Editorial Policies

International Journal of Psychological Research takes account of the importance of considering potential editorial conflicts of interest when processing and evaluating new manuscripts submitted.

We therefore provide this policy to the authors and scientific community in the interests of transparency to the editorial policies of the journal. The Editorial Board will recuse themselves from evaluating or handling a paper according to the following rule:

• For submitted papers where an editor is a co-author, the manuscript will be handled by a member of the International Journal of Psychological Research Editorial Committee who does not.

International Journal of Psychological Research is committed to peer-review integrity and upholding the highest standards of review. Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the editor, it will then be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous expert referees.

Focus and Scope

International Journal of Psychological Research Publishing Regulation

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 Int.j.psychol.res relies on a vast and diverse theoretical and thematic publishing material, which includes unpublished productions of diverse psychological issues and behavioral human areas such as psychiatry, neurosciences, mental health, among others.

Published Work Classification: Int.j.psychol.res 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Article (8000 words maximum): it is the resulting document of a finished research project where results of published or unpublished researches are systematized and integrated, about a science or technology area to inform the State of the Art and development tendencies in the field.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. Int.j.psychol.res 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.

Peer Review Process

Editorial Process: 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 Int.j.psychol.res. 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, Int.j.psychol.res 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 Int.j.psychol.res. The journal reserves the right to use the proposed peers’ services. In this case, the editor will assign other reviewers.

Articles sent to Int.j.psychol.res 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 similarity percentages with previous written and published material to check for plagiarism. With an index of 20% or higher number of similarity 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.

Int.j.psychol.res 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 Int.j.psychol.res, 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, and with the assistant, the following procedure will take place:

• Potential peers will be contacted depending on the topic developed on the manuscript (Int.j.psychol.res assigns minimum two judges do the article’s review).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Int.j.psychol.res 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 Design 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 Int.j.psychol.res.

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).

Submission Preparation Checklist

 As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• Editorial proposals must be unpublished
• When sending the article to the journal, legal and formal requirements are automatically accepted as well as terms for publication’s evaluation and selection.
• Reception of the manuscript does not compromise Int.j.psychol.res. to its publication; only to its analysis under diagnosis, evaluation, and editorial policies.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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).

Declaration on conflict of interest

In order to comply with the requirements for the publication of articles in the International Journal of Psychological Research, it is necessary for the authors to show, preferably in a note of copyright in the manuscript, the activities and relationships that could be interpreted as a conflict of interest, even if it is not believed that is no conflict or bias exists. Compliance with the APA, the shares in a company through a mutual fund almost never represents a mutual conflict of interests that need to be known, while wages, research scholarships, research grants and personal actions do. They are also seen as potential sources of bias, that the authors are holders of copyright and/or beneficiaries of royalties from a product or service used or dealt with in the study, as well as the relationship of the authors with an entity or person involved in the development of the same.

Declaration of compliance with ethical principles

International Journal of Psychological Research welcomes you to the guidelines of the code of ethics and bioethics of the exercise of psychology in Colombia (http://www.tribunales.colpsic.org.co/normatividad.htm) and APA (http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx) in relation to the ethical standards of research and publication. Based on the described above, it will be considered violations to the ethics of research and publication in the field of psychology those that ignore the following principles:

• Institutional approval: In order to obtain approval of institutional research, accurate information about research proposals must be provided.
• Informed consent for research: The collection of primary data for research and publication must have proper informed consent (for greater detail, see paragraphs 3.10, 4.07, 8.02, 8.03, and 8.07 of the code of ethics of the APA). Researchers can ignore the informed consent only when there are reasonable grounds to believe that the research will not cause injury or harm, and when it is permitted by the laws, federal or institutional regulations (see paragraph 8.05 of the code of ethics of the APA)
• Clients/patients, students and subordinates as participants in the research: Researchers should follow the appropriate steps to protect possible participants of the adverse consequences of decline or withdraw from the study; in addition, those who participate in the research as a school requirement, will be given the choice of equivalent alternative activities.
• Incentives for participation in research: Efforts will be made to avoid excessive economic incentives or inappropriate incentives, when they constitute a form of coercion for participants; but if it is offered a professional service as a change, then it should clarify the nature of the service, as well as the risks, obligations and limitations.
• Cheating on the research: An study might not be done when cheating is involved, at least that the justification for the possible scientific or educational value that is ineffective through non-deceptive research can be determinate. If the deception has become part of the research for valid reason, as soon as the participants have finished it, they will be notified on such proceeding; this notification will not be after they have finished collecting data, since the participants may request their exclusion at any stage of the process. Cheating on research involving physical or emotional pain is also not supported.
• Feedback: Participants should be properly informed of the characteristics of the research (objectives, results, and conclusions) and their concerns must be clarified. If for scientific reasons it should be delayed the transmission of any results, take the necessary measures to reduce the risk of damage. If the resulting information could be harmful for the participant, it shall take a timely decision on its transmission (hide it or show it, can cause some kind of damage).
• The care of animals in research: Researching with animals should carry out of agreement with legal standards, by trained persons and avoiding cause injury or unnecessary pain to animals (see paragraph 8.09 of the code of ethics of the APA for more details).
• Result of data in research: The invention or data modification is considered a violation of the ethics of research. If it is found mistakes in published data, it must be taken the right steps to correct them and make them public.
• Plagiarism in research: Psychologists should not use work or non- own data as if it were from themselves. The use of non- own data requires accreditation
• Publication credits: Researchers only acquire credit, including authorship, for those works that they have done and which they have contributed to substantially. Credit is awarded in direct function with the contribution to the work and irrespective of the institutional status of the person. In relation to students, this should be listed as principal author in a work with multiple authors, which is based on its doctoral dissertation (see paragraph 8.12 of the code of ethics of the APA for more details).
• Duplicate publication of data: It will not be published as original data those that have been previously published. This does not preclude the reissue of data when they have their respective recognition.
• Arrangement of data of the research for verification: Data must be available for the verification of the published results, provided to protect the confidentiality of the participants (see paragraph 8.14 ethics of the APA for more details).
• Reviewers: Material under publication reviewers or other academic work must respect confidentiality, ownership and authorship rights related information

