About the Journal

 

Background information

Foro: Law Journal is an academic Journal of Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador campus, and edited continuously since November 2003. The Journal receives and reviewed original articles in Spanish and English.

The Journal is bi-annual peer-reviewed law Journal open to the international community and specializes in reflections from an interdisciplinary perspective about advances in legal. Thus, the Journal seeks to attend to a large demand for knowledge and legal investigation through the results of academic research of the highest quality.

Foro: Law Journal, it es aimed at students, researchers and professionals interested in both law and interdisciplinary critical analysis, and those who investigate legal problems in the regional and global context. FORO is a double-blind peer-reviewed academic review using the Deusto Chicago Style Manual citation standards.

The Journal is edited in Spanish in two versions: printed (ISSN: 1390-2466) and electronic (e-ISSN: 2631-2484). Additionally, every work is identified with a Digital Object Identifier System (DOI).

The publication of articles in Foro: Law Journal is completely free.

Focus and scope

2.1. Focus

Foro: Law Journal  has two sections: 

  1. Monograph section: contributions for this section address a thematic line of the current call for papers. This section is coordinated by experts in the topics, such as subject editors

  2. Open section: varied contributions within the following thematic lines of the Journal: 

  • Pluralism, diversity and non-discrimination
  • Law, justice and society
  • Economic constitution, market and globalization
  • Critical theories of law
  • State, public administration and democracy

2.2. Scope

Submissions should be original unpublished work and not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The manuscripts are 5 to 6 thousand words long, counting the body of the article and the citations in the footnote and the references. In addition, the manuscript will have a minimum  of 30 references, between doctrinal and jurisprudential.

Contributions to this Journal may be:

  • Academic articles, resulting from research projects which respond to national, regional and international legal problems. The articles reflect a deep analysis and a critical reflection on the thematic lines of the Journal.
  • Analyses of current or emblematic case-law that are related to with the thematic lines of the Journal. Some elements that authors could highlight include: legal problems tackled, arguments from the parties, the reasoning/argumentative methods and critical analysis of the ratio decidendi.

Publication frequency and deadline

3.1. Publication frequency

The Journal is published every 6 months, in January and July.

3.2. Deadline for submission of articles

Manuscripts for both sections must be submitted until the deadline established in the current call for papers

Double-blind peer-review evaluation process

Manuscripts should be submitted to the Journal via the OJS platform (https://bit.ly/33yPkxU). Foro acknowledges receipt of the works sent by the authors and informs them about the estimation/rejection and acceptance/rejection process, as well as, in case of acceptance, the editing process.

The complete publication guidelines are available on the website:

The editorial process is led by the Editorial Committee. This committee consists of the journal's editors and the thematic editors, two experts in the issue's topic. The function of the Editorial Committee is to guide and supervise the entire editorial process. Additionally, it analyzes the reports of external reviewers and makes a decision on the publication of the articles.

Within a maximum period of 30 days after the call for papers closes, each author receives a notification of receipt, indicating whether the work is preliminarily accepted or rejected for academic peer review. If the manuscript has formal deficiencies or does not fall within the thematic focus of the journal, the Editorial Committee will reject the work with no option for resubmission. Conversely, if it has superficial formal deficiencies, it will be returned to the author for correction before the review process begins.

Manuscripts that pass the preliminary review phase are anonymously reviewed by two external academic evaluators, experts in the topic, under the double-blind peer review methodology. At all times, the anonymity of the reviewers and the author is maintained. External peers apply the manuscript evaluation protocol, which contains qualitative and quantitative parameters. The external double-blind review process takes a maximum of 100 days.

All authors receive anonymized external scientific evaluation reports of their manuscript, so they can make (if necessary) the appropriate improvements or responses. Works that are positively evaluated and require modifications (both minor and major) are sent to the authors, who have a maximum period of 5 days to return the article incorporating the corresponding improvements. In case of discrepancies in the peer review results, the article is sent to a third anonymous external expert.

Based on the analysis of the external evaluation reports and the adjusted articles by the authors, the Editorial Committee of the journal meets to decide on the articles that will be accepted for publication or rejected.

