Submissions

Author Guidelines

Revista Latina de Comunicación Social considers that the formal data set out below is mandatory for any type of contribution sent to the journal. Its non-observance leads to the rejection of the manuscript.

Submission

No author may publish twice in the same year, even if they are a co-author.

Revista Latina de Comunicación Social publishes both

(1) research articles (written in English or Spanish)
(2) reviews on Social Communication (written in English or Spanish)
(3) book reviews 

They must be of outstanding interest and achieve high marks in all aspects of the review process. These articles, besides being outstanding, a) must be novel; b) suppose significant contributions to knowledge about Social Communication, and c) involve the study of a topic of social and academic relevance. Priority will be given to the article of greatest interest to the entire Academy, which fosters the critical spirit of the readers.

Authors may submit their manuscripts without a predetermined date, the Editorial Board will assign them to the most pertinent issue. The monographs are closed six months before the issue of the magazine.

Articles and the mandatory letter of originality and transfer of rights will only be sent through the OJS management platform of the journal. No author may send or have two manuscripts under review simultaneously, so they must have a definitive answer to a proposal before sending the next one. For technical problems, contact editor@revistalatinacs.org

The articles should be sent in Word format (maximum weight 16 MG) following the Template

Supplementary files:

• The letter of originality in PDF format.
• Figures (in JPG and no larger than 300 dpi)
• Graphs and tables (Excel format)

Presentation

Regarding the data, content, structure, and style of the originals; the authors will observe the following rules to achieve greater efficiency in the editorial management of the papers:

1. Letter of originality

The author(s) will send the said letter in a file titled, separated by underscores and without accent marks: originalidad_first surname of the person responsible for the submission.

(Example: originalidad_garcia).

The mandatory letter of originality must be sent through the journal's OJS management platform (ATTENTION: in the "Submissions" tab, click on "Upload file" and select the "Other" option in "Article component").

Article

1. Name of the file on the platform. The file with the article will be uploaded to the platform, which will be titled, separated by underscores and without accent marks: article_first surname of the first author_first surname of the second author_first surname of the third author -if there are more authors it is not necessary to cite them in the title-. (Example: article_garcia_dominguez_perez).
2. Number of authors. It is recommended, not mandatory, that articles have a minimum of three authors (support for teamwork). It is intended that the journal reaches the international standard of an average of three authors per article/year. In the article, the author responsible for the correspondence will be indicated with a footnote after the name and surname, the platform marking them as the main contact when sending the submission. This author will serve as a representative on behalf of all co-authors when establishing contact during the process of submission, review, and final editing of the manuscript with the editors of the journal.
3. Maximum extension. It is recommended -although it is not mandatory- that the length of the articles does not exceed 10,000 words, including everything. Texts outside the article can be included as annexes that do not count in the recommended extension:

• Research Articles. Original and unpublished, the result of scientific research whose expression in articles has the utility of being validated and disseminated to the scientific community. In case studies, it will be indicated in this way ("Case study") in the second part of the title, without going into details of the analyzed case in the title.
• Review Articles. It constitutes a publication format in which an updated, critical, and evaluative analysis is carried out, based on the study of the existing scientific literature, about a specific research problem: in no case is it exclusively a meta-analysis or an uncritical compilation of published research, but must provide a novel literature review of the subject treated with exhaustive use of the existing bibliography.
• Book reviews (maximum 500 words) will be published, according to the review template. Reviews must have a different title than the reviewed book, provide bibliographic data (publisher, ISBN, number of pages, foreword, DOI...), and be accompanied by a scanned cover (in JPG).

Formatting Guidelines

Format. The article must comply with the formatting guidelines outlined in the official template, including font type, margins, spacing, line spacing, structure, and other formal aspects.

• Font type: Calibri in different sizes depending on the section.
• Line spacing: Single throughout the document.
• Alignment: Justified for the main text, with exceptions for titles and other specific elements.
• Tables and figures: Must be editable and submitted separately as a JPG file through the platform.

For more details, refer to the [official template].

Title. It should be informative and concise, without acronyms (unless justified) and should not exceed 15 words, including articles, prepositions, and conjunctions.

• Title in English: Calibri 24, bold, centered, single line spacing.

Author Information

• All names must be written in full, without abbreviations, and with both last names for each author.
• Format: Full name (Calibri 12, bold, justified, single line spacing).
• Affiliation: Written below the author’s name, including the full name of the institution in its original language and the country. Format: Calibri Light 12, left-aligned.
• Email: Must be an institutional email, displayed below the affiliation.
• Different academic identifiers (ORCID, Google Scholar, Academia.edu, ResearchGate…) should be linked whenever available.

