Author guidelines

Instructions for authors

Authors are required to send an email to cienciauat@uat.edu.mx to formally request a username and a password so they can register at the journal’s portal.

As part of their submission, authors must include the title of their manuscript, an abstract and an official email address from their educational institution or research center (public or private). Manuscripts will not be received by any other print or electronic means.

It is necessary to review the editorial guidelines and the editorial policies before the submission of a manuscript.

  1. Instructions for authors

1.1. Submissions

The journal welcomes articles and critical literature reviews in Spanish, which are mainly focused on Latin American issues, and within the following fields of knowledge:

Physics, Mathematics and Earth Sciences

Biology and Chemistry

Medicine and Health Sciences

Humanities and Behavioral Sciences

Social Sciences

Biotechnology and Agricultural Sciences

Engineering

1.2. General considerations

Manuscripts submitted to the journal should be original, unpublished and not being under consideration for publication simultaneously in another journal or editorial agency. Manuscripts should have scientific quality and use clear and accurate language, defining technical terms as necessary to make it accessible to readers from other academic fields and levels. It is important to consider that the journal is multidisciplinary, and therefore, its readers come from widely diverse backgrounds.

The following sections should be written in Spanish and English: title, abstract, key words, tables and figures captions. Figures (images, graphs, geographic maps, conceptual maps, among others) should be additionally sent in a separate file in jpg format 300 dpi or higher to ensure printing quality (Please review the  figures’ specifications). The editable file of the figures should also be attached.

The text should be adhered to the guide for the use of  International System of Units.

The author is responsible for the appropriate use of academic writing in each of the sections of the manuscript.

1.3. Authors

The number of authors of the manuscript should be in accordance with the quality and the quantity of the work carried out and presented. An unjustified number of authors may cause the rejection of the manuscript.

The manuscript must include a cover page, which should include the full name(s) of the author(s), (no initials should be used; both last names should be hyphenated).

The affiliation of the corresponding author should be provided in the following order: institutional affiliation (public or private) name of school or faculty, institute or research center, unit or department; address (including street, number, neighborhood, city, state, country, zip code) and email address for correspondence.

A telephone number with the international code should also be provided (for editorial communication only).

The contact information of the rest of the authors should be provided in the following order: institutional affiliation (public or private) name of school or faculty, institute or research center, unit or department, city, state and country.

For all the authors, information related to the Conahcyt CVU number, ORCID iD, and level of SNII, in case they are members of it, should be provided.

    1. Peer review and follow-up

The username and password allow the corresponding author to log in and upload their manuscript to the platform. They will also be used to continue the editorial process, review the status of their manuscripts, once the manuscript has met the formatting requirements and been assigned to a field editor.

The editorial process is developed into four stages:

  • Formatting assessment.
  • Field editor screening.
  • Anonymous peer review.
  • Editorial design and adjustment.

 

Authors are expected to fully comply with the revisions required in each of the four stages of the review process, highlighting in red color the changes made to the most updated version of the manuscript (authors are expected to use the same Word document received in each of the stages).

In the formatting assessment stage, manuscripts will be subject to a preliminary review by members of the Editorial Department of the journal, to ensure that they meet the thematic and format requirements, and to analyze the levels of similarity with previously published material (through the iThenticate software). Once all the general considerations for publication are fulfilled, the manuscript will be assigned to the area editor. Those manuscripts that fail to complete this stage within a 30 day period will be cancelled.

In the second stage, the area editor will assess the relevance of manuscripts to determine whether they are sent out for peer review or not.  It is possible for the area editor to provide the authors with feedback and may even require a second round of review prior to making a final decision. As such, authors will have 10 days to submit their manuscript with the required changes.

From this stage, in addition to making each of the required corrections, which will need to be highlighted in red color on the most recent version of the manuscript, authors will need to submit a separate form in which they provide a detailed response to each of the comments or suggestions, indicating the line numbers on which they are located.

Those manuscripts approved by the area editor will then be assigned to at least two expert and external peer reviewers, who will determine whether they are accepted or rejected based on an academic and scientific analysis. In the event of disagreement between the reviewers’ decisions, the manuscript will be sent out to a third reviewer, whose decision will define its acceptance or rejection.

Authors will receive the decision and comments made by the reviewers and will be required to provide a response to each of the comments, indicating the changes made on the last version of the manuscript. They will have a 15-day period to revise the manuscript as required by the reviewers. Failure to make the required corrections within the specified time frame will result in manuscript rejection.

