PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Once the editor and the Editorial Committee receive a scientific article, the author will receive immediate confirmation of receipt so that he/she can follow up on the process. The article is received through the OJS page of the journal, or by e-mail: cuestionespolíticas@gmail.com. Then the review or evaluation of the article begins in order to, if applicable, manage its publication in three phases or particular editorial moments:

PHASE 1: Internal Review or pre-review, lasts a period of at least one (01) week. In this phase, the correspondence between citations and references, the thematic compatibility of the article with the different sections of the journal will be verified, as well as the control and verification of plagiarism through three different tools for the detection of duplicate content: www.plag.es, www.duplichecker.com/es and www.turnitin.com/es. Subsequently, the author is informed of the acceptance or rejection of his or her work in order to continue with the arbitration process.

More specifically, the objective of phase 1 is to verify the correspondence between citations and references, the thematic compatibility of the article with the sociopolitical and legal nature of the journal, as well as the control and review of possible plagiarism through specialized software. Finally, it is also verified that the text has not been produced, partially or totally, by some form of Artificial Intelligence AI, with the tool: https://www.duplichecker.com/ai-content-detector.php.

As part of the specific objective of this first phase, the following is also carried out:

- Review of the correspondence between citations and references: It is verified that the citations in the text coincide with the references in the bibliography and that the citations are directly or indirectly related to the subject and objective of the article.

- Verification of thematic compatibility: It is verified that the subject of the article is appropriate for the journal.

PHASE 2: External review, within a period of at least three (03) weeks, it proceeds through the inclusion of two peers external to the Universidad del Zulia (international evaluators), as referees of the article under the double-blind modality, and in case of disagreement in the evaluation, a third evaluator expert in the subject of the work will be assigned to settle the disagreements. These specialists will make observations and issue a concept in terms of: (a) Accepted for publication, (b) Accepted subject to compliance with corrections, or (c) Not accepted for publication.

In the arbitration process, the following quality criteria are taken into account: a) Evidenced mastery of knowledge; b) Scientific rigor; c) Theoretical and methodological foundation; d) Actuality and relevance of the sources consulted; e) Contributions to existing knowledge and; f) Quality of the writing and adequate use of grammatical norms.  

The format used by the reviewers to evaluate the articles includes two main parameters: Formal or presentation criteria and content criteria, which will be evaluated on a scale that expresses the following values: EXCELLENT, VERY GOOD, GOOD, FAIR, DEFICIENT.

Formal or presentation criteria: 1) Originality, pertinence and adequate length of the title; 2) Clarity and coherence of the discourse; 3) Adequate preparation of the summary: Objective, methodology, results and key words; 4) Internal organization of the text.

Once the article has been refereed, the publication concept is communicated by e-mail to the contact author(s). If adjustments to the article are required (Accepted after compliance with corrections), the author(s) will have a maximum of 10 days to make the adjustments (this period is part of the three (03) weeks of Phase 2), and must send a new version of the document and a letter responding to each of the suggestions/observations issued by the evaluators. It is the authors' responsibility to comply with all suggestions and recommendations sent; if there are disagreements, they should inform and argue their position. The editor decides if the modified article is sent again to the same peer reviewers assigned to request their final endorsement. Once the comments, concepts or corrections have been received, the editor, together with the Editorial Committee, makes the final decision of Accepted for Publication or Not Accepted, as the case may be.

 

If the article is Accepted for publication (without corrections or minimal corrections) the authors must deliver: (a) a letter stating that the suggestions reported by the reviewers, if any, were included; (b) the final versions of the article in Spanish or English, according to the authors' preference; (c) authorization to the Editorial Committee of the journal to guarantee authorship, originality and explain beyond reasonable doubt the particular contribution of each author in the preparation of the article (See formats in the section on Guidelines for Authors: Statement of Authorship, Statement of Originality and Statement of Contribution of each author, respectively; and (d) the authors' identification data for the respective journal database (ORCID ID code, full names and e-mail).

In any case, the editor and the Editorial Committee reserve the right to accept or not the articles. Rejected articles (not accepted for publication) will be notified to their authors via e-mail. Acceptance of the article for publication implies the transfer of reproduction and dissemination rights by any means to the Universidad del Zulia as the publishing institution of the journal.

In this order of ideas, the specific objective of phase two (02) is definitely to evaluate the scientific quality in form and content of the article.

PHASE 3: Once the article is accepted, the final editing and layout process begins, in at least two (2) weeks, with the support of the Library Services of the University of Zulia (SERBILUZ), through the following process: (a) remission of the editor of the material accepted for publication, (b) style correction in Spanish and/or English language when required, (c) sending to the editor of the material with corrections to be sent to the authors, (d) remission to the editor by the authors of the verified material and with suggestions, so that he/she sends it again to the publisher, (e) diagramming, layout of the material which is also sent to the authors through the editor; assignment of DOI, and (f) publication of the material in printed format, and electronic format in the RevicyhLUZ platform.

As can be assumed, the specific objective of this phase or final stage is: To perform the final editing of the article and prepare it for publication.

This generally involves:

- Proofreading: A style correction is made in Spanish and/or English language when required.

- Review of the corrected material by the authors: The corrected material is sent to the authors for review and suggestions.

- Layout and layout: The material is diagrammed and typeset.

- Assignment of DOI: The article is assigned a DOI.

- Publication of the material: The material is published in printed and electronic format.

Clarifications

- Authors are responsible for complying with all suggestions and recommendations made by the reviewers. If they do not agree with any observation or suggestion, they can justify their theoretical or methodological position in a letter addressed to the Editor in charge. 

- The editor and the Editorial Committee reserve the right to accept or reject articles.

- Acceptance of the article for publication implies the transfer of the rights of reproduction and dissemination by any means to the Universidad del Zulia as the publishing institution of the journal.

 

Graphical representation of Peer Review Process in Cuestiones Políticas

Source: prepared by the Editorial Committee.