Peer review system

Scientific or Academic Publications

Stage 1. Manuscript Submission
This can be done through the OJS system or by email. Receipt of the manuscript does not necessarily imply that it has been accepted for publication.

OJS
In OJS, the author must create a user account to upload the documents. If any difficulty arises at this stage, please contact the following emails: aihernandezg@utn.ac.cr or ajporras@utn.ac.cr.

Email
The author must send the following information to ajporras@utn.ac.cr, aihernandezg@utn.ac.cr, or revistaarje@utn.ac.cr:

  • The manuscript in the format required by the journal, full name, ORCID, institutional affiliation (with city and country), and institutional email address.

  • A signed sworn statement of originality for the manuscript.

  • If required, images or figures in PNG format or in their editable version with good resolution.

In cases where the manuscript has multiple authors, the person who sends the email will be identified by the journal as the primary contact.

Stage 2. Editorial Review
The director and editor will perform a plagiarism check using the Turnitin tool. If a significant percentage of text is found to be copied exactly, without citation or reference, the manuscript will be rejected outright.

The editor will then confirm that all required documentation is included and, together with the director, assess whether the article fits within the thematic areas of the journal.

The director or editor will respond within two weeks, indicating to the primary contact whether changes are required or if the article will proceed to the next stage.

If any requirements are not met, a sub-stage will be initiated, in which the manuscript will be returned to the primary contact with improvement suggestions. The author will have ten business days to address the observations. After this period, if no response is received, the manuscript will be removed from the editorial workflow.

Stage 3. Single-Blind Review
Once the observations from Stage 2 have been addressed, the manuscript will be presented to the Editorial Committee, which will select two reviewers (external to the Editorial Committee, to the publishing entity, and independent from the author’s institution) to whom a form with review instructions will be sent. The Editorial Committee will have up to one month to complete this search.

The journal follows a single-blind model, where the reviewers know the names of the authors, but the authors do not know the names of the reviewers.

Reviewers, who must have sufficient time for evaluation, will have one month to thoroughly review the document.

The reviewers will provide their assessment and classify the manuscript under one of the following three options:

  1. The document is publishable, as it meets all requirements.

  2. Publish the document once the suggested corrections are made.

  3. Not publishable, as it lacks many required evaluative elements.

Reviewers will send the form and the manuscript with tracked changes (if necessary) to the editor.

In cases where one reviewer recommends rejection and the other recommends acceptance with changes, the document will be sent to a third reviewer to resolve the discrepancy.

Stage 4. Sending Review Feedback to Authors
The editor will review the evaluation form and annotated manuscripts (as applicable) and will send an anonymous document with the corrections to the corresponding contact, so they can incorporate them into the manuscript. This stage takes approximately two weeks.

Stage 6. Receipt of the Second Version of the Manuscript
The corresponding contact must return the corrected manuscript within one month and, if there is any objection to the review decision, must present a letter with well-founded arguments to be considered by the Editorial Committee.

Once the corrected article is received, the director and editor will review it again to verify that the observations were addressed or justified, within a one-week period.

Stage 7. Editorial Committee Evaluation and Decision
The manuscripts will be evaluated for a final decision by the Editorial Committee. At this stage, the Committee either rejects or approves the manuscript for publication based on the reviewers’ assessments.

If the primary contact has submitted a reasoned objection to the review, it will be considered at this stage for a formal response.

This stage may take between 15 days and one month, depending on whether an appeal is involved. After this period, the author will be informed of the decision.

Stage 7. Language Editing and Layout
At this stage, language editing, reference checking, and formatting of the different versions of the document are carried out by the journal’s assigned staff. This stage may take approximately one month.

Stage 8. Manuscript Publication
The Editorial Board reviews the final version of the manuscript, and the editor publishes the article on the journal’s official website. This stage requires 15 days.

From manuscript submission to publication, the total process takes a maximum of 31 weeks.