Research Acknowledgment or Funding
A brief mention should be included after the author information at the beginning of the article, with a more detailed description provided under the Author Contributions section.

• Format: Calibri 11, italic, justified, single line spacing.
• The start and end date of the research must be specified.

More details see template.

How to Cite the Article
A designated space must be provided for a standardized reference following APA 7th edition guidelines.

• Format: Calibri Light 11, justified, single line spacing.

Article Structure
The document must include the following mandatory sections:

• Abstract and Resumen (maximum of 200-250 words, structured into Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions).
• Keywords and Palabras clave (up to 7 terms, separated by semicolons).
• Main body of the article, which must include Introduction, Objectives, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions sections.
• References formatted according to APA 7th edition (Calibri 12, 1.27 cm hanging indent, single line spacing).

Tables and Figures

• Must be numbered sequentially.
• Title format: Calibri 12, bold, centered.
• Source: Mandatory for all images and tables, in Calibri 12, bold, centered.
• Tables: Must be editable, with text in Calibri 10, single line spacing.

Guidelines for the preparation of titles, abstracts, keywords and bibliographic references

Title

• It is recommended that the title be clear and concise, reflecting the main objective of the research.
• It is advisable to avoid ambiguous or too general terms, prioritizing relevant keywords.
• It may be useful to formulate the title as a statement or question to generate interest.
• In case studies, the second part of the title will indicate “Case Study”, without going into details of the case analyzed in the headline.

Abstract

It should be between 200 and 250 words and should not contain quotations. It must be structured according to the following:
Introduction. It analyzes (...). Methodology. We proceed to (...). Results. The main consequences (...). Discussion. In view of the above (...) Conclusions. At the end we find (...).

Keywords

It is mandatory to write 7 key words. They should be written in lower case, Calibri 12, single spaced and justified, separated by a semicolon. In order to favor a standardized description of the articles in our publication, please use, as far as possible, terms taken from the SKOS Thesaurus (UNESCO Thesaurus). (Example: descriptor 1; descriptor 2; descriptor 3; descriptor 4 ...)

The epigraphs and sub-epigraphs

The headings and sub-headings will be numbered using Arabic numerals and will follow a staggered block order, which will respond to the hierarchical relationship in which the author shows the relationship of the contents of the manuscript, with a maximum of 3 levels. The main heading (1st level) and subheadings, justified and single spaced. None of them will have a period.

1. 1^st level epigraph

1.1. 2^nd level sub-epigraph

             1.1.1. 3^rd level sub-epigraph

Structure

Revista Latina de Comunicación Social maintains mandatory structures for the types of articles accepted, as explained below. Support, acknowledgements and acknowledgements to the persons or institutions that have sponsored the article are allowed (see the template for articles to know their location).

1. 1. INTRODUCTION: it will present the purpose of the research and will define the research problem, its importance, and the current situation of the subject to be studied. It will present the contributions of other relevant research and will emphasize those on which we rely to define the research objectives and hypothesis, presented in a reasoned manner. If there are acronyms in the text, they must be in normal capital letters, and in their first citation they will be followed by a parenthesis with their development). Sub-epigraphs are allowed. (Example: Studies carried out by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) indicate that the third world is improving.
   2. OBJECTIVES: in this section, the authors must identify as clearly and concisely as possible the objectives of the research presented in the article. Sub-epigraphs are allowed.
   3. METHODOLOGY: in this section, the methods/techniques/procedures/approaches/models that were considered to obtain the results of the research should be exposed. The choice and design of the used methodological tool will be explained. In the case of the use of statistical tools, their suitability and functionality will be explained. The population and selected sample, and the system chosen to have the units of analysis, will be indicated. There will be a reference to the instrument chosen to capture the sample, its scientific rigor and validity will be ensured, and why it was chosen will be reasoned. If it is an original system, its characteristics will be explained. Sub-epigraphs are allowed. 
   4. DISCUSSION/RESULTS: obtained results will be presented, analyzed, and how the hypotheses have been contrasted compared to the objectives of the research will be discussed. The relationships, consequences, and generalities that the obtained results indicate will be reflected. The results will be compared with similar research existing in the scientific community, without prejudice to what was stated in the introduction, and the methodologically improvable aspects of the presented research will be reflected. Sub-epigraphs are allowed.
   5. CONCLUSIONS: concise and decisive. The conclusions must be directly related to the objectives of the paper and the obtained results; they must suppose a set of deductions derived from the analysis of the research. The drafting of conclusions that do not have a direct relationship with the approach of the text, as well as with the presented results, will be avoided. Sub-epigraphs are allowed.
   6. RECOMMENDATIONS: (OPTIONAL) will be cited based on their direct relationship with the research results, especially if there were limitations that prevented delving into specific aspects of the presented research.
   7. REFERENCES: The style of the (North) American Psychological Association (APA Style 7^th Edition) available in: Summary of the APA Style 7^th edition will be used for the organization and writing of the bibliography. All references should be included in alphabetical order regardless of their type (book, article, thesis...) without distinction. Calibri 12 font, French indentation 0.5 cm, justified and single-spaced. When an author is repeated, his or her name should be rewritten, avoiding hyphens.

