ISSN 2011-2084
printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts
• Editorial Process

The International Journal of Psychological Research (IJPR) is the Faculty of Psychology's official publication of San Buenaventura University in Medellin, Colombia. IJPR relies on a vast and diverse theoretical and thematic publishing material, which includes unpublished productions of diverse psychological issues and behavioral human areas such as psychiatry, neurosciences, mental health, among others.

General Requirements

The articles presented to IJPR must follow the American Psychological Association (APA) regulations on its sixth edition, or its third edition in Spanish. These are some genera remarks we would like to insist on:

1. Editorial proposals must be unpublished.
2. When sending the article to the journal, legal and formal requirements are automatically accepted as well as terms for publication's evaluation and selection.
3. Reception of the manuscript does not compromise IJPR to its publication; only to its analysis under diagnosis, evaluation, and editorial policies.
4. The author commits to refraining from presenting the manuscript or any of its parts to other journals for as long as the decision and evaluation are taken about its content without prior editorial consent; this includes not participating in contests that affect the assessment process.
5. Text ethics to avoid plagiarism is something we insist on. Rights must be respected in citing texts and images adequately and avoiding the use of other texts in an excessive manner.

Formal Requirements

For the presentation of texts to IJPR, authors must keep in mind the following formal requirements:

1. The definite manuscripts must be sent to the journal through OJS just as described in the section above.
2. Maximum extent of the manuscript will be of 5000 words for scientific, technological and reflection articles. For review articles a maximum of 8000 words will be accepted.
3. Font: Arial; font size: 12 points; space: 1,5; and alignment: justified. Margins can be the ones pre-established on the Word program by defect: 2,5 cm.
4. Images and tables, besides graphs must be placed at the end of the article (after the references list) in extra sheets. Besides this, it is mandatory for the author to send this material on an extra file (other than the original). The author can, however, suggest the place on which the images and tables or graphs should be included. Nevertheless, during the layout process, required adjustments will be carried out for the best possible presentation of the final manuscript.
5. Sources for citations must meet high standards (indexed journal articles, chapters and books of recognized publishing houses).
6. In all cases the author will need to inform the editorial, in written form, the use of images or illustrations, show its source, quantity and explain the technical requirements for their use (multimedia, software, special illustrations, and others).
7. Footnotes should be avoided. They will be considered only in case they are absolutely necessary.
8. Italics will be used to mark a word emphasis or short phrase, to use a foreign unfamiliar words, etc.
9. All pages should be numbered on the upper right corner.

Headings and subheadings

The manuscript must be sent in Word format and should be written in plain form; this is, it should not contain designs, styles or special characteristics on its pages. Numbering items should be avoided (1, 1.1, 1.1.1., etc.). Whenever using different levels, these should be done as follows:

First level: Centered, lowercase and bold. E.g.,

Method

Second level: Left margin, lowercase and bold (Ctrl+N). E.g.,

Participants

Third level: Left margin, indent, lowercase and period. E.g.,

Sample 1.

Fourth level: Left margin, indent, lowercase, italics, bold and period. E.g.,

Gavin and Howe's inventory.

Fifth level: Left margin, indent, lowercase, italics and period. E.g.,

Howe's subscale.

Tables, images and graphs

Authors should take into account the following criteria for the use of tables, images and graphs on their article:

Tables, images, and others, will need an appropriate heading, be numbered in a consecutive manner and be mentioned on the manuscript's main text. Clarifying notes should be placed next to the table, image or graph, referring to them by means of sequential symbols.

In case a table, figure or any other graphic contains more than one part, it should be identified alphabetically (E.g., Figure 1 A, Figure 1 B).