All manuscripts accepted by the peer reviewers will undergo a process of editorial and format revision to adjust them to the required publication format of the journal. Once this stage is completed, the acceptance letter of the manuscript will be issued  and the proofs will be sent to the authors, who will have four calendar days to check and correct them. If the authors do not respond within the time frame, the article will be published following the Editor’s judgment.

In the case the authors need an extension to respond to the requirements in any of the different stages of the process, they will have to make a formal request to the journal’s Editor. In case the authors need to replace the corresponding author, the new one will have to be one of the initially listed authors. It is necessary to submit a form, on which the authors provide a written justification of the replacement request. The form will also have to include the signatures of both, the current and the proposed corresponding authors. The new corresponding author will be expected to sign all the required documents to publish in the CienciaUAT journal.

  1. Manuscript preparation

3.1. General considerations

The manuscript should be written in Microsoft Word, with a 12-point Times New Roman font, spaced at 1.5, formatted into Letter page size, with 2.54 cm margins on every side. Pages should be numbered sequentially. Lines should also be numbered sequentially to facilitate the evaluation process.

The manuscript must be written in past tense and in an impersonal form. Acknowledgments must be included in the final part of the text and only for cases of sources of financial support.

Tables and figures (graphs, images, conceptual maps, geographic maps, photographs, among others) must be referenced in the text and placed towards the end of the manuscript, each in a separate sheet. They will include captions in both Spanish and English.

Tables need to be presented in MS Word format and should not be included as images. Information included as part of tables and figures should not be repeated in the text, except when it is necessary for the discussion of results.

Figures (review figures format) should be preferably provided in color, except those images that are originally generated in grayscale shades (micrographs, for example).  Figures should be additionally submitted in a separate file in jpg format at 300 dpi or higher to ensure printing quality. The editable file in which they were generated should also be submitted.

The text describing the figures (title and description) must be drafted independently and not as part of the image.

In case maps are used, these should specify geographical coordinates indicating the area or place of study, adhering to the following format: 98°12’15’’ W o 45°23’10’’ N. When it comes to a polygon, the upper left and lower right coordinates should be indicated. The altitude above the sea level should be cited in meters. The wind rose should be included in the upper left corner, within the figure to indicate its orientation.

In the case of those accepted manuscripts, the corresponding author should provide photograph(s) to illustrate the cover page of their work in a jpg format at 300 dpi or higher.  Additionally, an image (table, graph or photograph) should be submitted to be included in the Table of Contents, alongside the title of their contribution.

 

  1. Structure of the articles

Manuscripts in the form of scientific articles must have a maximum of 25 pages (including figures and tables) and will include the following sections:

Title

The title should clearly describe the contents of the article within a length of 150 characters in Spanish (without spaces).

Title

It is the appropriate and accurate translation of the Spanish title into the English language.

Short title (Spanish). Authors should also provide a shorter version (maximum 6 words) of the manuscript title.

Abstract

The abstract in Spanish must not exceed 300 words, including a brief introduction, the objective or purpose, the methods used, main findings and a conclusion.

Keywords

A list of three to five keywords should be included.

Abstract

It is the appropriate and accurate translation of the Spanish abstract into the English language. There is not a word limit, but its contents should not be extended unnecessarily, except for the need to express its original idea adequately.

Keywords

An appropriate and accurate translation of the list of the keywords should be provided.

Introduction

Its length should not exceed 3 pages. It should include an updated review of the relevant literature, where the importance of the study must be highlighted. The background, the context where the study is situated, theoretical framework, methods used, and the contribution of the study, which are often considered essential to understand the scope of the research, can be provided in a concise manner within this section. The section should conclude with a description of the main aims of the study.

Materials and methods

The Materials and Methods section needs to provide sufficient information in a way that the study can be replicated or that its credibility can be assessed. The experimental design (if applicable), statistical method, data sources and techniques of analysis used need to be clearly indicated. In case specimens are used, the procedures followed to gain access to them need to be clearly described.

Brand names, year and origin (city and country) of the research devices used for the study need to be clearly indicated All the ethical considerations related to research that involves persons or animals should be clearly discussed.

The identity and personal data of the participants in the study need to be protected, securing the informed consent from the involved parties before the dissemination of any confidential information.

In the case of health related studies, a reference needs to be made to the Ethics committee that approved the research protocol. Furthermore, in the case of those studies whose research subjects are humans, copies of the signed informed consent forms need to be provided. In all the cases, studies in which humans are involved must adhere to the ethical guidelines for human experimentation as stated in the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki .

