About the Journal

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Estudios Latinoamericanos journal is published every six weeks in Spanish and, sometimes, a few articles might be published in Portuguese.  It has five components: Theoretical Perspectives, Debate (most important of the journal), Trends and Processes, Acknowledgements and Reviews.

Proposals for publication are normally evaluated by two specialists in the area of the proposed articles.  If disagreements exist between the two, a third reviewer evaluates, and his/her opinion is considered final.  This journal evaluates papers through a “double-blind” review process.  Once assessed, the article is returned to its original author/s, who is given no more than three weeks to resubmit a final version, including recommendations made by peer reviewers.  The Editorial Committee verifies if the manuscript follows such recommendations, and subsequently informs him/her the issue publication number of his/her article.  After that, the manuscript goes through text editing and proofreading.  The publication of the manuscript depends on the space available in the journal.

Estudios Latinoamericanos is available at: Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias Sociales (CLASE), UNAM; Latindex, UNAM; Public Affairs lnformation Service(PAIS), Nueva York; Sociological Abstracts, Inc., San Diego, Cal.;ULRICH'S Directory International Periodicals, London; Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique (INIST), France; International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, London; Zeller Verlag, Germany; International Political Science Abstracts, France; Catálogo de Revistas Científicas y Arbitradas, UNAM.

PEER-REVIEWED PERIODICAL

To be published in Estudios Latinoamericanos journal every article goes through an evaluation process and, at the end, a final decision is reached.

All papers are subject to two evaluators who are specialized in the area of the summited manuscripts.  If disagreements exist between the two, a third editor evaluates the proposal, and his/her outcome is considered final.  Our journal practices a “double-blind” peer reviewing process.  Once evaluated, the results are return to the original author, who is given a no more than three weeks to turn in a final version with recommendations added.  The Editorial Committee verifies if the manuscript follows the reviewers’ recommendations, and then reaches out the author/s to inform him/her/them about the final outcome.  All accepted manuscripts go through text editing and proofreading, and the publication depends on the journal’s space availability.

Submitting a manuscript to our Journal means to accept our current editorial guidelines and authorizes the Editorial Committee at Estudios Latinoamericanos to promote the article in our printed Journal, online, re-printing pages, compilations, and any form of database or electronic/printed index system to have greater and better promotional impact.  Furthermore, all legal rights are granted to UNAM

Manuscripts not following the above guidelines will not be considered for review and/or publication.

Open access policy
This journal provides immediate free access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports greater global knowledge sharing.

STANDARDS ON ETHICS AND STATEMENT ON NEGLIGENCE

The description of the review process is determined and exposed to the public by the Editorial Committee in order for our contributing writers have knowledge of the evaluation criteria. The Editorial Committee shall explain any controversy arising in the evaluation process.

Editor’s responsibilities and management

The editor is responsible for every article published in our journal. He/she must try to satisfy the needs of readers and writers, improve the journal all the time, insure the material being published is not only of high quality, but also he/she should boost our academic and scientific standards. The editor ought to be able to acknowledge errors and post corrections appropriately. He/she should present apologies and retractions when needed.

The editor’s decision to accept and reject a publishable manuscript should be based on substance, originality, clarity and relevance it represents to the journal.

He/she pledges to uphold the confidentiality of the evaluation process by neither revealing the identity of authors nor the names of peer reviewers.

He/she is responsible to decide what articles could be accepted; though, the Editorial Committee is accountable for what articles is published.

He/she updates information on the status of the papers, and informs writers about the Editorial Committee’s final decision.

He/she must evaluate the content of the manuscripts without discriminating the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic background, nationality or political philosophy.

Aside the author, peer reviewers, potential peer reviewers or editorial advisors, the editor must not release any information of a manuscript to anybody.

All unpublished/original material found in the manuscript won’t be utilized as an academic source of the editor’s own research without a written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained through feedback from peer reviewers are considered confidential and shall not be used for personal ends. The editors must take a balanced and impartial approach to guarantee a fair and transparent review process

Authors’ responsibilities

Manuscripts ought to be the result of their own endeavors. Sources as well as data should be obtained through ethical means. It is not acceptable to submit already published papers or turn in manuscripts being considered for publication in other journals.

When is a manuscript considered published?

1) The whole text has been published

2) Large pieces of the manuscript were published before and now are part of an article submitted to our journal

3) The summited article is part of extensively-published memoirs

4) The above includes hard copy or electronic or publications in any language

To have an article published at Estudios Latinoamericanos an author must follow diligently a style instruction booklet, whose guidelines are determined by the Editorial Committee.
Writers ought to send an original version of the article excluding personal information (name, contact info, ascription, etc.) and should remove their names form the bibliographical reference section.
Summaries of original sources must have a precise description, as well as provide a balanced discussion of their importance. Data ought to be presented in detail in the article. A document must have enough detail and references to allow other writers to use it. Fraudulent statements or intentionally inaccurate accounts represent unethical behaviors, and are unacceptable.
Articles must be written entirely by authors themselves; when utilizing other scholars’ works, cited material must be documented appropriately. Plagiarizing, by all means, is an unethical activity and is unacceptable. Any paper incurring in plagiarism will be excluded and won’t be considered for publication.
Shouldn’t publish manuscripts that essentially describe the same research in more than one periodical or primary publication. This is deemed unethical and won’t be acceptable.
Sources must be acknowledged appropriately at all times. Writers must document sources which have influenced the nature of their submitted manuscripts. Information obtained privately, such as in conversations, e-mails or information acquired through open discussions, ought not to be used unless there is a written consent of the parties involved.
Acknowledgements must limit only to those who have made an important contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the manuscript. All who have contributed significantly on the finished work must be included as co-authors. And all must have reviewed and approved the final version of the document, and must have agreed on the terms of the publication.
All writers must expose any financial problems or other kinds of issues, which might have affected the outcome or development of the finished work. All financial support funding the project ought to be disclosed.
After summiting, if the author finds an error or a significant blunder on his/her manuscript, it is his/her obligation to immediately notify the journal’s Director or get in touch with our editor fix the error.
Peer reviewers responsibilities

Notify any misconduct or unethical activity of the writers and turn in all evidence when rejecting an article. In addition, they must pledge to keep safe all information found in the manuscripts.

They must use only our journal peer-review format, and must follow our guidelines, which should be provided by the editor.

A peer reviewer must notify the editor, in a shortest time possible, whether or not he/she is qualified to evaluate a manuscript.

Any manuscript at hand must be treated as a confidential document. Peer reviewers must not show or discuss the content of a manuscript with other experts, except with a previous authorization from the journal editor.

They must conduct themselves objectively. Personal comments against the author are inappropriate. Peer reviewers must disclose their viewpoints with clarity and valid arguments.

Information or ideas obtained while revising a manuscript must be treated as confidential material and shouldn’t be used for private ends.

Reviewers must not evaluate manuscripts in which they have conflict of interest.