About the Journal

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Revista Científica is an international open-access scientific publication edited by the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas. The Journal publishes research and innovation papers, reviews, and reflections in the areas of engineering, science, and education. Its objective is to disseminate original and relevant research in these fields of knowledge. Its articles are published in the Journal’s platform (https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/revcie), and there is no cost associated with their submission, review, or publication, as the Journal is funded by the editing institution.

The Journal has a quarterly periodicity (i.e., January-April, May-August, and September-December), and its issues are published during the first ten days of the covered period. Articles are received for publication throughout the year.

Starting in 2024, the Journal will now be a continuous publication with a four-monthly schedule.

Revista Científica has an Editorial Committee that decides on and endorses the contents that will make up its different issues. During the assessment and decision process, the Journal employs the double-blind review model, that is, the authors and reviewers are anonymous throughout the process. This same model is applied for articles submitted by members of the Editorial Committee. In these cases, said members will not be able to participate in any phase of the work’s review.

Only unpublished works are considered for publication, i.e., those that have not yet been published in any medium for science or divulgation. However, the Journal will publish articles previously disseminated in scientific events, as long as their full text has not been published in the event’s proceedings. In the same way, the Journal abstains from publishing any work that does not comply with the code of ethics, is offensive, or attacks people or businesses. When submitting an article, the authors guarantee that they are not infringing any copyright and that their work has not been published elsewhere or is being considered in other printed or electronic publication.

Given the high number of articles received for publication, the Journal reserves the right to decline an article without subjecting it to peer review or in the face of non-compliance with the author guidelines, as per a preliminary review by the Editorial Committee. It is important to point out that a translation is not regarded as an article, nor any review that does not innovate on the analyzed topic.

 

ON THE EDITORIAL PROCESS

The authors must submit their articles via the Journal’s OJS platform (https://revistas.udistrital.edu.co/index.php/revcie/submission), taking the following into account:

  1. The articles must be submitted together with a letter of originality which states that the submitted manuscript has been approved by all authors.
  2. Documents submitted for publication must be written in Spanish or English, and they must be communicable in terms of coherence, cohesion, clarity, conciseness, relevance, and centrality.
  3. The reception of an article does not imply its publication, as it must first be subjected to review and evaluation. This process takes between six and twelve weeks, depending on the demand and the Journal’s editorial flow.
  4. The Editorial Team will review the article and verify compliance with the Journal’s author guidelines. If these guidelines are not fulfilled, the article will be sent back to the authors. Similarly, in this review, the Editorial Team will also subject the document to an analysis with similarity software. If significant matches are found, the article will be declined.
  5. If the article successfully completes the previous stage, it will be sent for review by at least two expert reviewers regarding the article’s topic. This, under the double-blind model. These peers will be selected by the Journal’s Editorial Team based on their research trajectory. The reviewers will issue their observations regarding the work’s originality and quality while considering the reviewer guidelines. The verdicts issued by peers may be:
    1. approved
    2. approved with changes.
    3. declined.
  6. If the peer reviewers approve the article but suggest modifications (approved with changes), the Editor will notify the authors about the observations made by the peers. In the same way, he shall inform them about the deadline for submitting the corrected article, which will be subject to the suggested changes. The corrected article must be submitted by the established deadline, together with a document containing a response to each one of the observations made by the peers. The Committee will verify that the article responds to the reviewers’ comments. Otherwise, the article will be sent back to the authors. If the peers decline the article, it cannot be submitted to the Journal once again, unless it is approved by the Editor after a claim process, in accordance with the Journal’s policies (see CLAIMS section).
  7. Approved articles will be subjected to a proofreading and layout design process. A final design will be sent to the authors for their approval or comments. Once the Editorial Team makes the modifications suggested by the authors, if any, the article will be assigned to an issue of the Journal according to its schedule.

The Editorial Committee of the Journal reserves the right not to publish works that do not comply with the aforementioned conditions or if the corrections suggested by the reviewers are not submitted in due time. Similarly, the Editorial Committee would like to state that, once a manuscript is submitted for evaluation, inclusion or exclusion of authors will NOT be allowed.

 

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Revista Científica adheres to the COPE’s (Committe on Publication Ethics) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf) and ethical provisions, as well as to that stated in Habeas data – Statutory Law 1266 of 2008 for the handling of personal information in databases.

The following aspects for authors are highlighted:

  1. Every document submitted for the publication process must have been thoroughly reviewed by the authors, observing the guidelines defined by the Journal.
  2. All works derived from research carried out with people or organizations must attach the corresponding informed consent.
  3. Every article submitted to the Journal must be the original work of each person signing as author. A work translated from another language is not regarded as original.
  4. Although we do not consider it as self-plagiarism that authors base their claims on the definitions, theoretical background, or methodology sections of other works elaborated by them, it is essential that the contributions and conclusions are not the same as the published works, be it by the authors themselves or by others.
  5. All authors must declare that the content of the article is original, that it has not yet been published, and that it is not being considered for publication in any other printed or electronic medium.
  6. Any person mentioned as the author of a work must have participated in the research process and in the elaboration of the materials submitted to the Journal. People who have not participated in the aforementioned activities are not expected to appear as authors; whoever has only partially participated may be mentioned in the acknowledgments section.
  7. If the author is a member of the Journal’s Editorial Body, he or she will be unable to participate in the reviews and decisions related to their work.