In the case of the studies that make use of animals for experimentation, all the appropriate measures implemented to minimize pain and uneasiness need to be clearly indicated. In addition, a declaration identifying the ethics committee that approved that research methodology needs to be provided in the methods section. Similarly, when animals are used in clinical trials, the informed consent from their owners or customers needs to be gained and explicitly declared in the document.

The experiments and clinical trials with persons or animals should be conducted following the guidelines established by the National Health Institute (National Health Institute) of the USA, particularly those related to the care and use of animals in experimentation procedures. Alternatively, the guidelines for ethical practice developed by the European Community Council dated November 24, 1986 (86/609/eec) can also be followed in accordance with national and local laws and regulations. The editors of the journal reserve the right to reject those works that appear to have failed to secure an adequate informed consent from the involved parties or to apply appropriate procedures.

The results and discussion sections can be presented separately.

The main findings should be presented and related to current literature in a way that justifies the innovative contribution that the study makes to the advancement of knowledge.

Conclusions

The main contributions of the study should be highlighted in a clear and concrete manner, avoiding the repetition of discussion of previous findings.

Conflict of interests

Authors are required to declare any potential sources of conflict of interest such as being the recipients of funding either now or in the past from a business or institution which can positively influence the outcomes of the research. Likewise, any adverse feeling towards enterprises, institutions or groups that can negatively affect the outcomes of the research should also be declared. We recommend that you consult our (conflict of interest policy).

Acknowledgements

In case the authors received any financial support for their study, they should provide details such as the name of the funding agency and grant number.

References

At least 40% of all the references used in the article should be from the last 5 years. Please see the instructions for the list of references (backside of this document).

  1. Structure of literature reviews

Manuscripts in the form of literature reviews must have a maximum of 20 pages in length (including figures and tables) and will include the following sections:

Title

The title should clearly describe the contents of the article within a length of 150 characters in Spanish (without spaces).

Title

It is the appropriate and accurate translation of the Spanish title into the English language.

Short title (Spanish).

Authors should also provide a shorter version (maximum 6 words) of the manuscript title.

 Abstract

The abstract in Spanish must not exceed 250 words, including a description of the topic being reviewed, its relevance and scope. It should be composed of three elements: a brief introduction, the main aim(s) and a conclusion that includes the contribution of it.

Keywords

A list of three to five keywords should be included.

Abstract

It is the appropriate and accurate translation of the Spanish abstract into the English language. There is not a word limit, but its contents should not be extended unnecessarily, except for the need to express its original idea adequately.

Keywords

An appropriate and accurate English translation of the list of the keywords should be provided.

Introduction

It is the first part of the manuscript and should contain a discussion of the topic being addressed, its significance, justification, and, if relevant, the context where the study is situated, theoretical framework and the methods used, which are often considered essential to understand the scope of the research, can be provided in a concise manner within this section. The section should conclude with a description of the main aims of the study.

This section should be followed by the body of the document, which should be divided into sections based on the themes under consideration.

Sections

A broad and critical review of the literature is expected in a way that allows the readers to deepen their understanding of the most recent advancement of the topic being addressed. Therefore, at least 50 % of the references cited in each section (including the introduction) should have been published within the last 5 years, placing emphasis on studies published during the current or last year.

Conclusions

The main contributions to knowledge in the field should be highlighted in a clear and concrete manner, avoiding the repetition of any analysis previously discussed in the body of the document.

References

At least 50 % of all the references used in the article should be from the last 5 years. Please see the instructions for the list of references (backside of this document).

Conflict of interests

Authors are required to declare any potential sources of conflict of interest such as being the recipients of funding either now or in the past from a business or institution which can positively influence the outcomes of the research. Likewise, any adverse feeling towards enterprises, institutions or groups that can negatively affect the outcomes of the research should also be declared. We recommend that you consult our (conflict of interest policy).

Acknowledgements

In case the authors received any financial support for their study, they should provide details such as the name of the funding agency and grant number.

 

  1. Additional aspects

Abbreviations and acronyms

Word sor phrases that will be used frequently throughout the manuscript can be replaced by their abbreviations, preferably by those which are commonly used in the field, e.g. water retention capacity (WRC), body mass index (CMI). Similarly, the use of abbreviations that are generated specifically for the study is also allowed, as long as they are previously described, e.g work stress questionnaire (WSQ).

