AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Publication and authorship.

‘Perspectivas’ was created in 2013 and is funded by La Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios - UNIMINUTO. This Journal receives unpublished papers, which are not in another process and have no editorial commitments.

Reception modalities

The Journal Perspectivas maintains an open and permanent call for the reception of publication proposals.

Publication frequency

 The journal publishes its papers the first 5 days of the months of January, April, July and October. In this sense, the publication of supplements is reserved according to the presentation of editorial projects and special issues with renowned institutions.

Types of papers

The following types of papers are received:

Research paper: It is a document which presents, in detail, the original results of completed research projects. The structure mostly used contains four important sections: introduction, methodology, results and conclusions.

Reflection paper: It is a document that presents results of finished research from an analytical, interpretative or critical perspective of the author on a specific topic, by using original sources.

Review paper: It presents the balance of a thematic field (trends, approaches, research advances), through the rigorous analysis of an extensive bibliographic review (at least 50 references).

Short paper: Brief document that presents preliminary or partial original results of a scientific or technological research, which generally requires prompt dissemination.

Case report: It is a document that presents the results of a study on a particular situation in order to publicize the technical and methodological experiences considered in a specific case. It includes an annotated systematic review of the literature on similar cases.

Editorial: Document written by the editor, a member of the editorial committee or an invited researcher on orientations in the thematic domain of the Journal.

Paper structure

The paper must have the following structure: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and methods, Results, Discussion (results and discussion can be combined in a single section), Conclusion, References.

Title: the title should be short, concise and descriptive. It must not contain references, compound numbers or non-standard abbreviations. In Spanish and English.

Abstract: the abstract must be analytical (objective, methodology, results and conclusions), not exceeding 200 words. The abstract should briefly describe the purpose or aim of the study, how the research was conducted, the most important results, and the main conclusions that were drawn from the results, respectively. References and abbreviations should be avoided. In Spanish and English.

Keywords: the authors are asked to provide four to six keywords to identify the main topics addressed. These keywords are used for indexing purposes, for which they must be included in the UNESCO Thesaurus. In Spanish and English.

Introduction: the authors should strive to define the meaning of the work and the justification for its publication. Any substantive discussion should be brief and restricted to relevant material.

Materials and methods: the authors should be as concise as possible in their theoretical and experimental descriptions. The section must provide all the information necessary to ensure reproducibility. Previously published methods should be indicated with their references and only relevant modifications should be described.

Results: the results of the study should be clear and concise. Restrict the use of tables and figures to represent data that are essential for the interpretation of the study. Do not duplicate data in both figures and tables. The results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables and illustrations.

Discussion: the importance of the Research work results should be explored, not repeated. Include in the discussion the implications of the findings and their limitations, how the findings fit into the context of other relevant work, and guidelines for future research.

Conclusions: These conclusions can be independent and linked to the objectives of the study, with new hypotheses when justified. Include recommendations where appropriate. Unqualified statements and conclusions that are not fully supported by the data obtained should be avoided.

References: It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that the information in each reference is complete and accurate. References must be in the correct format. All references cited in the reference list must be cited in the text and vice versa. It is recommended that the bibliographic sources are taken from Scopus and Web of Science.

Figures, maps and graphics must be sent in a minimum resolution of 266 dpi in jpg or gif format. All these resources must be listed consecutively, and the corresponding source (s) clearly indicated. Only horizontal lines should be used in tables according to APA standards, sixth edition.

The footnotes numbered in consecutive order will be used only for clarifications, comments, discussions, page submissions by the author and must go on their corresponding page, in order to facilitate the reader to follow the reading of the text.

Bibliographic references will be based on the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) latest edition.

