About the Journal
Letras | Journal information
| Since 1929 Journal of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos |
Open access No submission, processing, or publication fees (APCs) |
| Double-blind peer review All research articles undergo external academic evaluation |
Primary language: Spanish We also publish contributions in English and Portuguese |
| International indexing Scopus Q1, Web of Science–ESCI, SciELO Peru, DOAJ, Latindex Catalog 2.0 |
Publication frequency Published every four months. Three issues per year: January–April, May–August, September–December |
Journal identifiers
| ISSN 0378-4878 |
e-ISSN 2071-5072 |
DOI 10.30920/letras |
About Letras
Letras is an academic journal of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. It was founded in Lima in 1929. It publishes original research and relevant academic contributions in the humanities, with particular attention to Latin America and its engagement with contemporary debates of global relevance.
Throughout its history, Letras has served as a space for the production and circulation of knowledge in the humanities. In its current stage, the journal renews this tradition through an editorial policy oriented toward high-quality research, critical discussion, internationalization, interdisciplinarity, and the open circulation of knowledge.
Editorial profile and areas of interest
Letras publishes work that makes an original contribution to contemporary discussions in the humanities and their intersections with the social sciences. It prioritizes research that formulates relevant problems, renews theoretical or methodological debates, and proposes new approaches to cultural, historical, and social objects, corpora, and processes.
Its priority areas include:
Literature and literary studies: literary theory and criticism, Latin American and comparative literatures, and relationships between literature, culture, politics, history, and society.
Cultural studies and interdisciplinary fields: visual culture, memory, gender, media studies, medical humanities, digital humanities, studies of culture and power, and other contemporary intersections between the humanities and the social sciences.
Language, society, and culture: sociolinguistics, language policies and ideologies, discourse analysis, language contact, multilingualism, and other studies of language from social, cultural, political, and historical perspectives.
Philosophy and critical thought: contemporary cultural, political, aesthetic, epistemological, and intellectual problems, as well as their traditions and genealogies.
These areas constitute editorial priorities rather than exclusive disciplinary boundaries. Letras also welcomes specialized contributions from individual disciplines when their problem, object, corpus, or approach makes a relevant contribution to the journal’s areas of interest.
The journal pays particular attention to research on Latin America, without restricting itself geographically or thematically to the region. It promotes work that places local and regional problems in dialogue with comparative, transnational, or global perspectives, as well as contributions from different academic traditions.
Letras also publishes thematic issues coordinated by national and international specialists, aimed at promoting interdisciplinary discussion of emerging problems or areas of particular relevance to the contemporary humanities. For further information on the publication of thematic issues, please consult the corresponding section of the journal.
Types of contributions and languages
Letras primarily publishes original research articles, as well as theoretical or conceptual articles, review studies, book reviews, and other academic contributions contemplated in its editorial policies.
Spanish is the journal’s primary language of publication. However, contributions in English and Portuguese are also considered when their object of study, academic relevance, or engagement with an international debate justifies publication in these languages.
All manuscripts are subject to the academic evaluation procedures established by the journal and are assessed according to criteria of originality, rigor, relevance, and contribution to their field of study.
Editorial information
Rejection rate: 77% over the last 12 months and 81% over the last 24 months.
Estimated time from initial submission to publication: approximately 12 months (data updated in September 2026). This period may vary depending on the number of evaluation/revision rounds and the editorial scheduling of the manuscript.
Open access
Letras is committed to the public, free, and non-commercial circulation of academic knowledge. It understands open access as a principle of its editorial policy and supports a publishing model in which access to knowledge does not depend on the ability of authors or readers to pay. Therefore, it charges no fees for manuscript submission, processing, or publication (APCs).
The journal’s contents may be freely accessed in accordance with the conditions established in its open access and licensing policy.
Indexing and visibility
Letras is included in major international indexing, documentation, and academic information systems, including Scopus, Web of Science–Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), SciELO Peru, DOAJ, Latindex Catalog, MLA International Bibliography, ERIH Plus, and ProQuest.
In terms of its positioning within the academic areas it covers, Letras is ranked Q1 in Literature and Literary Theory; Q2 in Cultural Studies, Linguistics and Language, and Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); and Q3 in Social Sciences (miscellaneous). This classification comes from the 2025 edition of the SCImago Journal Rank, based on Scopus data, and reflects both its consolidation in literary studies and the interdisciplinary nature of its editorial coverage.
The journal seeks to strengthen the international visibility of humanities research produced in Latin America and to promote its circulation within national and international academic communities.