How to quote in the text:

Paraphrasing quote. In the paraphrasing quote, the ideas of an author are used, but in the writer's own words.

The author's surname and year of publication must be included in the text. It is recommended (but not mandatory as in direct quotation) that the page number (or paragraph for non-paginated materials) be provided, to help an interested reader deepen their reading, or locate the relevant passage in a long or complex text. When the quote refers to more than one author, consult the appropriate form of quotation at https://normas-apa.org/citas/cita-de-parafraseo/

Direct or verbatim quote in normal text of fewer than 40 words.The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks. If the work has one or two authors, both surnames are cited throughout (Author and Author, Year). When it has more than two authors, only the surname of the first author is written, followed by the phrase et al. in italics when the text is in Spanish, without italics when it is in English. If the quotation appears at the end of a sentence, close the quoted passage with quotation marks, cite the source in parentheses immediately after the quotation marks, and end with a period or other punctuation outside the final parentheses.

Direct or verbatim quote in normal text of more than 40 words. If the quotation is longer than 40 words, the text is written as a block, without quotation marks, on a separate line, with a left indentation of 1.27 cm, without italics and double-spaced.

Recommendations for bibliographic references

 The bibliographic references will be at least 20. Ideally, 70% of the references should be from the last 5 years, except for those topics that by their nature are historical or are under review. At least 50% will be references to articles from university scientific journals indexed in high impact repositories (especially JCR, SCOPUS...), except if it is a topic so new that it does not yet present enough scientific hemerography. Up to a maximum of 3 self- quotations to works by the authors themselves are accepted. Only bibliographic references that have been cited in the text will be included. Since the world reference indexes are Saxon (JCR, SCOPUS...), a large part of the bibliography has to be in English. Entries referring to encyclopedias or dictionaries will be avoided. It is necessary to underline that the use of the references will be evaluated by the reviewers based on:
a) the correct quotation of the reference, according to the bibliographic style of the APA Style 7^th edition,
b) the use of current and adequate bibliography for the research topic,
 c) the use of international information sources.

CURRICULUM VITAE: at the end of the bibliography, a synthesis of the professional curriculum of each author must be presented, which must not exceed 120 words per author. You must necessarily include the identifying links of at least these platforms: ORCID and Google Scholar and we advise you to optionally submit those of: ResearchGate, Academia.Edu, ResearchID, Scopus ID, Dialnet, and Redalyc.

APPENDICES/ANNEXES: (OPTIONAL) Documents whose volume makes it impossible to include them within the text, but which are important for its understanding, will be included. Therefore, they will go after the text and separated, under this epigraph and numbered in Arabic if there is more than one.

Figures, tables, equations (NEVER IN PDF). They should be numbered consecutively according to the type (figure, graph, table...), inserted in the appropriate place within the body of the text of the article and centered. Overlapping or redundancy of information between figures, graphs, tables and text should be avoided.

• Figures: the following specifications regarding the definition of the images must be taken into account: .JPG in color (advisable) or grayscale of the photographs (halftones). The files in .JPG (in color -advisable- or grayscale), must have a minimum of 300 dpi. The title of the figures must be clear and precise, and like the source or origin, it must be mentioned as Source.
• Charts: The use of charts is suggested to reflect tendencies or relativized data. They should be presented in the simplest format that allows the correct interpretation of the underlying data, avoiding as far as possible the use of three-dimensional charts, highlights, and other elements that do not add a specific value to the interpretation of the charts. The chart must be editable. It should not be in image format, never in PDF. To incorporate an editable chart made with Microsoft Excel (.xls or .xlsx), after copying it, click on the paste special option and select: paste special, "Microsoft Excel Chart Object". The title of the chart must be clear and precise, and like the source or origin, it will also be named and numbered as Figures within the text.
• Tables: The title of tables should also be clear and descriptive. The font for tables should be Calibri 10. The source should be cited below the table.

Authors must compulsorily attach these elements in editable formats (Excel, etc.) as additional files, named as FIGURE 1, FIGURE 2... GRAPH 1, GRAPH 2... TABLE 1, TABLE 2..., to facilitate the translation and final layout of their articles.

Footnotes
They should be numbered consecutively and their text should be included at the foot of the page, restricting them to the minimum necessary. Bibliographical references are NOT accepted as footnotes.