ISSN Print: 2304-2494   /  ISSN E: L- 2644-397X

Publication guidelines

 The CATHEDRA JOURNAL is a publication in printed and digital format, published every six months. It has free access and has no charge for authors, financed and edited by the Universidad Metropolitana de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología (UMECIT) of the Republic of Panama.

Its Editorial Committee requires the originality of each manuscript submitted for consideration for publication, which are immediately and permanently available for easy reading and downloading.

CATHEDRA, Journal of Law and Forensic Sciences, covers a specialized scientific subject matter in which research articles related to the aforementioned sciences are disclosed.

The works presented come from the constant effort of the community of researchers, students and teachers that make up the Universidad Metropolitana de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología (UMECIT) and from those scholars of Law and Forensic Sciences, interested in exposing the results of their research or their reflections on topics in the area, with the scientific rigor required by a peer-reviewed publication.

Editorial policy

CATHEDRA Journal covers a broad scientific theme and publishes research articles and essays. Relevance is given to quantitative, qualitative, and mixed studies, adhering to the methodological freedom of the authors.

Papers should be submitted through the journal's Open Journal System (OJS) platform (https://revistas.umecit.edu.pa/index.php/cathedra  

The articles will be submitted to peer review process by specialists in the field, independent of both the editorial team and the authors. This process is anonymous and confidential. For this reason, the parties will not know the identities of the author and the reviewer, respectively, and the editorial team will oversee the correspondence between them.

The Journal accepts articles in two languages, Spanish and English.  In the case of articles in Spanish, titles, abstracts, and keywords are translated into the second language.

Open access policy

CATHEDRA Journal provides free and immediate access to its content under the following principle: to make published information freely available to the public and to support a greater exchange of global knowledge.

The publication of articles is free of charge for authors and access to them is free for readers (open access diamond model).

Articles are published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, for non-commercial purposes, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon, provided that authorship is indicated, in which case you must license the modified material under identical terms.

Digital preservation and self-archiving policy

CATHEDRA Journal guarantees the digital preservation of its content through the OJS system and the digital repository of the University (REDIUMECIT) where the scientific and academic production of the institution is stored, disseminated, and preserved, available at the link https://repositorio.umecit.edu.pa/. Additionally, self-archiving is allowed in the repositories of the institutions to which the authors belong, with the obligation to include in their registration, the URL corresponding to the document within the journal and the respective accreditation of the author and editorial rights.

The Open Journal System software that supports UMECIT's journal portal is kept up to date in correspondence with the changes of the same.

The university maintains a specialized service that provides permanent backups in external servers and data centers, which guarantees a system of backup copies and preventive maintenance.

In addition, the archive formats of the articles (PDF, FLIP, EPUB, HTML and XML) are stored and converted, and the LOCKSS system is used to create a distributed archiving system among collaborating libraries, allowing them to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes.

Authors are allowed to deposit preprint, postprint or final versions of their papers in an institutional, national, or international repository.

Regarding interoperability, CATHEDRA Journal uses the OAI-PMH protocol, so that its articles and the corresponding metadata can be harvested by other platforms through the OAI URL. It includes Dublin Core metatags.

Ethical policies

All articles involving research on human subjects must adhere to the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki and other national and international bioethics regulations. The confidentiality and anonymity of the participants must be kept, so no data that allow their identification must be used.

The editors or members of the boards of the University's periodicals may request, at their own discretion or in accordance with the content of the publication, the opinion of the Ethics Committee of the University, in contents that justify it.

CATHEDRA JOURNAL will establish mechanisms and use specialized software to identify and prevent the publication of works where bad practices such as plagiarism and self-plagiarism, falsification of data, among others, are identified. In this aspect, the flow charts implemented by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, 2010) in its publication International Standards for editors and authors (https://publicationethics.org/) will be considered. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism are absolutely forbidden and will be removed from the journal regardless of whether they were published or during the editorial process, and authors who violate these rules will be banned. 

Copyright:

Authors publishing in CATHEDRA Journal agree to the following terms:

-Manuscripts submitted must be original and unpublished and must not be simultaneously in the process of publication in other journals, compilations, or any other means of publication.

-The content of the publications and the links suggested in them are the absolute responsibility of the authors and not of the Universidad Metropolitana de Educación, Ciencia y Tecnología (UMECIT) nor of the CATHEDRA Journal. They are protected by international copyright laws as are the logos of UMECIT and CATHEDRA Journal, hence their reproduction is strictly prohibited.

- The author authorizes the Journal the right of reproduction, dissemination, and distribution under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license in different electronic formats.

