About the Journal

Presentation

Hallazgos is an international scientific journal specialized in Social Sciences and Humanities, and the disciplines of these areas of knowledge, focuses mainly on the dynamics of Latin America in dialogue with other world realities. It has been published for 17 years and has 413 research articles published, and is currently present in 32 international databases, selective directories and specialized portals. It has an International Scientific Committee, a double-blind evaluation system, and the collaboration of 395 scientific reviewers from 19 countries around the world.

Manuscript management is done through the OJS 3 Platform following strict quality and punctuality protocols, permanent access to anti-plagiarism systems, and a high level of visibility with multiple search systems, DOIs, ORCID, dynamic pdfs and XML. All his texts are accessible in digital format and free of charge for the scientific community.

Focus and scope

The main objective of Hallazgos is to consolidate itself as a reliable bibliographic source of high consultation for the academic communities of Colombia, Latin America and the world, through the open access dissemination of studies approached from the multidisciplinary spectrum it has established. Thus, it seeks to report on the state of the research (its advances, results, projects, management and policies of scientific research, as well as its projections) on issues related to current Latin American realities and to permeate in a convincing manner the field of social sciences and humanities.

Although Hallazgos publishes articles that account for Latin American realities, it is open to contributions that open dialogue scenarios with other regions provided the research shows related points or reflections to understand dynamics, phenomena or realities over time. Thus, the authors seek to identify and point out through Hallazgos a window to other discussions to read Latin America.

As an academic publication integrated into indexes and indexing bases, Hallazgos aims to ensure the high editorial and academic quality of its content. To this end, the journal relies on the participation of prestigious local, national and international researchers who make up the Editorial and Scientific Committees, and constantly turns to academic experts for their opinion on the quality of potentially publishable texts.

History of the journal

The Hallazgos journal was founded in 2004 by the Academic Vice-Chancellor and the current National Direction of Research of the Universidad Santo Tomás, Main Campus. Since then, the main objective of this publication has been to foster in the academic community a culture of scientific and social research with projects that correspond to the current problems of Colombian society and the world. On the other hand, Hallazgos is an instrument for teaching and learning, in addition to being a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge. In 2014, the publication specialized in Latin American studies critically approached from the social and human sciences. Hallazgos is defined as a means of disseminating the state of research, its advances, results, projects and management.

Publication frequency

The journal is biannual; it publishes two (2) issues per year: one with a free topic on Latin American realities and one monographic issue. Approximately 10 articles are published in each issue. The first issue is published on January 1 and the second issue on July 1 of every year. The journal's editorial plan is informed to the academic community through a call for free topic issues and another for monographic issues. In each of these calls, the editorial schedule is differentiated in order to comply with its periodicity.

Article evaluation process

1. Preliminary review

In order to ensure the editorial and academic quality of the journal, the editor makes a preliminary review to corroborate if the article responds to the objective and scope of the journal, as well as to the terms and editorial schedule established in the current call for papers. If this is not the case, the author will be notified as soon as possible that the paper will not be considered for any edition, so that the author can react quickly and apply to a journal that publishes topics related to his/her text.

Relevant articles are reviewed initially to check: 1) compliance with the basic aspects established in the rules for authors. Hence the importance of knowing the Practical guideline for the writing and review of articles before submitting them to the Hallazgos journal; 2) that the percentage of similarity and originality of an article is less than 20%, for which the Turnitin software is used, and 3) the thematic relevance according to the nature of the journal. If the article passes this first filter, the articles are assigned to members of the Editorial and Scientific Committees so that they can issue a general opinion and indicate whether the text is potentially publishable or not. To this end, they use a review format. If it is publishable, expert peer reviewers are suggested to carry out the evaluation process. If not, the editor will communicate with the author and issue an opinion on the matter.

2. Double-blind peer-reviewing

In order to comply with the indexing criteria of Publindex and other international bases, articles will be submitted for evaluation by two external peer reviewers -or at least a single evaluator-, assigned by the Editorial Committee of Hallazgos. The evaluation is done through a form designed in the OJS or a digital format (know the evaluation format). This evaluation will be carried out under anonymity (double-blind evaluation), that is, neither the authors nor the peers will know each other's identities. To guarantee this, the article submitted to the peer reviewers is an anonymized version. The estimated evaluation time is 3 to 4 months, at least.

