Reis - Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas

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Publication Rules

The Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (REIS) is a quarterly publication of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, whose objective is to promote quality scientific research that contributes to a greater understanding of political and social phenomena.

Original articles and research notes received for publication in the REIS undergo a rigorous selection process governed by strict quality criteria. This process is always carried out by external specialist assessors, and the anonymity of both assessors and authors is guaranteed.

The REIS Editorial Board reserves the right to commission book reviews or any other material and to make the final decision concerning their publication.

SELECTION PROCESS FOR ARTICLES AND RESEARCH NOTES.

The selection process follows the procedure described below:

Receipt of articles and research notes: On receiving the original manuscript, the REIS Secretary's Office will acknowledge receipt thereof (usually by e-mail), although the author may subsequently be asked to rectify format or presentation errors or to meet the requirements specified in the Instructions for Authors.
Following receipt, the REIS Secretary's Office will revise the manuscript to ensure its anonymization. In order to guarantee impartiality during the assessment process, elements of the manuscript that could lead to the authors being identified directly (name, explicit references to their own work, acknowledgements, etc.) or indirectly (essentially, biographical/professional details that facilitate relatively easy identification) will be deleted or modified. In any event, the REIS Secretary's Office staff responsible for supervising and ensuring anonymization will endeavour to reduce the latter’s impact on the manuscript to a minimum so as not to compromise its coherence. Submission of manuscripts implies the authors’ acceptance of these possible modifications made solely for the purposes of the assessment process.
At the same time, the manuscript will be thematically classified according to the classification of specialities proposed by UNESCO for the social sciences.
An initial assessment or preselection process will then take place. At least two members of the Editorial Board will assess the suitability of the manuscript in relation to the thematic scope of the journal, as well as its overall quality. Any papers whose content does not pertain to the fields of sociology, political science or related social sciences and/or which lack the structure of an academic text will be excluded. In order for a manuscript to pass the pre-selection stage, the positive assessment of at least one of the Editorial Board members is required. Authors of articles or research notes that do not pass this initial stage will be notified accordingly.
Assessment by external assessors: each article or research note that passes the pre-selection stage will be sent for assessment to two specialists who have no connection with either the Editorial Board or the CIS. These assessors will issue a reasoned report on the scientific quality of the manuscript and its suitability for publication, which will be taken into consideration by the Board. The assessors will have four weeks to deliver their reports, whose content must be expressed in a respectful and constructive manner. If there is a clear divergence of opinion between the two assessments, a third assessment may be requested. The report template for assessors is made public as an appendix to these guidelines (Download).
Selection of external assessors will, primarily, be the responsibility of the Editorial Board, which will propose various specialists as potential assessors for each manuscript on the basis of their academic and scientific merits and their professional experience. The REIS Secretary's Office will make the final decision regarding the selection of external assessors, ruling out those who may have any kind of personal connection with the author. At no point will the members of the Editorial Board (except the President and Secretary) know the identity of the definitive external assessors.
The external assessors’ reports will be sent to a member of the Editorial Board (other than the Secretary or President), who will act as speaker during deliberations on the manuscript at the next Board meeting.
The speaker will draw up a reasoned decision proposal regarding the publication of the manuscript.
Editorial Board meetings will be held four times a year and must be attended by at least half plus one of the Board members.
The entire Editorial Board will deliberate on the decision proposals submitted by the speakers and make a final decision in view of the external assessments and the speaker's report. The Board may adopt any one of the following four decisions:

Approve the manuscript for publication, either as it stands or with a few minor modifications.
Invite the author to revise the text as a condition for its publication. When the author submits the revised text, together with the corresponding explanatory notes, it will be sent back to the same Editorial Board speaker so that he/she may issue an opinion on it.
Reject its publication, while at the same time highlighting its potential and inviting the author to rework the manuscript. Thus, if the author produces a new version in accordance with the Board’s recommendations, his/her manuscript will be subjected to a fast-track assessment procedure (whereby it will bypass the pre-selection stage and be sent directly to a single external assessor and finally resubmitted to the Editorial Board), albeit without any guarantee whatsoever as regards eventual publication.
Reject its publication without inviting the author to rework the manuscript.

