The question of "intellectual" dependence is one of the oldest and systematic concerns of Latin American thought. In this paper we examine recent changes in the forms of intellectual production and circulation that cross national spaces, segmenting processes of prestige-building and local recognition. We argue that intellectual colonialism does not describe the current situation of our academic fields rather characterized by the conflictive coexistence of autonomy and heteronomy. Academic dependency, however, exists, but it is necessary to observe and analyze it as a "concrete situation" being its background the relational approach of Latin American historical-structural tradition. In this line, we first analyze the itinerary of the Latin American debate on intellectual dependency, and then propose an operational definition of academic dependency. Finally, we develop our analytical focus to observe the production of knowledge in the periphery from the standing point of the articulation of the concept of "field" and "circuit"