ISSN 2665-0169
Online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and editorial policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Original articles

Focus and Scope

PROHOMINUM is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific publication edited by ACVENISPROH. Its mission is to disseminate original, high-quality research in the context of higher education, with emphasis on issues and advances relevant to Latin America and the Caribbean, with a global outlook. The journal publishes original studies, reviews, and essays with methodological rigor in the following UNESCO areas:

• Educational Sciences
• Social Sciences

• Educational sciences, didactics, and pedagogy
• Social, educational, and community psychology
• Sociology and cultural studies
• Educational philosophy and ethics
• Law, educational legislation, and public policy
• Management, educational management, and organizational management
• Social communication and discourse studies
• Social development, citizenship, and sustainability

Objectives

• Contribute to the theoretical and applied development of educational, social, and human sciences through the publication of relevant and high-quality research within the field of higher education.
• Provide an academic platform for the exchange of experiences, perspectives, and findings among researchers, teachers, students, and professionals.
• Disseminate studies that offer innovative solutions and critical analyses to social, cultural, and educational challenges.
• Promote the training and projection of emerging researchers, encouraging scientific production with high-quality standards.
• Favor the publication of works that influence decision-making and the generation of public policies aimed at social welfare.

Periodicity

Prohominum, Journal of Social and Human Sciences is published quarterly. One issue is published every three months, resulting in an annual volume composed of four issues, with open access content disseminated via the internet. Prohominum receives articles for peer review throughout the year.

Publication Frequency

As of Vol 6, No. 4 (2024), the corresponding issue for the period will begin publication in the first month of that period, adding articles throughout the period. In this way, Prohominum promotes the rapid dissemination of articles that have passed the review process and are ready for publication.

The publication schedule for the issues is as follows:

• First Issue: Covers the months of January to March each year.
• Second Issue: Covers the period from April to June.
• Third Issue: Covers the months of July to September.
• Fourth Issue: Covers the months of October to December.

This temporal structure ensures an equitable and systematic distribution of knowledge throughout the year, facilitating the continuous participation of authors and researchers interested in contributing to the field of social and human sciences.

Peer Review System

At Prohominum, we adopt the double-blind peer review method, with an estimated process of three to five months, structured in five stages detailed below:

1-Article Submission

The article must be submitted through the ProHominum journal's OJS, once you have registered as an author. Link: https://www.acvenisproh.com/revistas/index.php/prohominum/user/register If you have difficulties submitting your work online, please contact us at the following emails: prohominum@acvenisproh.com or prohominumrevista@gmail.com. Remember: Along with the article, and according to your language preference, the author must submit the Originality Letter in Spanish | Originality Letter in English.

It is important to mention that, since February 2024, Prohominum has adopted the APCs (Article Processing Charges), in order to maintain the quality standards and scientific rigor that distinguish the journal. This decision is based on resolution acven-2024-005, issued by ACVENISPROH, the publishing entity of our journal. This measure aims to ensure the sustainability of editorial and publication processes, in line with contemporary practices in the dissemination of scientific knowledge. See: APCs (article processing charges).

2-Preliminary Review

In this initial phase, the Prohominum editor conducts a significant evaluation of the manuscript to ensure it meets the criteria of formality, timeliness, and alignment with the journal's editorial line. At the same time, Crossref / iThenticate anti-plagiarism software is used to determine the degree of originality of the text. According to acceptance standards, the similarity index must be between 1% and 5%. In cases where textual similarity exceeds the established limits, a detailed review is carried out to identify possible common phrases or terms that could be adjusted as minor observations, giving the author the opportunity to make corrections. Manuscripts with a similarity index above 40% are automatically rejected if no response or explanation is received from the authors by email within up to three business days.

After confirming the absence of plagiarism and validating the relevance of the manuscript within the journal's thematic spectrum, specialized reviewers are assigned. This process has an estimated period of up to sixty business days, during which the author is kept informed about the status of the manuscript review.