Evaluation Criteria

The expert peer(s) suggested for each article will evaluate in terms of “excellent”, “good”, “fair” or “poor” each of the following aspects of the text as academic writing:

Text structure. The article has an adequate structure according to its typology (research, reflection, review, research progress, etc.) and clearly shows the objective, development and conclusions.
Development of the topic. Appropriately presents the theoretical concepts used and achieves a consistent progression from the objective to the stated results.
Relevance of the article within the interdisciplinary approach of the journal, from the Social Sciences (Anthropology, Sociology, International Relations, Government) or Humanities (Literature, Philosophy, History, Education). Its study makes a valuable, pertinent, useful, innovative or convincing contribution to the understanding of the realities of Latin American countries. The study shows that it has implications in Latin America or projections for this region.
Argumentation. The ideas are developed in a clear, coherent and articulated manner. Linguistic elements that mark logical relationships between ideas are used to give cohesion from the title to the conclusions. It is supported by examples or other resources.
Use of graphic material (only if applicable). The graphic component is coherently related to the development of the topic and is necessary for its understanding.
Writing. The linguistic register is comprehensible to the reading public. Displays excellent spelling, punctuation, and cohesive paragraph construction, and the use of APA citation system is correct and consistent.
Ethics and scientific integrity. Throughout the article it is possible to see that the research developed implemented good scientific practices to ensure the protection of the rights of individuals in the study, the minimization of risks and the benefits of their participation. Due acknowledgement is given to the ideas that are not of his/her authorship.
Bibliography. The bibliographic sources are current, showing a review of the state of the art in the topic developed. The author takes into account the most significant contributions on the subject.

In order to contribute to the constructive academic dialogue with the authors, the evaluators justify their assessment and make suggestions on each aspect.

3. Opinion of expert evaluators

Based on the evaluation, evaluators issue an opinion on the text, which can be:

Approved without modifications (refers to substantial substantive changes or corrections). In general, these articles require minor formal adjustments.
Subject to corrections. In this case, the author is informed of the suggested corrections so that within two weeks the author can make the requested modifications, which will be reviewed by the Editorial Committee or one of the evaluators in order to issue the final opinion. The process of reviewing corrections may even require a second round of review.
Not approved

4. Final opinion notified by the editor

Based on the observations made in the preliminary review and the evaluators’ opinions, the editor issues a final opinion in which the reasons that support the editorial decision regarding the text are stated.

Case 1. Approved without modifications

In this case, the authors are notified of the final decision and are requested to adjust the formal aspects of their article, as well as the assignment of rights and the completion of the metadata of their academic profile.

Case 2. Subject to corrections for approval

In case the final opinion issued by the editor is "subject to corrections for approval", the authors will know in a consolidated document all the observations from the different evaluators (anonymous) who participated in the stages of preliminary review and peer review by academic experts, including the observations made by the editor regarding the editorial guidelines of the journal.

Authors are given two weeks to incorporate corrections and make any necessary adjustments in form and content. In the event that they are required to make conceptual clarifications that can only be assessed by an academic expert, the improved version will be entrusted to one of the reviewers who made the conceptualization to review how such observations were taken into account. However, when the first reviewers are not available, or none of the members of the Scientific Committee is a specialist in the subject of the article, the editor will be in charge of seeking and requesting the review to another academic specialized in the subject. In this case, the reviewer is given the opinion on which the authors have worked, with the sole purpose that the reviewer gives the approval on the substantive corrections. It is important to clarify that at this point no additional evaluation is sought, i.e., the article could not be rejected. However, if the reviewer does not approve this version, it is understood that the article will remain in a state of improvement until the version that guarantees its excellent quality is achieved, and that it can finally be published. It will be understood, then, that the article continues to be in the editorial processes of the Hallazgos journal, which is why the article cannot be submitted or published by another editorial entity until the process has officially culminated in our journal. An article will be published in Hallazgos only if the authors are notified of the final "approved" decision.