Within a maximum period of three months, the Editorial Committee of the journal notifies the author of its decision. Accepted articles undergo a final review for form, never for content.

Articles rejected during the editorial process of a call for papers cannot be reconsidered for the journal.

The review and publication process does not incur any cost for the authors.

Open acces policy

Foro: Law Journal maintains its commitment to Open Access policies for scientific information, considering that scientific publications and research financed with public funds should circulate freely on the internet, free of charge, and without restrictions.

  • Foro: Law Journal is of free and open access for both readers and authors, providing immediate access to its content after its publication.
  • All expenses, supplies and financing of Foro: Law Journal is funded by the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Ecuador.
  • No payment is required to publish or access the material:
    • The authors can reuse and archive their post-print articles in databases, directories, repositories, etc.
    • The readers can freely download, read, print, distribut, quote and archive all the articles without restrictions after publication.
  • Authors retain the copyright and grant Foro the right of the first publication. Manuscripts are registrated under the Creative Commons License 4.0 “Non-Commercial Recognition-Equal Sharing 4.0” which allows:
    • Sharing: copying and redistributing the material in any media or format.
    • Adaptation: remixing, transforming and constructing from the material.

        Under the following terms:

    • Credit: you should adequately give credit, provide a link to the license and indicate if changes have been made. You can do this in any reasonable way, but without implying that you or its use are supported by the licensor.
    • Non-commercial: you cannot use the material for commercial purposes.
    • Equal sharing: if you remix, transform or create something new from the material, you should distribute your contribution under the same license as the original.
    • There are no additional restrictions: you cannot apply legal terms nor technological measures which legally restrict others from using the material in any way permitted by the license
  • Authors may implement other independent and additional contractual agreements for the distribution of the article published in this Journal (e.g., including it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as authors clearly indicate in the new publication that the manuscritpt was published for the first time in Foro: Law Journal. In case of reproduction, a note similar to the following must be included: This manuscript was originally published in Foro, Law Journal N ° -, year of publication.

Ethical policies

Foro: Law Journaladheres to the standards of good editorial conduct set forth by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Some of these norms are detailed below:

Ethical practices for authors:

  • Originality and plagiarism: Authors submitting to the journal ensure that their work is original, unpublished, and free of alterations, and that it does not contain parts from other authors or previously published works (self-plagiarism). Furthermore, they confirm the accuracy of the data, ensuring that consulted data has not been altered to achieve the manuscript's central objectives.
  • Exclusive submission: Authors commit to not simultaneously submitting the same article to multiple journals for evaluation.
  • Multiple and/or repetitive publications: Authors must not publish articles that repeat the same results in more than one scientific journal. Additionally, they ensure that the manuscript has not been previously published, in whole or in part, in English or any other language, except as an abstract, part of a published conference, or academic thesis. The simultaneous proposal of the same contribution to multiple scientific journals is considered ethically incorrect and reprehensible.
  • Source list: Authors must always provide correct attribution of sources and contributions cited in the article. All copyrighted material has been duly credited in the manuscript.
  • Graphics or tables: If the presentation includes graphics or tables that have been previously published, the author must have obtained written permission from the original copyright holder to reproduce these elements in both online and print publications of the journal.
  • Authorship: Regarding manuscript authorship, authors guarantee the inclusion of all individuals who have made a significant scientific and intellectual contribution, both in the conceptualization and planning of the work, as well as in the interpretation of results and drafting of the manuscript. Authors are also ranked according to their level of responsibility and involvement.
  • Conflict of interest and disclosure: All authors are required to explicitly declare that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results obtained or the proposed interpretations. Authors must also disclose any funding from agencies and/or projects from which the research article arises.
  • Errors in published articles: When an author identifies a significant error or inaccuracy in their article, they must immediately inform the journal's editors and provide all necessary information to list the relevant corrections at the bottom of the same article.
  • Responsibility: All authors accept responsibility for what has been written. The content of articles published in FORO, Revista de Derecho, is the sole responsibility of the authors. Authors also commit to conducting a review of the most current and relevant scientific literature on the analyzed topic, considering pluralistically the different knowledge currents.
  • Collaboration: Authors commit to promptly delivering corrections and suggestions from reviewers.

