Editorial process

Phases of the Editorial Process:

1. Reception and Initial Review:

AUTHORS: Submission of four files:

  • Article: The text must be presented using the template provided by the journal [Download Template].
    The article should be anonymous, without names or professional affiliations; moreover, the information from the Bioethics Committee and the contribution of each author should be anonymized at this stage.
  • Identification Document: Use the first page of the template without the rest of the manuscript (Names, affiliation, ORCID, corresponding author, acknowledgements, sources of funding).
  • Letter to the Editorial Committee: This should be converted into a single PDF containing the following: Request for article evaluation, Certification of originality, Assignment of Rights, Specification of each author’s contribution to the article's preparation, and signed by all authors. [Format available on the website]
  • Anti-plagiarism Report: This report can be obtained from any software that generates anti-plagiarism reports.

  • Moreover, the journal accepts supplementary files accompanying the original article to enrich and more comprehensively document the presented research. These additional materials may include:

    • Supplementary data: Datasets that have contributed to the results (Formats: .ods, .xlsx, .csv, .sav, .rda, etc.). Authors may also use other institutional repositories that can be linked to the article.

    • Images: Complementary diagrams or infographics summarizing the article’s content (Formats: .jpg, .png, .tiff, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi).

    • Videos: Short recordings illustrating procedures, interviews, educational experiences, presentations of results, or any other relevant research content (Formats: .mp4, .mov, with a maximum resolution of 720p, optimized for web compression).

    • Other formats: .pdf, .zip (for grouping multiple materials).

EDITOR and SECTION EDITORS (Editorial Committee):

  • Conduct a preliminary analysis to determine the relevance and alignment with the journal's focus and scope, as well as the documents attached to the submission.
  • Review or generate an anti-plagiarism report (URKUND, COPYLEAKS, TURNITIN).
  • A notification email confirming receipt of the manuscript is sent to the corresponding author.

 

2.     First Editorial Evaluation:

EDITOR and SECTION EDITORS

  • The Editorial Committee assesses whether the manuscript meets the minimum required quality in terms of writing and content (Editor / Section Editors).
  • If the manuscript does not meet the requirements, it may be rejected at this stage without proceeding to the next phase.
  • If the manuscript meets the requirements, it will proceed to the double-blind peer review process.

3. Peer Review by Specialized Experts (Double-Blind Peer Review System):

  • The EDITORS, the Editor-in-Chief, and/or the Section Editors, with the support of the Technical Section Editors, assign the article to two expert reviewers, either national or international, who evaluate the article through a double-blind peer review system.
  • The REVIEWERS commit to accepting the review only when there is no conflict of interest and to conducting an honest, critical, and constructive evaluation of the manuscript's quality. Acceptance of the review is subject to the following conditions: availability of time to complete the review within the specified timeframe (three weeks), expertise and specialization in the subject matter under review, and the absence of any conflict of interest (Ethical Code for Editors).
  • The journal provides the reviewers with a template for the review report.
  • The reviewers evaluate the manuscript anonymously and issue an objective assessment (in less than 20 days): Accepted, Minor Revisions, Major Revisions, or Rejected, accompanied by a reasoned evaluation explaining the proposed changes and suggestions to the authors.
  • The editors evaluate the reviewers' reports and provide the authors with the evaluation and reports. In the event of discrepancies between the reviewers, a third evaluation may be requested to resolve the disagreements.

4. Feedback to the Authors:

  • The authors receive the blind peer review report, including the reviewers’ comments, anonymously.

5. Review of Revisions:

  • The authors make the suggested modifications and resubmit the revised manuscript. Additionally, they may attach a letter explaining the changes made.
  • The Editors and external reviewers reassess the document to verify the implementation of the corrections.

6. Approval and Acceptance Letter:

  • The Editorial Committee makes the final decision regarding the acceptance or rejection of the manuscript.
  • If the manuscript is accepted, an acceptance letter is sent to the corresponding author.
  • Before publication, copyediting and editorial adjustments are made with the author’s approval.
  • Once the final proofs are prepared, they are sent to the author for checking for typographical errors and verifying personal data, professional affiliation, sources of funding, and acknowledgements.

7. Final Publication:

  • Once accepted, the manuscript proceeds to the publication stage.
  • The article is published and assigned the corresponding DOI (Digital Object Identifier).
  • The process from manuscript submission to final publication may take between 12 and 20 weeks.
  • Once the article's issue is published, the authors and journal readers are notified via email.