Peer review process
The Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences of the Academic Unit of Legal and Social Sciences, JPBS-AULSS (La Revista de Psicología y Ciencias del Comportamiento de la Unidad Académica de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, RPCC-UACJS) accepts original and unpublished articles of empirical and theoretical research and literature reviews in the field of psychology and behavioral sciences, as well as essays that are the product of a reflective critique of human behavior. Articles will NOT be published if they have been submitted in parallel to any other journal. Each published paper is meticulously reviewed by the General Editor and the editorial review team, as well as peer-reviewed in a double-blind process.
The first stage (editorial review) consists of an evaluation of spelling, grammar and adherence to the Style Guidelines of the American Psychological Association in its seventh edition (APA 7), as well as the adjustment of the article to the guidelines established in the Publication Guidelines of the JPBS (RPCC) in addition to a review of originality using the Ithenticate software. Articles that incur in plagiarism will not be accepted under any circumstances (see the JPBS Anti-plagiarism Policies for a detailed definition of this point). Likewise, it is necessary that the articles strictly adhere to the Publication Guidelines, otherwise they will not be accepted.
If the previous review is positive, the article is submitted to a review by expert judges in the pertinent thematic area, through a double-blind process. In order to do this, two researchers from our team of reviewers are asked to carry out a review according to the area of knowledge of the article. The team is integrated by external and internal researchers to the publishing institution as well as national and international researchers from various disciplinary areas such as: neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and economics, among others, with extensive experience in their field. If for some reason, the reviewers of our team cannot carry out the requested review, we turn to researchers from outside the journal, in the modality of Guest Reviewers. In these cases, the Editor of the Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences of the A.U.L.S.S. (U.A.C.J.S.) evaluates the pertinence of the profile and trajectory of the researchers prior to the request for an opinion.
The possible outcomes of a peer review process are:
ACCEPTED (No modifications required).
ACCEPTED WITH MINOR REVISIONS (The paper requires minimal adjustments. Usually these are shortcomings in clarity of exposition and specificity in the ideas presented).
ACCEPTED WITH SUBSTANTIAL REVISIONS (The paper needs important adjustments. It is common that in these cases the reviewers consider the object of study, objectives and results of the work to be relevant, but indicate substantial deficiencies [e.g.: shortcomings in theoretical and/or methodological aspects]. The work requires a second review once the modifications have been made).
REJECTED (The work does not have the characteristics of an empirical or theoretical scientific research).
An article will be directly accepted for publication if both reviewers consider it ACCEPTED. On the other hand, situations of divergence are those in which one judge considers the article ACCEPTED or ACCEPTED WITH MINOR MODIFICATIONS, while the second judge considers it REJECTED or ACCEPTED WITH SUBSTANTIAL MODIFICATIONS; cases in which one judge accepts an article with substantial modifications, while the second judge rejects it, are also situations of divergence. If there are situations of divergence between opinions, a third judge is asked to review the article in question.
The authors shall receive, within a period of 3 to 6 months, the result of the review, as well as the observations and recommendations made by the reviewers to the article. In cases where it is concluded that an article requires substantial modifications, the reviewer will be asked again to carry out a revision, once the author has sent the required modifications.
