ISSN 1853-9912
online version
ISSN 1666-2938
printed version

Instructions to authors

• Scope and policy
• Form and preparation of manuscripts
• Sending of manuscripts

Palabra Clave (La Plata) covers all the topics that make up the LIS, in a broad and interdisciplinary sense, with a scientific, technological, historical or professional approach. It publishes original and unpublished research articles, short research notes, case studies, essays and review or state-of-the-art articles, in Spanish, Portuguese and English. These contributions are submitted to the evaluation of at least two specialists, through a double-blind review that allows the anonymity of both the authors and the evaluators to be maintained. Critical reviews and invited interviews are also published, as well as news of academic interest.

Palabra Clave (La Plata)  reserves the right to accept or not accept such contributions in accordance with their thematic scope and strict compliance with its editorial standards. The opinions expressed by the authors of the articles are their exclusive responsibility.

Peer evaluation process

The works are preliminarily evaluated by the editorial team in order to establish whether the topics covered fit the scope declared by the magazine. If you do not respond to this requirement, the contributions are rejected. The estimated time is 10 days.

When the first evaluation is positive, two expert referees in the area are chosen to judge the quality of the work. The evaluation system adopted by the journal is double blind (the anonymity of the authors and evaluators is preserved).

The stipulated time is 30 days. The criteria that the referees follow in the evaluation are the following:

1. Fulfillment of the stated purpose

2. Methodological rigor

3. Quality in the development of the theme

4. Style, terminology and expository clarity

5. Bibliography

The possible results of the evaluation are four, namely:

1. Accepted without changes.

2. Accepted subject to modifications (does not undergo peer review again).

3. Rejected, offering the author the possibility of modifying it and resubmitting it, subject to a new round of evaluation.

4. Rejected (the manuscript is returned to the author, together with the judges' opinions).

When the result is “2” and “3”, the manuscript is returned to the author to consider the changes suggested by the referees. The new version must be sent within a period of no more than 30 days.

When the evaluations are opposite, the editor will be responsible for sending the work to a third referee.

Once the work is accepted, the Editorial Secretariat edits the article and sends it to the author for a galley proof. The final version is immediately uploaded online, in the “In progress” issue of Palabra Clave (La Plata). This modality seeks to speed up the publication of works, reducing the time between issue and issue.

Plagiarism Policy

The journal's policy is to publish original works, written by those who declare their authorship, and unpublished, they cannot have been previously published in any printed or electronic media.

Given the limitations of automatic plagiarism detection programs with the Spanish language and in order to respond to broader aspects that are classified as plagiarism practices - including translations, fragmentation of results, duplication, among others - the journal implements a specific procedure to avoid it, namely:

1. When submitting an article, the authors are asked to declare that the article has not been previously published or sent to other journals for evaluation. In addition, they are asked to declare that they are following the Guidelines for Authors, which establishes that the articles to be nominated must be original.

2. Upon receipt -and prior to beginning the evaluation process-, Internet search tools are used to track down other works by the authors and compare the title, fragments of the abstract, the methodological section and the results of the article presented. to review, in order to corroborate originality and avoid plagiarism practices.

3. When sending it to be evaluated by peer reviewers, they are also asked to pay attention to possible indicators of plagiarism, since they are the ones who know the sources and literature on the topic.

Ethical aspects and conflicts of Interest

The publication of Palabra Clave (La Plata) is the collective result of the work and effort of authors, editors and evaluators who are interested in the development of science for social and cultural development. For this reason, and within the framework of the open access policy promoted by the National University of La Plata, the journal will not charge authors any charge for publication, with open access articles being immediately available.

The editors of the magazine undertake to avoid the existence of any conflict of interest between the actors participating in the production. All submitted text will be evaluated for its intellectual content, avoiding the ethnic or national belonging of the authors, their gender, their sexual orientation, their religious beliefs or their political philosophy from interfering in the process. Likewise, external evaluations that interfere with any personal position on the quality of the work will be rejected.

Authors and evaluators are asked to declare in advance any relevant conflicts of interest they may have, so they can be taken into account when assigning evaluations. If any conflict arises after the publication of the contribution, if necessary, a retraction or statement of the fact will be made.

