Focus and Scope

Borders in Globalization Review (BIG_Review) provides a forum for academic and creative explorations of borders in the 21st century. Our interest is advancing high-quality and original works in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, that explore various aspects of borders in an increasingly globalized world. BIG_Review publishes scholarship (academic articles, essays, research notes, book reviews, and film reviews) as well as artwork (photography, painting, poetry, short stories, and more). The journal is committed to academic peer review, public access, policy relevance, and cultural significance.

Our starting point is that borders offer metaphoric-conceptual tools for the study of differentiation and integration. This perspective mandates a wide range of artistic, theoretical, and empirical explorations of borders. The journal is especially interested in advancing the study of the borders of globalization. New research is documenting a shift in the logic of borders from spatial and territorial to functional and aterritorial. This means that borders are increasingly detached from territory, operating as mobile and relational nodes in increasingly complex regulatory frameworks. For example, border screening often happens far from the border, and goods and people are increasingly bordered ‘on the go’ with microtechnology and biometrics. Simultaneously, global processes are increasingly straining the territorial foundations of borders, including subnational and transnational pressures, the virtual flows of global finance and big data, and the effects of climate change. These developments impact culture and politics, including understandings and contestations of identity, citizenship, law, nationalism, gender, and Indigeneity.

The borders of globalization are rapidly being established in a variety of spaces – not just in borderlands. Like a puzzle in the making, their infrastructures and institutions interlock in various geographies and modalities around world, although not always visibly. BIG_Review offers a platform to visibalize, problematize, and discuss how these borders are changing and how they affect all other borders, physically, of the mind, and across cyberspace.

The journal also advances original artwork related to borders. Borders capture the popular imagination and inspire creative works. Artwork reflects and influences the cultures that shape borders. Sometimes artwork is subversive of borders. BIG_Review connects artists to audiences around the world through wide distribution networks and open-access electronic editions. Our art pages showcase individual works as well as portfolios, including photos, paintings, poems, short stories, fiction reviews, and more. All art is published at no cost to the artists.

See also submission guidelines For Contributors.

Peer Review

Each academic article and essay considered for publication in BIG_Review undergoes at least two double-blind peer reviews from our expert and international Editorial Board (board members are listed in a panel on this page and on the first page of the journal). In the event of a split recommendation, a third (and sometimes a fourth) review may be obtained. Publication decisions are based on these reviews.

Open Access and Distribution

BIG_Review is an open-access publication. It is available online for free to readers worldwide. Please share with colleagues and friends, including on social media.

Unless otherwise stated, all works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).

We distribute each issue to a recipient list of more than 1000 scholars and policy makers located in Canada, the United States, Mexico and in over 60 other countries around the world. We also promote the content on social media, including paid promotion.

Author Self-Archiving Policy — This journal permits and encourages authors to post items submitted to the journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication, while providing bibliographic details that credit, if applicable, its publication in this journal.

Fee for Publishing Academic Article or Essay

We are able to share peer-reviewed academic work around the world for free (open access) in part because we charge a $250 (Cdn) article processing charge (publication fee) to the author(s) of approved and published submissions, and we charge $2,500 (Cdn) to guest editor(s) for special sections or special issues (thematic collections up to ten articles) that are approved and published. We encourage authors and guest editors to seek support from research funds, grants, and supporting institutions. The fee allows author(s) to publish work that is both refereed (with at least two double-blind peer reviews) and shareable with friends, family, and social media (Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0). The fee only applies once to academic submissions that have been approved and prepared for publication. There are no fees for submissions that are not published, and there are no fees for book or film reviews or for any artistic submissions (paint, poetry, story, etc.).

Print Copies Available 

While BIG_Review is free for reading and sharing in electronic formats, you may also order hardcopies (8.5” x 11”), printed and bound in full colour by University of Victoria Printing Services, for $45 (Cdn) each, plus shipping and handling. For multiples or subscriptions, $40 (Cdn) each, plus shipping and handling.

Publication Frequency

BIG_Review is published twice annually in Spring and Fall.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Partnership with BIG_Books

Borders in Globalization Books (BIG_Books) shares an editorial board with BIG_Review. The focus and scope of the books are the same as the journal, except the books publish only academic content, not artistic or fictional. Learn more at BIG_Books. 

History

In 2018, Borders in Globalization, a Research Lab of the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada established Borders in Globalization Review (BIGR/BIG_Review) and the Borders in Globalization Book Series (BIGB/BIG_Books). Both publish online, open access, double-blind peer-reviewed manuscripts about the borders of globalization; both are interested in engaging in inter- and trans-disciplinary conversations on research works and artworks in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Funding and Support

BIG_Review is funded and supported by the Borders in Globalization research program (BIG). This publication draws on research supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (895-2021-1002-SSHRC), and from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union (the European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein).

In order to continue publishing high-quality and open-access work in the absence of secure, long-term funding, BIG_Review aims to become self-sustainable through publication fees for academic submissions and advertising revenue.

The Centre for Global Studies at the University of Victoria has provided office space and support.

The journal is hosted online by University of Victoria Libraries.

Publicity and Advertising

BIG_Review reserves space for paid promotional content in the social sciences, humanities, and fine arts, including advertisements for new books and other publications, special events, calls for papers, courses and programs, and more.

Full and partial page insets will be made available on the inside of the front and back covers, as well as the first and last pages of the journal. 
• Inside front cover: full page = $1,000 (Cdn); half page = $500; quarter page = $250 
• Front pages: full page = $500 (Cdn); half page = $250; quarter page = $125
• End pages: full page = $100 (Cdn); half page = $50; quarter page = $25 
• Inside back cover: full page = $500 (Cdn); half page = $250; quarter page = $125 

Ad proposals should be submitted as PDFs directly to our Chief Editor. All inquiries welcome. BIG_Review reserves the right to reject ad proposals on any grounds.

Disclaimer

Borders in Globalization Review (including its editors, publishers, and distributors) are not liable or responsible for the accuracy of any information provided in the journal, nor for any direct or indirect damages arising out of the use of the journal or its contents. The information in this journal is believed to be true and accurate on the date of its publication. The journal makes no warranty with respect to the material contained herein. Authors must ensure that the work is their own and is original. It is the responsibility of the authors, not the journal, to determine whether disclosure of their material requires the prior consent of other parties and, if so, to obtain it.

Editorial Notes and Acknowledgments

BIG_Review is produced on Adobe InDesign. All content templates and design by Michael J. Carpenter, except origninal front-cover template, by Karen Yen. Since issue 5.1, all Indigenous content is marked by a decorative design by Métis artist and BIG Indigenous Coordinator, Braelynn Abercrombie, depicting salmon (as well as the sustainable practice of reef net fishing) and kwetlal or camas, which are vital to the food systems, sacred relationships, and the future health and well-being of Lekwungen, W̱SÁNEĆ, and coastal Indigenous nations.