures, cultures and histories of the Portuguese-speaking world

A journal publishing 2 issues per year

ISSN:
0267-5315 print
2222-4270 online

Portuguese Studies is a peer-reviewed biannual multi-disciplinary journal devoted to research on the cultures, literatures, history and societies of the Lusophone world. The Lead Editor of the Editorial Board for 2023 is Jane-Marie Collins, and the Reviews Editor is Emanuelle Rodrigues Dos Santos.

Social media. News about PS appears on the main MHRA Twitter feed (MHRABooks), and it also has its own feeds on Facebook (as "PortugueseStudiesMHRA") and on Twitter (as "PortugueseMHRA").

Submissions. Scholarly contributions are invited on all subjects within the fields of the literature, culture, and history of Portugal, Brazil and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa. Material on Galician studies will be considered where there is a substantial relevance to Lusophone literatures, cultures and histories. All articles and reviews should be written in clear English and conform to MHRA Style. Submissions in Portuguese may be considered, but full peer review and publication will be conditional on provision of a satisfactory translation by or on behalf of the author. For more, see the Notes for Contributors section below.

Colleagues may wish to note that the Editorial Board meets twice each year, normally in May and November. While routine business goes on throughout the year, major proposals (for example, for themed issues) are most likely to be decided on at these meetings.

Themed issues. The journal combines general issues, which include material on topics right across our remit, with themed issues. Themed numbers are often edited by guest editors, who work together with the Editorial Committee but take the main responsibility for the contents. To express an interest in editing a themed issue, please complete the special issue proposal form and submit this to the current Chair.

Books for review. Each issue of Portuguese Studies carries a reviews section. Books for review should be sent to: Reviews Editor, Portuguese Studies, Dr Emanuelle Rodrigues Dos Santos, Ashley Building, Department of Modern Languages, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT.

Sample. Originally published in Portuguese Studies 32.1 (2016), Anna Matheson's article The Subversion of Hate Literature in Anrique da Mota’s Farce of the Tailor (click on the title to read the PDF) examines a verse play written around 1500. Though the Farce ostensibly mocks Jews who convert to Christianity, it can also be read as a bold attack on the policy of forcing such conversions.

Editorial. For queries on style or translation, contact the Editorial Assistant, Richard Correll. For queries on layout or image format, contact the Production Editor, Graham Nelson.

Publication Ethics. If you have any concerns relating to publication ethics, please email the journal via richard.correll@portuguese.mhra.org.uk.

Publisher's statement. Views expressed in the content of Portuguese Studies are those of the respective authors and contributors and not of the journal editors or of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA). MHRA makes no representation, express or implied, in respect of the accuracy of the material in this journal and cannot accept any any legal responsibility or liability for views expressed or for any errors or omissions that may be made.

History. Portuguese Studies was founded in 1985 by the novelist and poet Helder Macedo, once a political exile in London, who held the senior chair of Portuguese at King's College London from 1982 until his retirement in 2004. Then as now, King's was one of the UK's leading centres for Lusophone studies, and the journal was edited as an annual paperback by its academic staff. Portuguese Studies was reconfigured as a twice-annual journal, in a larger page format, from volume 22 (2006). Titles were issued by Maney Publishing on MHRA's behalf until volume 25 (2009), after which MHRA continued the journal under its own imprint. The editorial team was widened in 2013 as part of a fruitful collaboration between MHRA and the Association of British and Irish Lusitanists, and the journal's reviews section made its debut in volume 32.1 (2016).

Institutional subscriptions. The Modern Humanities Research Association has now transferred subscription administration and distribution for its journals to Intermedia Brand Marketing Ltd. Please send enquiries by email to mhra@subscriptionhelpline.co.uk or telephone +44 (0)1293 312218.

Individual subscriptions. Individual subscriptions are available only to members of the Association. See the Membership page for details, and note that students registered for a higher degree can obtain entirely free electronic access for up to three years by becoming Postgraduate Associates (free of charge).

Notes for Contributors. Articles to be considered for publication may be on any subject within the field but must not exceed 7,500 words, and should be submitted in a form ready for publication in English, sent as an email attachment to the Editorial Assistant at portuguese@mhra.org.uk.

Contributions whose standard of English is inadequate will be returned. Any quotations in Portuguese must be accompanied by an English translation. Submissions in Portuguese may be considered, but full peer review and publication will be conditional on provision of a satisfactory translation by or on behalf of the author. The Editorial Assistant may undertake translations on request for a reasonable charge.

Text and references should conform precisely to the conventions of the MHRA Style Guide, 3rd edn. All articles are subject to independent, anonymous peer review by experts in the field; authors receive written feedback on the editors’ decision and guidance on any revisions required. Portuguese Studies regrets it must charge contributors for the cost of corrections in proof deemed excessive.

It is a condition of publication in this journal that authors of articles and reviews assign copyright, including electronic copyright, to the MHRA. Inter alia, this allows the General Editor to deal efficiently and consistently with requests from third parties for permission to reproduce material. The journal has been published simultaneously in printed and electronic form since January 2001. Permission, without fee, for authors to use their own material in other publi­cations, after a reasonable period of time has elapsed, is not normally withheld. Authors may make closed-access deposit of accepted manuscripts in their academic institution’s digital repository upon acceptance. Full open access to the accepted manuscript is permitted no sooner than 24 months following pub­lication of the Contribution by the MHRA. Contributions may also be republished on authors’ personal websites without seeking further permission from the Association, but no earlier than 24 months after publication by the MHRA.