Ethical practices for reviewers:

  • Contribution to editorial decision-making: Peer review is a procedure that helps editors make decisions on proposed articles and allows authors to improve their submitted contributions for publication. Reviewers undertake to conduct a critical, honest, constructive, and unbiased review of both the scientific quality and literary quality of the manuscript in their field of knowledge and expertise.
  • Respect for deadlines: Reviewers who do not feel competent in the subject matter to be reviewed or cannot complete the evaluation within the scheduled time must immediately notify the editors. Reviewers commit to evaluating manuscripts as quickly as possible to meet delivery deadlines, as FORO maintains limited and inflexible manuscript custody limits out of respect for authors and their work.
  • Confidentiality: Each assigned manuscript must be considered confidential. Therefore, these texts should not be discussed with others without the express consent of the editors.
  • Objectivity: Peer review will be conducted objectively. Personal judgments about the authors of contributions are not considered appropriate. Evaluation reports are submitted using the review template provided, substantiating the assessments that have led to their decision. Reviewers are obligated to notify editors if substantial parts of the work have already been published or are under review for another publication.
  • Text display: Reviewers commit to accurately indicating the bibliographic references of possibly overlooked fundamental works by the author. Reviewers must also inform editors of any similarity or overlaps of the manuscript with other published works.
  • Conflict of interest and disclosure: Confidential information or information obtained during the peer review process must be considered confidential and cannot be used for personal purposes. Reviewers only review a manuscript if there are no conflicts of interest.

Evaluation is always conducted anonymously. If, for any reason, the identity of the authors, their institutional affiliations, or any other data that could jeopardize the anonymity of the document has been compromised, the reviewer immediately notifies the editors.

Editors' commitment

  • Publication decision: Editors will ensure the selection of the most qualified and specialized reviewers with scientific competence to provide a critical and expert assessment of the work, with minimal bias.
  • Honesty: Editors evaluate submitted articles for publication solely on the basis of the scientific merit of their content, without discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, or political opinion of the authors.
  • Confidentiality: Editors and members of the editorial team commit to not disclose information regarding articles submitted for publication to individuals other than authors, reviewers, and editors. Editors and the Editorial Board pledge confidentiality regarding manuscripts, their authors, and reviewers, preserving anonymity to uphold the intellectual integrity of the entire process.
  • Conflict of interest and disclosure: Editors commit to not using contents of articles submitted for publication in their research without written consent from the author.
  • Respect for deadlines: Editors are ultimately responsible for meeting time limits for reviews and publication of accepted works to ensure rapid dissemination of their results

Digital preservation policies

Foro: Law Journal, establishes two means of preserving its publications:

Anti-plagiarism policies

In order to guarantee the originality of the articles that arrive at the Journal, all are analyzed by the Turnitin system which allows for the prevention of plagiarism and guarantees that the received works are original.

Articles with a high percentage of similarity with other texts published or available online will be rejected.

Promotion and dissemination of manuscripts

  • Authors are expected to promote their own manuscripts once published, as well as the Journal itself.
  • Foro encourages authors and the scientific community to generate the maximum promotion and dissemination of the final version of their work through:
    1) Contact (e-mails) and social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…).
    2) Institutional repository of their own University and public repositories (Mendeley…).
    3) Scientific social networks (Academia.edu, ResearchGate, Kudos…).
    4) The authors’ own websites or institutional website, blog, etc.
    5) Google Scholar, ORCID, ResearchID, ScopusID, Dimensions, PlumX...
    6) Printed copies and sent to experts for further reading and citation if necessary.

Interoperability Protocols

Foro: Law Journal incorporates the OAI-PMH interoperability protocol, which allows its content to be harvested by other distribution systems, such as digital repositories and harvesters.

OAI-PMH Path: https://revistas.uasb.edu.ec/index.php/foro/oai