Authors will be notified of the editorial board's decision by e-mail. If they would like to be notified by conventional post, they should send their request to the following address: consejo.editorial@cis.es In addition to the duly reasoned decision from the editorial board, the authors will receive the anonymous reports of the external assessors.
Authors of manuscripts that need to be revised for publication will have two weeks in which to inform the REIS Secretary's Office as to whether they intend to make such modifications as proposed by the Editorial Board, as well as the time frame in which they undertake to deliver the revised version, which under no circumstances will exceed two months. Revised manuscripts must be sent back to the REIS Secretary's Office together with a set of explanatory notes to the changes made. Should any of the suggested modifications be rejected, the reasons for omitting them must be stated in these notes. The REIS Secretary's Office will send the revised version of the manuscript, the explanatory notes to the changes, and the original manuscript to the Editorial Board member who originally acted as speaker. The speaker will verify whether the changes made match those requested and, if so, the manuscript will be considered approved for publication. In case of doubt, the manuscript may be resubmitted to the plenary Board for consideration.
Bibliographic essays will be sent to at least one external assessor; subsequently, they must receive a favourable report from the editorial board to be approved.
Editorial Policy Criteria: decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts are based on the following factors: originality, relevance, methodological quality and presentation or style.
Public information:

Identities of all external assessors used during the previous year.
Total number of manuscripts received.
Total number of manuscripts rejected at the pre-selection stage.
Total number of manuscripts assessed at Editorial Board plenary meetings: how many were approved, how many were sent back for revision and how many were rejected for publication.
Average turnaround time between receipt of manuscript and the author being notified of the result of the assessment.

AUTHOR RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

Authors have the following rights:

To receive confirmation of receipt, by e-mail, of their communications with the REIS Secretary's Office, especially in relation to submission of the manuscript and supplementary materials.
To expect the REIS Secretary's Office to maintain anonymity of authorship and to disseminate their manuscript only insofar as necessary for purposes of the assessment process.
To make complaints in writing addressed to the REIS Secretary's Office, receipt of which will also be acknowledged by e-mail.
To receive a reasoned response regarding the Editorial Board's final decision, except in the case of manuscripts rejected at the pre-selection stage.

Authors who submit manuscripts to the REIS for publication will be subject to the following obligations:

Submission of a manuscript to the REIS implies having read and accepted the journal's editorial guidelines and instructions for authors.
While the manuscript is in the process of being assessed by the REIS, the author will not submit it to other journals for assessment.
The author undertakes not to publish his/her paper in any other journal, in either paper or electronic format, unless the CIS expressly authorizes him/her to do so. However, the author may present it at conferences, symposiums or as a working document.
The author will assume liability for any disputes that may arise in relation to copyright, as indicated in point 7 of the Instructions for authors.
Authors shall transfer the publishing rights of their manuscript to REIS so that it may be disseminated and capitalised on on Intranets, the Internet and any web portals and wireless devices that the publisher may decide, by placing it at the disposal of users so that the latter may consult it online and extract content from it, print it and/or download and save it. These activities must comply with the terms and conditions outlined on the website hosting the work. However, the SJSR authorises authors of papers published in the journal to include a copy of these papers, once published, on their personal websites and/or other open access digital repositories. Copies must include a specific mention of REIS, citing the year and issue of the journal in which the article was published, and adding a link to the REIS website(s).
The author should be cited in inverted comas and the source, publisher and author of the work correctly referenced.

ETHICAL PRINCIPLES OF RESEARCH AND PUBLICATION

The following shall be considered as plagiarism: paraphrasing the source without proper referencing; and abusive paraphrasing, even if the source is mentioned¹.

Cases of scientific fraud include the following: a) fabrication, falsification or omission of data and plagiarism; b) duplicate publication; c) conflicts over authorship. Dishonest conduct relating to plagiarism and the different cases of scientific fraud detected shall be debated by members of the Editorial Board, who shall decide what measures should be taken. The author shall accept liability for any consequences that may result from failure to comply with the obligations set out in these publishing regulations.

REGARDING THE PUBLICATION PROCESS

Inclusion in tables of contents: Once accepted, manuscripts may be included in the table of contents of future issues of the journal. When considering their inclusion, the Editorial Board will take into account both the date of receipt and the date of approval of the manuscript.
In any event, authors who make the appropriate request will receive a certificate stating that their manuscript has been approved and is awaiting publication.
Proofreading: Page proofs in electronic or paper format will be sent to the author for proofreading. These proofs must be returned to the REIS Secretary's Office within a maximum period of 15 days as from the date of remittance. No substantial modifications or alterations of the manuscript's content as previously approved for publication will be permitted during the proofreading process. The author will receive a free printed copy of the journal in which their paper appears, as well as an electronic file containing their contribution.

¹ http://www.plagiarism.org

Reis - Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas

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