Presentation 

The Journal of LGBTIQ+ Studies, Communication and Culture, published by the Complutense University of Madrid, is an academic research journal dedicated to exploring media, cultural, artistic, and social dimensions of LGBTIQ+ Studies. It publishes articles in English and Spanish and appears twice a year. In line with the guidelines of Ediciones Complutense, the journal may also produce special issues. The journal focuses on the intersections between LGBTIQ+ Studies, communication, and culture—for example, representations of LGBTIQ+ identities in film, television, media,
photography, art, literature, fashion, and broader cultural trends. While it is primarily oriented towards the Ibero-American context, it also engages with its connections to other regions and socio-cultural settings, reflecting the increasingly global nature of academic research. All submissions undergo a rigorous peer-review process by external experts and must follow APA 7th edition guidelines. The journal is published in electronic format (e-ISSN: XXX). The journal is edited by the Complutense Research Group “GECA: Gender, Aesthetics and Audiovisual Culture” (based in the Faculty of Information Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid). GECA is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, interfaculty, and international research group with over thirteen years of experience. Its main areas of research include audiovisual culture—such as film, television, digital media, advertising and public relations, sound and music, photography, fashion, fiction, literary texts, and contemporary artistic practices—as well as cultural studies, gender studies (with a particular focus on LGBTIQ+ perspectives), and the wider field of Communication and Culture across the social sciences, humanities, and the arts.

The Rationale Behind Our Visual Identity

The visual identity of the Journal of LGBTIQ+ Studies, Communication and Culture pays tribute to one of the most iconic posters in 20th-century graphic culture, and a landmark in LGBTIQ+ activism and the fight against HIV/AIDS stigma. Created in the United States in late 1986 by the Silence=Death Collective and first distributed in February 1987—just weeks before the founding of ACT UP—the poster reclaims the pink triangle, a symbol used by the Nazis to mark homosexual individuals, by inverting it as a gesture of resistance rather than victimhood. Its slogan, “Silence = Death”—a call to turn anger, fear, and grief into action—was set in Gill Sans Bold Extra Condensed, with a distinctive use of tightly spaced uppercase lettering. Building on the communicative force of this graphic language and the visual culture it helped shape at a pivotal moment for the emergence of LGBTIQ+ Studies, the journal adopts a colour palette of black, white, and pink. It also uses the Gill Sans typeface family, particularly Gill Sans Bold Extra Condensed, for its title, headings, and visual identity.

Structure

The journal is primarily organised around research articles, which form its core. Its structure includes both fixed and flexible sections. The fixed sections are: (1.) an issue introduction, (2.) full-length research articles, and (3.) reviews. Flexible sections may include: (1.) a thematic dossier bringing together research articles on a particularly relevant topic in LGBTIQ+ Studies; (2.) short research pieces designed to encourage concise analyses, focused debates, or critical interventions; (3.) Relevant Texts, which feature works of thematic or historical significance—often previously published, recovered, or translated; and (4.) Panorama, a section that gathers a range of materials such as news, surveys, calls for papers, exhibitions, conferences, archives, and references to other journals and research groups, all aligned with the journal’s scope.

Why a Journal on LGBTIQ+ Studies, Communication and Culture?

LGBTIQ+ Studies have emerged as a highly significant field of contemporary inquiry, both
academically and socially. They are rooted in earlier developments in cultural, feminist, and
gender studies (particularly since the 1960s), including Gay and Lesbian Studies in the
1970s, and have been further shaped by the rise of Queer Theory in the 1990s, which
challenges binary understandings of identity and foregrounds the socially constructed and
fluid nature of sex and gender. In this context, the journal makes an important contribution within the Ibero-American sphere by focusing on research related to lesbian (L), gay (G), bisexual (B), trans (T), intersex (I), and queer identities, as well as broader forms of gender and sexual diversity. This includes work on non-binary and fluid identities (including genderless, agender, non-gendered), alternative sexualities, dissident practices, and the wide range of communities and subjectivities encompassed by the Q+. More specifically, the journal provides a platform for multidisciplinary research and the dissemination of scholarly work and projects, building on the rich traditions of Anglo- American academia as well as leading research across continental Europe, Spain, and Latin America. LGBTIQ+ Studies address affective and sexual diversity while advancing research on equality through the analysis of gender identity, sexual diversity, and the complex organisation of social and community relations. They also engage with cultural and communicative practices, politics, lived experiences, and embodied realities that do not conform to dominant norms—thereby questioning and challenging those very structures. As such, the field is inherently interdisciplinary, bringing together a wide range of perspectives, theoretical approaches, and depathologising frameworks. These studies are also characterised by a commitment to examining the full range of LGBTIQ+ experiences with both depth and equity.

Focus and Scope

This scientific publication is a pioneer in the academic field of LGBTIQ + Studies, both in Spain and Latin America. The research field in which we focus is LGBTIQ + Studies and its relationship with communication, culture, art and thought.

Publication frequency

Biannual

 

Interoperability protocols

Estudios LGBTIQ+, Comunicación y Cultura  provides an interface OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) that enables interoperability between different platforms and repositories through the exchange of metadata.
Protocol: OAI-PMH Version 2.0
Metadata formats: Dublin Core Metadata; MARC; MARC21; RFC1807
URL for harvesters: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/ESLG/oai