Focus and Scope

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales is the academic publication of the  Social Sciences School of the Universidad de Palermo, Argentina. Since 2013 it has been published every six months,. and today it receives original productions of articles and essays -as the central corpus of the journal- together with contributions referring to international debates, social outlooks, reviews and rescues of books, and student contributions; written in both Spanish and English.

The Journal is dedicated to the various fields of the Social Sciences, from a broad theoretical-methodological plane, accepting interdisciplinary contributions that include contributions from various disciplines, always with the axis placed on the social; resulting, in this way, an innovative proposal in the field of scientific journals.

This is a publication in digital format aimed at researchers, academics, professionals, political actors, diplomats and graduate and undergraduate students, which prioritizes and encourages the participation of stakeholders outside the publishing entity, presenting in each number a collection of texts from authors from different parts of the planet.


Section Policies

- Articles:  This section gathers scientific articles that present original and unpublished findings or results of research projects based on theoretical perspectives and developed through the application of methodological strategies. Articles must contain a clear and coherent argumentation, and be supported by empirical material and/or a specific documentary corpus. Submissions to this section are subject to peer review.

- Essays: This section aims to provide in-depth reflections on one or more topics in a more elaborate writing style. It features original argumentative discussions on issues of disciplinary interest, providing a close approach to facts and their knowledge. Submissions to this section are subject to peer review.

- Book Review and Rescue: This section comprises critical reviews of academic books recently published, in which its contributions to the different disciplines of the Social Sciences are highlighted. In addition, this section includes contributions known as “Book Rescue”, aimed at the recension of scientific texts or essays that, while not recent, enjoy wide currency and are based on an interdisciplinary approach. These classic works prove useful in spawning innovative subjects of study and theoretical frameworks through the integration of different disciplines. 

- Student contributions: The Student Contributions section comprises brief monographs authored by undergraduate and graduate students addressing issues of interest to the Social Sciences disciplines. Section coordinator: Dr.  Laura Zulaica.

- Internacional Debates: The contributions in this section collect points of view or positions on issues of common interest to professionals and management actors of international relations dedicated to the current agenda of issues that affect or involve, especially, the Asian and African Continent. Section coordinator: Dr. Lía Rodríguez de la Vega.

- Social Outlook: This section is made up of brief current notes on various social realities. The purpose of the section is to make known to the scientific and academic community those social phenomena in progress - or of recent appearance - through specialized analytical and professional approaches. Section coordinator: Mg. Francisco Lavolpe.

In other words, all sections are indexed in the new issues of the journal.


Peer Review Process

The articles and essays submitted for consideration are reviewed anonymously by two experts in the relevant field. The outcome of the assessment may be: publishable-accepted; revisions required or non publishable- rejected.  Authors are then notified of the acceptance or rejection of their manuscript. A manuscript may also be returned to its author so that he/she may introduce the changes proposed by the reviewer(s) within a specified period of time. In the case of requesting modifications, the result of the second review is restricted to two possibilities: publishable-acceoted or not-publishable-rejected.

Details of the review forms stipulated in this journal can be found in this link.

The contributions submitted for evaluation must be strictly unpublished and can not be simultaneously submitted to another publication.

The Journal relies on external reviewers who bear no relation to the editorial team or Universidad de Palermo. In order to ensure the integrity of an anonymous blind peer review of the articles and essays submitted to the Journal for consideration, authors are requested for check that they have removed all footnotes and epigraphs containing a direct reference to name(s), institutional affiliation or contact details that might provide an indication of authorship.

As the Journal uses an Open Access model, authors are requested to include the following statement in their submissions: Original material authorized for its first publication in the Journal of Social Sciences, the Academic Journal of the Social Sciences School of Universidad de Palermo, as it is the author him/herself the one that reserves his/her rights to the published material for subsequent editions.


Open Access Policy

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales, the academic journal of the Social Sciences School, provides open access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research promotes a greater global exchange of knowledge.

In addition, there is no type of publication or subscription expense. The entire evaluation and editing process is free.


Ethical guidelines and good practices

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales is guided by the principles of: transparency, good communication and methodological strictness; seeking the confidence of all its users about, on the one hand, the efficiency of the publication process and, on the other, about the quality of the literary products achieved. Likewise, the Journal adheres to the Principles of transparency and good practices in academic publications of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

The Journal thus provides a guide of responsibilities and duties for the editor, authors, and reviewers:

- Duties of the editor

  1. The editor is under a duty to supervise all the editorial process. He/She is responsible for the editorial line, and for the selection of reviewers at the review phase. He/She makes editorial decisions and handles future, past, and current issues of the Journal.
  2. The editor will strive to satisfy readers’ and authors’ needs, to constantly improve the quality and impact of the Journal, to guarantee the diversity of authors, both in terms of subject-matter and geography, and to ensure the academic and scientific standards of the entire editing process.
  3. The editor’s decision to accept or reject an article for publication will be based only on the significance, originality, and clarity of the article, as well as its relevance to the Journal.
  4. The editor undertakes to guarantee the confidentiality of the evaluation process.
  5. Following the evaluation process, and once an article is declared “publishable” by the reviewers, the editor is responsible for deciding which articles will be published in the Journal.
  6. The editor will have the means to publish corrections, clarifications or retractions when necessary.