A “conflict of interest” is understood to be the situation in which a divergence occurs between the personal interests of an individual and their responsibilities with respect to the scientific activities they carry out, whether as an author, reviewer or member of the editorial board, which may influence their critical judgment and the integrity of their actions. Conflicts of interest can be:

• Financial: when the participant (author/reviewer/editor) has received or expects to receive money for activities related to the research and its dissemination

• Academic: when reviewers or editors adhere to a certain methodological or ideological tendency in such a way that they may be biased in evaluating the work of others. For this reason, they are requested to express themselves in advance.

• Personal or work relationships: when the participants (authors/reviewers/editors) have some type of friendship, enmity or work relationship. To avoid this, editors should take into account the funding sources and affiliation of the authors, to choose reviewers who do not belong to those specific circles.

International guidelines

By analyzing the specific problems of scientific publishing practice, different international entities have taken on the task of agreeing on criteria and generating guides and documents that provide support to both editors and authors, including:

• COPE | Committee on Publication Ethics

• International Committee of Medical Journal Editors

• Council of Science Editors

• Office of Research Integrity (ORI) | US Department of Health & Human Services

The editors of the journal will consider guidelines and guides that have been agreed upon internationally to solve the specific problems of scientific editorial practice. The instructions provided by COPE | Committee on Publication Ethics . Likewise, guidelines from other organizations of recognized international prestige such as the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, Council of Science Editors and Office of Research Integrity (ORI) will be considered | US Department of Health & Human Services.

Authors, researchers and reviewers are invited to familiarize themselves with the international guidelines linked to publication ethics, specifically those linked below, to avoid errors that could be generated by their ignorance.

COPE | Committee on Publication Ethics

Provides guidelines to follow in the following cases:

1. What to do if you suspect a post is redundant or duplicate
   a. Suspected redundant publication in a received manuscript
   b. Suspected redundant publication in a published article

2. What to do if you suspect plagiarism
   a. Suspected plagiarism in a received manuscript
   b. Suspected plagiarism in a published article

3. What to do if you suspect fabricated data
   a. Suspicion of fabricated data in a received manuscript
   b. Suspicion of invented data in a published article

4. Authorship changes
   a. The corresponding author requests to add an additional author before publication
   b. The corresponding author requests to remove an author before publication
   c. Request to add an additional author after publication
   d. Request to remove an author after publication

5. What to do if you suspect the existence of anonymous, guest or gifted authors

6. How to detect problems with authorship

7. What to do if the reviewer suspects an undisclosed conflict of interest in a received manuscript

8. What to do if a reader suspects that there is an undeclared conflict of interest in a published article

9. What to do if you suspect an ethical issue in a received manuscript

10. What to do if you suspect that a reviewer has appropriated an author's ideas or data

11. Management by COPE of claims against publishers

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publications
Last updated: December 2017

Council of Science Editors
CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications
Last updated: May 2018

Office of Research Integrity (ORI) | US Department of Health & Human Services
Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing
Last updated: 2015

Digital preservation

Palabra Clave (La Plata) uses PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN). This storage system allows journals managed on the OJS (Open Journal Systems) platform to digitally safeguard their content by creating permanent journal archives for preservation and restoration purposes.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

Author Guidelines

1. Manuscript presentation

Palabra Clave (La Plata) (ISSN 1853-9912) accepts unpublished contributions in Spanish, Portuguese and English. All the manuscripts should be prepared with a word processor like Word, Open Word or compatible. In these last two cases, it applies to those authors whose mother tongue matches the language of the text. It is up to the authors to use inclusive language in their presentations. All manuscripts must be prepared with a Word word processor (.doc extension). The page size will be A4 (29.7 x 21 cm), vertically, with 3 cm in the left, right, top and bottom margins. The Arial font, size 11 will be used and the text will be written with line spacing 1.5.

The number of pages allowed for a manuscript varies according to the section for which it is intended, as follows:
- Original research articles, essays and reviews or state of the art: 15 to 25 pages.
- Research progress: 15 to 20 pages.
- Developments and innovations: 15 to 20 pages.
- Notes for discussion: 5 to 10 pages.
- Critical readings: 3 to 5 pages.
- Interviews: 5 to 10 pages.

