ISSN 2477-9601
online versión

ISSN 1315-0006
Print version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and editorial policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts

ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología began in 1991 as a result of the conviction that academic activity requires permanent debate, for which different dissemination strategies are necessary. The commitment is to maintain a privileged place to promote the knowledge produced in the various fields of interest of sociology in order to show the power of the sociological approach in interpreting social problems and to provide elements of solution. It is a broad, plural journal that publishes articles identified with different theoretical, epistemological, methodological, and ideological orientations without restrictions; it is open to all currents and schools of sociological thought. It accepts proposals from the widest thematic diversity focused from a sociological perspective, from authors from different institutions and universities around the world.

PERIODICITY

ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología is a periodic, quarterly, peer-reviewed, and indexed journal at the national and international level. ESPACIO ABIERTO is a quarterly publication that publishes four issues in the months of January, April, July, and October.

THEMATIC AREAS

The thematic areas that define the profile of Espacio Abierto are inserted in the great diversity of lines of sociological thought: the classic themes (Sociological Theory, Epistemology, Methods, Sociology of Education, Rural Sociology, Sociology of Health, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Work, Sociology of the Family, Urban Sociology, Sociology of Poverty, Sociology of Communication, Legal Sociology, Political Sociology, Sociology of Development, Sociology of Youth, Sociological Studies on Indigenous Peoples, Sociology of Aging, Sociology of Dependency, Sociological Studies on Social Inequalities, Social Studies of Science and Technology, Sociology of the Armed Forces, Sociology of Organizations, Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Art, Sociology of Literature, Sociology of Music, Sociology of Migrations) and new developments (Sociology of Social Movements, Sociology of Violence, Sociology of Prostitution, Sociological Studies from a Gender Perspective, Sociological Studies on Terrorism, Sociology of Sport, Sociological Studies on Cultural Consumption, Sociological Studies on Afro-descendence, Sociology of Social Imaginaries, Sociological Studies on Historical Memory, Sociology of Management, Sociology of Bodies and Emotions, Social Studies on Oil, Sociology of Social Networks, Sociological Studies on Mobile Phones, Sociology of Communication and Digital Culture, Sociological Studies on Hyper-reality Media, Sociology of Reality Shows, etc.). The sub-areas will be defined by the Editorial Committee, with the help of its national and international advisors, in order to establish the relevance of the submitted works.

SECTIONS OF THE JOURNAL

ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología publishes 4 issues a year, 2 thematic and 2 with free themes.

• Semester: a permanent section, appears in all issues of the year. Contains articles related to specific monographic research preferably resulting from partial or final studies where reflective and critical argumentation on theoretical and/or practical, methodological and/or epistemological problems of the explored topic and area is highlighted. Its length should not exceed 25 pages.
• In Focus: published at least twice a year; collects articles around a central theme decided by the Editorial Committee. Contains works related to exhaustive monographic research. It may be the presentation a) of research results or b) of studies that emphasize critical analysis and interpretation. Its length should not exceed 30 pages.
• Separata: a section published twice a year. It presents important articles from the work of prominent thinkers, as a sample of the depth of sociological thought. It is based on the selection made by the Editorial Committee, interpreting the opinion of the community of sociologists and social researchers. It allows presenting the theoretical positions of consolidated researchers on the relevance and transcendence of paradigms, methods, methodologies, etc., within sociology. It also contains a biographical and bibliographical note of the authors of the articles. Its approximate length is 80 pages.
• Books: reserved for reviews of publications that may be of interest to support research in sociology and other social sciences. The length is variable, although it should not exceed 10 pages.
• Journals: a section aimed at supporting the dissemination of periodical publications. It presents the list of articles from at least 10 journals in each issue.
• Sharing: this section serves to promote information about upcoming activities in the field of social sciences: congresses, seminars, workshops, courses, etc.

