Guidelines for authors

Download guidelines for authors (Spanish)

Legal requirements for submitting articles

The RACE does not issue or receive payments for the submission, processing and publication of texts. The documents that are postulated for possible publication in the journal must submit the following complete documentation and the final version of the article through the OJS manager:

* Declaration of originality, This letter must be filled out with the data of the main author with the express authorization of all its co-authors, verifying that they all agree with this declaration.</p >

* Copyright Agreement and Declaration of conflicts of interest, must be filled out and signed with the data of the author and/or authors of the article.

* In the case of previously published material whose content is subject to copyright –graphics, images, photographs, artistic work, etc., whether by the author(s) themselves, or by third parties – A copy of the reproduction authorization must be delivered by the owner of the economic rights.

Changes will not be accepted once the process has started.

Technical requirements for submitting articles

For the delivery of the material, the following criteria must be taken into consideration:

* Submit the text in electronic format for word processing (sending PDF files will not be accepted). Use the submission template to send your your manuscript.

* We do not accept tables in the form of images, they must come directly from a program such as Excel or be made in Word itself, included in the text. The title of the table must be concise and directly related to its content.

* Figures (diagrams, graphs, photographs, drawings, maps, among others) must be in JPG format (or compatible), with proportional width and height. Figures that do not meet these characteristics will be returned to the author and the article cannot be submitted for evaluation. Figures of authorship other than the author of the article must indicate the source from which they come.

* Both tables and figures must be incorporated in the text, numbered in Arabic and in line with the text.

We will send the article to Editorial Review when the application requirements are met.

Editorial opinion

Authors who submit a contribution for possible publication in the RACE must submit – complete and in its final version – the documentation indicated in the section Legal requirements for submission. Once the editorial team confirms that the submission meets all the application requirements, the text will be sent for editorial opinion, which includes the following stages:

* We will value that the text is an original and unpublished contribution.

* We will verify that the proposed text is related to the Focus and scope of the journal.

* Credit a review under the Editorial Board-approved plagiarism detection tool (Turnitin), only after that it will be possible to continue with the following stages of the editorial opinion.

* We will check that the bibliography used is relevant, updated and duly standardized in APA 7th edition format.

* We will check that the text complies with each of the format indications indicated in the requirements for the application and delivery of articles, as well as in the guidelines for authors.

* In accordance with the editorial policy guidelines approved by the Editorial Committee, we will prioritize texts whose bibliography is delivered electronically managed and with active hyperlinks to the respective DOIs, where appropriate.

Once the proposed contribution accredits the editorial opinion, we will formally notify the contact author of the registration and start of the academic opinion process.

Content responsibility

By submitting the manuscript, we assume that each of the authors has had full access to all study data and assumes full and public responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data analysis. For this reason, the RACE declines any responsibility for possible conflicts arising from the authorship of the works published in it.

Anonymity in the identity of the authors

The RACE will take care not to include in the body of the article any information that reveals the identity of the authors, in order to ensure an anonymous evaluation by the academic peers who will make the opinion. After acceptance of the manuscript, all identification information will be included on the initial page.

Presentation sequence and article structure

Articles should be divided into sections in the following order: title in Spanish, title in English, full name of the authors (first and last name or as it is normally written in their publications) ordered according to the importance of the contribution to the research or in the preparation of the article and not in alphabetical or hierarchical order; ORCID ID permanent digital identifier of the authors; email specifying the corresponding author; resume; keywords; Summary in English; keywords in English; Introduction; Materials and methods; Results and Discussion; Conclusions; Acknowledgments (optional); Conflict of interests; Author contribution; Funding source; Availability of deposited data; Bibliographic references and Annexes (optional).

Title: It must be brief, explanatory and must indicate the essence of the work in less than 20 words. It should not contain the scientific and common names of the cited organisms. It will not include abbreviations or acronyms, except those known by the entire scientific public. It must not begin with a grammatical article, verb or action. Avoid phrases such as: Aspects of, Comments on, Research on, Studies of, Preliminary studies on, Notes on, Comments on, as well as ambiguities, dates, localisms and formulas. Titles written in Spanish and English should be included.