 

Requirements and guidelines for authors

 The author who wishes to submit papers for consideration by the Editorial Committee of the Journal must:

•  Authors must register in the Journal through the Open Journal System - OJS platform https://revistas.uniminuto.edu/index.php/Pers/user/register?source=
•  Submit the paper only through the Journal's profile on the OJS platform, the paper must comply with the standards proposed by the Journal for Scientists.
• The paper must be in Word for windows format. Likewise, it must include paper title, author or authors, and affiliations. Affiliations should be as detailed as possible and should include university, city and country. Also, all authors must have email (institutional), ORCID (http://orcid.org/) and Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/). It is essential to indicate the corresponding author or else it will be assumed that the first author will take over that role. The text must be typed in Arial font, size 12, spaced and a half, with margins of 3 cm on all sides of the page.
• The minimum length is subject to the type of paper and the maximum is 25 pages.
• The submission of the paper must be accompanied by the User License letter, signed by all the authors (see format).
• Write the paper with a maximum length of 8000 words and up to 50 references.
• Papers should only be submitted through the Open Journal System - OJS profile.
• For bibliographic citations and references, the style of the American Psychological Association (APA) latest edition will be followed.

 

Peer Review Process

 Each of the papers received is subjected to a double-blind peer review and selection process. The study and the initial selection of the writings are in charge of the Editorial Committee which accepts or rejects the originals considering the scientific quality, the concordance with the themes of the Journal and the temporal validity of the results. In addition, the Editorial Committee can request modifications and make the recommendations that are deemed necessary to adjust the document to the indications of the Journal. After this review, the paper will be subjected to a double-blind evaluation by two external academic peers; who will issue a concept that can be: Approved, approved with modifications or rejected. In the event that controversies arise from the concept of the evaluators, these will be initially resolved by the Editor or, if necessary, a second or third evaluation by academic peers will be requested.

 In the evaluation process, the anonymity of both the authors and the evaluators is required. In the same way, this evaluation will be informed to the author of the paper via email, in order to make the necessary adjustments requested by the evaluators. Upon receipt of the paper with the corrections made, the Journal will verify compliance with the evaluators' suggestions and will analyze the justifications for those that have not been taken into account. Once this phase has been approved, the paper will be sent again if necessary, to the author to make any necessary adjustments. The process of review and acceptance of the delivered material may take an average of four months, and its receipt does not imply its approval or automatic publication.

 

Aspects and criteria to evaluate

 The parameters of the evaluation are established from the following form, taking into account the aspects mentioned below.

 Title: It is coherent with the content, it is consistent with the objectives, it is a clear indicator of the subject, it motivates the reading of the Paper.

Abstract and keywords: It has the correct dimension, it is a good interpretation of the content, the keywords allow the paper to be cataloged in the correct bibliographic topics.

Introduction: There the theme of the paper is exposed, it highlights the importance of the paper, indicates the background of the work, indicates the objectives of the work presented.

Content: There are well formulated hypotheses, problems or themes. An original and solid argument is presented. The theoretical and methodological foundation is evidenced and accounts for the experimental aspect, describes the results found by the authors

Writing and style: Clear and coherent writing. The author writes in an appropriate style, good spelling is evident, and proper use of punctuation marks.

Tables and illustrations: These inputs are relevant in the presentation of content. They can be found correctly listed and correctly referenced.

Conclusions: The conclusions are consistent with the introduction, are in accordance with the objectives, are of interest and contribute to the Discipline.

Footnotes and bibliographic references: It is necessary to check that the footnotes and bibliographic references are appropriate, comply with APA standards, are up-to-date, are sufficient and pertinent on the subject, and if the bibliographic discussion is critical and succinct.

General concept: The paper is current, pertinent and contributes to the advancement of knowledge of the discipline, originality and breadth of the problem posed is evidenced, contributions from the research are evidenced, an appropriate analysis and discussion of the results is evidenced.

 "It is estimated that any paper that reaches a rating of 70% of the maximum possible is considered suitable for publishing. However, the final decision is strictly responsibility of the editor, who must substantiate his opinion, if necessary, before the committee publisher and publishing institution. "

 Responsibility of the authors

• Send the papers according to the mentioned guidelines.
• Be responsible for the ideas expressed in the paper, as well as the ethical suitability of it.
• Have the authorizations to use, reproduce and print material that is not their property and / or authorship, such as works of art (paintings, photographs, drawings, others).
• Accept the evaluation of the paper by external peers, as well as accept the recommendations of both the evaluators and the editorial team.
• Accept that it is the responsibility of the Editorial Team to publish a paper and the number in which it is published, as well as to make minor style corrections to the document before publication.
• Accept and sign (if the Paper is accepted for publication) authorization for the use of the paper for editing, publication and dissemination by the media that the Journal deems appropriate.

