Publication Guidelines for Authors of Revista CoPaLa

Revista CoPaLa. Construyendo Paz Latinoamericana is a scientific and humanistic electronic, semiannual, non-commercial open access journal aimed at disseminating scientific articles, research advances, academic essays, case studies, theoretical analyses, state-of-the-art reviews, literature reviews, and critical or informative bibliographic reviews.

The journal publishes original works related to the social sciences, education and peace studies, particularly on democracy, peacebuilding, conflicts, violence, interculturality, human rights, nonviolence, education for peaceful coexistence, conflict management, resolution and transformation, critical pedagogies, social justice, community participation and participatory action research in social, family, educational, regional, national and international contexts.

Its content is addressed to researchers, teachers, students, activists, members of social organizations, academic communities and people interested in the generation, circulation and social appropriation of knowledge aimed at peacebuilding, coexistence, human dignity and social transformation.

Revista CoPaLa is published semiannually, with two issues per year: January-June and July-December.

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1. Document Types

Revista CoPaLa receives the following types of contributions:

• Scientific articles.
• Research advances.
• Academic essays.
• Current case studies or case studies with a historical perspective.
• Theoretical analyses.
• State-of-the-art reviews.
• Literature reviews.
• Critical or informative bibliographic reviews.

All submissions must correspond to the thematic scope of the journal, be original, unpublished and not be simultaneously submitted to another journal, book, editorial repository or academic publication outlet.

2. General Manuscript Requirements

Submissions must meet the following criteria:

• Be submitted as an editable Microsoft Word file.
• Have a length of 7,000 to 9,000 words, including tables, charts, graphs, notes and bibliographic references.
• Use Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing and standard margins.
• Not include authorship information within the manuscript, in order to preserve anonymity during the evaluation process.
• Avoid first-person references to previous works by the authors that may allow their identification.
• Use clear, academic, inclusive and non-discriminatory language.
• Comply with the citation and reference format of the American Psychological Association, in its current edition.
• Include in the reference section only the sources cited within the text.

Tables, charts, graphs, images or photographs must be placed within the body of the text, in the corresponding location. Each element must include consecutive numbering, title and source. When using third-party materials, authors must have the corresponding permissions or prove that the materials are permitted for use.

Footnotes must be used only for brief comments or complementary clarifications. Bibliographic references as footnotes are not accepted.

3. Manuscript Structure

Manuscripts should generally be organized according to the following structure:

• Title in Spanish and English.
• Abstract in Spanish.
• Keywords in Spanish.
• Abstract.
• Keywords.
• Introduction.
• Development of the article organized into sections and subsections.
• Methodology, when applicable according to the type of work.
• Results, findings or argumentative development.
• Discussion, when applicable.
• Conclusions or closing remarks.
• Bibliographic references.
• Appendices, only when necessary.

The structure may be adjusted according to the nature of the work, especially in academic essays, theoretical analyses, state-of-the-art reviews, literature reviews and bibliographic reviews. However, in all cases there must be coherence among the objective, argumentation, development of the text, sources used and conclusions.

4. Title

• The title must be presented in Spanish and English.
• It must be clear, precise and express the central content of the manuscript.
• It must have a maximum length of 16 words.
• It must not include unnecessary abbreviations, commercial names or ambiguous expressions.
• It must be written in uppercase and lowercase letters, using Times New Roman, 14-point font.

5. Abstract and Resumen

• The abstract must be presented in Spanish and English.
• It must have a maximum length of 200 words.
• It must be written in a single paragraph, with single line spacing.
• It must be analytical and clearly include the following elements: objective, methodology or analytical approach, main results or findings, and conclusions.
• It must not include citations, bibliographic references, unnecessary abbreviations or information that is not developed in the manuscript.

6. Keywords and Palabras clave

• After the Spanish abstract, three to five keywords in Spanish must be included.
• After the English abstract, three to five keywords in English must be included.
• Keywords must be written in alphabetical order, separated by commas and with the first letter capitalized.
• The use of recognized descriptors in the fields of social sciences, education, humanities and peace studies is recommended.

7. Introduction

The introduction must clearly present the problem addressed, the academic and social relevance of the topic, the objective of the work, the general theoretical or methodological perspective, and the organization of the manuscript.

In works derived from empirical research, the introduction must make it possible to identify the research problem, context, research question or purpose of the study, and expected contribution.

8. Development of the Manuscript

The body of the manuscript must be organized into sections and subsections that are coherent with the objective of the work.

