Submissions

Author Guidelines

0. In order to submit an article to the journal, the author(s)/AUTHOR(s) must be authenticated by their ORCID.

1. Text. The text of the article is to be sent in a single document, including tables, figures, maps, notes, bibliography, abstracts and figure captions, as a Word document (.docx) with page size A4 (3 cm for all margins), single-spaced, fully-justified and in 12-point Calibri font, except the title of the article (14 points) and footnotes, tables, figures or maps (10 points). Paragraphs will be without indents and separated by a space. Headings must be numbered (for example: 2, 2.1., 2.1.1.). All headings are to be numbered and without indents, using the following guidelines: Arabic numerals, capital letters and boldface (12 points) [1. CAPITALS]. Tables, figures, maps, graphs, etc. will be inserted in the document, trying to place them at the top of the corresponding page.The editors will number the pages. The article must be between 8,000 and 10,000 words (including footnotes, tables, maps and figures).Tables, maps and figures should not exceed 20% of the number of pages in the document.

The structure of research papers (sections) should follow this model: Introduction, Theory, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. A combined section of Results and Discussion or Discussion and Conclusions may also be equally appropriate.

Abstract

Depending on the language of the shipment, a summary must be provided in Spanish / English, or French/English, Portuguese/English or English/Spanish. Papers written in English, French or Portuguese must include an abstract of around 125 words both in Spanish and English . A clear and concise abstract of around 125 words is required. It should briefly outline the objective, the methodology, the results and the main conclusions. The abstract should be presented independently, separate from the main text of the paper. References should be avoided in the text itself, but if essential cite the author(s) and the year(s). Likewise, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, although if they are indispensable, they should be defined when first mentioned, in the abstract itself. Once the article has been accepted for publication, another summary in English of about 1,500 words should be provided with the model of writing the article: "introduction, methodology, results-discussion and conclusions".

Structure of the paper

Introduction

The introduction should include: a statement of the subject, the state of the question avoiding a detailed review of the bibliography, the objectives of the study and a justification of the importance of the contribution of the paper to scientific knowledge, without being a summary of the results.

Theory or Theoretical background.

A theory section should develop, not repeat, the scientific background of the research, already covered in the Introduction, and lay the foundation for the research work being presented. 

Methodology

A detailed description of the methodology used (sources, data, methods, techniques and procedure) should be provided in this section. The entire research process should be presented to enable the work to be reproduced by another researcher. Methods used that have already been published should be referenced by a citation. The methodology used should reflect how this helps to resolve the problems set out in the main questions, hypotheses or propositions.

Results

These should be clear and concise. Tables, graphs, maps and diagrams may be used to facilitate analysis and interpretation of the results.

Discussion

This should include an explanation of the importance of the results of the study, and compare and contrast these with existing literature (through bibliographic citations); as the contributions of the paper to the scientific literature should be highlighted in this section and/or in the conclusions. Therefore, the results already presented in the previous Results section should not be repeated here. You are also recommended to avoid the use of extensive quotations and the discussion of published literature.

On the basis of the results, recommendations or implications may be incorporated into this section, limitations of the research presented and discussed and new lines of research suggested.  

A combined section of Results and Discussion or Discussion and Conclusions may be equally appropriate. 

Conclusions 

The conclusions should not be a summary of the paper; but rather it is appropriate to relate the verification or falsification of the hypotheses/propositions/main questions to the objectives and results obtained; highlighting, if it has not already been done, the contributions of the research. It is important to justify the interest and novelty of the work for the thematic area analysed or the scientific discipline the study has been approached from.

The conclusions of the study may be presented independently in this section, or as part of a Discussion and Conclusions section.

Funding

It is convenient, where appropriate, to make a reference, in a note on the first page, to the financial support received from research or administrative institutions (grants, research projects, EU projects, etc.).

Acknowledgements

Where appropriate, any kind of support received (administrative, technical, etc.) that does not appear in the funding section may be acknowledged in this section.

Conflicts of interest and authorship statement

All authors undertake to disclose any existing or potential conflict of interest in relation to the publication of their paper. Likewise, for articles with more than one author, the tasks carried out by each of them will be indicated. This statement will be made below in Comments to the Editor and will not be included in the submission file.

Annexes

An optional section that may contain tables and supplementary information to the main text; but which are important to better understand the research presented. The information contained in annexes should be cited in the corresponding part of the text.