Editors

  • Founding Editor: Helder Macedo
  • Lead Editor: Jane-Marie Collins
  • Catarina Fouto
  • Carlos Garrido Castellano
  • Tori Holmes
  • Hilary Owen
  • Emanuelle Rodrigues Dos Santos
  • Maria Tavares
  • Claire Williams

International Advisory Board

  • David Brookshaw
  • João de Pina Cabral
  • Ivo José de Castro
  • Thomas F. Earle
  • John Gledson
  • Anna Klobucka
  • Maria Manuel Lisboa
  • Kenneth Maxwell
  • Laura de Mello e Souza
  • Maria Irene Ramalho
  • Silviano Santiago

Copyright forms. If your article or review is accepted by this journal, then you will be asked to sign this copyright form (follow the link to read it in PDF form). The reasons we ask you to assign copyright to MHRA are as follows:

  • (i) ownership of copyright by the publisher tends to ensure maximum international protection against infringement, libel, or plagiarism
  • (ii) it enables the MHRA to deal efficiently with requests from third parties to reproduce or reprint a Contribution, or part of it, and in accordance with a general policy which is sensitive both to any relevant changes in international copyright law and to the general desirability of encouraging the dissemination of knowledge.
In assigning your copyright you are not forfeiting your proprietary rights, including patent rights. Nothing in the Agreement you sign shall restrict your rights as the Author(s) to revise, adapt, prepare derivative works, present orally, or otherwise make use of the contents of the Contribution, provided that these do not conflict with the MHRA's financial interests. You may do this after obtaining our permission. The MHRA is a charity which has the encouragement and dissemination of scholarship as its object, and permission to use the contents of your work elsewhere will not normally be withheld provided that the MHRA journal is acknowledged as the original source with a full bibliographical reference.

Open access. MHRA supports Open Access under the Green Route, with an embargo of 12 months. Under this model, if your Contribution is accepted for publication you may make a ‘closed’ deposit of your accepted manuscript in your academic institution’s digital repository upon acceptance. Full open access to the accepted manuscript is then permitted 12 months after publication.

Licensing content. All requests for permission to reproduce material first published in MHRA books and journals beyond the scope of fair use/fair dealing and the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements should be directed to: rights@mhra.org.uk. Please give specific details of the proposed new publication and the permission you require, including: media (print/electronic); print run; selling price; market; language.


Also available in book form:26.1. The Portuguese-Speaking Diaspora in Great Britain and Ireland (Edited by Jaine Beswick and Mark Dinneen)


42.2Portuguese Studies 42.2 1 December 2026
42.1Portuguese Studies 42.1 1 April 2026
41.2Portuguese Studies 41.2 1 December 2025
41.1Portuguese Studies 41.1 1 April 2025
40.2Asian Cinema
Edited by Maria do Carmo Piçarra 
Portuguese Studies 40.21 December 2024
40.1Portuguese Studies 40.1 1 April 2024
39.2Portuguese Studies 39.2 7 February 2024
39.1Portuguese Studies 39.1 3 July 2023
38.2From Antropofagia to Global Lusophone Studies
Edited by Ami Schiess and Giulia Champion
Portuguese Studies 38.212 December 2022
38.1Portuguese Studies 38.130 May 2022
37.2Literatures and Cultures of the Indian Ocean
Edited by Ana Mafalda Leite, Elena Brugioni and Jessica Falconi
Portuguese Studies 37.217 December 2021
37.1Brazil in the Midst of Neoliberal Turmoil: Devastation and Resistance
Edited by Márcio Seligmann-Silva
Portuguese Studies 37.14 July 2021
36.2Modern Portuguese Poetry
Edited by Paulo de Medeiros and Rosa Maria Martelo
Portuguese Studies 36.24 November 2020
36.1Portuguese Studies 36.122 July 2020
35.2Transnational Portuguese Women Writers
Edited by Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Maria Luisa Coelho
Portuguese Studies 35.223 January 2020
35.1Portuguese Studies 35.129 March 2019
34.2The Cinema of Fernando Vendrell
Edited by Paulo de Medeiros and Hilary Owen
Portuguese Studies 34.22 October 2018
34.1Portugal, Forty-Four Years after the Revolution
Edited by Sebastián Royo
Portuguese Studies 34.124 April 2018
33.2Portuguese Studies 33.228 November 2017
33.1Portuguese Studies 33.15 May 2017
32.2Authoritarian States and Corporatism in Portugal and Brazil
Edited by Paula Borges Santos and Luciano Aronne de Abreu
Portuguese Studies 32.210 October 2016
32.1Portuguese Studies 32.114 March 2016
31.2In Medieval Mode: Collected Essays in Honour of Stephen Parkinson on his Retirement
Cláudia Pazos Alonso and Claire Williams
Portuguese Studies 31.230 October 2015
31.1Portuguese Studies 31.110 April 2015
30.2João Cabral de Melo Neto (1920-1999)
Edited by Sara Brandellero
Portuguese Studies 30.21 September 2014