Journal of Engineering and Education

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE AUTHORS

Ingenería Solidaria

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND EDUCATION

1. Purpose and scope

Ingeniería Solidaria is a publication that focuses on the diffusion of research, reflection and revision of literature articles on engineering (computer sciences, industrial, electronics, civil, materials, chemistry, mechanical among others) and on the teaching of engineering.

The journal is not only aiming to have an impact in the academic environment but also to contribute on socializing experiences, initiatives, projects on engineering, that can have an effect on communities or an specific region. The journal is mainly intended for researchers, professors, undergraduate and postgraduate students and professionals on Engineering in Colombia and other countries.

2. Types of articles

Following the requirements for scholarly quality for the indexation of Colombian journals (National Bibliographical Index- Publindex), Ingeniería Solidaria seeks to publish mainly the following kinds of articles:

Scientific and technologic research paper. A document that presents, in a detailed manner, the original results of finished research projects.

Discussion paper derived from research. A document that presents the results of finished research that has been published elsewhere from the analytic, interpretative or critical perspective of the author, on a specific subject and recurring to original sources.

Review paper. A document resulting from finished research where the results of previously published research on a field of science or technology are analyzed, systematized, or integrated seeking to account for the development and tendencies of the field. It is characterized by a thorough bibliographical review with at least 50 references.

In addition, Ingeniería Solidaria contemplates the publication of essays, in which the author can present an articulated reflection on any topic of interest in Engineering, and also the publication of short articles (research advances) and case reports (results of technical and methodological experiences, with a brief revision of the literature).

 Ingeniería Solidaria will receive critical reviews on monographs, articles, and research and diffusion books on animal sciences that may be of interest for the readers of the journal.

 The journal will have a student space in which papers or essays selected from contests or national scholarly events in which the journal is involved may be published.

 3. Editorial Policies and Presentation Guidelines

Originality. All articles or reviews subjected to the selection process of Ingeniería Solidaria must be unpublished. We request that the authors refrain from sending works that have already been published either partially or whole in other media- except for online publication of working papers- or in translation to other languages. If we detect evidence of similar or identical documents that have already been published the work will be automatically rejected. To verify their originality, all articles or reviews submitted will be checked by a antiplagiarism software.

Selection system. All the articles presented to the journal shall be submitted to a “double blind” selection process that will be carried out with the help of expert peer reviewers on each subject. The participation of reviewers will be made ad honorem, and we expect it to be assumed as an act of scholarly reciprocity seeking to collaborate in a constructive manner to strengthen (and validate) the research and contributions of other colleagues within the field. In the case of reviews, which are diffusion documents, they may be checked by the editor himself or by other members of the editorial team of the journal. Their publication will be decided based on their thematic and textual coherence, their relevance for the field, or according to the relevance of the proposed discussion.

Exclusiveness. The articles submitted to Ingeniería Solidaria cannot be in a selection process in other journals, nor should they be presented at other publications while they are under evaluation.

Confidentiality. Since the selection is made through a “double blind” system, seeking to warranty the independence of the parts (neither the author nor the reviewers will have access to each other’s identity, profile or origin), this information shall be treated solely by the people in charge of the journal and will not be revealed to third parties. The support of the process for each article will be kept for indexation purposes or for review verification.

Profile of the evaluators. The peers of Ingeniería Solidaria will have at least a master’s level and published production in the area on which they will be asked to review texts.

Periodicity. Ingeniería Solidaria has a continuous publication. The journal will also publish special thematic issues following the initiative of the editor, of the members of the committees or of external collaborators, and their publication may be made in extraordinary (additional) issues within the volume (the conditions or particularities for special editions will be divulged through a specific call for papers).

Structure of the articles. The basic structure of an article comprises the following elements: title, abstract, keywords, body of the text (which may vary according to the kind of article or the author’s intention) and list of references. The details that an author must take into account to prepare his or her article for Ingeniería Solidaria are more extensively described in a template that has been developed for such an end (download the article template here).

Purpose and Coherence. We expect all articles that are submitted to Ingeniería Solidaria to have an explicit purpose and to seek for such a purpose a contribution that will be of interest for the public of the journal. Moreover, aside from the possible structure that the author may decide to give to the article (review or paper), we expect texts to follow a coherent scheme in which the three essential elements, introduction, articulated development of the topic and closing, are included.

Extension. We suggest that articles have a minimum extension of four thousand (4000) words and a maximum of eight thousand (8000). Critical reviews should not exceed fifteen hundred (1500) words.

