ISSN 2145-594X
Printed version

ISSN 2422-4200
online version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Scope and policy
• Declaration of ethics and good practice
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnología(LogosCyT) is a publication aimed at disclosing original investigation and research results as well as unpublished works offering significant contributions to the fields of criminology, criminality and related disciplines. Likewise, it exposes quantitative and qualitative analyses and information regarding crimes and infringements in the Colombian territory.

This journal is addressed to the national and international scientific-academic community carrying out studies relating to its thematic area. It is a publication of the Criminal Investigation Directorate and INTERPOL –DIJIN– of the National Police of Colombia, released three times a year in April, August, and December.

It was created in 1958 as an annual publication until 2007 when it became bi-annual. In 2013, it began to be published three times a year. It was assigned code ISSN in 2004 and the virtuaI ISSN in 2012, after which it was included in indexation and information systems.

The article must be accompanied by the originality statement signed by the author or authors in the format prepared by Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnologíato be requested by electronic mail or downloaded from http://www.policia.gov.co/revistacriminalidad using the Pautas Autores link. En the event that a printed copy of the original manuscript is sent, the statement of originality must be attached in printed form to that copy, with the signature of the author or the authors. The author (or authors) shall apply the code of conduct and the best practices established:

• The article sent for potential publication in Revista Criminal must be original and unpublished, and no information or fragment shall be copied or plagiarized in any way from another work in whole or in part.
• In no way whatsoever any parts or the whole contents of the article submitted for publication in Revista Criminal will be accepted if they have been already published.
• No contributions sent for possible publication in Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnologíashall at the same time be under evaluation for the same purpose by any another journal, magazine and/or book, either national or foreign.
• Where necessary, it shall be specified if there are any potential conflicts of interest or any other ethical responsibility in the article proposed.
• Once the article has been published in Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnología, the author must abstain from submitting it to any other journal or magazine for the same purpose.

In the event of malpractice, Revista Criminal’s Editorial Committee will put into practice both the code of conduct and the best practices guidelines for magazine editors as prepared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), consulted on http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf and http://www.popcouncil.org/Frontiers/ScienceWriting/Spanish/PDFS_Spanish/12_4.pdf.

In order to submit contributions to peer evaluation, the following instructions are to be followed:

1. Manuscripts received will not be returned. Notwithstanding, if a work is not accepted for publication, the author may submit it to another magazine or journal for the same purpose.

2. Article selection and evaluation process:

a. With no exception, articles received will be subject to an external peer-evaluation process.

b. Reception and evaluation of articles does not necessarily imply acceptance and publication thereof.

c. The selection process for those contributions including the statement of originality begins, with verification, by the Editorial Board, of compliance with the current standards, as well as the appropriateness and relevance of the manuscript with relation to editorial policies. The author(s) shall be notified of the observations arising during this process.

d. After this review, the article will be sent to at least two evaluating peers for them to decide on the scientific and academic quality of the manuscript. The assessment will be an anonymous two-way process, and the evaluators may make suggestions to the author.

e. If the evaluation results are conflicting, the article shall be sent to a third academic peer. However, the Editorial Board reserves the right to their last word regarding acceptance of writings submitted.

f. Authors must introduce the adjustment suggested by the academic peers and the Editorial Board.

g. Only those articles having obtained the favorable opinion or the evaluating peers and the Editorial Board can be published.

h. The duration of this process is about eight (8) weeks.

3. Length of Works: No less than 5,000 words, but not exceeding 10,000.

4. Manuscript layout: Each article must include, on the first page, the author's information record (author's identification file or card), preferably using the structure described below:

a. Title: it must be clear, precise and as brief as possible, reflecting the subject matter of the article. The use of acronyms and other kind of abbreviations should be avoided.

b. Name of Author or Authors: Works shall be accompanied by an author's identification record/card or file ["ficha de identificación"] containing the following details: Name, higher professional degree obtained, activity, institutional membership, city or town and country and e-mail address. In the case of several authors, the publication order is to be defined as well as the name of the author appointed to send and receive the relevant correspondence.

c. Abstract: A summarized introduction to the contents of the article. The study objectives, methodology, findings and conclusions should be mentioned without going into details. The length of the abstract should not exceed 200 words.

d. Key words: A list of five significant words shall be included, indicating the main issues discussed in the article. These words should be selected from the "Tesauro de Política Criminal Latinoamericana" (Thesaurus of Latin American Criminal Policy) from the United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Off enders (ILANUD), or the Criminological Thesaurus - United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).

e. Introduction: It is intended to contextualize the reader by exposing the matter and including a brief review of relevant literature on the subject. The purpose and main objectives of the article should be mentioned as well.

f. Method: The method used in the study is described (design, sample selection, data collection and capture techniques and analysis, etc.). Likewise, materials and equipment used in the making of the article are to be referred to.

g. Results: This section exhibits the main findings and conclusions of the relevant research or investigation carried out. Peripheral details should be avoided, as well as repetition, in the main text, of results or findings already shown in tables, charts, graphs and any other illustrations.

h. Discussion: the most significant conclusions of the study in question shall be exposed while offering the reader a proper explanation by emphasizing the implications of the new results or findings, their practical applications and so forth. Conclusions must be closely correlated to the study purposes.

i. References: it is a listing at the end of the article, including original works or sources quoted in the text. All references and sources mentioned should strictly meet the standards of the APA (American Psychological Association) (6th edition).

j. Appendixes: they shall be used where necessary to explain or supplement the information contained in the article.