The autor/s must be specified in the submission:

-The title of the article, both in: Spanish/English, or French/English, Portuguese/English or English/Spanish  Spanish/French and in English.

-A line that contains the keywords of the text in: Spanish/English, or French/English, Portuguese/English or English/Spanish Spanish/French and in English (from 3 to 5).

-An abstract of the paper in: Spanish/English, or French/English, Portuguese/English or English/Spanish. Papers written in English, French or Portuguese must include an abstract of around 125 words both in Spanish and English . A clear and concise abstract of around 125 words is required. It should briefly outline the objective, the methodology, the results and the main conclusions. The abstract should be presented independently, separate from the main text of the paper. References should be avoided in the text itself, but if essential cite the author(s) and the year(s). Likewise, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, although if they are indispensable, they should be defined when first mentioned, in the abstract itself. Once the article has been accepted for publication, another summary in English of about 1,500 words should be provided with the model of writing the article: "introduction, methodology, results-discussion and conclusions". 

2. Notes: Notes will be numbered correspondingly and will be at the foot of the page (10 points).

3.Citations: Citations in the text should follow the bibliographic reference style used by the American Psychological Association seventh edition (https://apastyle.apa.org/). For example: (Ruiz-Rodríguez, 2004, p. 33), (Jordá-Borrell, 2018; López-Fernández & García-Gil, 2020) o  (Vallejo et al., 2019). Their complete reference will be made in the References section.

4.References: Bibliographical references will be made in accordance with the 7th edition of the APA Style in its English version. The bibliography should include DOI or web link. References should first be organized alphabetically and then ordered chronologically if necessary. More than one reference from the same author(s) in the same year should be identified by the letters 'a', 'b', 'c', etc., placed after the year of publication. Examples:

Book:

Márquez Domínguez, J.A. & Jordá Borrell, R.M. (coords). (2018). Ciencia Regional y Andalucía a partir de la visión del geógrafo Gabriel Marcos Cano García. Un homenaje a su vida y obra. Editorial Universidad Sevilla. https://doi.org/10.12795/9788447221523

Book chapter:

Contreras Cabrera, G.A., Jordá Borrell R.M. & López Otero, J. (2016). Equidad y efectos distributivos de la política regional de inclusión digital en Andalucía. En F. Vera, J. Olcina & M. Hernández (eds.) Paisaje, cultura territorial y vivencia de la Geografía. Libro homenaje al profesor Alfredo Morales Gil (p. 457-480). Publicaciones de la Universidad de Alicante. https://doi.org/10.14198/LibroHomenajeAlfredoMorales2016

Article:

Jordá-Borrell, R.M., Ruiz-Rodríguez, F. & Lucendo-Monedero, A.L. (2014). Factor analysis and geographic information system for determining probability areas of presence of illegal landfills. Ecological Indicators, 37, 151-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.10.001

Presentations (papers, communications, conferences):

Quesada Ruiz, L.C., Rodríguez Galiano, V.F., Jordá Borrell, R.M. (2017). Identifying the main physical and socio-economic drivers of illegal landfills on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain. [Comunicación en congreso]. 15th International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology. Rhodes, Greece.

Doctoral thesis, Master's thesis,...:

Moreno Navarro. J.G. (2003). Análisis con SIG de la ordenación del transporte intermodal entre Marruecos y la Unión Europea. Bases para la Concepción Estratégica del Estrecho de Gibraltar. [Tesis Doctoral, Universidad de Sevilla]. Repositorio Institucional US. http://hdl.handle.net/11441/15194

Web page of a site authored by an organisation:

Instituto de Estadística y Cartografía de Andalucía. (2021, 3 febrero). Infografías. Confianza empresarial antes y durante el estado de alarma en Andalucía. http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/institutodeestadisticaycartografia/infografias/img/confianza/index.htm

Map:

Instituto Geográfico Nacional. (2021). Mapa Topográfico Nacional 1:25.000 [mapa]. Geoportal. https://www.ign.es/web/ign/portal/cbg-area-cartografia

 5. Tables.  These should be inserted in the corresponding place in the document in Word format, with Arabic numerals and a brief title in normal 12-point Calibri font. 10-point Calibri is to be used for the data in the table. The source is to be indicated in normal 10-point Calibri.

 6. Figures (photographs, graphs, diagrams…). These should be inserted in the corresponding place in the document and must be adjusted to the page size. Arabic numerals are to be used (Figure 1.) indistinctly for both photos and graphs. They are to have a brief title in normal 12-point Calibri and sources are to be indicated in normal 10-point Calibril. Figures and graphs must be presented in a form ready for direct reproduction.

