A project to which I contributed with a paper about the birth of our geopolitical thinking, with an analysis of the “Memorial Organico”, offered in 1849 by Francisco Varnhagen, the “Father” of our historiography, is finally brought to completion by its editors and publishers, as explained here below by the team of organizers. My personal congratulation to Francisco Leandro and the others co-editors for this great accomplishment both in terms of its intellectual quality and its important addition to the knowledge of a very broad geopolitical subject touching Brazil in the world.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Brasilia, April 12, 2026
Dear Authors and Colleagues,
This message marks the final communication related to The Palgrave Handbook on the Geopolitics of Brazil and the South Atlantic, published by Palgrave Macmillan in December 2025
(https://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-981-95-1169-3).
Initiated in 2022 and brought to completion in 2026, this project unfolded over four years of sustained scholarly collaboration. With the recent completion of the handbook’s Scopus indexation - representing the final stage of this long and demanding process - the editorial team is pleased to formally consider the project fully concluded.
This significant milestone reflects not only the successful completion of all editorial and publication processes, but also the scholarly recognition, institutional validation, and international visibility that the volume has now achieved.
The handbook’s early reception further attests to its relevance and reach. In less than 90 days following its publication, the volume recorded more than 10,000 accesses, indicating strong international interest and engagement from the academic and policy communities. This level of visibility underscores both the timeliness of the subject matter and the collective scholarly value of the contributions.
Beyond its academic outputs and impact metrics, this handbook stands as a concrete expression of effective institutional cooperation across universities, research centers, and scholarly communities spanning diverse regional, linguistic, and disciplinary contexts. Over the course of the project, more than 200 scholars were involved- as chapter authors, volume editors, peer reviewers, and academic project advisors - making this one of the most extensive collective undertakings in the field. This breadth of participation underscores the genuinely global and collaborative nature of the endeavor.
For the editorial team, it has been both an honor and a responsibility to serve as editors of a Palgrave Macmillan reference work. Palgrave handbooks occupy a distinct place in the production and dissemination of authoritative scholarship, and contributing to this tradition has been a professionally meaningful experience. This honor was matched by a strong sense of editorial responsibility: to uphold the highest standards of academic rigor, inclusiveness, and scholarly integrity throughout all stages of the project.
The editorial team also wishes to formally acknowledge that this project would not have been possible without the institutional support of the University of Macau (THE world rank 145) and the long term relation with Palgrave Macmillan (Thank you Vishal!). The University provided an enabling academic environment that facilitated sustained coordination, scholarly exchange, and intellectual commitment throughout the 2023–2026 period. Its support was instrumental in allowing the editors to bring together a broad international network of contributors and to maintain the continuity and scholarly standards required of a Palgrave reference work.
Equally important has been the role of personal trust, collegiality, and mutual respect among all those involved throughout the 2022–2026 period. The willingness to engage constructively across different theoretical perspectives and geopolitical viewpoints, to accommodate evolving editorial and publication timelines, and to uphold shared standards of academic excellence was fundamental to navigating the complexities inherent in a large-scale collective volume. The combination of strong institutional cooperation and sustained interpersonal trust formed the backbone of the project’s success.
We would therefore like to express our sincere and profound gratitude to all contributors. This handbook would not have been possible without your intellectual commitment, scholarly rigor, and cooperative spirit. Your patience throughout the various stages of conceptualization, development, peer review, and publication - and above all your trust in the editorial team and the collective vision of this handbook - have been essential to its realization.
It has been a privilege to work with such a large, diverse, and distinguished community of scholars over these four years.
We hope that this handbook will continue to serve as a lasting reference for academic, policy, and strategic debates on Brazil, the South Atlantic, and broader global geopolitics.
With our warmest thanks and best regards,
Francisco José B. S. Leandro (China)
Rodrigo Franklin Frogeri (Brazil)
Yichao Li (China)
Francisco Proença Garcia (Portugal)
António Ruy de Almeida Silva (Brazil)
Leandro, Francisco José (2025). Is China a Global Power? The Three Great Walls of the Middle Kingdom. Singapore, Palgrave Macmillan; https://link.springer.com/book/9789819644513; SCOPUS ID: 10.1007/978-981-96-4451-3
AND
Leandro, F. J. B. S.; Frogeri, R. F.; Yichao Li, Garcia, F. P.; Almeida Silva, A. R. (2025). The Palgrave Handbook on Geopolitics of Brazil and the South Atlantic. Palgrave Major Reference Works. https://link.springer.com/book/9789819511686
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