In scientific articles and research advances, a clear explanation of the method, approach, techniques, instruments, sources of information, corpus or analytical procedure used must be included.

In academic essays, theoretical analyses, state-of-the-art reviews and literature reviews, authors must ensure argumentative soundness, relevance of sources, conceptual articulation and contribution to the field of knowledge.

9. Conclusions or Closing Remarks

• Conclusions must respond to the objective of the manuscript and recover the main results, findings or arguments developed.
• They must be presented in order of importance, avoiding literal repetition of information already presented.
• When appropriate, they may include limitations of the study, academic, social or educational implications, as well as possible future lines of research.

10. Bibliographic References

• Revista CoPaLa adopts the citation and reference format of the American Psychological Association, in its current edition.
• The section must be titled Bibliographic References.
• It must include only the sources cited within the text.
• References must be complete, updated and standardized.
• When electronic sources have a DOI, it must be included as a URL link.
• When there is no DOI, the corresponding URL must be included, verifying that the link is active.
• Bibliography that has not been cited in the body of the manuscript will not be accepted.
• The use of reference managers such as Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, RefWorks or equivalent tools is recommended.
• A minimum of 20 bibliographic references is required, giving priority to recent and relevant scientific literature.
• At least five references must correspond to articles published in scientific journals during the last five years.
• When relevant, authors are encouraged to include works previously published in Revista CoPaLa related to the manuscript topic.

11. Bibliographic Reviews

Reviews must have a length of three to six pages and include the following information about the reviewed work:

• Book title.
• Name of the author or authors.
• Publisher.
• City and country of publication.
• Year of publication.
• ISBN.
• DOI, when available.
• Total number of pages.

The review must offer a critical or informative assessment of the work, highlighting its relevance, structure, contributions, limitations and pertinence to the thematic fields of Revista CoPaLa.

The image of the book cover may be included in JPG format, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, provided that its use is permitted for academic and review purposes.

12. Authorship

Revista CoPaLa receives manuscripts with a maximum of three authors.

An author is recognized as someone who has made a substantive intellectual contribution to the design, development, analysis, interpretation, writing or academic review of the manuscript.

Collaboration in support tasks, data collection, instrument application, information capture, style review or technical assistance will not be sufficient, by itself, to justify authorship. These contributions may be recognized in an acknowledgments section, provided that the persons mentioned have given their consent.

Authors must previously agree on the order of authorship and assume collective responsibility for the content of the manuscript.

The journal is not responsible for conflicts arising from internal disagreements regarding authorship, order of signature or recognition of contributions. However, it may request clarifications when there are indications of improper authorship, ghost authorship, honorary authorship or any practice contrary to academic integrity.

13. Authorship Data File

To preserve anonymity during evaluation, authorship information must not be included in the manuscript. Authors must upload a separate file containing the following information for each author:

• Full name.
• Current institutional affiliation.
• Country.
• Email address.
• ORCID iD.
• Curricular summary in a maximum of 10 lines, written in the third person.
• Authorship contribution statement, when the manuscript has more than one author.
• Conflict of interest statement.
• Statement on the use of generative artificial intelligence, when applicable.
• Data or materials availability statement, when applicable.

ORCID iD is mandatory for all authors. Those who do not have this identifier must register at: https://orcid.org/

14. Editorial Metadata

During manuscript submission, authors must completely and correctly enter the metadata requested by the editorial platform. Metadata must include:

• Title in Spanish and English.
• Resumen and Abstract.
• Palabras clave and Keywords.
• Full names of the authors.
• Institutional affiliation.
• Country.
• Email address.
• ORCID iD.
• Complete bibliographic references.
• Manuscript language.
• Section to which the work is submitted.

The quality and consistency of metadata are essential for the correct identification, retrieval, citation, indexing and academic visibility of published works.

15. Originality and Simultaneous Submission

Every manuscript submitted to Revista CoPaLa must be original, unpublished and not under evaluation by another publication.

Submission of a manuscript implies that authors accept that the work will be reviewed in accordance with the journal’s editorial, ethical, open access, peer review, copyright and digital preservation policies.

Receipt of a manuscript does not guarantee its publication.

16. Plagiarism, Self-Plagiarism and Textual Similarity

Revista CoPaLa carries out textual similarity review and editorial analysis to prevent plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabrication of sources, citation manipulation, use of nonexistent references or any practice contrary to academic integrity.

