About the Journal
Focus and Scope
Peer review process
Article evaluation criteria
Review evaluation criteria
AI Tools Policy
Open access policy
Statement of ethics and negligence
Responsibilities of the Editorial Committee
Editor Responsibilities
Evaluators Responsibilities
Authors Responsibilities
Plagiarism detection policy
Policy for the preservation of digital archives
DOI
Focus and Scope [Top]
SciComm Report (SciComm rep.) is a peer-reviewed, serialised publication that has been created to contribute to multidisciplinary scientific dissemination that impacts people and their social and cultural environments, as well as the development of technology that improves the quality of life for individuals and their communities.
SciComm Report is the official body of the Science Communication Centre of the Autonomous University of Chile. It is open access and uses a Creative Commons Recognition 4.0 International (CC BY- 4.0).
We are interested in articles that seek to understand how knowledge circulates in society in all its forms. The journal covers a wide variety of topics related to science, technology, knowledge and innovation and their ways of communicating it, from STEM (Science, Technology, engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines to social sciences and humanities. Articles addressing goals for transferring results from conventional research to the community are welcome, as are reports on systematic citizen science experiences and environmental, health, and technology communication.
Objective: To disseminate original articles on all aspects of science communication. Generally, we prefer analytical studies over descriptive ones.
Mission: To promote the professionalisation of science communication through systematic analysis of different forms of knowledge transfer and dissemination.
Vision: SciComm rep., seeks to be a space for academic discussion and multidisciplinary dialogue in the area of scientific communication between peer researchers and academics in the area.
Addressed to: Academics, researchers and professionals of any discipline who carry out systematic activities for the transfer of knowledge into society and scientific dissemination in any form.
The SciComm Report journal publishes, in a continuous publication scheme in Spanish and English, following the order of publication of accepted articles.
The sections include original articles, reviews, essays, transfer models and good practice and school research, which will be submitted to external arbitration according to the evaluation process defined for this.
The editor will evaluate editorials, short communication, letters to the editor, book reviews and communication of events of scientific or informative interest. These will be published in another section that will not be arbitrated.
SciComm Rep., does not charge article processing (APC) or article shipping charges for any of the editorial processes or publication.
e-ISSN 2735-623X
Peer review process [Up]
SciComm Report (SciComm rep.) submits all scientific articles that are received to external peer review through double-blind. The procedure covers:
Verify that the work belongs to the areas declared by the journal.
It complies with the publication rules of the magazine ( CHICAGO).
Submission by the editor-in-chief of the original manuscript to two external academic peers, who conduct the evaluation in double blind mode. Reviewers must complete the scorecard based on the stated criteria and conclude a) accept the submission, b) publishable with modifications, c) reassessable, d) recommend another journal and e) not publishable.
Article evaluation criteria [Up]
Title and summary in English and Spanish.
Consistency and clarity of presentation
Use of sources and bibliographical references.
Methodological rigour
Scientific relevance
Adjust to format and spelling.
With the evaluation provided by the external reviewers, the editor-in-chief makes the decision according to the following categories:
a) Accept shipment
b) Publishable with modifications
c) Reevaluable
d) Not publishable
Articles with a b and c rating must submit an amended version within two weeks. In cases where there is a dispute between two evaluators, the editor-in-chief may request a third evaluation and rule on discrepancies.
The articles are sent to be evaluated by reviewers who are experts in the subject and external to the research institution from which they come and the publishing organization.
When one of the two reviewers does not agree with the recommendation, a third is assigned and a majority decision is made.
The reviewers have 4 weeks to evaluate the articles and give a recommendation to the editor about what chances the article has of being published. This decision is immediately communicated to the authors. If the authors have to make minor changes, they are given a period of 1 to 2 weeks to resend the corrections; otherwise, the article would go to editing and production process to be published. The process time from an article is sent to publication ranges between 1 and 3 months.
Articles use the Microsoft Word format to make relevant evaluations and the OJS system through evaluation forms.
Review evaluation criteria [Up]
Check the thematic membership.
Compliance with publication rules
The document will be evaluated by two external peers in free format, in the box available on the OJS platform. As with research articles, reviewers evaluate globally according to the following categories: a) accept submission; b) can be published with modifications; c) can be re-evaluated and d) cannot be published.
Based on these considerations, the publisher will ultimately decide whether to accept or reject its publication.
For letters to the editor, thematic membership and compliance with journal rules will be verified. These works will not be subject to external evaluation and it will be the editor’s decision whether or not to publish them.
Policy on the use of AI tools by SciComm authors and reviewers rep.[Up]
SciComm rep., states that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT or vast language models (LLM), cannot be listed as authors in their publications. This approach is in line with the increasingly common view among academic organizations, such as the Committee on Ethics in Publishing (COPE), that these tools do not meet the requirements to be considered authors, because they cannot assume ethical or legal responsibilities for the work they create.
The authors of SciComm rep., have the obligation to assure the press and readers that their work is original, responsible and uses in an academic way the material of others. In case of using AI tools to generate text, images, graphics or collect data, authors should inform the editors and declare this use transparently in their manuscripts. This will enable readers to understand the role played by these tools in the development of the work.
Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscripts, including sections generated with AI tools, and must assume any ethical breach resulting from its use.
Finally, the use of extended language models or other artificial intelligence tools to assist in the peer review process is strictly prohibited.