 Code of ethics

Duties of the authors

 Originality and plagiarism: All papers must be original works by the authors and with no evidence of plagiarism.

• Recognition of sources: If the authors have used the work and / or the words of others, they must be properly cited.
• Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: Authors should not submit the same Paper to more than one Journal at the same time.
• Access and retention: If the editor or members of the Editorial Committee consider it appropriate, the authors of the papers must also make available the sources or data on which the research is based, which can be kept for a reasonable period of time, after publication and possibly made accessible.

 Duties of the Editor

•  Publication decisions: The editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers sent to the Journal should be published. The publication decision must be guided by the policies of the Journal's Editorial Committee and must be based exclusively on academic merit and the decision of the evaluators.
• Honesty: The Editor must evaluate the papers for their intellectual content without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship or political philosophy of the authors.
• Confidentiality: The editor and any member of the editorial team should not disclose any information about the submitted paper to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial advisors, as appropriate.

 Duties of the evaluators

•  Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer review helps editors make editorial decisions.
• Punctuality: Any selected evaluator who does not feel qualified or who knows that their prompt review will be impossible, must notify the Editor and excuse themselves from the evaluation process.
• Confidentiality: Any item received for evaluation should be treated as a confidential document. It should not be shown or discussed with others, except with authorization of the Editor.
• Standards of Objectivity: Evaluations must be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Evaluators must express their opinions clearly with arguments.
• Acknowledgment of sources: Reviewers must identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any argument that has been previously reported must be accompanied by the corresponding quote. The reviewer should also draw the Editor's attention to any substantial similarities or overlaps between the paper under consideration and any other published document of which he has personal knowledge.

 Open Access Policy

Perspectivas provides free access to its content through its website under the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global knowledge exchange. The Web contents of the Journal are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial - Share Alike 4.0 International license. This license allows others to distribute, mix, adjust and build on your work, even for commercial purposes, provided you are credited with the original creation.

Copyright: The Journal makes a Non-Commercial recognition and only retains the rights to publish. The papers published in the Journal are subject to the following terms:

Authorship policy: Only those people who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work should appear on the list of signing authors. Having helped in the data collection or having participated in some technique are not, by themselves, sufficient criteria to appear as an author. In general, to be listed as an author, the following requirements must be met:

•  Having approved the version that will finally be published.
• Have participated in the conception and realization of the work that has resulted in the paper in question.
• Have participated in the writing of the text and its possible revisions.

The Journal declines any responsibility for possible conflicts derived from the authorship of the published works. The Journal adheres to the COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/).

Transfer of copyright: The "Declaration of commitment of the authors" format, respectively signed by each of the authors, will be sent along with the paper. The judgments and opinions expressed in the papers and communications published in the Journal are those of the author (s) and not necessarily the Editorial Committee or the institution that publishes them.

Readers' rights: Readers have access to all papers for free immediately after publication. This publication does not make any economic charge for the publication or for access to its material.

Machine readability and interoperability: Full text, metadata, and citations for papers can be tracked and accessed with permission. Our open social policy allows the readability of files and their metadata, promoting interoperability under the OAI-PMH protocol of open data and open source. The files are available in HTML and PDF format, which makes them easy to read on any device and computer platform.

Publication rights: If the document is accepted for publication, the reproduction rights will belong to the Journal. As mentioned, each paper must be accompanied by the authors' declaration of commitment format in which it is specified that it is unpublished, indicating that the reproduction rights are the exclusive property of the Journal, in addition to other aspects that are explicit in the document such as its simultaneous non-presentation for publication in another Journal. On the other hand, the author has the responsibility to obtain the necessary permissions to reproduce any material protected by reproduction rights and must clearly specify the table, figure or text to be cited and the complete bibliographic reference. The opinions, judgments and points of view expressed by the authors are their sole responsibility and do not reflect the criteria or policies of the Journal.

Archive: This Journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among partner libraries, allowing them to create permanent archives of the Journal for preservation and restoration purposes.