Languages. Ingeniería Solidaria will publish whole articles originally written in Spanish, English or Portuguese.

Submission. Ingenieria Solidaria  publishes articles written in Spanish, English or Portuguese. The article proposals must be submitted in Word format, adjusting the text to the template and only through electronic means. Together with the article, each of the authors must send a fully filled out author card and a letter of originality and Cession of rights and ethical commitment.The original file and the attachments must be sent to the editor of the journal at: ingenieriasolidaria@ucc.edu.co or revistaucc@yahoo.es. The reviews will also be accepted through this medium exclusively following the corresponding template.

 4. Quotation style: IEEE

 Quotation styles allow for an organized presentation of the bibliographic support upon which the text is built (in its antecedents, arguments, methodology, etc.), and they facility the location and direct consult of said sources. In the case of Ingeniería Solidaria, we have selected the standards designed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers identified with the acronym IEEE (“i triple e”) that are commonly used in engineering publications.

 We cite hereunder some aspects that must be taken into account concerning the use of the Vancouver Rules as well as some particularities incorporated by the journal.

 Body of the text. Even though the IEEE Rules do not mandate that the author of a source be mentioned when the reference is made within the body of the text, Ingeniería Solidaria, in order to avoid grammar or writing mistakes, prefers that in such cases the last names of the authors whose ideas are being cited be mentioned, and to insert afterwards the reference number between square brackets. For instance: “Ortiz [1] presents a methodology for the analysis of this kind of problem”. Al references that are incorporated in the body of the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the article. Moreover, the reference list should not include bibliography that was not used and quoted within the text (that is, the quoted works must correspond exactly to what appears in the list). The references incorporated in the text must be enumerated according to the order of appearance between square brackets—Ortiz [1], Grothendieck [2], Gómez [3]—, and must be organized in the same order in the final list, not in alphabetical order. Lastly, if the same reference is used more than once in the body of the text but it is necessary to incorporate additional information about where in the text the reference is or any other particularity, this must be indicated after the reference number in the following way: “Ortiz[1, p.84] or Ortiz [1, Fig.16]”.

List of references. The list of references must be organized by numerical order determined by the order of appearance of each reference within the text (the first quoted author or work is [1], the second [2] and so on). Since, unlike other citation systems, this one does not organize references alphabetically, the names of the authors must be listed starting by the last name followed by the initials of the first name: “[2] Grotendieck A.”. Below, we will show the template on how to reference a book, a chapter of a book and an article in a journal, with some examples for each case:

 Should you need additional examples to quote other kinds of texts please contact the editor or consult the IEEE page that describe the style of the IEEE Rules:

 http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/authors_journals.html   

 5. Graphical aspects and other particularities

Equations, graphs, tables and figures. Mathematical expressions must be typed using an adequate formulae editor. Special symbols should be defined the first time they appear, be it in figures, tables or text. Each table, figure or graph must indicate its source (or if it is the author’s own creation), listing the reference with the corresponding number. Graphs figures and tables must always be supplied in an editable format (we recommend Excel). In the case of photographs or images, these must be sent in at least 350dpi, on .jpg file extension and the authors must certify that they have the permission to use them or reproduce them.

 Nomenclature, abbreviations and symbols. Ingeniería Solidaria will request the use of the International System of Units (SI) and the correspondence symbols.

  6. Article selection process

As we mentioned before Ingeniería Solidaria follows a “double blind” system to evaluate and decide on the publication of its main articles. We list below the stages of this process in a more detailed manner:

Reception and editorial evaluation. Once the editor receives the submission of the article a notification will be sent to the author confirming the submission. Afterwards, the editor will carry out a preliminary review of the article to see if it complies with the presentation parameters for the journal and if it corresponds to the editorial and thematic guidelines. The editor holds the power to decide whether the article can be evaluated for selection or if it should be rejected on this first step. In this phase the editor may also return the text to the authors, requesting some corrections or clarifications before it can be sent to the official selection process. In such case, the authors must resubmit the article with the demanded corrections (or the documentation that may be missing such as the author card or commitment letter) if they wish to continue the process.

Peer selection. If the article is admitted for the selection process the editor will set to assign reviewers, locating and convoking two expert researchers on the area of the article. The reviewers will then receive the full text of the article and a format that will guide them through the process.

Selection time. The usual length of a complete selection cycle (location of peer reviewers, invitation and acceptance, reception of the judgments, delivery to the authors) must not exceed a trimester. However, it is relatively difficult to find adequate and willing peers on some topics so the timeframes will be negotiated directly with each reviewer considering their availability (and seeking to carry out the process in the most efficient way possible).