Note: It is considered an unethical academic practice for an author to withdraw the article after receiving the observations of the final opinion "Subject to corrections" or "approved without modifications", without justified reasons.

Case 3 Not accepted

In case the final opinion is "Not accepted", the author is informed and the article is withdrawn from the editorial process in the OJS journal manager. Articles that are not approved are preserved in digital files for the journal's internal record, but are not manipulated or used for any other purpose. In order to promote the improvement of knowledge generation and the enrichment of the topic of interest addressed by the authors, the editors send the justification of the opinion issued by evaluators (anonymous) and the report of similarity and coincidence.

Notification and Publication of Post-Print Version

Once the author has incorporated the suggestions resulting from the evaluation, and is notified about the approval of the paper for publication, the author must sign the rights assignment form used by Universidad Santo Tomás, in order to initially publish the post-print version of his/her paper and begin the remaining editorial process. In addition, the author must fill out a series of metadata that will guarantee effective communication, the issuance of the certificate and the evaluation processes carried out by the Indexing and Abstracting Systems (Sires) for the measurement of the scientific and editorial quality of Hallazgos.

Universidad Santo Tomás complies with the provisions of Decree 1377 of 2013, which regulates Law 1581 of 2012, regarding Data Processing.

Universidad Santo Tomás holds the economic rights (Copyright) of the published works, and favors and allows their reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

The post-print version will be published in open access with its respective DOI while the processes of editing, correction and upkeep of the texts to obtain the definitive diagrammed version are in progress. During this period the article can be consulted and referenced by readers, thus ensuring the measurement of impact and bibliographic citation.

Upkeep of Texts and Publication of Final Version

Once an article has been approved, the editing process (proofreading, layout, authors’ review and approval, printing) will last approximately three (3) months. The process of proofreading, design and processing of HTML versions is carried out by professionals appointed by Ediciones USTA.

As Hallazgos is an Open Access publication, its print run is 50 copies. Authors who wish to receive a copy may pick it up in person at the journal's offices.

Issuance of certificates

Hallazgos will only issue certificates to authors of published articles. Requests for certificates should be sent to the journal's e-mail address: [email protected].

Open access policy

This journal provides immediate free access to its content under the principle of making research freely available to the public, which fosters greater global knowledge sharing.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Funder

National Direction of Research and Innovation, Universidad Santo Tomás, Main Campus, Bogotá, Colombia.

Ethical statement and best editorial practices

Originality and Assignment of Rights

All authors and co-authors, at the time of submitting the article, must send electronically a signed declaration of originality. No article may be submitted to peer reviewers without the submission of such declaration and verification of its receipt.

Once the articles have been selected for publication, the author or authors will be sent the respective assignment of economic rights, which must be returned as soon as possible, signed, electronically, to continue with the process.

In case the rights have been previously assigned to an Institution funding the project, the authors must inform the entity and establish the respective authorization to assign the rights on the particular paper, guaranteeing the non-existence of conflict of interest between the Publishing Institution and the one that funded the research, in case they are different. In this sense, the assignment of rights submitted to the Journal will be understood to prevail over any general or particular assignment, and it is the author's obligation to resolve any incompatibilities that may arise.

Copyright

The publication of an article in the USTA Journals, infers the authorization of the editor of the Journal, for its partial or total reproduction, for academic, non-commercial, non-profit purposes, on websites, networks, bibliographic databases, indexes, directories or any other means of electronic reproduction, always making reference to the author and the Journal.

Privacy Statement

The names and e-mail addresses entered in the Journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated by the Journal and will not be available for any other purpose or to any other person.

Open Access Policy

USTA's Journals are open access to their content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research helps a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Ethical Policies of Universidad Santo Tomas Journals

The journals adhere to the "Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors" of the Committee of Publication Ethics. Therefore, they present policies for their public operation and set out guidelines for authors, which contain the minimum guidelines for submitting articles.