In case English acronyms are used in the names of questionnaires or any measurement method or instrument, authors are expected to indicate what they stand for in the first place. For example,  For example, cuestionario de control de la imagen corporal en fotografías (BICP, por sus siglas en inglés: body image control in photos questionnaire); secuenciación de siguiente generación (NGS, por sus siglas en inglés: next generation sequencing). In addition, the names of organizations should be described, e.g. la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos (FDA, por sus siglas en inglés: Food and Drug Administration).

Measurement units

The units of any scientific or lab data and their abbreviation should adhere to the international system of units (SI) described by the Spanish Metrology Center Centro Español de Metrología (Ninth edition). No dots should be used in the abbreviations (e.g. kg, cm, ºC, or m). The units in degrees and the % symbol must be separated from the numbers:  27 °C, 83 %.

The units should be used as shown in the following format:  rad/s, not in rad * s-1 Another example: kg/m3 instead of kg m−3 (kg x m−3 o kg * m−3).

 

Citations

All publications cited in the text of the article must appear in the references section and vice versa. Authors are expected to adhere to the APA 7th edition guidelines in Spanish, except for the use of et al., which is a Latin abbreviation for “and others”, and the format “y col.” should be used. Authors must verify that the names of the authors and dates cited in the text are exactly the same as those in the list of references. Authors must also make sure that all the elements of bibliographic references are included. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to verify the correct spelling of authors’ names cited in articles or literature reviews.

 

  • Citations or references inserted in the corresponding places in the text must be placed in parenthesis, contain the last name of the author and include the year of publication. For example: (Martínez, 2015). It is also possible for authors to use their hyphenated last names (Martínez-González, 2019). (Núñez y Pérez, 1983; Núñez y col., 1984).  (Núñez y Pérez, 1983a; 1983b).
  • In the case of two authors, the format (Martínez y Gómez, 2014) should be used.
  • To indicate more than two authors, (Martínez y col., 2014) should be used.
  • In case of more than one reference, they should be separated with semi colon, and need to be placed in alphabetical order based on year of publication (from oldest to newest) (Martínez y Gómez, 2012; Martínez y col., 2014). If two or more citations are from the same year of publication, they Will have to be placed in alphabetical order (Martínez y Gómez 2012; Martínez y Hernández, 2012; Miranda, 2012).
  • When a citation is used out of the parentheses, it should be separated by a comma or with the conjunction “y” (and), if applicable, e.g. Gallegos y Elgier (2020), Torralbas (2020) y Rodríguez y col. (2021), who argued that...
  • If there are two references of the same authors in the same year of publication, small letters in alphabetical order are used to avoid confusion (Martínez y Gómez, 2014a; 2014b).
  • Textual citations (entirely copied text) that contain 40 or fewer words will be placed in quotation marks and will include, in addition to the author’(s) name and year of publication, the page number(s). For example, “The placebo effect disappeared when...” (Martínez, 2015: 126); Martínez (2015), found that: “The placebo effect disappeared when...”
  • In case a secondary source (which should be used only when the original item is no longer available or only available in another language) is used, the following format should be used: tomada del informe bienio (2008-2009), Observatorio Iberoamericano de Economía Social y Cooperativa (oibes-coop) citado en Chaves-Ávila y Pérez-de-Uralde (2012) y Chaves-Ávila y col. (2013) (Tabla 3). The secondary source must also be included in the reference list.
  • When using corporate authors such as institutes or ministries or organizations among others, acronyms must be spelled out the first time they are cited in the text. Example: according to reports provided by the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS, 2015)…., Only the acronym will be cited subsequently (IMSS, 2015).
  • In addition, if acronyms in English are used, they must be spelled out the first time they are cited in the text, e.g. According to the Asociación Americana de Antropología (AAA, por sus siglas en inglés): The American Anthropological Association) (AAA, 2008).
  • Legal material texts are cited as follows: The Mexican constitution (2008), in its 27 article, establishes that “The property of land and water comprised within the national territory boundaries originally corresponds to the Nation”…
  • In personal communications, letters, and emails, additional information to that suggested by the APA style should be provided to justify its origin, e.g. (Luis Fuentes-García, procesador de jaiba en Tampico, Tamaulipas, comunicación personal, 12 de junio, 2015).
  • If the information provided through a personal communication is available in a retreivable document, its source should be cited, e.g. (Fuentes, 2015). It should also be included in the list of references alongside its file format.
  • No references or notes should be included as footnotes.
  • No theses, instruction manuals, book notes or any other hard to find material should be cited.
  1. References

A list of all the references used in the text must be provided at the end of the manuscript in alphabetical and chronological order indenting the first line (1.25 cm), as shown in the examples of this section.