Conflict of interests

The Journal expects the authors to declare any commercial association that may pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted paper. Due to the nature of the papers that may eventually be published in the Journal, it is possible that opposing interests may arise that may affect the impartiality of the editorial conditions or against the authors; therefore, each author must make an effort to identify them.

In this sense, the authors must attach, together with the paper and the declaration of commitment, a communication addressed to the Journal expressing clearly and concisely whether there are conflicts of interest, specifying each of them. In this communication, they must also specify the source of funding for the advanced research; as well as the declaration of any commercial, financial or personal relationship that may affect the Paper or the publishing institution.

Procedure for duplication

For the duplication of texts, which consists on the possibility of copying or reproducing verbatim, one or more times, a content or literary work, in a new medium (digital or any other format), the Journal uses the following procedure general: all editorial material, in respect of which duplication has been requested or determined, will be headed with a legend that clearly identifies its duplication quality and that differentiates it from the original.

To carry out this type of reproduction, the applicant must fill out the internal duplication request form and send it to the Journal's email (see format). The form must be filled out by the person responsible for the procedure, even when the Journal itself determines its need.

Procedure against originality and plagiarism

For the purposes of this policy, originality must be considered from two perspectives: the first, as the certainty that the work comes from who claims to be its author; the second, that it is novel and different from others previously created. The concept of plagiarism also refers to the fact that the work or paper is distinguished from unauthorized copies, forgeries or derivations or from the unauthorized or adequate use of fragments of other works.

It is up to the authors to ensure the originality of the papers contributed to the Journal, as well as the veracity of the data and results included in them, expressing clearly and concisely that the contents are original and that they have not been copied, invented, distorted or manipulated.

Plagiarism or unauthorized use of third-party content, in all its forms, is totally rejected by the Journal; likewise, multiple or redundant publications are considered serious ethical breaches.

The authors will refrain from sending to the Journal, texts that have been put at the same time for consideration in another one; being possible to publish contents that expand others already published or under consideration, as long as the text on which it is based is duly cited.

Erratum

Erratum applies only to cases where the Journal has actually made a mistake without the author being aware of it. The author has a series of cases where errors can and should be corrected such as the author's name, keywords, title and errors in the main text.

The Journal presents the final proof of the revised paper, ready for publication, to the author by correspondence in a period of one week for the paper's revision and correction. If the response period expires without the return of the authors, the Journal considers that the paper is approved (since the author has not expressed the need for changes / corrections), therefore, it is ready for publication.

 Events of conflict of interest with evaluators

•  It is the responsibility of the evaluators to declare any conflict of interest that may arise in relation to the papers submitted for their consideration.
•  Conflict of interest arises when, in the face of a work put for the consideration of an evaluator or people who are part of the editorial team, there is a direct personal or professional relationship with its author, of enmity, or there is a relationship of any kind with the research that gave rise to it; as well as a deep moral or ethical conflict with the subject examined. In general, members of the editorial team and external reviewers must refrain from reviewing works when they incur in any of these or similar situations.
• The editorial team of the Journal will refrain from selecting reviewers against whom they are aware that they are or may be affected by any of the aforementioned situations.

Declaration of confidentiality of evaluators

Always, without exception, whoever performs an evaluation must consider it as totally confidential until its publication; therefore, it will not be possible for you to reveal any aspect of your content or your personal opinions throughout the review process and until publication is completed.

It is clear that, in no case, is it possible to make public or use the information put into consideration; as well as details, arguments or interpretations contained in the text under review, neither for your own benefit or that of third parties. Only in special and duly justified cases can you use the advice of experts in the field, a circumstance that must be reported to the Journal.

Privacy statement

The Journal authorizes the photocopying of papers and texts for academic or internal purposes of the institutions with the proper citation of the source. The names and email addresses entered in this Journal will be used exclusively for the purposes declared by it and will not be available for any other purpose or other person.

DOI system

The papers in the Journal adhere to the DOI system, by means of which a technical and social infrastructure is established for the registration and use of identifiers for use in digital networks.

Plagiarism detection

Papers sent by authors to the Journal will be subjected to anti-plagiarism software. The opinion will be made known to the authors by correspondence in cases that exceed 10% coincidence. Papers that maintain a percentage lower than 10% will proceed to editorial and blind peer review.