About the Press

The monograph series of the IICS aim to circulate the results of research and academic activities carried out at the Research Institute of the Faculty of Social Sciences from the various disciplinary traditions that comprise it, capturing discussions, in-depth studies and approaches to various social issues that are often not possible to carry out under other types of editorial formats. Through the series, we seek to build a space for intellectual production that not only represents the exchange of knowledge with a view to a better understanding of the world but also contributes to the construction of an inclusive, fair and democratic society. The collection is aimed at researchers, teachers and higher education students.

 

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Peer Review Process

Protocol for Review and Evaluation of Originals

The Lecturas Sociales monographic series, in order to improve the transparency of the evaluation process of articles and essays, believes it is necessary for authors and evaluators to know the steps that the submitted works go through, from the arrival of the original to an eventual final acceptance.

Initial evaluation: Received documents will undergo an initial review of content and form or style. First, the originals will be reviewed by the members of the Editorial Board. This review consists of discerning their originality, relevance and scientific interest, to decide whether or not to proceed to external review.

In order not to overload our external evaluators, Lecturas Sociales reserves the right to reject works in advance, giving the pertinent reasons. In the event that external evaluation is waived, the author will be notified within a period of less than thirty days from the acknowledgement of receipt of the manuscript.

Second, in order to correct errors before reaching the external evaluation stage, the editor makes a preliminary style correction. For this reason, authors may receive a revised version of the text or be consulted to resolve doubts.

In all cases, only versions that have the author's approval will be sent to external evaluation. Lecturas Sociales will only begin the review process of works that comply with the standards for authors.

Adapting the originals to the standards of the series is the responsibility of the authors.

External evaluation: If the initial review is positive, Lecturas Sociales will submit the manuscript to an external evaluation process, in which the anonymity of the referee and the author will be maintained (double-blind refereeing), and whose results will be disclosed exclusively to the interested party.

Lecturas Sociales undertakes to keep in the utmost confidentiality not only the identity of the author, but also the contents of the text under review.

The evaluation of works does not imply any commitment to acceptance.

Only after receiving the external evaluation decision will Lecturas Sociales make a decision on its eventual publication. The series do not publish works that have not been approved by the review process. The external evaluation will decide on the submitted works according to the following categories:

1) Accept submission.
2) Request revisions (this decision may or may not be subject to a second round of evaluation, depending on the case).
3) Not publishable.

Lecturas Sociales urges its evaluators to review the manuscripts within a period of between eight and twelve weeks; this will allow for a final decision in approximately three months from the communication to the authors of the submission for full review of the manuscript.

Once the evaluation process is concluded, the authors will receive the final response from the publisher, accompanied by the anonymous comments prepared by the referees.

Acceptance and acceptance with recommendations: If the reviews of the anonymous specialists are favorable, the manuscript will usually be accepted, provided that the author considers the comments and concerns raised in the reviews.

Only very occasionally is a manuscript accepted without requiring at least certain minimal revisions.

Conditional acceptance: If the reviews of the anonymous specialists require the author to incorporate the indicated corrections, the author must send a corrected version before proceeding to a second round of external evaluations. In the event that the opinions of the evaluators regarding the acceptance or not of the manuscript diverge in the second round, the opinion of a third external evaluator will be requested.

Exchange between evaluator and author: In the event that authors and evaluators wish to contact each other, Lecturas Sociales will provide the means to do so, with due protection of anonymity.

This exchange will only occur with the approval of both parties.

Proofreading of articles accepted for publication: Authors may be required to correct proofs, which must be returned within a reasonable period of time.

Substantial changes to the proofs will not be permitted, and these will be limited to correcting errors with respect to the accepted version.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the articles and works published in Lecturas Sociales are the exclusive responsibility of their respective authors and do not compromise the opinions of the Department of Political Science and International Relations.

 

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Open access policy

Lecturas Sociales adheres to the philosophy of open access to scientific literature, allowing downloading, distributing, copying and printing its material without restrictions, thus ensuring the fulfillment of two fundamental objectives:

- Unrestricted access to information, without economic, legal or technical barriers.
- Increased visibility and impact of the institution and its researchers.

To this end, Lecturas Sociales uses a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license for all published content.

No fees of any kind are charged for access to the content or for sending original proposals.

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Code of Conduct and Best Practices

The Lecturas Sociales monograph series adhere to the Code of Conduct and Best Practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). According to this Code, editors are responsible for all content published in their journal and, therefore, commit to:

• Strive to meet the needs of their readers and authors.
• Seek continuous improvement of the journal.
• Have processes in place to ensure the quality of the material they publish.
• Defend freedom of expression.
• Maintain the academic integrity of published content.
• Prevent commercial issues from compromising intellectual and ethical standards.
• Publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary.
• Maintain the confidentiality of all work proposed for publication throughout the evaluation process.
• Decide on the publication or rejection of manuscripts solely based on their academic quality, originality and clarity of the work, as well as its relevance to the interests of the journal. Any other characteristic of the work or the author that could constitute discrimination for reasons other than its scientific nature will not be taken into consideration.

Reviewers undertake to:

• Maintain confidentiality regarding the content of the original documents read until the time of publication and preserve anonymity throughout the process, according to the double-blind peer review protocol.
• Evaluate impartially, excluding personal considerations and preferences unrelated to the value and scientific contribution of the document.
• Excuse themselves if they consider that the submission does not fall within the scope of their specialized knowledge and that they are not in a position to offer a properly founded opinion.

Authors undertake to:

• Submit only original works of your own authorship that are not being evaluated by another journal simultaneously.
• Cite and duly acknowledge the authorship of all data, ideas and texts from others, in accordance with general practices regarding plagiarism. Likewise, avoid incurring in self-plagiarism.
• Include relevant information on any potential conflict of interest, ethical considerations and source of funding for the research work that resulted in the proposed article.

 

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Fees for submission and publication of texts (APC's)

The series do not charge fees for submission of articles or for the publication process (review, layout, printing and distribution). As it is an open access publication, there is no fee for consultation and downloading.