3. External Peer Review

Peer review is conducted under a strict double-blind protocol, with external reviewers following recommendations from the Scientific Committee or adjunct researchers from the International Research Network REDIIGEC, with more than 300 researchers in 13 Ibero-American countries to date. In situations where unanimous consensus is not reached, a third reviewer is incorporated, with the journal editor reserving the final decision on publication.

The evaluation instrument used by reviewers covers three main sections, assessing aspects such as title, abstract, originality, scientific rigor, theoretical framework, clarity and coherence in objectives and methodology, results, conclusions, and references (link to evaluation form). This evaluation process may take up to twenty-five business days, ending with one of the following verdicts:

• Publishable without modifications.
• Publishable with minor modifications.
• Publishable with major modifications (in content, theoretical framework, objectives, methodology, conclusions, or references).
• Publishable after substantial content and form modifications.
• Not publishable.

At the end of the evaluation, a certificate and report are issued to the corresponding author, detailing the review result and the reviewers' recommendations.

4. Final Review

In cases where the evaluation result determines that the article is publishable with modifications, the editorial team will send an email to the author, urging them to make the necessary corrections and resubmit the document.

Authors of manuscripts requiring modifications will have a maximum period of twenty-five business days to incorporate the suggested changes. It is recommended that, when resubmitting the manuscript for new evaluation, they attach a detailed report of the modifications made. Once the revised article is received, the Editorial Committee will verify the integration of the corrections and then reassign the manuscript to the reviewers for a new review. If it is determined that the modifications do not meet the established requirements, the document will be returned to the authors for adjustment, repeating this process until full compliance is achieved.

If authors fail to incorporate the suggested corrections and do not provide justification for such omission, they will be notified by email to address this issue. If no response is received, the article will be temporarily suspended for two months, after which it will be definitively withdrawn from consideration for publication in the journal.

In instances where the evaluations are favorable for publication, the reviewers will communicate this decision to the Editorial Committee, which will proceed with the subsequent phases of the editorial and publication process.

5. Editing and Publication

Once it is determined that an article is suitable for publication without the need for modifications, the authors will be notified by email, informing them of the scheduled publication date, according to the journal's regular schedule. In cases where the review process suggests modifications—whether of form, content, or determines the article is not publishable—a report with the reviewers' comments will be provided to the authors.

Once the article has been definitively accepted for publication, having met all required criteria, payment of the Article Processing Charges (APCs) will be requested as a prerequisite for issuing the final publication certificate, which will detail the corresponding issue and volume of the article's publication.

Subsequently, upon publication, the article will be assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) on the corresponding website, ensuring its permanent accessibility and citability.

For manuscripts evaluated as not publishable, this decision will be communicated to the authors, warning them about the inadmissibility of resubmitting the same article for evaluation in the journal. If this warning is ignored, the author(s) will be excluded from publishing in the journal for one year.

Reviewer Evaluation Instrument

Our reviewers use the following instrument Reviewer Evaluation

Editorial Best Practices

At Prohominum. Journal of Social and Human Sciences, we are committed to complying with the principles issued by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for scientific journal editors, in order to ensure good editorial practices. This Editorial Team has developed a series of guidelines and commitments regarding the activities to be fulfilled by all involved (editor, editorial committee, authors, and reviewers), presented below:

Editor

• Must ensure confidentiality in the editorial process; manuscript information should not be disclosed to anyone other than the author(s), reviewers, and editor. Disclosure of information without the authors' authorization is also prohibited. Likewise, articles whose manuscripts show conflicts of interest (between authors or institutions related to the research) may not be published.
• Ensure transparency of contributions, evaluation processes, and publication.
• Respond promptly to requests and questions from authors, reviewers, and any member of the Scientific Committee.
• Ensure compliance with research and publication standards in all editorial processes related to the journal.
• Commit to strictly meeting article publication deadlines.
• Ensure transparency in the communication of reviewers' decisions.
• Objectively mediate in case of differences between reviewers and authors, always ensuring confidentiality of notifications and anonymity of those involved.
• The Editor-in-Chief is responsible for deciding which manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published, a decision arising from the due editorial process. This decision may be consulted with other editors or reviewers.
• The editor must ensure the safeguarding of academic research and guarantee permanent access.
• The editor is responsible for following up on any reported unethical behavior, provided it is well-founded, and may apply corrective disciplinary measures if discovered after publication.
• Promote the inclusion of the journal in quality databases and indexes.
• Promote ethical behavior during the progress of the work presented by the author, especially when it involves individuals, animals, and the environment.