5. Quotes and references: At the end of the article, a list of references and sources quoted in the text are to be included, according to the APA standards. Some specifications taken from the aforementioned standards are transcribed below.

a. Quotes: they are used in brackets, preferably instead of footnotes. Usually, the author's name is mentioned as well the publication year and the page number. Ej.:

Textual Quotation:

• Douglas (2005) asserted that "the off enders' behavior..." (p. 153)

• "The off enders' behavior..." (Douglas, 2005, p. 153)

Texts with multiple authors:

• Two authors: each time the reference is quoted in the text, both names must be mentioned.

• Three to five authors: All of them are mentioned the first time the reference appears. In subsequent quotes, only the last name of the first is mentioned, followed by the expression et al., and the publication year.

• Six authors: only the last name of the first author is mentioned, followed by the expression et al. and the year. However, all the authors must be included in the references list (et al. is used after the sixth author).

• Where dealing with short textual quotes of less than 40 words, these quotes can be incorporated into the text in double quotation marks or inverted comas. If they exceed 40 words, they can be inserted as a separate block or paragraph, with indentation, with no quotation marks (as a new paragraph) using a smaller font size, or italics.

• If a given idea is contributed by several (two or more) authors, quotes shall be arranged in alphabetical order with their respective publication year, separated by semicolons. Ej.:

According to this last theory (Bachman & Smith, 2004; David & Freemantle, 2005), it was defined that...

b. References: the reference list must be arranged in alphabetical order; the authors' first name shall be followed by their name initials. If several works of the same author are used, they should be listed in chronological order from the earliest to the most recent. If the publication year is also the same, then the letters a, b, c, and so forth are added after the year. Ej.:

Articles from a scientific magazine:

• Slocum, O., & Simmons, D. (2005). Criminal behavior. Criminal Journal, 12 (1), 19-28.

Books:

• Blanchard, K., & Robinson, D. (2002). Zap the gaps (2nd Ed.). New York, NY, U.S.A.: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Encyclopedias:

• Bergman, P. G. (1993). Relativity. In The New Encyclopedia Britannica (Vol. 26, pp. 501-508). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

Internet article based on a printed source:

• Orellana, M. A. (2002). Derecho penal ambiental comparado: el Common Law [Electronic version]. Revista Chilena de Derecho, 29 (2), 441-459. Retrieved from http://www.puc.cl/derecho/html/publicaciones/pdf_revistas/2002/N_02/RCHD2002_2_12_orellana.PDF.

c. Information relating to authors and works quoted in the text must coincide with the relevant entries in the reference lists.

6. Footnotes: They usually are explanations, references, quotes, definitions or comments placed at the bottom of a page or in a separate list, identified by consecutive superscript numbers or another type of symbols (asterisks, for example) corresponding to markers they are linked to in the main text.
7. Charts, graphs, illustrations, etc.: although these are useful to explain, illustrate, supplement or synthesize information, using them abundantly is not recommended. This kind of material should be self-explanatory in order to avoid duplicating information already given in the text. Each of these elements should be quoted in the article and be identified by consecutive numbers and a title.
8. Contribution classification: Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnologíapublishes original investigative works adjusted to article classification as determined in the "Indice Bibliográfico Nacional Publindex- Colciencias" (Publindex-Colciencias National Bibliographic Index). It also publishes translations, case reports, bibliographic reviews recently issued, and statistical analyses relating to criminology, criminality, psychology, victimology, forensic sciences, social sciences and criminal law matters, among others:

Classification of investigative articles, according to Publindex, applicable to Revista Logos Ciencia y Tecnología:

• Article on Scientific and Technological Research: A document offering original results of a given accomplished research project. The structure generally used contains four important sections: Introduction, methodology, results or findings, and conclusions.

• Article to Reflect Upon: A document showing the results of a given closed investigation or research from the author's analytical, interpretative or critical perspective about a specific subject, resorting to original sources.

• Article for Review: A document resulting from a given research or investigation, where the results of studies either published or unpublished about a particular field in science or technology are analyzed, systematized or integrated in order to reveal development advances and trends. It is characterized by including a careful bibliographical review of no less than 50 references.

• Case-study Report: A document showing the results of a study of a particular situation, in order to disclose the technical and methodological experiences taken into account in a specific case. It includes a commented systematic review of literature dealing with similar cases.

The manuscript shall be submitted in Word for Windows, Arial 12-point font, and sent to the following e-mail addresses: revistacriminalidad@hotmail.com, and dijin.revistacriminalidad@policia.gov.co. Where possible, a printed copy of the original in letter-size paper should be sent, together with a magnetic file, to postal address Observatorio del Delito –DIJIN–, Policía Nacional de Colombia. Avenida El Dorado No. 75-25, Barrio Modelia, Bogotá, D. C., Colombia.