Open access policy [Top]
SciComm Report (SciComm rep.) provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle stated by the university in its Rectory Resolution 103/2017, that approves criteria and procedures for the creation of scientific journals of the Autonomous University of Chile and institutional subscription to open access policies to the academic, scientific and general public communities.
The publication is free of charge and its contents are distributed with the license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The rights to the works published in this journal are the property of the author and he is free to distribute and disseminate the same sources as long as he correctly cites the source of publication.
Statement of ethics and negligence [Top]
SciComm Report (SciComm rep.) bases its editorial processes on the ethical code of the Committee for Ethics in Publications (COPE). It therefore sets out the following commitments:
Responsibilities of the Editorial Committee [Top]
The peer review process performed by SciComm Report (SciComm Rep.,) is done through double-blind and declared by the Editorial Board in order to let authors know what are the evaluation criteria. The Editorial Board will always be willing to explain and detail any controversy in the evaluation process.
Responsibilities of the editor [Top]
Ensure the selection of highly qualified reviewers with the least possible bias.
Evaluate exclusively on the basis of the scientific merit of the content, without discrimination of any kind (ethnic, political, gender, economic, institutional, among others).
Do not disclose information regarding articles received to persons outside the editorial process.
Maintain the confidentiality of manuscripts, their authors and reviewers, ensuring anonymity of the process.
Not to use the contents of articles for own research without the express consent of the authors.
Strictly comply with published times for the editorial process (14 weeks maximum) and a maximum number of lag between acceptance and publication, that is, no accepted article can remain as unpublished two numbers in a row.
Editors will take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of articles in which there has been misconduct in investigation.
Under no circumstances will the editor or editors encourage any improper conduct, nor knowingly allow such improper conduct to occur.
In the event that the editor or editors of a journal become aware of any allegation of inappropriate conduct in the investigation, the editor or editors will deal with the allegations appropriately.
Editors should always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary.
Responsibility of evaluators [Up]
Conduct a critical, constructive and honest review of the scientific quality of the article received.
Inform the Editor in case of conflicts of interest, refusing to carry out the review for possible bias.
Decline to carry out an assessment if it does not correspond to your area of knowledge or expertise.
Evaluate the work within the deadline. Inform the editor immediately if it is not possible to meet the deadline upon receipt of the request.
Consider each manuscript assigned as confidential, these texts may not be discussed with other people without the express consent of the Editor.
Evaluate in an objective manner, without making personal judgements about the authors of contributions.
Justify their assessments according to the guidelines established by SciComm rep. (available on the journal’s website).
Notify editors if substantial parts of the work have already been published or are under revision for another publication.
Indicate precisely the bibliographical references of fundamental works which may have been forgotten by the author.
Inform the Editor of any similarity or overlap of the manuscript with other published works.
Consider information obtained during the peer review process as confidential and not to be used for personal purposes.
Responsibility of authors [Top]
Submit an original work, which does not contain parts of other authors or other fragments of works without the corresponding reference.
Present truthful and unaltered data.
Do not publish articles in which the same results are repeated in more than one scientific journal, nor submit a manuscript simultaneously in more than one journal.
Provide in a rigorous manner the indication of sources and inputs mentioned in the article.
Include those who have made a real contribution to the article, ranking the authors according to their level of responsibility and involvement in the document.
Do not include other authors in the editorial process. It is not permitted by the editorial policy of SciComm rep.
Make available sources or data on which the research was based, in case of duly justified request by the Editor.
Explicitly state that there are no conflicts of interest which may have influenced the results obtained or proposed interpretations and indicate any funding of agencies or projects from which the research article is derived.
All authors are obliged to provide retraction or corrections of errors, in case of detection.
Plagiarism detection policy [Up]
SciComm Report, (SciComm rep.) has a plagiarism detection policy, which aims to ensure that authors comply with the necessary ethical standards to ensure a process of transparency in the publication process.
The journal’s editors perform the plagiarism detection process using the Turnitin software, and it is carried out in the first stage of editing (once the article has been received). When plagiarism is detected, it is immediately rejected and the authors are informed of the situation.
Similarly, reviewers are asked during the evaluation stage to report whether they detect any considered form of plagiarism in the manuscript.
When detecting research misconduct, the editors have the duty to inform the editorial board so that the necessary measures are taken: retractions, corrections, apologies, clarifications. Editors and writers should always be prepared to publish corrections, clarifications, retraction and apologies when necessary.
Preservation of digital archives policy [Top]
The specific preservation actions used for the digital resources of SciComm rep., will depend largely on the source and type of content, as well as existing technology, experience, and ongoing support. Conservation actions based on current resources can be broken down as follows:
Subscription-based resources:
As these resources are not owned or directly controlled by the journal, they cannot be administered by the staff of the journal. By contrast, subscription-based digital resources are managed primarily through an agreement with the publisher to use third party preservation services (such as Portico and LOCKSS).
SciComm Report, (SciComm rep.) will also continue its involvement in Portico, LOCKSS and HathiTrust, in support of third-party archiving arrangements for resources that are not owned by the journal. The value of participation in these and other similar services will be assessed periodically.
Resources created by or for and owned by the journal:
These resources will be managed in an integrated manner using the life cycle model. It is expected that all content of the SciComm rep., associated metadata will be developed in accordance with current standards and best practices, and are stored in a long-term repository within the journal infrastructure or in a consortium-based repository system (such as HathiTrust).
The journal provides a DOI identifier to each article it publishes.