[Commlist] CFP - Democracy in Verification: Fact-Checking, Polarization and Digital Narratives

CALL FOR PAPERS
“Democracy in Verification: Fact-Checking, Polarization and Digital 
Narratives”
29 and 30 October, 2026
University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro | Vila Real | Portugal
Scope

The aPEaSE project — Checking the fact-checkers: practices and 
effectiveness in southern Europe — invites researchers to submit 
proposals for the international conference “Democracy in Verification: 
Fact-Checking, Polarization and Digital Narratives”.

In this context, contemporary democracies face a twofold challenge. The 
circulation of false, manipulated or misleading narratives within the 
broader context of information disorder (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017) 
undermines trust in institutions, the media and democratic processes. At 
the same time, audiences interpret information through the prism of 
their political identities and pre-existing beliefs, which can limit the 
ability of fact-checking to alter perceptions, attitudes and behaviours.

Thematic areas
1.    Fact-checking, journalism and democracy
2.    Disinformation, polarisation and political communication
3.    Digital narratives, platforms and algorithms
4.    Artificial intelligence, automation and new forms of disinformation
5.    Media literacy, education and citizenship

How to submit
https://factchecklab.ulusofona.pt/?page_id=538

Important Dates
June 30, 2026 — Deadline for abstract submissions.
July 15, 2026 — Notification of acceptance or rejection of proposals.
July 31, 2026 — Deadline for selected authors to confirm their attendance.
October 1, 2026 — Presentation of the final program, the book of 
abstracts, and logistical information.
October 29 and 30, 2026 — Congress on Democracy in Verification: 
Fact-checking, polarization, and digital narratives.

Special issue publication - Rotura - Journal of Communication, Culture 
and Arts (indexed in Scopus)

The authors of the proposals accepted and presented at the conference 
will be invited to submit the full version of their work for publication 
in a special issue of ROTURA — Journal of Communication, Culture and 
Arts. This is an open-access scientific journal, free for authors and 
readers, published by the Center for Research in Arts and Communication. 
Submission of the full article is independent of its acceptance at the 
conference and will be subject to the journal's editorial guidelines, a 
preliminary evaluation by the editorial team, and a double-blind 
peer-review process.

Acceptance of the article at the conference does not guarantee its 
publication.

Full articles must comply with ROTURA's formal and bibliographic 
guidelines, including formatting requirements, manuscript anonymization 
for blind review, and proper references.

Articles written in Portuguese, Spanish, or English will be accepted, in 
accordance with the conference's working languages and the journal's 
editorial guidelines.

No APC will be charged.

Location and Travel Information

For those of you coming from out of town, the congress will take place 
on the campus of the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro.

The nearest airport is Porto Airport (Francisco Sá Carneiro). Distance: 
Vila Real is approximately 98.4 km from Porto Airport.

How to get there from Porto Airport?

  *
    By car / Taxi / Private transfer: The fastest option is to drive via
    the A4 motorway. The journey takes approximately 1 hour and 3
    minutes depending on traffic.
  *
    By public transport (Bus): There are direct connections or
    connections with a transfer in the center of Porto via express bus
    networks (such as Rede Expressos or FlixBus) that take you from the
    airport or the city to the Vila Real terminal in approximately 1
    hour and 52 minutes.




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