Focus and scope

Psychologia. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina is a biannual scientific publication, specialized in the areas of clinical psychology, health psychology and neuropsychology. It publishes original scientific research articles, where the original results of research projects are presented in detail; systematic review articles, where the results of unpublished research on a particular field are analyzed and integrated, in order to show the progress and development trends, and in some opportunities, articles of reflection, on a specific topic from an analytical, interpretative or critical perspective of the author.

Journal History

Psychologia. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina published its first issue in January 2007. Since its origin, it was intended to be a scientific journal that would allow the dissemination of research advances in the field of Psychology. As a result of its scientific quality, visibility and impact in the academia, Psychologia. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina has been included in different databases and indexing and referencing systems; the most important among these are the IBN-Publindex of Colciencias, in the highest category (A1), PsycINFO of the American Psychological Association (APA), SciELO, Redalyc, LILACS, EBSCO, among others.

Since 2012 Psychologia. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina specializes in the areas of Clinical Psychology, Health Psychology and Neuropsychology, being consistent with the areas of greatest development during the previous years in the journal and with the research lines of the members of the editorial and scientific committee. Currently, the journal is being managed in the OJS system and has all its issues in (Open Access).

Peer review process

All the articles received will be initially evaluated by the editorial and scientific committee of the journal. Those articles that do not comply with the journal's policy, interests and editorial standards will be rejected at this stage.

The articles that pass this first evaluation will be sent to two external evaluators with experience and knowledge in the area in order to provide feedback and decide on their possible acceptance for publication. The arbitration process is carried out through the "double-blind" methodology, in order to guarantee objectivity in the evaluation.

The editor's decision, based on the concept of the evaluators, may be:

1. Acceptance of the article: the article may be published without any changes.

2. Accepted with corrections: the article must be subject to minor changes; Once made by the author, corrections will be evaluated again by peers.

3. Pending approval: the article must be reworked and submitted again, in which case the submission process must be started from the beginning.

4. Not approved: the article is not approved for publication in the journal.

The Committee reserves the right to accept or not the articles to be published in each issue of the journal. Acceptance of the article for publication implies the assignment of the rights of reproduction and dissemination in any physical or electronic media to the Universidad de San Buenaventura, Bogota.

-  Article correction

The authors will receive the evaluation reports so that they can make the suggested improvements. Papers that are evaluated and require modifications must be returned within a maximum period of 15 days.

The authors of accepted articles, before the final edition, will receive a message through the OJS Editorial Management System:

• The manuscript in Word format with suggestions from the editor (after proofreading)

• Proofs for correction in PDF format. In both cases, a maximum period of 5 days is given for sending your approval or corrections. Only minor corrections can be made to the content of the original manuscript already evaluated.

• The English translated version of the article will also be sent to you for your review and approval.

Article Withdrawal

Withdrawal of an article, which is in the editorial process of the journal, is permitted only after a letter signed by the author or authors has been sent to the editorial board stating the reasons for the withdrawal of the article. The author or authors must wait for an appropriate notification from the editor.

Times from receipt to publication

The average length of the process between the reception of the article and the first concept of the arbitration process is approximately one calendar month; and the average length between the reception of the article and the concept of acceptance for publication is two months.

Author Charging Policy

The journal Psychologia. Avances de la Disciplina does NOT charge any fees to authors for the processing of their articles (Article processing charge; APC). Likewise, all accepted articles are translated into English/Spanish at no cost to the authors.

Frequency of Publication

The journal is published every six months. Articles that have already been accepted, but have not yet been published in an issue of the journal, may be consulted under the modality of “Online first”.

Open Access Policy

The journal provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public a free access to research helps to increase global knowledge exchange.

Therefore, it is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution, NonCommercial, ShareAlike 4.0 (by-nc-sa). Use of the original work or any derivative works is not permitted, distribution of which must be done under a license equal to that, which governs the original work. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Publication ethics

Psychology. Avances de la Disciplina, incorporates into its policies, the guidelines and orientations established by The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE: https://publicationethics.org/guidance), related to the principle of transparency and best practices for academic publications.

The ethical policies of publications at the University of San Buenaventura, visible on the website of the Bonaventuriana University Press http://www.editorialbonaventuriana.usb.edu.co/libros/2015/politicas-eticas/index.html, are those that regulate the exercise of the journal and it is understood that the authors adhere to them when submitting their documents for consideration for publication.

Ethical practices not only concern the duties of the authors, but also involve those who take part in the editorial process. Authors have the right to fair and impartial evaluation of their manuscripts, to have the review done in a reasonable time, and to be treated with correctness and respect in correspondence with editorial policies.

Authors are requested to avoid engaging in practices such as data manipulation, omission or false attribution of authorship, omission of the sources consulted, duplicate publication and fragmentary publication.