Letter of certification of authorship

To International Journal of Psychological Research, people must award the credit of authorship for a work that they really have made, or with which contributed substantially (Standard 8.12ª of the code of ethics of the APA, credits on the publications). The smaller contributions, which are not authorship, should be recognized in a note (see section 2.03 of the APA). It is responsibility of the authors to determinate the authorship and the order in which the names of two or more authors will appear in the work. The principal authorship and the order of the credits of authorship must accurately reflect the contribution of people involve.

Copyright assignment

By ceding the copyright rights the authors allow International Journal of Psychological Research to distribute the work broadly, check the reuse of the work by others and take care of the necessary procedures for the registration and administration of copyright. At the same time our editorial board represents the interests of the author and allows authors to re-use his/her work in multiple forms.

** Transferred the copyright to the journal called “International Journal of Psychological Research”. This transfer does not imply other rights which are not those of authorship (such as for example those concerning patents). Also, preserves the authors rights to use the work integral or partially in lectures, books, and courses, as well as make copies for educational purposes. Finally, the author (s) may use freely the tables and figures in its future work, wherever make explicit reference to the previous publication in International Journal of Psychological Research). The assignment of copyright includes both electronic rights and forms of the article to allow publisher to disseminate the work in the manner that it deems pertinent.

Copyright Notice

The work that is sent to this journal must be original, not published or sent to be published elsewhere; and if it is accepted for publication, authors will agree to transfer copyright to International Journal of Psychological Research.

To give up copyright, the authors allow that, International Journal of Psychological Research, distribute the work more broadly, check for the reuse by others and take care of the necessary procedures for the registration and administration of copyright; at the same time, our editorial board represents the interests of the author and allows authors to re-use his work in various forms. In response to the above, authors transfer copyright to the journal, International Journal of Psychological Research. This transfer does not imply other rights which are not those of authorship (for example those that concern about patents). Likewise, preserves the authors rights to use the work integral or partially in lectures, books and courses, as well as make copies for educational purposes. Finally, the authors may use freely the tables and figures in its future work, wherever make explicit reference to the previous publication in International Journal of Psychological Research. The assignment of copyright includes both virtual rights and forms of the article to allow the editorial to disseminate the work in the manner which it deems appropriate.

The editorial board reserves the right of amendments deemed necessary in the application of the rules of publication.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes declared by this journal and are not available for any other purpose or another person.

In addition, the names of the participants in the study will be coded with numbers, letters or essays that remain strictly confidential the personal identification or the number of each patient's medical history.

Printing errors: in case printing errors on the published material due to editing process occur, Int.j.psychol.res will indicate the correction on its following volume in a section called, “printing errors”.

The editorial process and the publication of the papers has no fee charges for the authors in the International Journal of Psychological research.

Publication Frequency

The journal has a frequency of two issues per year, covering from january to june and from july to december, respectively. Every manuscript goes through review, selection, and final decisión processes to be finally published in the next issue. In this way, papers accepted before June 01st will be published on July 01st and papers accepted before December 01st will be published on January 01st of the subsequent year.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides free access to its content under the premise that making available for free the knowlegde and the research results to the public, will favors the exchange of global knowledge.

Sponsors

Universidad de San buenaventura - USB (Colombia)

Bonaventuriana Editorial

• Universidad de San Buenaventura