1. Tables and graphs are preferred in Excel or statistics software (e.g., SPSS, R, STATA, etc.), and should be adjusted to the final size of the article's pages avoiding the use of tables that are too wide or extended. Generally speaking, a table is supposed to synthesize efficiently the amount of data. For this reason, the amount of entries per table should not exceed 13 or 15 items, and should not be less than 5 items either.
2. All kinds of graphic material (photographs, illustration, plans, maps, tables, graphs, images, formulas, equations, etc.), must be handed in on a separate file in their original source: bitmap (*.bmp), GIF (*.gif), JPEG (*.jpg), TIFF (*.tif), Excel (*.xls) or Portable Document Format (*.pdf), with a minimum resolution of 300 pp. (points per inch).
3. In case the article contains other authors' photographs, illustrations, tables, etc., citations must me made. Most likely permission will be required to use this kind of material. Types of materials that might need this permission include: Figures, tables, data, questionnaires, tests, long citations, photographs, etc.

Mathematical and statistic formulas:

You may use numbers for amounts equal or over ten, and in words those that are in the zero to nine rank, except for those grouped with numbers equal or higher than ten. Numbers can be used when referring to dates, samples, times, etc. Take into account that, in general, statistic symbols are used in italics. Do always include in the manuscript confidence intervals, and use two or three digits for exact probabilities (e.g., p = .07; p = .009) without zero in the front. Finally, leave a space before and after a mathematical symbol (a + b = c instead of a + b = c).

Manuscript's organization and sequence

For research articles, the manuscript's sequence should be the following: Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, Conclusions and References (after the conclusions you can include the acknowledgements, interests conflict, financing, and in the case appendixes are used, these should be placed after the references.

For all papers, the first page should contain:

1. Work title (in Spanish and English, 12 words maximum)
2. Authors' full names and family names.
3. Highest academic title (PhD, Magister, etc.) and academic rank (professor, associate, assistant, instructor, investigator, etc.)
4. Place(s) the author belongs to: department, school, faculty, institution, research group, area, etc.
5. Author's university or institution.
6. City and country of each author.
7. Institutional address of main author, telephone number, and fax for correspondence.

The second page should include:

1. Summary in Spanish and a different one in English (abstract). The summary should be about 120 and 150 words maximum. It should be concise and focus on the study's main features without including abbreviations or references.
2. The summary should follow this pattern: Introduction (I), method (M), results (R) and conclusion (C). This is known as the IMRC structure. This kind of summary is called structured, informative, comprehensive or analytic.
3. The second page should also include keywords in Spanish and English no less than three or more than six. Such words should be recognized by APA's Thesaurus.

From the third page on, the main article's body will be developed. The third person of the plural form is highly suggested for the register. It is also convenient to divide the article in headings following the structured mentioned above: Introduction, method, results, discussion, conclusion and references.

References system

IJPR uses only the references guidelines described on the American Psychological Association (APA) manual on its sixth edition or third in Spanish (http://www.apastyle.org). In such way, authors should use the same to apply norms according to the article's sources.

Authors are requested to read the guidelines below in order to get acquainted with the procedures they should follow for the organization and handing in of their articles taking into account our publishing house's policies.

IJPR Does not approve the sending of material to other journals simultaneously. Therefore, if authors are interested in initializing the publishing procedure with IJPR, they shall refrain themselves from sending material to other publishing houses and make sure that no parts of the material presented to us has been previously published elsewhere. If any concerns remain in terms of this regulation, they should mention the matter in the letter of the article's presentation and provide copies of the published material in other journals prior to the article's consideration for its review.

Sending to manuscripts to IJPR will be done through Open Journal System (OJS) platform. Authors will need to register to the journal in order to be able to send material; once this is achieved, they will be able to access the platform with their user ID and password to attach the original work. The complete publishing process will be carried out through OJS. Thus, in case authors have any questions, they should contact the journal directly at (ijpr@usbmed.edu.co).

Authorship

To IJPR, people should claim copyrights for work originally done by themselves or work that they have substantially contributed to in any of the following manners: 1) Conception, design, data collection, data analysis and interpretation; 2) article drafting or critical review; 3) approval to final article's draft for publication. (For further information, see APA manual for publishing and crediting written material: http://www.apastyle.org). Minor contributions that are not considered copyright material can be accessed in a note found in APA (section 2.03). It is the authors' responsibility to determine authorship and the order in which the names of two or more authors will appear on the manuscript. Main authorship and crediting order must accurately reflect the contributions of those involved. The journal editor may address the article's writers for specifying the nature of their contribution on the project.

