Information For Authors

For authors

Are you interested in publishing in the journal? It is recommended to review the About the journal page to consult the section policies of the journal, as well as the Guidelines of the author. Authors must register in the journal before publishing or, if they are already registered, they can simply log in and start the five-step process.

Authors wishing to submit articles for analysis and approval of publication by the journal’s Editorial Committee must

  1. Submit the article using the Journal platform or send an email with the document and inquiries to:
  2. a) Editorial committee: RFJ@puce.edu.ec

IMPORTANT: In the course of the RFJ Journal processes (reception, review, evaluation, publication, and others), the complete anonymity of the authors with peer reviewers and third parties will be guaranteed.

  1. The journal accepts documents prepared in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese Italian, and German.
  2. The article must fulfill one of the categories proposed for journal articles. When uploading to the platform and in the subject of the email, indicate the article type
  3. The accepted typologies are a) Research Articles: original, unpublished articles will be selected, which must be published only in the RFJ Legal Journal. Only the journal is authorized to edit formats (but no information), and it will be the only journal to publish the article. The articles must present, in detail, the original results for the research projects presented and indicate their origin (a project carried out using competitive funds, independent project, other). Bibliographical references cited must be included. Articles must be original, and not subject to evaluation processes by any other publication. The minimun length will be 5,000 words or fifteen pages. The structure may consider the following contents (important: these are no sections):
    1. Introduction
    2. Methodology
    3. Results
    4. Discussion
    5. Conclusions
    6. Bibliographic references (only includes bibliography cited in the text)

 

IMPORTANT: results must come from research with a theoretical-conceptual, analytical, interpretative, or critical perspective.

b) Book critiques and reviews:brief structured essays that critically analyze and contextualize a publishing novelty of academic interest to the journal’s themes. The minimum length will be 4000 words or twelve pages, and the bibliographical references cited must be included. Texts must be original and not subject to evaluation processes by any other publication. In order to ensure the high quality of the published content, texts will be sent by the RFJ for anonymous (double-blind) evaluation. The book critiques and reviews should contain an introduction, body, and conclusions.

c) Miscellaneous:articles related to the major thematic areas (within sound science) generally addressed by the RFJ journal. That is to say, original documents dealing with investigations of various types, in which the law has transcendent significance, will be accepted. The minimum length will be 4,000 words or twelve pages (this count must include all words appearing in the text proposed by the authors: names, titles, summary, and others). Texts must be original and not subject to evaluation processes by any other publication. In order to ensure the high quality of the published content, texts will be sent by the RFJ for anonymous (double-blind) evaluation. The miscellaneous should contain an introduction, argumentative body, and conclusions.

d) Research Notes:these are articles of legal significance characterized by their basis on preliminary works (within a research project, or ongoing matrix research); which, scientific method and rigor notwithstanding, present innovative methodological aspects or results that, due to their nature, are considered by the author to be of interest for publication before the finalization of research. The minimum length will be 3,000 words or ten pages (count must include all words appearing in the text proposed by the authors: names, titles, summary, and other). They must be original and not subject to evaluation processes by any other publication. In order to ensure the high quality of content published, texts will be sent by the RFJ for anonymous (double-blind) evaluation. The research notes should contain an introduction, argumentative body, and conclusions.

e) Research Summary and Report:the RFJ accepts two types of legal-scientific research reports: technical reports, and informative reports. The research summary and report should contain an introduction, argumentative body, and conclusions.

  • The first emphasizes the methodology and techniques used, the validity and reliability of the results, the theoretical framework of the research, and the use of specialized terminology.
  • The second includes the research procedure and expressive and straightforward illustrations of results and emphasizes conclusions and recommendations.

The minimum length will be 3,000 words or ten pages (count must include all words appearing in the text proposed by the authors: names, titles, summary, and others). They must be original and not subject to evaluation processes by any other publication. In order to ensure the high quality of the content published, texts will be sent by the RFJ for anonymous (double-blind) evaluation. They should contain an introduction, argumentative body, and conclusions.