 7. Maps. These should be inserted in the corresponding place in the document and must be adjusted to the page size. Arabic numerals are to be used (Map 1.). They are to have a brief title in normal 12-point Calibri and sources are to be indicated in normal 10-point Calibri. They must be presented in a form ready for direct reproduction. Maps with 1200 dpi resolution – SVG format. Images 72-300 dpi resolution.

How to send articles via the OJS platform:

Source: https://docs.pkp.sfu.ca/learning-ojs/3.2/en/authoring

Registering with the Journal 

To make a submission to an OJS 3.2 journal, you will first need to register a user account with a journal and log in (see Registering with a Journal). All authors must be registered. After that, when you login, you will be taken to your Dashboard.

Submitting an Article 

Start a new submission by clicking the New Submission button on the right side of the screen. You will be taken to Step 1 of a 5-Step process to upload and describe your submission.

-Step 1 

In Step 1 you will provide preliminary information about your submission.

If the journal allows submissions in multiple languages, you can select the language of your submission from the drop-down menu. Languages can be enabled in Website Settings -> Setup -> Language.

Select the appropriate section for your submission (e.g., article, review, etc.). If you aren’t sure which section is appropriate, make your best guess.

Read and agree to the statements in the submission checklist by checking each box. Include any comments for the editor, read the journal’s privacy statement, and then click the Save and Continue button to move to Step 2.

-Step 2 

On Step 2, a window will open allowing you to upload your submission file.

First, you MUST select an Article Component. This lets the system know whether the file is the body of the manuscript, an image, a data set, etc. This must be selected before your file will upload.

Once you’ve made that selection, you can then upload your first file. It is important to note that you can only upload one file at a time. Additional files can be uploaded later in the process. Typically, this first file will be the body of your manuscript. Hit the Continue button once the file uploads.

After uploading the file, you will be asked to review the name of the file. Use the Edit link to make any changes.

Click the Continue button.

Next, you have the option to repeat the process to upload additional files (e.g., a data set or an image).

Once you have finished uploading all of your files, click Complete; this will close the upload window.

You will be brought back to the Submit an Article screen where you will see the files you’ve uploaded. If you need to make changes, expand the blue arrow to the left of your file and make any changes using the Edit link.

Click ‘Save and Continue’ to move to Step 3.

-Step 3 

On Step 3, you will be asked to add more information about the submission, including the title of the submission (broken down into prefix, title, and subtitle), and the abstract. If the journal allows submissions in multiple languages, clicking on each metadata field will reveal the option to enter the metadata in the other languages that are enabled, allowing you to enter the title, subtitle and abstract in the other language(s). Scrolling down…

…you are able to add any additional contributors.

You can add more contributors (e.g., co-authors), by clicking the Add Contributors link. This will open a new window with fields to enter their information.

Hit Save, and the new contributor will appear on the screen.

If the categories are enabled in the journal you are submitting to, you will be able to select a category for the manuscript submission, if it applies.

You may also see additional fields to complete, such as keywords. If additional languages are enabled for the journal, you can enter the metadata in these languages. Clicking on the metadata field will reveal the fields for other languages enabled in the journal.

To enter keyword, simply type the word or phrase and hit your Enter key. The word or phrase will be formatted as a keyword.

Click Save and Continue to move forward.

-Step 4 

On Step 4, you will be asked to confirm that you are happy with your submission.

Click Finish Submission.

A box will pop up asking you to confirm you are finished. Click OK.

-Step 5 

Your submission is now complete! The editor has been notified of your submission. At this point, you can follow the links to:

• Review this submission
• Create a new submission
• Return to your dashboard

Once you complete a submission, you cannot make changes to it. If you want to replace the file you submitted or make other changes to the submission, you will need to contact the editor through the Pre-Review Discussions tool.

Dashboard 

And here is your submission in your Dashboard. You can see that it is currently in the Submission stage.

Over the coming days, it will move into the Review stage, and if accepted, into the Copyediting and Production stages before being published.

Editing Metadata 

In OJS 3.2, you may edit your own metadata at different stages of the editorial workflow. This will be dependent on settings granted by the Journal. You may either have global permission to make edits or have to send a request to the Editor to do so.

Changes might include updated abstracts, correcting spelling errors, or adding additional contributors.