- Duties of authors

  1. Authors are required to adhere to the “Author Guidelines” set out by the Journal.
  2. Authors must ensure that their work is original. Submissions that have been previously published will not be accepted.
  3. The article submitted may not be concurrently under consideration for publication in any other journal.
  4. All the sources used for research must be properly cited and referenced, and included in the bibliographic references.
  5. Authors must confirm that the results presented in their work are the exclusive product of their research. They must also confirm that they hold the rights to publish the work and that they do not infringe the intellectual property rights of any other person.
  6. They must provide retractions or correction of errors as soon as they are detected.

- Duties of reviewers

  1. Reviewers are under a duty to conduct an objective assessment of the manuscripts submitted for their consideration.
  2. A reviewer that feels unqualified to review a manuscript must return it to the editor or director of the Journal within a term not exceeding ten days.
  3. Reviewers must treat the manuscripts received for consideration as confidential documents.
  4. Manuscripts are to be reviewed within 6 weeks.
  5. Reviewers must provide a clear assessment for the Editorial Committee, the Editor, the Directorship of the Journal and the author to be able to understand the reasons for their comments.
  6. He must abstain from carrying out the evaluation task when he detects any potential conflict of interest with the work or with his authors.

Should any editorial conflicts arise, they shall be directly dealt with by the Directorship of the Journal, which may also seek the opinion of the members of the Editorial Committee and/or the Scientific Committee.


Digital preservation policy

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales keeps all the documents published digitally in its Editorial Board. Your page and all its contents are supported and protected by the Internet and Communications Area of the Technology Department of the Universidad de Palermo.

Anyone who believes that a work published by this Journal does not conform to the aforementioned principles, can raise their concerns to the address of the journal by sending an email to journalcienciasociales@palermo.edu


Indexes and databases

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales is an academic journal of recent creation (year 2013). Its inclusion in national and international indexes and databases is a priority of Journal management for the medium term.

The online catalog of the Library of the Universidad de Palermo, meanwhile, allows access to the texts published in the journal.

The Journal of Social Sciences is included in:

-Catalogue:

-Directories:

-Databases:

- Library

Transparency and anti-plagiarism Tools

The Journal Journal de Ciencias Sociales holds the authors responsible for the originality of the contributions in the sections of Articles, Essays and Reviews and Rescues of books sent to the journal; requesting the strict inclusion - at the beginning of the writing - of the legend: "Original material authorized for its first publication in the Journal of Social Sciences, Academic Journal of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Palermo"

In addition, the journal uses a set of software to detect plagiarism in articles and essays received. The selected programs are: Plagium, Dupli Checker and Plagiarism Checker. Upon receiving a new contribution, and after verifying full compliance with the guidelines for authors established by the journal, a part of the text is selected, as a sample, for its simultaneous verification through the three aforementioned plagiarism detection programs.

Then, the writing goes through a new originality check when the work is evaluated by the designated external reviewers.

Frequency of publication 

The publication frequency of the Journal de Ciencias Sociales is half-yearly, publishing two issues per year (April and October). The reception of originals is open all year, although special calls are made for the case of the oriented numbers.

The service of Approved Submissions awaiting number assignment

The journal offers the service of Approved Submissions awaiting number assignment, for those manuscripts that:
a) were approved during the imminent publication of an issue oriented with a different theme, or
b) that it was immediately after the recent publication of a new issue of the journal.

This service provides authors with the possibility of having the notification of the approval by the journal to -in this way- accredit the publication, even if the full text of the article, the essay or the book review is not yet available for reading.
The editorial team of the Journal de Ciencias Sociales is committed to incorporating the approved writings (which are available under this special condition) as soon as possible, and in the next issue of the journal.

Advertising policy

The announcements that are published on the website of the Journal  will be strictly for academic purposes in connection to the publishing entity. They will have the objective of disseminating news about the Journal, or to facilitate the navigation of the reader/ user online through the site. The published announcements will have the prior approval of the Journal's management and will in no way disclose commercial marketing or political propaganda content.


Journal History

The Journal de Ciencias Sociales, academic journal of the Faculty of Social Sciences, was born in 2013 within the framework of the Research Center in Social Sciences (CICS-UP), Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad de Palermo. This Center is a research and development unit dedicated to the fields of Political Science, International Relationships, Art and Journalism.

Since August 2017, the Journal has been organizing its editorial policy and has been dedicated to adjusting directives for authors, for the purpose of new national and international indexation.

Milestones:

In 2020, during number fourteen, the International Politics section changed its name to International Debates. During this same issue, the Social Panorama section is created.

In 2017, during the number nine of the journal, the section dedicated to Student Contributions is presented.

In 2015, with the launch of number four of the journal, the possibility of sending Book Rescue in the Reviews section was added.

In 2014 the journal launched the special section dedicated to contributions on International Politics and the Book Review section, both from the third issue of the journal.