 

Scientific arrticles

Aburto, J. M., Schöley, J., Kashnitsky, I., Zhang, L., Rahal, C., Missov, T. I., Mills, M. C., Dowd, J. B., & Kashyap, R. (2022). Quantifying impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through life-expectancy losses: a population-level study of 29 countries. International Journal of Epidemiology, 51(1), 63-74. Agregar el identificador de objeto digital (Digital Object Identifier: DOI)*

Bustos, G. y Pérez, R. (2018). Relación entre factores psicosociales y el Índice de Función Sexual Femenina en población rural de la comuna de Teno, región de Maule. Perinatología y Reproducción Humana, 32(1), 9-18. DOI

Chao, A. & Jost, L. (2012). Coverage based rarefaction and extrapolation: standar- dizing samples by completeness rather than size. Ecology, 93(12), 2533-2547. DOI

Figueroa, K. M. (2020). Tratamientos psicológicos para mejorar la vida sexual en mujeres supervivientes de cáncer ginecológico: revisión sistemática. Psicooncología, 17(2), 293-309. DOI

González, R. (2016). Presentación: la perspectiva y el debate acerca de una economía cooperativa, solidaria y autogestionaria como centro de una economía social. Revista de la Academia, (21), 5-29. DOI

Tejada, K., González, A., Carty, E. y Camarena, F. (2023). Abundancia y diversidad de aves playeras en la playa El Agallito, distrito de Chitré, provincia de Herrera. Tecnociencia, 25(1), 41-62. DOI

  • Generally speaking, the citations should followed the APA 7th edition guidelines , with the following specifications:
  • References should include up to 20 items. In references with 2 to 20 authors the conjunction “y” to indicate the last author in citations of published material in Spanish and a comma followed by the “&“ symbol (, &) to indicate the last author in citations in English.
  • In citations with 21 or more authors, the first 19 authors should be mentioned in the order in which they appear, followed by three dots…and the last author, without the “y” conjunction or the “&“ symbol.

Note 1: in continuous publication journals, which assign page numbers, the following format should be used: PLoS ONE, 14(9), Article e0222224. DOI

*Note 2: in case the reference contains a DOI, it should be provided as used in the original source.

Books

Print book

Ruíz, C. P. (2021). La culpa en la mujer. Una emancipación pendiente. Síntesis.

Online book

Arias, S. y D. Aquino. (2019). Familia Cactaceae I. Flora del Bajío y de regiones adyacentes. Fascículo 209. Instituto de Ecología, A.C. DOI o Agregar el localizador de recursos uniforme (Uniform Resource Locator: URL).

Book with an editor

Alanís-Rodríguez, E., Mora-Olivo, A. y Marroquín-de-la-Fuente, J. S. (Eds.) (2020). Muestreo ecológico de la vegetación. Editorial Universitaria de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.

Book chapters

Quintero, Y. y Del-Carpio, P. (2020). Encuentros y desencuentros en la familia tras el COVID-19. En Y. del-Valle, D. Álvarez, J. Batista y D. Rojas (Eds.), Impacto del COVID-19 desde la perspectiva socio-económica en el contexto global (pp. 31-34). Fondo Editorial Universitario Servando Garcés de la Universidad Politécnica Territorial de Falcón Alonso Gamero y ALININ. URL o DOI

Viter, R. & Latsunskyi, I. (2019). Metal oxide nanostructures in sensing. In O. V. Zenkina (Ed.), Nanomaterials design for sensing applications (pp. 41-91). Elsevier.

Newspaper articles

Carreño, L. (9 de febrero de 2020). La disputa gremial por los aranceles a las prendas de vestir. El Espectador. https://www.elespectador.com/economia/la-disputa-gremial-por-los-aranceles-las-prendas-de-vestir-articulo-903768

Interviews

Nacif, B. (2018). Presidente de la Comisión de Prerrogativas del Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE), Ciudad de México, México.

Websites and electronic books

National Cancer Institute (2019). SEER Cancer Stat Facts. [En línea]. Disponible en: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/mulmy.html. Fecha de consulta: 10 de agosto de 2022.

When the reference is from a PDF file document

Rodríguez, R. (2019). Una guía para combatir el Bullying [Archivo PDF]. [En línea]. Disponible en: https://www.url.com. Fecha de consulta: 3 de febrero de 2023.