Authors are fully responsible for the ideas expressed in their articles, as well as for their ethical appropriateness. The Journals seek to guarantee academic and research suitability, respecting the creation and work performed by the authors, through their evaluation processes, which seek to protect the plurality and relativity of thought.

1.1 Responsibilities of the Authors

The Journals will only consider unpublished articles that correspond in their content and structure to its editorial policies. If the author or authors submit to the Journals a paper that has already been published, in whole or in part, their actions will be considered unethical.
It is the author's responsibility to avoid any conflict of interest in the publication of data and results (financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between reviewers and authors).
It is considered good practice for the author to credit all persons or institutions that have collaborated in the research projects on which the work is based.
It is the responsibility of the author or authors to respect the intellectual property, clearly indicating and referencing any fragment taken from the work of another author or authors, in the construction of their work. Failure to do so will be considered as plagiarism and the paper will be excluded for publication.
The selection and final approval of an article will depend on the academic opinion of the peers convened in each case and the willingness of the authors to make the modifications suggested as necessary, within a timely period, after consultation with the Editor of the Journal of the time deemed necessary to make the adjustments.
The peer review process of the Journals is "double-blind", which means that neither the authors nor the peers will know each other's identities. In this sense, it is the author's responsibility to avoid any direct allusion or indication of his/her identity within the body of the text.
The evaluation process requires a policy of exclusivity. This means that the author or authors may not simultaneously submit their work to another publication while it is in the process of peer reviewing in USTA Journals. If authors incur in a double submission, their behavior will be considered unethical.
The editorial committee reserves the right to rule out the publication of any paper submitted if the committee considers it does not correspond to the academic nature of the Journals or if the authors incur in any improper behavior, such as those described above.
The author accepts in its entirety the norms, criteria and editorial procedures of the Journal.
Authors must sign a document of "assignment of economic rights", where they authorize the use, reproduction, transformation, publication of the text and distribution to the Publishing University. This document is essential in order to include the text in the Journal.
The submission of the paper to USTA Journals implies that the authors agree to submit their papers to the established processes, and their full collaboration to achieve its successful completion. In any case, the selected Journal reserves the right to make minor style corrections, without consulting the authors.
If the author decides to withdraw the article or if there is any inconvenience of authorship or conflict of interest that forces the Journal to stop the editorial process, the author must assume the expenses incurred up to that moment as a retribution for the time and trust generated for the publication of the article.

1.2 Responsibility of Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers may be internal or external and national or international without conflict of interest with respect to the authors and their work. All articles submitted are subjected to a rigorous peer reviewing process (double-blind system).

Evaluators may suggest changes in the manuscripts in relation to substantive elements (theoretical, methodological and thematic) and form (spelling and typography). In order to issue their opinion, they will be guided by the evaluation format of the Journal. This format contains a series of rigorously selected criteria. The opinions issued by peer reviewers may be: (a) Approved; (b) Subject to corrections for publication; (c) Not approved. In case of discrepancies between the peer reviewers' opinions - except when both are approving and one requests merely formal modifications - the paper will be sent to a third peer reviewer, whose decision will be final. The evaluation of the peers may be consulted by the paper’s author at any time.

Responsibilities:

Respect the policy of confidentiality of the opinion of the articles set by the Journal, which implies that the identity of the evaluators cannot be revealed to the authors and that they should not make any type of distribution or diffusion of the materials submitted to their evaluation.
Accept only papers that correspond to their academic background and areas of expertise.
Review the papers in a responsible, objective and impartial manner, supporting the reason for the rejection with sufficient reasons, as well as guiding the authors to improve the text submitted.
Deliver a clearly explained evaluation in accordance with the evaluation format of the Journal.
Give a decision within the deadline agreed with the Editor.
Use clear, non-offensive language, respecting the authors in the evaluation of their work.
Report any conflict of interest identified at the time of evaluation of the assigned text.
Identify and inform the editor of any coincidence of the document with any other publication or work in progress.
Fill out the evaluation format directly in the journal manager or send the form through the journal's e-mail.

1.3 Editorial Responsibilities

The participants in the editorial process, according to the established functions, are responsible for the definition, execution and evaluation of the Editorial Policies, so that they comply with the standards of an academic publication valued as scientific at national and international level.