Abstract: It must contain between 150 to 200 words (100 for short communications and scientific notes), including: justification (brief introduction), objective, materials and methods, results and conclusions (main). It must be written in a single paragraph. The abstract must be written in the past tense. At the end of the abstract, five keywords should be placed in alphabetical order, separated by commas, that are not included in the title and that identify the content of the article. The written summaries must be included in the Spanish and English languages.

Introduction: It must include the research problem, its relevance or justification, a brief review of the updated literature on the subject under study and/or theories that support it (background of the problem), the scientific vacuum and must conclude with the purpose of the investigation. Argue the problem with reliable sources, preferably scientific articles less than 5 years old, and avoid the use of gray literature. The introduction must be written in present verbal tense. We recommend not exceeding 10 paragraphs, less than eight lines each.

In review articles, the body of the text may contain easy-to-understand subheadings.

Materials and methods: Indicate the geographical area or controlled area where the study was conducted. The type, level and design of the investigation, population, sample and sampling must be specified. Study variables. Describe unusual or novel methods and techniques, as well as the modifications used. Also mention the data collection techniques and instruments, as well as the instruments designed; If applicable, describe the validation and reliability process. Statistical analysis methods and software used in the research.

In this section, the writing must be sequential and in the past tense, so that the methodology can be repeatable. You can make references to tables, figures and diagrams.

In review articles this section will be called "Methodology" and in general it should indicate the bibliographic review protocol.

Results and discussion: Expose the new knowledge that the original investigation yielded, providing the information in a clear, objective and impartial manner without interpretive elements. Include the results obtained in the research that respond to the objective set out in the work. The most statistically significant results should be briefly described. Tables and figures can be included that expand the results without in any case duplicating or repeating the data and what is stated in the text.

As the results are shown, they are interpreted and analyzed, they are discussed, having as support other previously published studies, or using some well-founded criterion. You should discuss the results with the authors cited in the introduction, you can also expand the analysis with other reliable sources. They must be written in the past tense.

In review articles, this section will be called "Review Results" and written in the present tense. It is necessary to clarify the evidence supporting any key statements contained in the review, as well as the strength of the evidence (published trials, systematic reviews, observational studies, expert opinions). In those topics where the evidence is poor or of poor quality, it should be indicated. The body of the text can contain easily understandable subheadings and these can be written as questions.

Conclusions: They constitute the main point for future research, they must be written briefly, precisely and in accordance with the established objectives. It should also include recommendations for future research and the benefits of its results. Do not use hyphens or bullets to separate them, write the conclusions in running text and in a single paragraph.

Acknowledgments (optional): The people and institutions that advised the research should be mentioned.

Conflict of interest: Authors must declare in a letter (Legal Requirements) possible conflicts of interest in relation to their work. Authors who do not have any conflict of interest related to the subject of the work must also declare that “There is no type of conflict of interest related to the subject of the work.”.

Financing source: Items derived from funded projects must indicate the financial entity, including contract number, agreement, resolution, etc. Otherwise, indicate “The authors did not receive any sponsorship to carry out this study-article”

Authorship contribution: The RACE adopts the CRediT Taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy), that distributes participation roles in 14 typologies through which an author can have your acknowledgment in the publication.

Availability of deposited data: It must be mentioned that the data has been deposited in a repository, providing a description of the type of data, the name and URL of the repository, the identifying code and the data of the use and distribution license (more information see the RACE data availability policy). If not applicable, the authors must declare "Not applicable."

Bibliographic references: Minimum 20 references for original articles and 40 for review articles. All publications cited in the text should be listed in the References section in APA 7th edition, and vice versa. An important indication to take into account here is that at least 80% of the bibliographic references must be scientific articles and from the last 5 years. Minimize as far as possible the use of books, theses and/or web pages. Include DOI numbers or URLs in references if possible. The use of bibliographic managers such as Mendeley, Zotero or EndNote is recommended. Comunicar® has prepared a style manual with examples of the proper way to reference this standard and it can be found at https://bit.ly/2S3MflT.

Annexes (optional): Supplementary material strictly and directly related to the investigation.

Units: Only International System (IS) units and abbreviations should be used. Abbreviations referred to in the IS and/or non-standard abbreviations should be explained when they first appear in the text. Periods should not be used in abbreviations.

Updated: May 2024