Guidelines for authors

1.  Manuscripts should contain the following data of the author(s): name and surname(s), ORCID, institution where he/she carries out his/her academic activity, city, country, and electronic address (e-mail). The author's academic information (academic degrees) should also be indicated in the footnote.
2. Authors submit their manuscripts with the understanding that the work has not been previously published in print or electronic form and is not under consideration for publication in any medium. An electronic plagiarism detection system will be used; therefore, by submitting a manuscript, authors agree that their work may be subject to scrutiny for plagiarism of previously published works. Manuscripts that are not in the proper format will be returned to the authors for correction and resubmission before being considered for the refereeing process.
3. Papers should be submitted in Spanish or English, given the international nature of the journal. The abstract must be additionally translated into English if it is written in Spanish. The length should be between two hundred (200) and three hundred (300) words; it should also contain between three (3) and ten (10) keywords according to MeSH, DeCS or Unesco Thesaurus, which should also be translated into English on the abstract page. The accepted length will be between 10 and 20 pages (this criterion is flexible within certain limits), with a Times New Roman font, 11-point size.
4. The writing should use formal, simple, and direct language, avoiding as much as possible the use of unusual, rhetorical, or ambiguous expressions, as well as the excess and abuse of textual quotations. The paper should be submitted with reasonably acceptable writing, punctuation, spelling and typing. If the paper has problems of any kind, the pertinent observations will be made and it will be returned to the author for correction.               
5. The document must be written in the third person or in the infinitive, except for works under the qualitative approach or written production that corresponds to works of divulgation or other knowledge, in which the total or partial writing in the first person will be allowed, according to the author's style.
6. In the main text, the excessive or inappropriate use of bold, italic, or cursive letters should be avoided, except for Latin terms and foreign words, which should appear in italic or italic letters.
7. The first time an abbreviation is used, it should be enclosed in parentheses; thereafter, only the abbreviation should be used.
8. If the paper contains tables, figures, or graphs, they should be numbered according to the order in which they appear in the text, with Arabic numerals, followed by a brief title. The source should be indicated at the end.
9. In-text citations and bibliographical references should be made in accordance with the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA) seventh edition. Carefully observe that all references are marked, that the spelling of the authors' names corresponds, and that the dates given in the text are the same as those given in the references.
10. This set of standards may present variations over time, therefore, the changes that are made in it, will be published on a date according to its implementation.
11. The editorial committee will always respect the theoretical orientation of the author. What will be evaluated is the coherence, originality, contribution to the discipline, clarity, and logic of the work.
12. Papers selected for publication will not receive financial or any other type of retribution. They will only receive a certificate of publication signed by the editor, if requested.

Types of scientific production in the journal:

CATHEDRA journal publishes research articles and scientific essays.

1. Research articles:

They are productions with primary category as: reports of empirical research in which, the advances or results, general or partial, of original research, in some area of law and forensic sciences, which have not been previously published, are made known.

Research developed from quantitative, qualitative, or mixed approaches is welcome. All manuscripts should make clear how the findings advance the understanding of the topic studied.

Research articles should have the following structure:

1. Main title of the manuscript in Spanish and English of up to 15 words.
2. Identification of the author(s) (See point 1 of the AUTHOR GUIDELINES).
3. Abstract in Spanish and English, written in the past tense, third person, and not to exceed 300 words.
4. Introduction, Objective, Method, Results (expressed quantitatively, qualitatively, or mixed, as applicable).
5. Conclusions.
6. Bibliographical references. The authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the references. The style will be according to APA norms (see point 9 of the GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS). Any unpublished sources and personal communications should not be included as references but should be noted in the text of the manuscript in parentheses at the end of the sentence they support.
7. It is essential that at the end of the Method section, a small section entitled "Ethical Considerations" is included, in which they should explain what concerns Informed Consent and indicate if any ethical protocol was followed in the institution where the study was carried out, as well as if all participants were aware of the purpose of the research and if their participation was voluntary. All work involving research involving human subjects should follow the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki of the World Medical Association and the authors should confirm, when necessary, that informed consent was obtained. Authors should seek approval from the appropriate body of their institution, such as Research or Ethics Committees, for research work if required. Care should be taken to ensure that there is no potential harm to learners or teachers involved in the work and that the anonymity of participants is guaranteed.

2. Essays:

It is a type of publication in which the writer expresses his/her ideology or thought, combined with an exhaustive theoretical/documentary review.

This type of publication shares with science one of its essential purposes, which is to explore reality in depth in order to get closer to the truth, which alludes to a person, object, event or particular phenomenon or social circumstance, standing out for a simple discourse but with a high linguistic level in accordance with the type of reader to whom it is addressed.