When relevant similarities, citation omissions, substantive duplication or indications of malpractice are detected, the manuscript may be returned, rejected or withdrawn from the editorial process.

If an irregularity is detected after publication, the journal may issue corrections, retractions, editorial notices or withdraw the article, in accordance with its ethics, corrections and retractions policies.

17. Conflict of Interest

Authors must declare any conflict of interest that may influence, or be perceived as influencing, the development, results, interpretation or presentation of the manuscript.

Conflicts of interest may be personal, academic, institutional, labor-related, financial, political, community-based or of any other nature.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily imply rejection of the manuscript. However, omission of such information may result in editorial review, suspension of the process, rejection or post-publication measures.

When there is no conflict of interest, it must be expressly declared using the following wording:

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.

18. Research Ethics

Manuscripts derived from research involving people, communities, institutions, social groups, children, adolescents, vulnerable populations or sensitive information must comply with ethical principles of informed consent, confidentiality, anonymity, personal data protection, respect for human dignity and non-discrimination.

When applicable, authors must indicate whether the research was approved by an ethics committee, academic council, institutional authority or equivalent body.

In qualitative, community-based, educational or social intervention research, authors must explain the measures adopted to protect the identity, safety, participation and rights of the people or communities involved.

The journal may request ethical clarifications before sending the manuscript to peer review.

19. Availability of Data, Materials and Appendices

Revista CoPaLa promotes open science practices compatible with the social sciences, humanities and peace studies.

When the nature of the work allows it, authors may make available data, instruments, complementary materials, methodological appendices, analysis matrices, protocols, repositories or supporting documents.

When data cannot be shared for ethical, legal, institutional, community, confidentiality, security or personal data protection reasons, this must be indicated in the manuscript.

The statement may be formulated as follows, depending on the case:

The data and materials used in this research are available at: [repository or link].

The data used in this research cannot be publicly shared for reasons of confidentiality, personal data protection or agreements with participants.

This manuscript did not generate or analyze datasets.

20. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence

Revista CoPaLa recognizes that generative artificial intelligence tools may be used as technical support in activities such as style correction, translation, organization of ideas, preliminary synthesis, grammar review or assistance in structuring the text.

The use of these tools must be explicitly declared when they have intervened in the preparation of the manuscript.

The statement must include:

• Name of the tool used.
• Purpose of use.
• Scope of the intervention.
• Section or phase of the work in which it was used.
• Verification carried out by the authors.

Generative artificial intelligence tools may not be recognized as authors or co-authors, since they cannot assume intellectual, ethical or legal responsibility for the published content.

Authors retain full responsibility for the originality of the manuscript, the accuracy of the data, the precision of citations, the existence and relevance of references, argumentative coherence, results, interpretations and conclusions.

The use of generative artificial intelligence to fabricate data, create nonexistent references, alter results, simulate empirical evidence, replace academic analysis or conceal plagiarism will not be accepted.

When generative artificial intelligence has been used, a statement such as the following must be included:

The authors declare that they used [name of the tool] as support for [specific purpose: style correction, translation, preliminary organization of the text, etc.]. The final content was reviewed, verified and fully assumed by the authors, who are responsible for the originality, accuracy, sources, arguments and conclusions of the manuscript.

When generative artificial intelligence has not been used, the following statement must be included:

The authors declare that they did not use generative artificial intelligence tools in the preparation of this manuscript.

21. Languages

Revista CoPaLa accepts manuscripts in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English.

When the manuscript is submitted in a language other than Spanish, it must include title, abstract and keywords in the original language and in English. The journal may request complementary versions in Spanish when considered necessary for editorial or dissemination purposes.

22. Editorial Evaluation and Peer Review Process

Every manuscript received will first undergo an initial editorial review. At this stage, the following will be verified:

• Thematic relevance.
• Compliance with publication guidelines.
• Originality.
• Anonymity of the file.
• Minimum formal quality.
• General coherence of the manuscript.
• Compliance with mandatory statements.

When the manuscript does not meet the basic requirements, it may be returned to the authors for adjustments or rejected without being sent to peer review.

Manuscripts that meet the initial criteria will be sent for academic evaluation under a double-blind review process.

The review will be carried out by two reviewers specialized in the thematic area of the manuscript and external to the journal’s editorial team. Reviewers will evaluate the manuscript individually, anonymously and confidentially.

The general evaluation criteria will be:

• Thematic relevance.
• Originality and contribution to the field.
• Theoretical soundness.
• Methodological coherence.
• Argumentative clarity.
• Quality of analysis.
• Currency and relevance of sources.
• Compliance with editorial guidelines.
• Academic and social relevance.