2. Presentation

a.Title in the language of the text: it must be representative of the content, if possible not more than 10 words. If necessary, a subtitle of similar length can be added.
b.Translated title: if the title indicated in 2.a is in Spanish or Portuguese, an English translation will be added. If in English, a Spanish translation will be added.
c. Full name (s) and surname (s) of the authors.
d. Affiliation of each one under each name.
and. Email of each one under each name.
F. ORCID if you have it.

3. Summary and keywords

a. On a separate page, a summary of between 200 and 250 words will be written in the language of the text. For research articles and research advances, the objective, methodology, results and conclusions, duly summarized, will be indicated in the abstract. For other types of contributions, the main aspects covered in the text will be included in the summary.
b. Translated abstract: If the abstract indicated in 3.a is in Spanish or Portuguese, an English translation will be added. If in English, a Spanish translation will be added.
c. No more than five keywords will be added in the language of the text, separated by commas. Each word starts with a capital letter
d. If the keywords mentioned in 3.c are in Spanish or Portuguese, an English translation of all of them will be added. If they are in English, a Spanish translation of all of them will be added.

4. Text

a. Sections: research articles and research progress should divide the text into four sections: a) Introduction, b) Methodology, c) Results and discussion, and d) Conclusions. The other contributions will divide into the sections that the authors deem appropriate.
b. Tables: They will be numbered consecutively and with Arabic numerals. They will be referred to from the text (Table 1, Table 2, etc.). Each table should have its own title at the top. The column title will also be indicated in each column. Tables must be no more than one page long. In case they require it unfailingly, they must be divided into more than one table, repeating the headings in each one of them.
c. Figures. All illustrations (photographs, diagrams, graphs, drawings, etc.) will be designated with the term figure and will be consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals. They will be referred to from the text (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). The figures should be presented inserted in the text in image files (.jpg, .gif, etc.), of good quality.
d. Acknowledgments: not required. In case of including them, they will be done at the end of the text, before the bibliographic references and they should be brief. The authors are responsible for requesting the necessary permissions to mention the names of the people or organizations that, in their opinion, deserve recognition.
e. Abbreviations: Abbreviations will be clarified the first time they are used in the text, for example: United Nations (UN). From this clarification, only the abbreviation will be used. It is recommended not to abuse them.
F. Units of measurement: the units of the decimal metric system will be used. Units will be indicated by symbols accepted by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, for example: cm, m, h, g, kg (centimeter, meter, hour, gram, kilogram). Note that they are symbols and not abbreviations, so they do not end on the dot.
g. Numbers: every three figures counting from the right, the point will be used as a separator (2,284, 13,527). The comma will be used to indicate the decimal numbers (17.2 or 3,543.8). It is recommended to indicate only one decimal (35.7 and not 37.68).
h. Notes: Only the essentials should be used. They should not be used to cite bibliography. They will be entered using the “footnote” command.
i. Quotations: when direct quotations do not exceed 40 words, they must be enclosed in quotation marks in the text. In case the textual reference exceeds the 40 word extension, you must separate the text into a new paragraph with indented left (block paragraph) and without quotation marks. The paragraph will be started on a new line and double spaced from the previous one. It is recommended not to abuse this type of dating. More information can be found in Guía para citas y referencias- Ediciones de la FaHCE.

j. Bibliographic citations: the guidelines of the aforementioned guide should be followed, which is based on the style proposed by the American Psychological Association (APA) 6th ed. (see Guía para citas y referencias).
k. Highlighting: except for the cases indicated in this section, the highlighting will not be accepted (block capitals, underlined, bold, italics, etc.). The only cases allowed are the following:
• Section titles (Introduction, Methodology, Results and discussion, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, References, or others): bold print.
• Section titles: regular letter.
• Term defined in the text, neologism or term in a foreign language: cursive letter.

5. Bibliographic references
For the writing of the references, Palabra clave accepts the APA standards 6th ed. The list of references will be included at the end of the article.

6. Submission of the manuscript
The files will be named according to the surname format of the first author_year.doc. Example: Pérez Arboleda_2021.doc
Submission must be made through the OJS system available on the magazine's website. There, at least one of the authors must register and upload the article as indicated in the system steps.
In case you have any problem with this platform, you can send an email to palabraclave@fahce.unlp.edu.ar and from there the correct submission of the work will be managed.