Languages

IJPR accepts articles in Spanish, Portuguese and English. All published work will need a summary, title and keywords in the original language and in English. Articles are usually published in the language they were presented. Nevertheless, authors are encouraged to publish their articles in English, for according to Scimago indicators, over 90% of scientific work is published in this language which increases the possibilities for authors to be read by a wider audience. The journal has a network of translation professionals in the area to provide translation services if requested by the author. The quality of both, English and Spanish version should meet high standards of quality. Otherwise, the paper might be rejected.

Interest Conflict

IJPR Considers it relevant for the authors to acknowledge, preferably in an author's note on the manuscript, those activities and relations that might be interpreted as interests conflict, even in the cases when no conflict or bias might be present.

According to APA regulations, shares of stock in a company through a mutual fund, almost never represent an interests conflict, which should be of public knowledge while salaries, research scholarships, consultation fees, and individual shares, are. Also, considered as potential causes of bias are holder authors and/or royalties' beneficiaries of a product or service carried out during studies like the relationship of authors with an individual or entity involved in its development. Having an interest conflict does not prevent one from publishing an article. In case of doubts in the matter, the editor should be contacted.

The journal has an interest conflict form that needs to e signed by all authors. Such document can be downloaded in the sending section of the journal.

Funding Source

This section is mandatory for all articles that apply for publishing in IJPR. Whether funding sources exist or not, this must be informed. In case they do, detailed description must be provided (for example, approval number, institutional or governmental registration, accordingly).

Ethical Issues

IJPR subscribes to the Manual Deontológico y Bioético del Psicólogo (third edition, 2012) of the Tribunal Nacional Deontológico y Bioético de Psicología (Colombia) (http://www.colpsic.org.co/portal/tribunales_normatividad.php), and to APA (http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx) guidelines, regarding ethical standards for research and publishing.

The journal has a document regarding ethical standards and regulations, which should be signed by all authors. This document can be downloaded from the sending section of the journal.

Assignment of Rights

Authors will assign the copyright of their articles before publication in IJPR keeping the moral rights reserved. The author should sign the format established for such purpose. This step should be carried out during the uploading of the manuscript on the website, or directly from the sending section of the journal. IJPR has a policy of favoring the widespread of its articles at anytime without having to consult authors or soliciting permission to do so; however, credits will be given by citing sources to the journal.

Admission and Publication Dates.

IJPR accepts articles permanently according to articles editing process; then, authors will be informed of the journal volume on which their paper will be published. IJPR publishes two volumes a year: The first, at the beginning of the first semester (January) and the second, beginning the second semester (July).

Special Issues

IJPR also carries special issues that revolve around a topic of interest in psychology and human behavior. Such articles are the result of original researches of scientific, technological, reflexive or critical nature. Special issues also have a rigorous editing process which is peer reviewed.

Published Work Classification

IJPR publishes articles that respond to the following typology being strict in the number of words accepted (references included):

Scientific and Technologic Research Articles (5000 words maximum)

Document that presents, in a detailed manner, the original results of finished research projects. The structure generally followed contains four sections: Introduction, method, results and conclusions.

Review Article (8000 words maximum)

It is the resulting document of a finished research project where results of published or unpublished researches are systematized and integrated, about a science or technology area to inform the State of the Art and development tendencies in the field. It is characterized for containing a minimum of 50 bibliographic references literature review.

IJPR recommends authors of systematic revisions, or meta-analysis to do so following PRISMA method, which can be found at: http://www.prisma-statement.org/. Nonetheless, Cochrane or Campbell can also be used in the process.

Reflection Article (5000 words maximum)

This document informs the results of a research project from an analytical, interpretive, or critical standpoint of the author about a given topic using original sources.