Results. The editor will send a result to the authors based on the judgment of at least two peer reviewers. In case the judgments of both reviewers are in conflict (an acceptance and a rejection) we will call a third reviewer before the editor can inform the authors of the results. The results of the selection process can be: “approved without modifications”, “approved with minor modifications”, “approved with mayor modifications” or “rejected”. The “approved with substantial modifications” is equivalent to “revise and resubmit”, which implies that the authors must be willing to restate their proposal. Should the authors not be willing to carry out the modifications the selection process will be over and the authors will be free to submit their work to another publication.

Corrections.  Along with the results, should the editor consider that it is necessary to have a corrected version of the article, he will accord a deadline with the authors for the submission of such a version. This deadline oscillates between 2 and 10 weeks, the last in case a substantial adjustment is needed. If the authors fail to comply with the stipulated deadlines the editor may end the process for the article, thus preventing it from being published. To help with the review of the corrected version authors must use the word change-tracking feature and send a letter to the reviewers explaining the adjustments that were carried out. Without this response the editor will not send the adjusted article for verification.

Verification and final version. The verification will be carried out with the help of the peer reviewers in most cases but the editor can also check the adjustments in case they were minor corrections. Thus, should slight corrections be requested for an article we ask the authors to refrain from incorporating mayor changes or changes that imply conceptual or methodological adjustments that have not been asked by the reviewers. Should the adjustments be satisfactory, the editor will inform the authors of the approval and will request the presentation of the final version of the article in a template that shall be sent to editorial production. Should a significant error, requiring substantial changes, be found in preparing the final version, the editor must be informed.     

 7. Publishing process

The articles and the different kinds of texts that might be approved for publication in an issue of Ingeniería Solidaria will be subject to a professional publishing process that comprises the following stages: style correction, diagramming, proofreading, verification, and final approval of arts

The authors must submit the manuscript that was approved for publication in a template that will be provided by the journal, making sure to comply with all the instructions therein. In addition, authors are responsible to attend to the observations, clarifications or corrections that may arise during the publishing process within the concrete deadlines that will be set so as to avoid delays in the publication.

 It is also the responsibility of the authors to verify de legibility and integrity of the contents of the texts. Once the texts have been approved in their final art for publication any mistakes or omissions will be the sole responsibility of the authors.

8. Distribution and access         

Every author shall receive two copies of the issue in which the article was published. Moreover, the digital version of the article and of the whole issue will be available for the author’s use so that he may support its diffusion among the target audience.

Ingeniería Solidaria follows an open access policy and will seek as many channels and strategies as possible so that the published issues may be visible by a large (national and international) audience. However, the authors must know that the impact of the diffusion of their articles relies heavily on their active involvement in this process. We expect authors themselves to forward the digital versions of their articles to researchers on the area be it in their countries or abroad, and that they stimulate their use as bibliographic support in research and writing processes in among their colleagues or promoting its reading in class for undergraduate of graduate students.

The circulation of the journal and its sale will be managed according to the policies and channels established by the Editorial of the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia for such ends.

9. Legal Note

The perspectives or viewpoints expressed in the articles and texts published by Ingeniería Solidaria are the sole responsibility of their authors, and do not commit in any measure the Journal, the Editorial or the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia. Moreover, the main purpose of the journal is to provide a service for the academic community and for the advancement of knowledge on Engineering and thus the selection process for the published material contemplates academic, editorial and legal aspects that are evaluated for every single case to decide about the submitted manuscripts. Since it is dependent on these factors, the journal is not obliged to publish any text and may decline publication at any moment during the process if it deems that the article does not correspond to its guidelines or fails to comply with any of its editorial policies. Similarly, any reclamation made by third parties concerning the use of works or excerpts in an article or text will be the full responsibility of the authors thus exempting the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia.

10.  Reproduction and translations

If you wish to reproduce or translate an article or text published in Ingeniería Solidaria, or if you want to ask for authorization to divulge it in a web page or institutional repository please write an email to ingenieriasolidaria@ucc.edu.co or revistaucc@yahoo.es addressed to the editor. Nonetheless, texts that are published in the journal do not require special authorization to be reproduced partially in academic texts, provided they are quoted adequately, listing authors, year of publication, and volume and number of the issue in which they were originally published. Any other kind of use needs previous and express authorization from the publisher.