Process for editorial management

Receipt of the manuscript: Through the journal's OJS editorial management platform, the author sends a request addressed to the Editor-in-Chief, together with the respective files and the data requested by the system (metadata). The Editor-in-Chief reviews, in the first instance, if the manuscript is within the scope of the journal, and will assign an Associate Editor for the editorial process, otherwise the author will be sent the communication of the rejection of his manuscript to the author's mail. Response time: 1 to 7 days.

Evaluation by the Editorial Committee: The Associate Editor evaluates the assigned manuscript in terms of the formal requirements detailed in the Instructions for Authors. If corrections are made, they will be placed in the Pre-review Discussions section for the author to resolve them. Once the changes have been made, the associate editor presents the article at a meeting of the Committee. If it is accepted, the peer review phase will begin; otherwise, the author will receive a notification of rejection of the manuscript by e-mail. Average time for this stage: 7 to 15 days.

Peer review. The associate editor, in coordination with the rest of the members of the editorial committee, invites two or more external reviewers to evaluate the manuscript through the OJS system. The external reviewer (prior declaration of potential conflicts of interest that is placed in the OJS system) evaluates the quality and substance of the manuscript and may suggest: accept the manuscript, publish it with modifications, reevaluate it with modifications, or reject it. Average time for this stage: 15 to 30 days. (If a second review is required, it can be extended for an additional 15 to 21 days).

Correction of observations. The associate editor sends the observations and suggestions of the external reviewers to the author and the author must send his/her response (letter of observations) and the corrected version of the manuscript, the deadline for this phase is up to 15 days. With the corrections made, the associate editor evaluates and verifies that the observations have been raised and notifies the editorial committee; if it is considered that the observations were not correctly raised, a second round of corrections can be repeated by the author. Average time for this phase: 15 days.

Final editorial decision. In this phase, with the final version of the manuscript, the editorial committee decides whether to approve or reject it. In the first case, the manuscript will go to the "Editing" tab and in the second case, the author will be notified specifying the reasons for rejection. Average time of this phase: 7 to 15 days.

Article editing: The manuscript is adapted to the journal's style by the associate editor and the proofreader. The final version of the manuscript is approved by the editor-in-chief. Time of this phase: 5 to 7 days.

Design and layout. The final version of the manuscript goes to the digital design and layout process according to the magazine's style. Once it is done, a printing proof in PDF format will be sent to the author for approval (response time: 5 days), if no communication is received from the author within this period, it will be assumed as approved. Time of this phase: 7 to 10 days.

Closing and publication of the article. Once the PDF is approved, it is programmed for publication in the OJS system in PDF format. Time of this phase: 2 to 5 days.

 

For the definition of the articles for each issue, a meeting of the editorial team is held where the number of articles ready for publication is evaluated, 2-3 review articles, 2-4 original articles and 3-4 case reports are selected according to the number of articles ready. In case of special articles (images, letters to the editor, controversies, etc.), they are also presented at this meeting and the date of publication is decided.

As it is a specialty journal, the call for manuscripts is permanent through e-mail messages and the use of social networks (Twitter, Facebook). In some cases, direct communication is established in the case of review articles where the author is contacted directly requesting a review of a specific topic.