To make edits to your submitted manuscript, click on the publication tab of your submission.

You will be able to make changes to any of the sub-menus on the left by clicking to those tabs. If multiple languages are enabled for the journal, you will be able to edit metadata in those languages by clicking on the language tab in the top right. Click ‘Save’ once you’re done making your changes.

When granted permission, you will be able to make changes to the following sections on the Publication tab: Title & Abstract, Contributors, and Metadata. While Galleys is listed as an option on the side menu, you will not be able to upload or make changes in this section.

If you notice that the ‘Save’ button is grey and inactive, this means you will have to request permission from the Editor to make changes to your submission or ask them to make the changes for you.

Responding to a Review 

Once the review process has completed, you will be notified via email by the editor of their decision.

After receiving the email with the decision, login to your dashboard. Select the manuscript you have been notified about.

Within the Review tab of the manuscript, you will also see a copy of the Editorial Decision under Notifications. Depending on the type of peer review the journal uses, you may see less information on the Review tab of the journal. The example below shows an open peer review which allows authors to see who the reviewer was.

To view the Editorial decision, click the link under notifications.

Based on the information in the editor’s message, you must now prepare your revisions.

Uploading the Revised File 

Once you’re ready to upload the revised file, scroll down the page and find the panel for Revisions.

Use the Upload a File link to upload your revised manuscript.

Use the dropdown menu to choose that you are uploading a revision of an existing file.

Then upload the revised file and hit Continue.

Check the file details and hit Continue again.

If you have any additional files to upload, do so now. Otherwise, hit Complete.

Your revised file is now visible in the Revisions panel.

Inform the Editor 

The editor will receive a notification about the new file(s) being uploaded. Additionally you can inform the editor via the Review Discussion panel as explained below.

From there, select the Add Discussion link.

Select the users you want to notify under Participants.

Add a subject line and a message.

Hit OK to send the message.

An email has now been sent to the editor and you (and the editor) can see the message in the Review Discussions panel.

At this point, the author needs to wait to hear back from the editor as to whether the revisions are acceptable.

Revisions Accepted 

You will receive an email that your revisions have been accepted.

In addition, notifications will appear on your dashboard.

The notifications show up in order of date, meaning the most recent one will be on the bottom. Click on it to open the message (which is the same as the email you would have also received).

Use the X in the upper right corner to close the window.

Further down your dashboard, you will also see a discussion reply from the editor.

Clicking the discussion title will open it up.

Congratulations! You’ve been accepted and your submission file is moving on to the Copyedit stage.

Resubmitting for Review 

If the editor’s decision is to resubmit for review, you will need to log in and select the article in your submissions page. The resubmission is done in the review stage, there is no need to start a new submission.

At the review stage you will need to do two things to resubmit once you have revised your document:

Upload the new file in the revisions section. To upload a new file click on ‘Upload file.’ A new window will open allowing you to upload your file(s). Select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu to indicate you are submitting a revision of an existing file.

Add a discussion to notify the editor that you have re-submitted.

The peer review process will be repeated, and you will likely receive additional revisions to make. Once these are completed and accepted, you will then be moved to the next stage.

Responding to a Copyediting Request 

The next step in the workflow is to inspect your submission files that have been copyedited.

You will receive an email indicating that files are available. To see them, login to the journal and go to your dashboard.

You can see your entry in the My Authored panel. Select the Copyediting link to go to the full submission record, including the notification in the Copyediting Discussions panel.

Click on the linked discussion to open it, read the message, and open the attached file.

Once you have read the attached file, you can respond to the copyeditor indicating any required changes or your approval.

If needed, you could attach a revision, but for this example we will simply approve the changes and hit OK.

On your dashboard, you can see that you were the last person to reply to the message.

Your role in the copyediting process is now complete and you can wait for the request to proofread the final galleys (e.g., PDFs, HTML, etc.) before publication.

Responding to a Proofreading Request 

The next step in the workflow is to inspect your submission files that have been converted into galleys (e.g., PDF, HTML, etc.).

You will receive an email indicating that files are available. To see them, login to the journal and go to your dashboard.

You can see your entry in the My Authored panel. Select the Production link to go to the full submission record, including the notification in the Production Discussions panel.

Click on the linked discussion to open it, read the message, and open the attached file.

Once you have read the attached file, you can respond to the Layout Editor indicating any required changes or your approval.

That’s it! Your role in the editorial workflow is now completed.