7. Editorial process and evaluation system
The works are evaluated in a preliminary way by the editorial team in order to establish if the topics covered conform to the scope declared by the journal and if the article meets the minimum requirements demanded by academic rigor. The estimated time for this step is 30 days. If the result is not satisfactory, the works are not accepted. If the result is positive, two referees specialized in the area are chosen to judge the quality.
The referato system adopted by the journal is double blind (the anonymity of the authors and the evaluators is preserved). The stipulated time is 45 days.
The criteria that the referees follow in the evaluation are the following:

1. Fulfillment of the stated purpose.
2. Methodological and conceptual rigor.
3. Quality in the development of the theme.
4. Style, terminology and explanatory clarity.
5. Bibliography.

The possible results of the evaluation are five:

1. Accepted without changes.
2. Accepted with slight modifications.
3. Accepted with important modifications. Subject to new evaluation.
4. Rejected, offering the author the possibility to modify it and resubmit it. Subject to new evaluation.
5. Rejected.

When the result is "Accepted with slight modifications", the manuscript is returned to the authors for consideration of the changes suggested by the arbitrators. The delivery of the new version must be completed within a period not exceeding 20 days.
When the result is "Accepted with important modifications" or "Rejected with the possibility of modification", the manuscript is returned to the authors so that they consider the changes suggested by the arbitrators. The delivery of the new version must be completed within a period not exceeding 30 days. Subsequently, the article is submitted for a second round of evaluation, stipulated in 30 days.
When the evaluations are opposed, the editor will be in charge of sending the work to a third referee.
Once the work is accepted, the article is edited and a galley test is carried out. The final version will be published on the magazine's website in the next volume and corresponding number. Likewise, the authors will be informed via email and the OJS system.

8. Open access
Acceptance of the manuscript by the journal implies the simultaneous non-presentation to other journals or editorial bodies and the non-exclusive transfer of the patrimonial rights of the authors in favor of the publishing entity, which allows reuse, after its edition (postprint), under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You can share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform and create from the material of another work), provided that: a) the authorship and original source of your publication (magazine , publisher and URL of the work); b) is not used for commercial purposes; c) the same terms of the license are maintained.
The transfer of non-exclusive rights also implies, the authorization by the authors for the work to be deposited in the institutional repositories of the UNLP (Sedici and Memoria Académica) and disseminated through the databases that the entity editor considers appropriate for indexing, with a view to increasing the visibility of the publication and its authors.
Likewise, Keyword encourages authors to deposit their contributions on other platforms and networks, with the certainty that culture and knowledge are a common good.

9. Thematic scope of the sections

a. Dossier: calls for submissions of articles with specific thematic delimitation will be made in advance indicating their rationale and indicating the date and publication number.
b. Articles: they are original research articles, unpublished essays and reviews or state of the art included in the general thematic scope of the journal. They undergo double blind evaluation.
c. Research advances: they are exploratory works on a corpus, thematic balances that propose agendas or research areas or reflections on teaching experiences at different educational levels, formal and non-formal, as well as results of extension projects on topics in the field of science of the information. They undergo double blind evaluation.
d. Developments and innovations: they aim to analyze and disseminate novel experiences and applications in the professional or teaching field in the current context of the field of information science. They undergo double blind evaluation.
and. Notes for debate: they address current issues and / or lines of discussion typical of the area of ​​information science. These are works that, from their own perspective, carry out a critical analysis of matters of interest to the community. Above all, the originality of the proposal and / or the approach and the argumentative capacity of the work will be evaluated. They are evaluated by the Editorial Committee of the magazine.
F. Critical readings: they formulate a balance where the work on which the analysis focuses is inscribed. They also consider both their contributions and the research agenda that opens. Books, conferences, seminars, conferences, films and documentaries with a length of up to two years at the time of publication may be included. They are evaluated by the Editorial Committee of the magazine.
g. Interviews: contact with associations, groups, unions, and professionals linked to the pillars and / or current issues in the field of information science are especially proposed. They are evaluated by the Editorial Committee of the magazine.

Text that will be able to contain referring information to the sending of the original.