Editorial Committee

• Verify that articles meet the necessary elements for peer review.
• Ensure that the article aligns with the editorial line and is within the journal's scope.
• Assess its relevance according to the journal's objectives.
• Actively participate in the selection of reviewers/evaluators.
• Suggest the inclusion of the journal in quality databases and indexes.
• Maintain confidentiality throughout the editorial process.
• If a member of the Editorial Committee submits an article for evaluation, they must refrain from giving opinions regarding the appointment of reviewers and must comply with all journal standards.
• Promote ethical behavior during the progress of the work presented by the author, especially when it involves individuals, animals, and the environment.

Authors

• Submit original and unpublished works, adjusted to the structure proposed in the journal's publication guidelines.
• All authors must have a similar percentage of participation in the authorship of a work. Those who contributed with translation, financial support, proofreading, or one or several readings of the work are not considered authors.
• Do not simultaneously submit the same work to another journal.
• Follow the journal's publication guidelines.
• Do not present manipulated results. If, after publication, the author(s) notice an error in the published data, they must notify the journal to correct the article as an erratum.
• The article must contain sufficient references to allow others to reproduce the work, and these must be properly cited.
• If there is a conflict of interest, it must be indicated when submitting the article.
• It is requested in the publication guidelines to rigorously cite the sources used in the text. If it is not referenced, it should not be cited.
• Avoid citation manipulation.
• Comply with the deadlines for incorporating observations derived from peer review.
• Plagiarism is a reflection of unethical behavior and must be sanctioned in the journal.
• If research in Social and Human Sciences involves human participants, the manuscript must show that the study had the informed consent of the participants and complied with institutional laws and guidelines.
• If a member of the Editorial Committee submits an article for evaluation, they must refrain from giving opinions regarding the appointment of reviewers and must comply with all journal standards.
• Follow the code of conduct and editorial best practices issued by COPE. It is suggested to review this link: international standards for authors (in English).
• Authors must indicate that their procedures followed ethical standards and are in accordance with the World Medical Association and the Declaration of Helsinki.

Reviewers

They are usually suggested by the Scientific Committee or the International Research Network REDIIGEC.

• Ensure objective peer review.
• Ensure the quality and scientific rigor of the article evaluation.
• Adhere to the journal's evaluation process.
• Maintain confidentiality throughout the article evaluation process.
• Maintain objectivity, reflecting in their comments supporting arguments that guide authors to improve their manuscript.
• Submit evaluations within the estimated time.
• Evaluate rigorously, considering theoretical and methodological approaches in the article.
• Declare if there is a conflict of interest upon receiving the article.
• Do not use information, data, or ideas obtained through the manuscript for personal publication.
• Reviewers may propose the inclusion of relevant published works on the topic that have not been cited by the authors.
• Reviewers must never use information provided in a manuscript to benefit their own research.
• Contribute to editorial decision-making.

Unacceptable Editorial Practices:

After consulting various COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) documents to organize an Ethical Code and Editorial Best Practices, we have established that the following practices will not be accepted in the journal: multiple publications, repetitive publication, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, ghostwriting, citation manipulation, and self-citation.

Conflict Resolution

Actions to be taken in case any of these undesirable practices are detected:

• Multiple Publications/Repetitive Publication: As soon as multiple publication is detected (in more than one journal or as part of conference proceedings), an explanation will be requested from the authors. If the arguments do not satisfy the Scientific Committee and the Editor, the article will be withdrawn and the authors will be sanctioned, preventing them from publishing another article in this journal for two years.
• Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism: When it is detected that a manuscript has more than 35% similarity with a previously published work or there is self-plagiarism (the author copies what they have already published without citation, giving the impression that their contribution is new and original), a detailed report will be prepared specifying all sources (journal websites or article PDFs) certifying the plagiarism or self-plagiarism, and the authors will be asked for explanations to determine if these practices exist or if it is just an error. If no response is received within three (3) business days, the article will be withdrawn from the editorial process.
• Ghostwriting: Although this practice is difficult to detect, the Editor has the authority to withdraw the article from the journal. If detected after publication, the article will be removed from the journal's website and a clarification note will be published in the Editorial.