The continuous self-evaluation process is a fundamental principle of the editorial work, and for this purpose there is a structure and organizational chart to ensure the quality and expectations of the academic community.

When the circumstance warrants it, the Journals will publish corrections, clarifications, rectifications and offer the pertinent explanations. Thus, the reception of complaints implies the response of the person in charge, within a timely period of time; initiating, if necessary, internal investigations for the resolution of the inconveniences.

The selection of the most relevant articles to be published is always sought, respecting, as far as possible, the dates of reception, based on the evaluation and review processes that have been established, which privilege quality, originality and relevance - in addition to those that have been specifically indicated.

1.4 Responsibilities of the Editor, the Editorial Board and the Scientific Committee

To uphold the Journal’s reputation by publishing only unpublished, academically and scientifically relevant and quality material.
To publish each issue according to its periodicity.
To make an evaluation of the papers received before they are sent for peer review in which their adjustment to the "Guidelines for authors" set by the Journal is verified.
Accept or reject the papers received based solely on the anonymous opinions received by the peers (if these do not match in their verdict, the Editor, the Editorial Committee and the Scientific Committee of the Journal must make a final decision).
To maintain reciprocal confidentiality at all times in relation to both authors and peer reviewers.
To provide clear and timely information to authors from the moment their papers are received until a decision has been made.
To carry out a transparent and impartial editing and publication process, with full respect for the authors and their work.
To be available to both authors and peer reviewers to clarify any doubts that may arise during the evaluation and editing processes.
To pass through the anti-plagiarism software all the texts sent to the Journal, in order to avoid, as far as possible, an accusation of plagiarism.
Send the full material to Ediciones USTA for its editorial production, complying with the requirements established by the publisher, guaranteeing the quality, relevance and truthfulness of the content.

Charges

The Hallazgos journal does not charge any fee for the submission, evaluation and publication of submitted articles.

The publication does not generate any cost for authors and readers, since Universidad Santo Tomás assumes the expenses related to editing, management and publication. Peer reviewers do not receive any economic retribution for their valuable contribution. The work of all the aforementioned participants is understood as a contribution to the strengthening and growth of the research community in the field of social sciences.

Authorization for the processing of personal data

Authorization for the Processing of Personal Data
Ediciones USTA

Universidad Santo Tomás, as a Higher Education Institution, non-profit entity, identified with tax ID. 860.012.357-6 (hereinafter THE UNIVERSITY), in compliance with the provisions of Decree 1377 of 2013, regulatory of Law 1581 of 2012, and acting as Data Controller, requests your authorization so that, in a prior, specific, free, and duly informed manner, you allow the processing of the personal identification and contact data you provide through this electronic platform. The purposes for which the University collects the data requested herein are: i) to publish the different research articles, review articles, reflection articles, as well as documents pertaining to the research activity of the authors in the different journals that are part of Ediciones USTA. ii) To contact and send information to the authors regarding aspects related to the publication of their articles in the products of Ediciones USTA. To exercise your rights to know, update and rectify your personal data or revoke the authorization granted for the processing thereof, you may submit a query or complaint to the email [email protected]. We invite you to consult our Personal Data Processing Policy at www.usta.edu.co.

Authorization for the Processing of Register Portal

Universidad Santo Tomás, as a Higher Education Institution, non-profit entity, identified with tax ID. 860.012.357-6 (hereinafter THE UNIVERSITY), in compliance with the provisions of Decree 1377 of 2013, regulatory of Law 1581 of 2012, and acting as Data Controller, requests your authorization so that, in a prior, specific, free, and duly informed manner, you allow the processing of personal identification data, contact data, academic information, and tastes or trends, among others, that you provide through this electronic platform. The purposes for which Universidad Santo Tomás requests your personal data are: i) to register you as a user in the Ediciones USTA portal. ii) To provide access to readers, authors and review consultants to the different editions of Ediciones USTA. Our Personal Data Processing Policy can be consulted on the website: www.usta.edu.co and your rights as personal data holder may be exercised through the email: [email protected].