The following aspects for peer reviewers are highlighted:

  1. The Editorial Committee of the Journal encourages people with research experience to be peer reviewers, according with each submitted work’s area of knowledge. However, if a peer believes that he or she is not qualified, has no time, or has a conflict of interest with regard to evaluating a document, they must report it in order for the Editorial Committee to assign another peer.
  2. Peer reviewers must issue a concept that is as clear and thorough as possible, without using offensive language, in order for the Editorial Committee to make a decision on whether the manuscript is accepted or declined.
  3. All documents sent to reviewers by the Journal are confidential, and their review is therefore limited to assessment purposes. Citing them as unpublished manuscripts or using their contents before publication constitutes inadequate and unauthorized handling.

In addition to the above, the Journal would like to make it clear that plagiarism in articles will be published by banning the author(s) for two years. Please bear in mind that plagiarism is the action by means of which segments of works by other authors are reproduced or paraphrased without the corresponding reference or acknowledgment. There is plagiarism when:

  1. Fragments of works by other people are included or used within an article without quotation marks (for direct citations) or a reference of the source.
  2. Contents from other sources are directly copied and pasted without indicating a direct citation or referencing the source.
  3. Images, tables, or diagrams are included without acknowledging their origin.

It is worth clarifying that plagiarism, be it deliberate or not, is a serious and prosecutable offense. All other dispositions not expressed in this section will be resolved upon the basis of that established in COPE’s Code of Conduct and Best Editorial Practices.

 

CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE ARTICLES

When submitting an article, the authors confirm that their work has not been previously published (with the only exception of having published an abstract in a scientific event), that it is not being evaluated in any other publication, and that its final version has been approved by the authors. In order to verify the originality of the articles, they will be analyzed with anti-plagiarism software.

 

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

In the process of submitting an article, the submitting author must inform of every conflict of interest related to the work in a section dedicated to this issue. If the article is approved, said information must be included in the final text, in a CONFLICT OF INTEREST section.

 

AUTHORSHIP ATTRIBUTION

Revista Científica requests that, before submitting an article, the authorship attribution of each author is evaluated. That is to say that each author’s contribution to the work must be clearly determined. The Journal suggests using the authorship criteria of the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Rules Taxonomy). In the same way, including an AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS section at the end of the article is requested, where each author’s contributions must be specified.

It is worth clarifying that the Journal considers authors to be those in responsible for:

  • Significant contributions in the formulation, justification, or design of a work
  • The acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the work’s data
  • The writing or critical review of a text, generating scientific contributions relevant to the development of the work

Similarly, every person appearing as an author must assume responsibility for all aspects mentioned in the work, which is why they must be fully available to eventually answer questions about the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work. Any contributor who does not meet the aforementioned conditions should not be included as an author. However, they may be mentioned in the work’s acknowledgments.

In addition, the authors must thoroughly review the order in which they are presented before submitting an article. Any addition, removal, or change in the author order must be requested by means of a document signed by all authors and sent via email to the Editorial Committee which justifies the request for a change. The Editorial Committee will review the case and accept when it deems it appropriate.

 

COPYRIGHT

The Journal authorizes the total or partial reproduction of a publication’s content as long as the source is cited, that is, the name of the journal, the names of the authors, the year of publication, the volume, the issue, and the pages of the article.

The following is worth noting:

  1. The ideas and statements issued by the authors are their responsibility and do not compromise the Journal in any way.
  2. All of the Journal’s articles are disseminated under Creative Commons’ Attribution license (CC-BY-NC-SA). The criteria of the license may be consulted at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.
  3. The authors must sign and send an authorization for reviewing and publishing the article, which is provided by the Journal, wherein all aspects related to the originality of the work and its copyright are stated.
  4. The Journal allows and encourages authors to publish their work in repositories or their websites after the publication of the issue that includes their work, with the aim to achieve a greater dissemination.

 

PUBLICATION OF WITHDRAWALS AND CORRECTIONS

When it deems it necessary, the Journal will issue corrections and withdrawals of its published works. The first case (corrections) corresponds to the publication of a document in addition to the work, which acknowledges the mistakes made and presents their corresponding correction. As for the second case, a document is published in which the unintentional or deliberate inaccuracies of the document are recognized. Said inaccuracies may be, among others, plagiarism or the presentation of manipulated data or images which invalidate the results obtained.

 

SUGGESTIONS, CLAIMS, AND QUERIES

If there is any query or claim related to the editorial process or the final decision on a submitted article, you may send an email to the Editor-in-Chief (revcientifica-odi@udistrital.edu.co). The Editor-in-Chief will personally review the query or claim and will attempt to respond to it as quickly as possible. If necessary, the Editor-in-Chief may consult other members of the Editorial Team.

In the same way, the Journal welcomes the suggestions made by its authors and readers, with the purpose of continuing to improve its editorial processes. These suggestions must be sent to the same email and will be answered if necessary by the Editor-in-Chief.

 

SELF-ARCHIVE

The Journal utilizes CLOKSS and Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas’s Institutional Repository in order to guarantee the availability and traceability of its information.

 

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

The Journal allows open access to its content and firmly believes that providing the public with free access to research helps to achieve a greater, global exchange of knowledge.