REVIEW AND EVALUATION PROCESS

The initial reception of proposals requires a review process that allows discerning the corresponding processes for sending and selecting referees. Therefore, all works are subjected to a plagiarism detection process through a specialized and free online tool https://smallseotools.com/es/plagiarism-checker/.

This process will allow subsequent evaluation by specialists under the DOUBLE-BLIND system (3 EXTERNAL EVALUATORS to the institution whose profile is kept completely anonymous) as contemplated in the statutes established in the journal and following the guidelines and criteria set out in the instructions for referees.

In this sense, the referees will be selected and notified through the official email of the Espacio Abierto journal indicating whether their review process is appropriate. If negative, other evaluators will be selected from the database.

After the evaluation process of the research, the author of the research will be notified through the official email about the obtained verdict.

PEER REVIEW POLICY

All works submitted for consideration for publication in ESPACIO ABIERTO will be evaluated by (external) academics of recognized trajectory, qualified by their production in the specific thematic areas addressed by the received proposals. Therefore, in search of quality and relevance, the Editorial Committee will take special care in the proper selection of reviewers with recognized credentials.

The adopted arbitration system is known as "double-blind," which ensures the confidentiality of the process and keeps the identities of the evaluators and authors confidential, committed to avoiding mutual recognition. Each proposal is delivered to several evaluators, who have approximately 30 days to carry out their work. The verdict of each reviewer will conclude with a recommendation on the convenience of publishing the article submitted for consideration.

In all cases, the evaluator must justify and reason their opinions or ratings and explain in detail the strengths, errors, and absences of the works. The general evaluation criteria that should be considered by the referees when issuing their rating on the works submitted for their evaluation will be at least the following:

• Relevance of the article for a sociology journal
• Importance of the topic
• Originality of the approach
• Clarity of writing
• Methodology
• Development and conclusions
• Mode of presentation, in terms that favor understanding and facilitate the exposition of the treated topic
• Currency of the bibliography

Once the required reviews are completed, if applicable, the Editorial Committee will send them to the author along with the correction table. 30 days are established for the return of the corrected article if the verdict is PUBLISHABLE (with minor modifications, and with substantial modifications). Upon receiving the new version with the suggested modifications, along with the correction table reflecting the changes, the Editorial Committee, in coordination with the reviewers, will carry out the respective verification. Upon completing this work, it will schedule inclusion in upcoming issues.

ARTICLE PROCESSING AND SUBMISSION COSTS

The journal ESPACIO ABIERTO, Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología DOES NOT CHARGE for the evaluation, publication, processing, and submission of articles.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

Currently, the open access movement has become an initiative that enables the construction of new knowledge and the development of new approaches. Therefore, ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología provides open access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research helps a greater global exchange of information and knowledge. Under this approach, the following policies are defined:

• Ensure the publication of the different volumes and issues once their editing process is completed
• Ensure indexing and compliance with the requirements of various national and international indexes, directories, and databases to guarantee the visibility of the knowledge published in the journal
• Organize, preserve, and disseminate the various publications published in the different issues of the journal
• Ensure free access to the contents
• Encourage authors of research articles to publish their research on personal portals and academic repositories

DIGITAL PRESERVATION POLICY

ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología, in search of guaranteeing the permanence of the contents published in the different volumes and issues, hosts on external servers to the institution: Backups, backups, and constant monitoring of possible technological attacks. Likewise, from Vol. 30 No. 1 (2021), DOIs and Metadata identification are used to facilitate digital preservation. ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología is part of LOCKSS, which generates an archive system to preserve the contents and ensure their backup and restoration.

DIGITAL ARCHIVE PRESERVATION POLICY

Since 2021, ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología employs the Zenodo platform https://zenodo.org/, which is a "multidisciplinary repository that safeguards all types of materials resulting from research projects and academic activities" as a means of preservation under open access information and knowledge parameters.