It includes works of: meta-analysis and critical evaluation of previous research, literature on some area of study of forensic sciences and law.

This type of work should, preferably, offer the state of knowledge of said object of study; or allow the identification of relationships, contradictions or inconsistencies and propose solutions for further studies.

Essay Structure:

It does not have a pre-established scheme since it depends on the author's rationality, however, the text must be characterized by coherence and cohesion, based on an investigative-reflective discourse, considering the bibliographic background of the topic and the knowledge generated by other researchers.

Submission preparation checklist

 As part of the submission process, authors are required to indicate whether their article complies with the following elements: (If not, the article will be returned)

1. The work to be submitted is original and unpublished.
2. The article to be submitted has not been previously published, nor has it been previously submitted to another journal.
3. The article should be sent in Word format
4. The text complies with the bibliographic and style requirements indicated in the GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS (https://revistas.umecit.edu.pa/index.php/cathedra/about/submissions), which can be found in the About the journal section.
5. The text should be double spaced, Times New Roman font, 11 point size; title in Spanish and English; abstract with a maximum length of 300 words and structured according to the type of manuscript; keywords (3 to 10) according to MeSH, DeCS or Unesco Thesaurus.
6. The text is structured according to the type of manuscript.
7. Citations (in-text) and bibliographic references follow the structure of the American Psychological Association (APA) 7th edition system.

Privacy statement

Names and e-mail addresses entered in the journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated by the journal and will not be available for any other purpose or to any other person.  The review process is double-blind, is anonymous, and the only person who knows the identities of both the author and the reviewer is the journal's editor, who is responsible for sending correspondence.

Arbitration and evaluation of papers

 The evaluation process applied to the articles submitted is as follows:

• CATHEDRA journal reviewers may be internal or external to the institution, national or international. They should not have conflicts of interest with the authors of the manuscripts. If there is any doubt in this regard, another reviewer will be sought. The names of authors and reviewers will remain anonymous during this process.
• Manuscripts received are initially read by the journal editor. Other editors may be involved if necessary (pre-arbitration phase).
• Manuscripts whose writing is not clear, whose information is not relevant or of interest to the journal's audience will be rejected at the pre-arbitration stage.
• If approved in the first stage, they will be sent to peer reviewers in the area for peer review. The review process is "double blind" so that the identities of authors and referees are not revealed to each other. The goal is to provide an initial editorial decision within 12 weeks.
• Accepted manuscripts will be edited according to the journal's style format and returned to the author for approval of the final version.
• Authors are solely responsible for the content of their research and the implications it may have from a legal point of view.
• The total time of the editorial process ranges from at least eight to 16 weeks. The detailed process is as follows:

1. The anonymous version of the manuscript is sent to two internal or external referees, selected by the Editor according to the subject matter.
2. The referees issue their opinion in the Refereeing Format of the journal which contains three sections: the first evaluates through a checklist the various elements of the manuscript according to the corresponding selection; the second is the comments and suggestions to the authors for each item of the manuscript (title, abstract, introduction, etc.); the third is the recommendation to the Editor for its probable publication: "Publishable without modifications"; "Publishable with modifications", "Not publishable".
3. Once the authors receive the results of the arbitration process, as well as the recommendations of the referees, they have 15 days to respond. If not sent within this period, the text will be evaluated as a new article, unless an extension has been requested.
4. The modified manuscripts are sent to the referees for a second review and issuance of the final opinion.
5. The Editor makes the final decision for publication or rejection. In case of publication dispute, the Editor requests a new arbitration or makes the decision.
6. The authors receive the final decision and a letter of acceptance of the article is sent to them.

Guidelines for submission of papers:

1. Papers should be submitted electronically by logging on to https://revistas.umecit.edu.pa/index.php/cathedra/about/submissions and registering as reader and author. The system will give you the option to upload your article for possible publication.
2. Once the papers are received, an acknowledgement of receipt of the manuscript is sent via e-mail to the author.
3. The Editorial Committee then begins the review process, following the steps indicated in the section on "Arbitration and evaluation of papers".
4. The papers received in the journal will be refereed by national and/or international specialists of recognized professional trajectory in their respective fields of research. According to the evaluation rules, the referees should consider the following criteria: originality, novelty, relevance, internal organization and content of the work, clarity and coherence of the discourse, grammatical skills, theoretical and methodological foundation, analysis and interpretation of the results, timeliness and relevance of the sources consulted and contributions to knowledge.
5. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to verify compliance with editorial standards before initiating the arbitration process.