Originality

All articles or reviews submitted to the peer review process of the Rastros Rostros journal must be unpublished, original, and the authors' own work. We ask authors to refrain from submitting works that have already been published partially or completely through other media —except for online publications of working papers— or in translations into other languages. If evidence of similar or identical previously published documents is found, the work will be automatically rejected.



Types of Articles

In accordance with the academic quality requirements for the indexing of Colombian journals (National Bibliographic Index – Publindex), Rastros Rostros mainly seeks to publish the following types of articles:

Scientific and Technological Research Article

A document that presents, in detail, the original results of completed research projects.

Reflection Article Derived from Research

A document that presents the results of research already completed and published in other academic journals from the analytical, interpretative, or critical perspective of the author, on a specific topic, using original sources.

Review Article

A document resulting from completed research in which the results of published research on a field in science or technology are analyzed, systematized, or integrated to provide an account of the advances and development trends. It is characterized by presenting a careful bibliographic review of at least 50 references.

Reviews

Rastros Rostros will accept the submission of critical reviews of monographs, articles, research books, and scientific dissemination in education that may be of interest to the journal's readers. The journal will have a space where selected articles or essays from contests or national academic events in which the journal participates may be published.

Language

Rastros Rostros will publish complete articles originally written in Spanish, English, or Portuguese.

Article Structure

The basic structure of an article consists of the following: title, abstract, keywords, body of the text (which may vary depending on the type of article and the author's intention), and reference list. The details that an author should consider when preparing their article for Rastros Rostros are described more extensively in a template developed for this purpose.

Purpose and Coherence

It is expected that all articles submitted to Rastros Rostros have a clear purpose and seek to contribute to an issue of interest to the journal's readership. Likewise, beyond the possible structure the author chooses to organize their article's content (review or essay), the text should follow a coherent framework, implicitly containing three essential elements: introduction, articulated development of the topic, and conclusion.

Length

It is suggested that articles have a minimum length of six thousand words (6000) and a maximum of eight thousand (8000). Critical reviews should not exceed fifteen hundred words (1500).

Thesauri

The journal suggests using the following thesauri for incorporating keywords into the document: UNESCO Thesaurus and Jesuit University of Guadalajara.


Authors

Authors submitting work to the journal are expected to present original texts of their own creation, derived from rigorous research processes, that have not been previously published. Authors should use sources appropriately and respect copyright laws for any supporting material. The texts should also be carefully written, adhering to the style and citation requirements that correspond to the journal’s style.



Reviewer Profile

Rastros Rostros reviewers must have at least a master’s degree and published written work in the area in which they are called to evaluate.

Confidentiality

As the peer review will follow a “double-blind” system, to ensure greater independence of the parties (neither the authors nor the reviewers will have information about each other's identity, academic profile, or affiliation), this information will only be handled by the journal's staff and will not be disclosed to third parties. The records of each article's review process will be kept for indexing or arbitration verification purposes.

Peer Review System

All articles submitted to the journal will undergo a “double-blind” peer review process with the help of expert reviewers in each subject area. Peer participation is ad honorem and is expected to be undertaken as part of an academic reciprocity agreement, aimed at contributing constructively to the improvement (and validation) of other colleagues' research and contributions within the discipline. In the case of reviews, which are dissemination documents, the editor or other editorial team members may review them directly. Their publication will be decided based on their thematic and textual coherence, relevance to the field, or interest or timeliness of the proposed discussion.

Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to perform a thorough and constructive reading of each article they agree to review, aiming not only to provide a recommendation of approval or rejection for the editor but also to offer comments that will help authors improve their texts or reflect on the scope, possibilities, or shortcomings of their manuscripts. Additionally, reviewers must consider that the texts entrusted to them by the editor are unpublished, and any improper or unauthorized use of the information contained therein would constitute a serious ethical breach. Moreover, once a reviewer accepts a task, it cannot be transferred to third parties unless previously justified and consulted with the editor. Finally, any conflict of interest identified by the reviewer after receiving a manuscript that could potentially compromise their independence in forming an opinion should be reported.


Exclusivity

Articles submitted for review in Rastros Rostros cannot be under consideration by other journals nor should they be submitted simultaneously to other review processes.



Ethics

The journal and its editorial team will promote ethics in research processes, the appropriate use of copyrighted content, and the quality of the work it publishes, ensuring that the various contributors interact under principles of academic integrity.

Reporting Issues

If there is evidence of ethical problems in the research presented in the works published by the journal, doubts about their scientific rigor, suspicion of falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data, undisclosed conflicts of interest, identification of previous publications ("rehashed"), authorship issues, or plagiarism, please contact the editor of the journal immediately so that the case can be investigated and appropriate action taken. Any notifications received about ethical issues will be handled with absolute confidentiality, protecting the identity of the person who reported the problem if requested.

Retractions, Corrections, and Conflict Resolution

The journal follows the guidelines and procedures of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) for handling inappropriate conduct in academic publishing. Likewise, retractions or corrections will be made for articles already published whose content presents errors affecting their scientific quality or proper author recognition, whether due to unintentional errors in the research and publication process or serious ethical problems such as plagiarism, falsification, or data manipulation.

Open Access

The journal publishes its content in open access, without any embargo period. Additionally, all published works are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), and their use must comply with these licensing terms.



Digital Preservation of Content

UCC Editions will guarantee the digital preservation of the published content so that authors can always recover their articles over time and maintain access to what has been the history and evolution of the journal.

Content Use and Self-Archiving

Authors may self-archive their works in institutional repositories, in the final version (or editor's version) in which the article was published, as long as the bibliographic data of the original publication of the article is registered, thus giving credit to the journal. Additionally, when self-archiving a published article, authors are encouraged to include a link to the article, through its DOI, so that it can be accessed on the journal’s official website. An active role by authors in disseminating their published work among colleagues, undergraduate and graduate students, and the academic community in general is key to making a more effective contribution to the discipline or achieving a greater impact in research processes and academic training.

Publication Costs

There is no cost for submitting work to the journal, and the editing process is entirely free for authors at all stages. The journal is fully funded by the Editorial Fund of the Cooperative University of Colombia.

Submission

Article proposals must be submitted in Word format, adjusting the text to the template suggested by the journal, and exclusively through the OJS platform. Along with the article, each author must submit a fully completed author form as well as a letter of originality and ethical commitment. The original file and its attachments must be sent through the OJS system. Reviews will also only be accepted through this platform and in the required template.