SIMULTANEOUS ARCHIVE PRESERVATION POLICY

ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología employs OAI-PMH institutional repositories and self-archiving systems: https://produccioncientificaluz.org/index.php/espacio/oai. The use of research is limited under the standards established in the CC BY NC SA 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY: ETHICAL DECLARATION ON PUBLICATION AND GOOD EDITORIAL PRACTICES

ESPACIO ABIERTO, Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología is committed to the scientific community to guarantee the ethics and quality of the published articles. Our journal takes as a reference the Code of Conduct and Best Practices defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for editors of scientific journals (https://publicationethics.org/). At the same time, it guarantees an adequate response to the needs of readers and authors, ensuring the quality of what is published, protecting and respecting the content of the articles, as well as their integrity.

ETHICS AND PUBLICATION CODE POLICY

Taking as a reference the Code of Conduct and Best Practices defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for editors of scientific journals (https://publicationethics.org/). In this sense, if any allegation of misconduct in the research under study or in an article published in the journal is identified by the editor, members of the committee, or any referee, an editorial committee meeting will be immediately convened, and the guidelines established by COPE will be followed. ESPACIO ABIERTO, Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología establishes the following ethical policies:

Duties of the authors

• Provide the required formats in the research submission process
• Ensure respect for intellectual property by guaranteeing the citation of the research used as support for the submitted research
• Declare that there are no conflicts of interest in the research
• Ensure the originality of the contents and declare them at the time of submission
• Provide clear and precise information in the body of the research
• Provide complete personal information, including ORCID or another author identification ID
• Minimize the number of self-citations

Duties of the Editor and the Editorial Board

• Ensure the anonymity of the author's identity when sending the research to the corresponding referees
• Periodic review of the ethical policies established by Espacio Abierto
• Apply the respective review processes to guarantee and avoid editorial plagiarism
• Ensure a timely response on the status of the research to its respective authors
• Avoid preferences for any author
• Maintain contact with national and international indexes to provide simultaneous publications on other platforms
• Ensure compliance with the journal's periodicity

Duties of the referees

• Ensure an objective and accurate review of the research
• Apply plagiarism detection software to research whose data generate any doubt
• Review the bibliographic references in detail
• Reviewers should not attempt to discover the authorship of the work under evaluation for any reason
• Professionally and ethically present and substantiate the results of their evaluation process
• Rely on the instruments designed by the journal for the research review process.

PLAGIARISM DETECTION POLICY

Plagiarism is considered any use of information or content without the prior authorization of the creator of that research, work, project, product, among others. Respect for intellectual property stems from the need to recognize the ideas of another individual; therefore, ESPACIO ABIERTO, Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología opposes any practice that affects a professional in any area. From this perspective, the editorial team defines the following policy:

• When submitting research, the author must provide a commitment letter guaranteeing that the submitted work is not being considered by another journal, as well as the declaration of originality of said proposal.
• Contributions considered for publication will be subjected to the Small SEO Tools plagiarism system as a preliminary process to peer review.
• If any irregularity is detected in the process, the research will be withdrawn from the evaluation process until a decision is made.
• The identification of plagiarism in research entails; the rejection of the research or the correction of the research according to the percentage of plagiarism identified in the software.
• Authors are urged to cite the contents of the original source
• The editorial committee of ESPACIO ABIERTO Cuaderno Venezolano de Sociología reserves the right to use the software at any stage to evaluate the documents submitted and published in the journal.
• Research submitted derived from any previous product such as research projects, theses, books, among others, must be clearly mentioned and identified, thus guaranteeing the recognition and value of the primary source of the research.
• Small SEO Tools reflects a percentage of plagiarism in its analysis results, so it is defined that research with a percentage greater than 25% plagiarism will not be published and will be withdrawn from the submission process for publication
• Research with a plagiarism percentage less than 25%, after discussion with the journal's editorial committee and advisors, a formal communication will be issued to the main author notifying the irregularities and urging them to make the respective changes within 15 days. Upon resubmission, the research will be subjected to a plagiarism analysis process to ensure the transparency of the research.