The possible review results will be:

• Publish without changes.
• Publish with minor modifications.
• Publish with major modifications.
• Do not publish.

When contradictory reviews are received, the manuscript may be sent to a third academic evaluation. The final editorial decision will correspond to the editorial team, considering the reviews received, the quality of the corrections and the relevance of the manuscript to the journal.

Reviews are academic and confidential in nature. The editorial decision will be communicated to the authors through the OJS platform or the journal’s official email.

The editorial decision will be final when it derives from a duly substantiated academic evaluation.

In the event of disagreement related to procedural errors, conflict of interest, lack of impartiality or any verifiable irregularity, authors may refer to the journal’s complaints and appeals policy.

23. Authorship Corrections and Style Review

When a manuscript is accepted with modifications, authors must submit a corrected version within the deadline indicated by the journal.

The corrected version must carefully address the observations made by the reviewers and the editorial team.

The journal may request a response letter to the reviews indicating how the observations were addressed.

Every accepted manuscript will undergo editorial review, style correction, reference normalization, metadata review and layout.

The editorial office reserves the right to make style, orthotypographic, format and presentation adjustments, without altering the academic meaning of the text.

24. Composition of Each Issue

Each issue of Revista CoPaLa will consist of works that, by the closing of the corresponding editorial process, have obtained final acceptance.

Acceptance of a manuscript does not imply immediate publication, since its inclusion will depend on editorial planning, the composition of the issue, the corresponding section and editing timelines.

25. Copyright and License

Authors retain their moral rights over the work and authorize Revista CoPaLa to carry out the first publication, editing, dissemination, preservation and distribution of the accepted manuscript, in accordance with the corresponding copyright transfer letter.

The contents published in Revista CoPaLa are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

This license allows reading, downloading, copying, distributing, sharing and academically reusing the published works, provided that authorship is properly cited, the first publication in Revista CoPaLa is acknowledged, the work is not used for commercial purposes and it is shared under the same license.

Authors may enter into additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version, for example, in institutional repositories, personal websites or academic networks, provided that they indicate that the work was originally published in Revista CoPaLa and include the corresponding DOI when available.

26. Copyright Transfer Letter

Every manuscript accepted for publication must be accompanied by the Copyright Transfer Letter requested by Revista CoPaLa.

Through this letter, authors authorize the journal to carry out activities of editing, correction, publication, reproduction, preservation, distribution, dissemination, translation, format adaptation and public availability of the work, in electronic, printed or any other available medium, always in accordance with the academic and editorial purposes of the journal.

The letter must be signed by all authors of the manuscript.

27. Open Access Policy

Revista CoPaLa provides immediate open access to all its contents.

The journal does not charge fees for submission, processing, review, editing, publication or consultation of articles.

Open access is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, which allows the use, distribution and reproduction of published works, provided that the work is correctly cited, authorship is acknowledged and the first publication in Revista CoPaLa is indicated.

28. Submission Preparation Checklist

Before completing the submission, authors must verify that they comply with the following requirements:

• The manuscript is original, unpublished and not simultaneously submitted to another publication.
• The file is submitted in Microsoft Word format.
• The manuscript does not include names, affiliations, acknowledgments, first-person self-citations or other information that may allow the identification of the authors.
• A separate file is attached with authorship information, institutional affiliation, country, email address, ORCID iD and curricular summary.
• The text has a length of 7,000 to 9,000 words, except for reviews.
• The manuscript uses Times New Roman, 12-point font and 1.5 line spacing.
• The title, abstract and keywords are presented in Spanish and English.
• The abstract does not exceed 200 words and includes objective, methodology or approach, results or findings, and conclusions.
• Tables, charts, graphs, images or photographs are integrated into the body of the text, with numbering, title and source.
• References are presented in the current APA format.
• References include DOI or active URL when applicable.
• The reference section contains only sources cited in the text.
• The manuscript uses inclusive and non-discriminatory language.
• Any conflict of interest is declared, or it is expressly stated that none exists.
• The use or non-use of generative artificial intelligence is declared.
• A data or materials availability statement is included when applicable.
• Research ethics principles are complied with when the work involves people, communities, institutions or sensitive information.
• Authors accept the journal’s open access policy.
• Authors accept the copyright, editorial ethics, peer review, corrections and retractions policies of Revista CoPaLa.

29. Editorial Contact Information