  1. General document characteristics: Documents must be in Word format and must include title, author or authors, and contact address (email and postal address). It is essential to indicate which author (corresponding author) will be responsible for receiving and sending correspondence; otherwise, it will be assumed that the first author will be in charge of this function. The text must be 1.5 spaced, Garamond font, size 12. Within the document, the primary information for the author or authors must be specified, which should include: the highest level of education obtained, institutional affiliation, city, country, email (institutional). Also, links to Scopus ID, ISI web author, and/or ORCID ID may be attached in a separate document.
  1. The document must comply with an extension according to the typology selected. It must be preceded by a summary of the work in Spanish and English (“abstract”) not exceeding 250 words. In both, it must be considered: a) objective; b) methodology; c) results; and d) conclusions. After the summary and the abstract, four to six keywords should be included to identify the main topics addressed (Spanish and English, respectively). These should be searched in the UNESCO Thesaurus: http://vocabularies.unesco.org/browser/thesaurus/en/
  2. In a separate document book-reviews and critiques should be preceded by the names, surnames, and profession of authors reviewing or critiquing, as well as complete bibliographical details (authors names and surnames, full book title, edition number, city of publication, publisher, year of publication).
  3. Translations of previously published works are not considered unpublished documents, but rather as dissemination documents. However, they will go through the same article selection process. They must indicate the sources and origin of the original text, as well as the respective permission for publication.
  4. Sending graphs, maps, and photographs in a minimum resolution of 266 dpi, in jpg or gif format. Together with the tables should be the document annexes, indicating the location where they should be placed within the text. All of these resources must be listed consecutively in Arabic numerals and should indicate the corresponding source(s). Only horizontal lines may be used in the tables, following the APA norms, sixth edition.
  5. Citing bibliographic sources of less than 40 words within the text, as follows: (author, year, page). Example: (Muñoz, 1996, p. 30). Quotations of more 40 words are written separately from the text, indented, without quotation marks or italics. At the end of the quotation, a period must be placed before the information remember that in quotations with less than 40 words, the period goes afterward.
  6. The footnotes numbered in consecutive order will be used only for clarifications, comments, discussions, and submissions by the author, and should be placed on the corresponding page, in order to facilitate the reader in following the reading of the text.

 

IMPORTANT: From the journal’s fourth issue, bibliographical references will be unfailingly made based on the APA norms, sixth edition. Defects in format will result in an automatic rejection.  Font: Garamond 12 for body text and Garamond 10 for footers (pre print).

The use of footers should be restricted to what is strictly necessary: They should not be used to substantially expand citations, expand complementary ideas, provide additional information in a disproportionate manner, cite legislation, regulations and documentary references, others that affect the reading and appreciation of the input. The use of methodological tools such as statistics, the use of tables, charts, diagrams, others must be correctly contextualized and the information from the sources clearly indicated.

All references must use French sangria. Below are examples of the requirements:

Book:

Last name, Initials of author’s name (Year). Book Title. Place of publication: Publisher.

 

Book with an editor:

Last name, initials of author’s name (Ed.). (Year). Title. City, Country: Publisher.

 

Book chapter:

Last name, Initials of author’s name. (Year). Chapter Title. Initials of the name of the editor or compiler. Last name. (Ed.) or (Comp.), Title of the book (pp. xx-xx). Place of publication: Publisher.

 

Journal article:

Last name, Initials of authors. (Year). Article title. Name of journal, volume (number), pp-pp.

 

Article with DOI:

Last name, Initials of author’s name. (Year). Article title. Name of journal, volume (number), pp-pp. Doi: xx.xxxxxxx.

 

Newspaper article:

Last name, Initials of author’s name. (Date). Article title. Newspaper name, pp-pp.

 

Graduate or postgraduate thesis:

Last name, Initials of author’s name. (Year). Thesis title (Undergraduate, master or doctoral thesis). Name of institution, place.

 

Online:

Last name, Initials of author’s name (Date). Article title. Retrieved from (URL).

 

Remarks for Authors

a) The first author will be the person considered for registry in the different indexing and summary service databases.

b) It is essential that it be indicated which author will be in charge of receiving and sending correspondence; otherwise, it will be assumed that the first author will be responsible for the said function.

c) At least five (5) updated national and international references and high impact scientific journals (e.g. Scopus and WoS) must be included in the work. It is recommended that they have been published in the last three (3) years. Research articles that do not meet these criteria will not be accepted.

d) There may be references to classics that keep their theories and methodologies current. 

e) Besides, it is requested to cite texts published in the RFJ. We recommend using at least three (3) references. All references must be cited in the text.