Letters to the editor (250 words maximum)

They contain critical, analytical or interpretive positions about the published material on the journal that for the editorial committee, constitute an important contribution to the topic discussion in the research scientific community.

Authors' checklist

IJPR has a document that the author can use in order to check one by one the most relevant aspects that must be taken into account before sending the article to the journal. Such document can be downloaded in the sending section of the journal

The editorial process starts with the sending of the manuscript to the journal's platform (OJS) and it ends once the article has been declined or accepted for publication on the established dates by IJPR. As soon as the sending has taken place, the review processes will occur as described below:

Review Process

In order to facilitate the articles' review process, IJPR requests authors to suggest at least three possible peers to review their article (including name, institution, and email). These peers should be experts on the field and be unconnected to the research developed on the manuscript. They cannot belong to the editorial staff of IJPR. The journal reserves the right to use the proposed peers' services. In this case, the editor will assign other reviewers.

Articles sent to IJPR will be initially reviewed by the editor and his or her assistant to verify the compliance with the journal's criteria. Then, they will be submitted to the Turn it in program, which is a software that verifies coincidence percentages with previous written and published material to check for plagiarism. With an index of 30% or higher number of coincidences found, the paper will be discarded. Once this is done, authors will be notified whether the article adjusts to editorial policies, if corrections are needed and if it has been rejected.

IJPR relies on a vast scientific staff of researches with (PhD) studies both in and outside the country who have specializations in the fields of psychology, neurosciences, health sciences, biology and human behavior related sciences. Therefore, any article sent to the journal, will be subject to specialized peers' evaluation according with the topic developed on the article.

Authors sending their article to IJPR, can rely on the fact that their academic contribution will be assessed with high confidentiality of their names and affiliation. (Double-blind peer evaluation). Likewise, the editorial will refrain from revealing the judges' names or their affiliation.

Once the article has been reviewed and approved by the editor or the assistant, the following procedure will take place:

1. Potential peers will be contacted depending on the topic developed on the manuscript (IJPR assigns minimum two judges do the article's review).
2. Once the roles have been accepted by the judges, the following is done:
• Sending of the manuscript in Word format to the corresponding peers.
• Names and filiations of authors inside the manuscript are excluded.
• Sending of format for articles' evaluation depending on the kind (investigation, review, reflection)
• Indications for the peer to carry out the evaluation within the following six weeks.
3. After receiving the peers' verdict, the editor analyses the evaluations and presents them to the editorial committee, which makes a decision that is informed to the main author.
4. In case the article has been approved, but it requires corrections suggested by the peers, the main author will be contacted to proceed with the necessary changes, or counter argue the peers' suggestions. (The author has ten calendar days for this task from the moment he or she has been notified by the editorial committee). Once the author has carried out the corrections or counter argued them, the need for sending it to a different peer specialized in the feels will be analyzed in order for a final verdict to be given (this process should take between 10 and 30 days maximum). After evaluation is sent back, a final decision on approval or rejection will be reached.
5. If the evaluators approved the article, the author will make the necessary adjustments (10 calendar days will be given from the moment of the editorial committee's communication).

Style correction

As soon as the changes applied by the authors and approved by the evaluators and editor, the style correction process from IJPR begins. This process will be carried out depending on the case's needs, and the style corrector will contact the authors to make necessary adjustments.

Layout and Designn

Once the style correction is approved, the article will be sent to the design area for layout. This process will be done within the following 15 days.

Draft

When the article has been designed and after editor's approval, a preliminary sending to the author will take place. The author should review it in a detailed manner to check for mistakes that could have occurred during the layout and design process. If the author identifies any omission, mistake or lack of information, he or she should notify the editor referring directly to he manuscript (page, column, paragraph, line, word, etc.). Changes directly applied to the draft will not be accepted: Only those notified to IJPR.

Publication

Once the adjustments have been made on the article, it will be queued for the next volume publication, which will be available to the public on the established dates (this is, at the beginning of each semester).

Printing Errors

In case printing errors on the published material due to editing process occur, IJPR will indicate the correction on its following volume in a section called, "printing errors".