 - Author’s Responsibilities

 Authors are responsible for the content of the manuscript to ensure that questions regarding the accuracy or completeness of any part of the paper are adequately investigated and resolved.

- Article authorship

Authorship of postulated articles corresponds to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, processing, or interpretation of the research reported in the article. In addition, all those who have made substantial contributions should be listed as co-authors. Minor contributions to research or to an article for publication are acknowledged as appropriate, either in the form of footnotes or in an introductory communication. 

In cases of co-authorship, the author who nominates the article must explicitly and jointly declare the names of all authors and the order in which they will appear in the manuscript, with their respective institutional links and ORCID codes. Likewise, all authors must approve the final version of the document and give their consent for the submission and publication of the article to the journal, after evaluation (according to the letter of authorization for publication).

  - Originality and citation of sources

 The author must prepare original research, in its different modalities, and give credit to the authors from whose source he/she extracted information, faithfully including citations and references in his/her work (letter of declaration of originality).

Likewise, the article must not include original material copied from other authors without their consent. In the event that an article includes material from other authors, their consent for its electronic reproduction must be explicitly stated.

       -Plagiarism

 When the presentation of an idea that is not one's own is copied verbatim (a part or its entirety) without referencing it, regardless of the intention to deceive, plagiarism is constituted. It is an indecent and unacceptable practice in scientific research and a violation of academic integrity. It includes: quoting someone else's ideas verbatim without acknowledging the source; paraphrasing someone else's ideas by changing some of the words or their order without acknowledging the source; copy and paste information from various online sources and combining it to make it look like an original creation; and submitting someone else's work as if it were one's own.

Likewise, plagiarism can occur in any type of sources and media: text, illustrations, musical quotations, mathematical formulas, computer code, among others; downloaded material from websites or extracted from manuscripts or other media; published and unpublished material, including lectures and papers by other authors; information obtained privately, such as in a conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties.

The detection of plagiarism (partial or total) in the reviewed article leads to automatic rejection of the manuscript.

    - Duplicate or redundant publication (self-plagiarism)

 The same manuscript (or one describing the same research) should not be submitted to more than one journal at the same time, as this constitutes unethical and unacceptable behavior. Redundant publication or self-plagiarism occurs when a manuscript or substantial parts of it are published in more than one journal without an adequate cross-referencing or justification for the overlap. It is considered redundant publication even if one of the versions of the manuscript is in a different language.

In the case of Psychology. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina, duplicate or redundant publications are not accepted.

Readers, reviewers, and editors are expected to report any suspected duplicate or redundant publication by contacting the editor or emailing the journal.

 - Human Care in Research and Informed Consent

In the case of research studies involving human beings, the author(s) must ensure that the performed work has been carried out in accordance with the regulations existing up to date, according to the provisions of the Deontological and Bioethical Manual of the Psychologist, edited by the Colombian College of Psychologists (COLPSIC) and the Code of Ethics of the American Psychological Association. Likewise, research involving human beings must be approved by recognized ethics committees of the country and institutions where it has been carried out and must comply with international ethical and legal standards for research.

Informed consent in written or oral form must be respected and understandable language to the target population must be used. In the case of people who are legally incapable of giving their consent, researchers should obtain permission from a legally responsible person. Authors will report in the article that informed consent was obtained. Likewise, the right to privacy of the participants should be respected and informed consent for the research should be obtained from them.

Therefore, the Authors should detail the procedures carried out in the study, explaining the risks for the participants and the post-study treatment if necessary.

       - Conflict of interest

Authors submitting contributions to the journal should declare any potential conflict of interest that may interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication. All sources of financial support for the conduct of the research or preparation of the article must be disclosed.

      -Reproducibility

Formal permission to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published articles will not be requested, provided that the source is cited and the reproduction is not for commercial purposes.

- Responsibilities of the editorial team

        - Data Access and Retention Policy

If necessary, authors will be asked to provide the data, codes, and other materials supporting their research for editorial review. Authors should retain (for a reasonable time after publication) records of the supporting evidence, and provide access to it, to allow other investigators to replicate the study's findings through further analysis

       - Self-archiving policies

The author may share, disseminate and disclose his/her research published in the journal through the different media available on the web

       - Metadata Retrieval - OAI-PMH Preservation

The OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative-Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol for metadata retrieval of all articles published in the journal: https:// revistas.usb.edu.co/index.php/Psychologia/oai?verb=ListRecords&metadataPrefix=oai_dc

• Archiving and Digital Preservation

Psychology. Advances in the Discipline / Avances de la Disciplina, uses Open Journal Systems (OJS), which is compatible with the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system to guarantee the journal a permanent and secure archive.