Instructions for Authors

Instructions for authors

La Revista Latinoamericana de Investigación Social quantitative and qualitative full research papers and short communications. The principal aim of the journal is to publish papers dealing with social responsibility, change and innovation in social sciences, humanities and natural sciences. The objective of the journal is to stimulate (create) discussion regarding the national and international social issues, among academics and public and private sector. The applicability of the achieved results is one of the key criterion in the paper revision. The journal welcome contributions from all fields that are relevant to social responsibility, change and innovation using theoretical, statistical, mathematical or speculative models.

General information

  • Manuscripts are accepted in English and Spanish. If authors are not native speakers, using proofreading services are strongly recommended. This helps to avoid negative comments from reviewers. Consequently, a sufficiently high level of language quality prevents delays in the review process.
  • The maximum number of authors per article is four.
  • All manuscripts must include Title, Abstract and Key words in both English and Spannish.
  • The title of the paper should not exceed 80 characters (6 words).
  • The abstract should amount to between 100 and 200 words for all types of manuscripts.
  • Each manuscript should contain between 4 and 6 keywords. All keywords must follow alphabetical order, separated by semicolons.
  • A typical paper submitted as a full research paper should not extend 9,000 words (including tables, figures and footnotes). Papers that significantly exceed these limits will be critically reviewed with respect to the length. A typical research paper consists of the following sections: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Acknowledgements (if necessary), References, and Appendix (if necessary).
  • The Introduction must provide a short review of the current state in the area of the manuscript focus. The author should refer to significant sources, particularly scientific journals and conference proceedings listed in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. The Introduction follow a clear structure leading to the main problem statement (objective of the manuscript). The author can finish this section with a simple description of how the manuscript is divided to sections.
  • Materials and methods must contain methods used for the given research. Furthermore, the author must describe the materials or data used in the research. More importantly, if the manuscript stems from the author’s previous work(s), the author should briefly describe this point as well.
  • Results should describe the author’s main findings and goals achieved according to the described materials and methods in the previous section. Results should keep a clear structure and must answer the main objective stated at the end of the introduction. There is no exact limit for the length of this section. The author should present all relevant findings with regard to their research.
  • Discussion represents one of the most important parts of the manuscript. The author must compare the findings with other relevant works in the field. The author must discuss the applicability, pros and cons of the achieved results and – if a problem was stated or discovered – a possible solution to the problem. Please bear in mind that no paper can be accepted for publication without a proper discussion. A missing discussion leads to a rejection of the paper.
  • Conclusion should summarize the manuscript and stress the important point(s) of it. Moreover, the author may conclude with topics for future work. The Conclusion should not exceed half a page.
  • All details required by any funding and grant-awarding agencies should be mentioned in the Acknowledgement(s) as follows:
    • “This article was supported by the [name of the grant agency] under the [name of the grant] Grant, number [number of the grant].”
    • In the case of multiple funding, the author should mention all relevant funding and grant-awarding agencies divided in separate clauses.
  • A typical paper submitted as a short communication should not exceed 5,000 words (including tables, figures and footnotes). Papers that significantly exceed these limits will be critically reviewed with respect to the length. Short communication are short papers addressing new ideas, controversial opinions, innovative technology, unique approaches and/or presenting “negative” results. They are characterized by brevity and a peer-review procedure. Preliminary results should not be submitted as short communications. The preliminary results can be considered for publication only if these results are of exceptional interest and are particularly topical. The structure of the short communication includes: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Development, Conclusion, Acknowledgements (if necessary), References, and Appendix (if necessary). Development should contain authors' critical evaluation of the selected topic, using analytical, interpretative and critical focus. This section should keep a clear structure and must address the main analyzed questions stated in the introduction. There is no exact limit for the length of this section. The Development should also include extensive discussion over the selected topic, as the impact of the work is one of the most important parts of the manuscript.

 Publication charges

  • There are no submission fees, no processing fees or no publication fees.

 Review procedure

  • Each submitted paper is submitted to a double-blind peer-review process before publication. Please ensure that the authors’ names do not appear in the submitted manuscript. The authors´ names should appear only in the editorial system, these metadata are not sent to the review process. No author will be included to the team of authors after the paper was submitted to the system. Please revise carefully that all co-authors are included during the manuscript submission.
  • Comments by reviewers will be summarized and sent to authors by email who can choose to revise their papers in line with these notes. Re-submitted papers should be supplemented with a description of the changes made and other responses to reviewers’ comments.

 Style guidelines

  • Authors are asked to use the Times New Roman text font, size 12, normal spacing and justified.
  • The work should be a simple one-column text.
  • Chapters should not contain numbers, chapter titles are in bold, size 13; sub-section titles use a bold font, size 12. Using another level of sub-sections requires bold letters, italics, size 12.
  • Authors should also use italics for emphasis. However, no page numbers, page headers or footers are allowed.

 Tables and figures

  • The numbers of all tables and figures must observe the order of their appearance in the text. All tables and figures must be referred to in the text and titled in the following manner: “Table 1: [the name of the table], [the year(s) captured in the data], (reference if necessary)”, and “Figure 1: [the name of the figure], the year(s) captured in the data], (reference if necessary)”.
  • Titles should be written in the Times New Roman font, size 11 and should be placed below each table or figure. Text inside each table or figure must be readable (font size no lower than 8).
  • The use of expressions such as “above” or “below” are disapproved in the manuscript when referring to used tables and figures. Tables and figures can be moved within the text during final modifications by the Technical editor. Authors should always refer to the tables or figures directly using a caption.
  • If a manuscript includes large tables or figures, authors can place them in the Appendix.

 Equations 

  • Equations should be inserted in invisible tables for alignment. Each equation must be numbered, the number written in bold within thin parenthesis on the right side. The numbers of the equations must follow a continuous order and each equation must be referred to in the text as well, using its number in parentheses.

 References 

  • References should keep alphabetical order and each reference must be mentioned in the text as a continuous quotation and vice versa. The APA referencing convention is required.
  • DOI (Digital Object Identifier) should be included in the references.

 Author Identity

  • Please do not include authors’ names into the submitted manuscript. The registration of the article through the journal submission system must include full names, affiliations, and email addresses. One author must be identified as a corresponding author. In this case, please include a postal address and a telephone number to contact the author. Please bear in mind that any author will be included to the team of authors after the paper was submitted to the system, as well as no changes to affiliation can be made after the paper has been accepted for publication. Also bear in mind that the email addresses will normally be displayed in the article PDF and online on the journal website.