 

PEER REVIEW PROCESS AND REVIEW BY RELATED PARTIES

The Journal of the Faculty of Jurisprudence of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador - PUCE (RFJ) is a biannual scientific publication that adopts Open Science guidelines. Its emphasis is the field of law and its relationship with other disciplines, knowledge and sciences. It may use the “special themes” system for any of its calls for submissions.

The Journal guides its editorial policies based on the harmonization of the general and specific requirements of Redalyc, CLASE, LATINDEX, SCIELO (Ecuador), WOS, SCOPUS, CIRC among other international catalogs. In addition, it considers the legal and regulatory guidelines in force, SENESCYT guidelines, the General Regulation of Publications of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador - PUCE and its general policies on publications and scientific research governed by the Faculty of Jurisprudence, the Directorate of Investigation of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador - PUCE (https://www.puce.edu.ec/investigacion-puce/) and the Publications Center of the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador - PUCE (Edipuce: https://edipuce.edu.ec/revistas/)

1) Each of the articles received is submitted to a process of review and selection. The duration of this process is variable and can range from six to twenty-fourth months.

2) The Editorial Management Team receives the original articles according to their scientific quality, in concordance with the journal themes and the temporal validity of the results.

3) The Editorial Committee of the RFJ Journal is composed of the members of a) the Editorial Board and b) the Editorial Management Team.

4) Members of the Editorial Board and the Editorial Management Team are obliged to provide the respective support to the Journal’s processes.

5) One hundred percent of the Editorial Board’s members are renowned national and international jurists external to the PUCE, who, respecting the strictest anonymity as required by the double-blind system, can officiate as evaluators in related matters and provide binding informed opinions in the evaluation process of a document submitted for publication. However, in the case of officiating as blind reviewers for an article, jurists may not participate in other processes related to the publication of the document (e.g., voting for inclusion within a specific issue of the Journal, and others).

6) The Editorial Management Team, on behalf of the RFJ Journal Committee, can request modifications and make recommendations deemed necessary to adjust the document to the journal indications (based on the results submitted by blind peers and other general considerations, such as format, and others).

7) After this revision, the manuscript is subjected to a “double-blind” evaluation by two external academic peers (national and international).

8) Using an evaluation format established by the Journal (see article evaluation format) these academics issue a report (opinion), which can be: a) Approved without changes; b) Approved subject to minor changes (does not require new evaluation); c) Approved subject to significant changes (requires new evaluation); d) Rejected (not publishable in the RFJ Journal).

9) If the evaluators’ decision results in controversies, said controversies would be initially resolved by the Chief Editor and the Assistant Editor or, if necessary, a second or third evaluation by external academic peers will be requested.

10) During all mentioned processes, the anonymity of authors and peer reviewers (evaluators) is guaranteed.

11) Likewise, the author (and corresponding author) will be informed of the result of the evaluation via email. It is in order to make the necessary adjustments as requested by the evaluators.

12) When receipt of the corrected document is confirmed, compliance with the evaluator’s suggestions will be verified, and the justifications for those not taken into account will be analyzed.

13) Once this phase has been completed, the article will be resent to the author, if necessary, to make the appropriate adjustments.

14) The process for the review and evaluation of material delivered may take an average of at least six months.

 

15) IMPORTANT:

  1. The reception of a document does not imply the approval and immediate publication thereof.
  2. All documents will undergo a documentary similarity review (“anti-plagiarism” through the URKUND/TURNITIN platform).
  3. The average publication time for an article ranges from four to eighteen months.
  4. Subsequent verification of plagiarism (due to reader complaint) will lead to the immediate withdrawal of the publication. The individual pieces of evidence must accompany any complaint of plagiarism.
  5.  The Journal accepts general and informed comments and opinions from its readers and considers them contributions to external reviews (documentaries) and management processes.
  6. The RFJ is a freely distributed publication - free of charge (free access, withboth partial and full free download)
  7. The RFJ does not request payments, financial collaboration, and donations from authors. None of its members is qualified to request any type of economic compensation in exchange for facilitating publication in the journal. None of its members can influence the evaluation process and unilaterally decide on the publication or rejection of a document submitted for double-blind review. This type of conduct is sanctioned with expulsion and referral of the case to the PUCE Ethics Committee.
  8. Authors are requested to send the Journal their ORCID code and/or Scopus author identification code and/or ISI web ID. This information must be provided through the RFJ's OJS platform.