• Fabrication: Refers to the "fabrication and invention" of all or part of the data or results of a work submitted for publication. Upon recognizing this conduct, the submission will be declined.

• Falsification and Data Manipulation: Consists of providing false data or methods within a study. Upon identifying this action, the submission will be immediately declined.

If the article has already been published, two courses of action will be followed:

• Correction: If the authors provide a satisfactory explanation to the Editor and Editorial Committee, a new version with the changes made and a note specifying those changes will be accepted. It will be immediately incorporated into the journal's OJS.
• Retraction: The article will be removed from the journal's website and other sites where it is available, accompanied by a statement in the Editorial with details of the case. In this case, the authors' anonymity will not be maintained.

Note: If the article is not yet published and is in any of the editorial processes (layout, style correction, proofreading), a detailed report will be sent to the authors explaining the reasons for rejection and withdrawal. The authors' anonymity will be maintained.

In any of the cases mentioned, the decision will be communicated in writing to the authors.

Other Aspects:

Once the article is accepted, the authors commit to integrating all observations derived from peer review that are deemed pertinent into their work. Any observations not incorporated must be justified in writing.

Authors should know that once evaluated, observations integrated, and the manuscript accepted, the Editorial Committee or Editor may request another modification to improve the article's quality. If the authors refuse, the article will be withdrawn from publication. It should be remembered that they signed a commitment letter emphasizing this aspect.

Works by the same authors will not be published in consecutive issues as the main author.

References

COPE. (2018). Core Practices. Retrieved from https://publicationethics.org/core-practices

Artificial Intelligence Policy

Prohominum adheres to the Heredia Declaration: Principles on the use of artificial intelligence in scientific publishing (2024)¹ and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)².

An author is considered to be someone who makes significant intellectual contributions to the conception, design, execution, data analysis, or interpretation of the research or article published as a result. In addition, they must have participated in drafting and/or reviewing the manuscript. Therefore, an author has the capacity to create, make decisions, declare conflicts of interest, and assume responsibilities arising from their publication.

Any other form of contribution to the article published in the journal should be included in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not meet the aforementioned authorship criteria. Nor can it assume responsibilities arising from its work or declare conflicts of interest. Therefore, only a human being can be considered an author.

The use of AI must be explicitly declared in the manuscript, indicating its role in the research and/or writing process: data analysis, generation of images and graphic materials, improvements in writing, grammar, spelling, and style.

It must be declared and properly cited, indicating which tool was used and for what purpose.

¹ Penabad-Camacho, L., et al. (2024). Heredia Declaration: Principles on the use of artificial intelligence in scientific publishing. Revista Electrónica Educare, 28(S), https://doi.org/10.15359/ree.28-S.19967

² What constitutes authorship? (Latin American Spanish). (2014). Committee on Publication Ethics. https://doi.org/10.24318/cope.2019.3.4

Copyright Policy

The Venezuelan Civil Association for Social Research in Favor of Humanity (ACVENISPROH) only retains the publication rights of the journal Prohominum and encourages the reuse and self-archiving of its documents in databases, repositories, directories, and international information systems. The author(s) retain the copyright of their work and may deposit their publication in any repository. Authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and source are cited, in accordance with the licenses provided for this type of publication, described at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en

File Preservation Policy

The technical team of the digital publication Prohominum, follows three policies:

1. Open Journal Systems is compatible with the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system, which guarantees the journal a permanent and secure archive. LOCKSS is open-source software developed by the Stanford University Library that allows libraries to preserve selected web journals by regularly searching registered journals to collect new published content and archive it. Each archive is continuously validated with records from other libraries, so any damaged or lost content can be restored using those records or the same journal. Prohominum accesses this preservation service thanks to the PKP PN program available for journals using OJS.
2. Compliance with the storage hosting company's policies.
3. Policies for safeguarding work equipment and servers: regarding local work equipment, the following guidelines are in place:

• Control of environmental factors (humidity, temperature, contamination)
• The server location meets optimal conditions to prevent equipment deterioration.
• There is discipline in handling and backup: equipment is configured to notify and automatically back up.
• Regarding article storage, there is a two-year retention policy. This policy applies to both files received for review and those published. Likewise, evaluation forms for articles submitted for review are kept (minimum of two years).
• Article versions are stored as follows: preprint (unevaluated version), postprint (editorial), and postprint (author-corrected version).
• The server is periodically checked (predictive maintenance plan) to prevent possible damage.

Likewise, an agreement has been formalized with the Galileo Foundation for the Advancement of Science in Ecuador (FUNDAGACEC), in which this organization commits to offering ACVENISPROH space on its server for the safekeeping of the journal's files, based on the policies governing the matter: See Agreement

Ethics and Conflict of Interest

Ethical Considerations

The Editorial Committee and Reviewers, in addition to methodological, academic, and technical evaluation, are responsible for ensuring ethics in Prohominum publications and not encouraging misconduct or bad practices.

General ethical considerations

• Confidentiality of patient or research subject data must be maintained. If an author wishes to publish such information, consent forms must be provided.
• Prohominum is governed by internationally accepted ethical guidelines (Code of Conduct, COPE, and Office of Research Integrity, ORI)
• Materials for publication must be accurate so that, during review, they can be replicated or challenged.
• The author(s) are the people who conducted the study. It is important to note that those listed as authors contributed to the collection of material, interpretation, drafting and review of the material produced, as well as approval for publication. The order in which they are listed is a decision among the authors, but the amount of effort and contributions should be considered to assign the first places.
  • There is the figure of collaborators, to mention those who contributed to the study in some way.
  • Ghost authors, guest authors, and honorary authors should be avoided.
  • If the author(s) wish to add, remove, or reorganize the list of authors, a formal communication explaining the reason and arrangement, as well as written consent from the other authors, must be sent.
  • Authors must be aware that fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements are considered unethical academic behavior.
• The author is obliged to identify in their study any collateral risks related to procedures, chemicals, or equipment referenced.
• Plagiarism is unacceptable. Our journal has an anti-plagiarism review system. Authors must be careful and adhere to the rules to give necessary credit and avoid taking others' information, ideas, or falsifying information. If, after publication, a reader reports suspected plagiarism, a review will be conducted again, and if confirmed, the article will appear only with the title as retracted.
  • Incorrect authorship is also considered plagiarism, as the person who worked most on the article should be listed first, and so on. Listing someone who did not contribute goes against ethical principles. If, after publication, someone reports this to the journal, that author will not be able to publish in Prohominum again.
  • It is necessary to make visible any funding received. If there is a conflict of interest, the author is solely responsible to the funding or assisting entity.

Ethical Oversight

It is understood that research involving humans, institutions, communities, and social groups must consider ethical criteria and principles so that no parties are put at risk; therefore, participant or institutional approval through informed consent will be required.

Prohominum is committed to publishing only works that comply with the provisions of the Declaration of Helsinki of the WMA, available at: https://www.wma.net/es/policies-post/declaracion-de-helsinki-de-la-amm-principios-eticos-para-las-investigaciones-medicas-en-seres-humanos/, respecting, ensuring, and promoting respect for all human beings, protecting their health and individual rights.

Likewise, Prohominum will comply in its publication process with the International Ethical Guidelines for Health-Related Research Involving Humans, developed by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Therefore, its 25 ethical guidelines related to:

1. Social and scientific value, and respect for rights
2. Research in resource-poor settings
3. Equitable distribution of benefits and burdens in the selection of individuals and groups of research participants
4. Individual benefits and risks of research
5. Choice of control mechanism in clinical trials
6. Meeting the health needs of participants
7. Community involvement
8. Collaborative partnerships and capacity building for research and review
9. People capable of giving informed consent
10. Modifications and waivers of informed consent
11. Collection, storage, and use of biological materials and related data
12. Collection, storage, and use of data in health-related research
13. Reimbursement and compensation for research participants
14. Treatment and compensation for research-related injuries
15. Research with vulnerable individuals and groups
16. Research with adults unable to give informed consent
17. Research with children and adolescents
18. Women as research participants
19. Women during pregnancy and breastfeeding as research participants
20. Research in disaster and disease outbreak situations
21. Cluster randomized trials
22. Use of data obtained online and digital tools in health-related research
23. Requirements for establishing research ethics committees and protocol review
24. Public accountability for health-related research
25. Conflicts of interest

For more details on the guidelines mentioned: https://cioms.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CIOMS-EthicalGuideline_SP_INTERIOR-FINAL.pdf

Conflict of Interest

Normally, a conflict of interest occurs when authors or researchers have opinions or economic interests that may influence the objectivity of their actions.

The most frequent conflicts of interest are classified as direct and indirect. Direct ones are related to employment, share ownership, grants, patents, and indirect ones to fees, consulting, investment fund ownership, paid expert testimony.

Personal relationships can also trigger conflicts of interest, for example, academic competition between colleagues that may lead to interests in research results or personal opinions.

Our journal recommends the following:

• Warn if there is a probability of a possible conflict due to influence on results that may be biased.
• Mention all people involved in the research or study.
• Do not make independent or verbal agreements.
• Declare, through a formal document, the role of each funding entity or sponsor. It is also recommended to place it before the references to the bibliography consulted.

Interoperability Protocol

All publications of the Prohominum Journal Portal incorporate interoperability protocols (https://pkp.sfu.ca/ohs/) that allow their contents to be harvested by other distribution systems, such as digital repositories and harvesters. Journals published through OJS (Open Journals System 3.3.0.8) incorporate the OAI-PMH (Open Archive Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) interoperability protocol, with the possibility of obtaining different formats for metadata.

Protocol: OAI-PMH Version 2.0
Metadata formats: Dublin Core; MARC; MARC21; RFC1807
Path for harvesters: https://acvenisproh.com/revistas/index.php/prohominum/oai

Complaints and Appeals

Complaints, claims, or appeals, before, during, or after publication, should be sent electronically to the following email address: atencion@acvenisproh.com | prohominumrevista@gmail.com. The editorial team will handle them as necessary and will communicate at all times with the complainant, analyzing the steps to follow in each case and providing a response and solution within 30 days.

Data Management and Preprints

Authors are encouraged to clearly detail the datasets used in their research and to upload the data underlying the findings reported in the manuscript to an institutional repository or to Data Scielo.

The aim of this process is for readers, reviewers, and editors to have access to the files and the original data of the results, enhancing citation possibilities and strengthening transparency in publication.

Preprint

The Preprint is the version of an article or scientific manuscript published before peer review. It is a document that has not been officially accepted by scientific journals and is deposited in a preprint server.

At Prohominum, we declare that we are an Open Access journal, so authors are encouraged to deposit the preprint before submitting to the journal, and must inform this action.

We share some preprint servers you can use: arXiv; BioRxiv; SciELO Preprints, LatArXiv.

Self-Archiving Policy

1. Versions

Authors may deposit their articles in preprint, postprint, and final published versions in institutional and thematic repositories, personal websites, academic social networks, etc.

Preprint: is the version of an article or scientific manuscript submitted to the journal, prior to peer review. It is a document that has not been officially accepted by scientific journals. Its deposit in preprint servers such as arXiv; BioRxiv; SciELO Preprints, LatArXiv is recommended.

Postprint: is the accepted version of the article, after peer review. Self-archiving must be accompanied by a statement that the deposited document will be published in Prohominum, with a link to the journal.

Published version: may be deposited immediately after publication in the journal.

2. License

This journal is distributed under a CC-BY–NC–SA 4.0 International license, so self-archiving must be done under this same license.

3. Research Data

The primary data generated during the research process and supporting what is published may be deposited in an institutional or thematic repository, Scielo Data, or another data repository.

Once the article is published in Prohominum, the dataset must be linked to the published article in the journal using the DOI.

4. Embargo

No embargo period is required for depositing the different versions of the published article and research data.