About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Sinéctica is a journal specialized in education whose purpose is to offer to teachers, students, researchers and professionals valuable reflections, findings, analyzes, criticisms and proposals within the extensive field of education through the dissemination of unpublished and current articles that are the result of research Scientific or academic essays. It is published by the Department of Psychology, Education and Health of ITESO, Jesuit University of Guadalajara, and cataloged in the Index of Mexican Journals of Scientific and Technological Dissemination of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). Publishes in Spanish, English and Portuguese.

 

Sinéctica is open access and free for authors and readers. The published numbers are semi-annual and at the beginning of each month new articles are published which, at the end of the semester, make up the whole number. With this we achieve the relevance and interest of our readers by offering constant updated information.
 
Each number is composed of two large sections:     
  • Theme (through the calls)     
  • Open (items are received all year round)
All contributions from these two sections are subject to double-blind review, in which both reviewers and authors are anonymous. Likewise, reviews and interviews are published.
 
Thus, the profile of Sinectica is both thematic (by call) and plural and its scope is that it only evaluates, dictates and publishes articles framed in lines of research consolidated that have to do with quality and equity in education; Teacher training; Methodologies of investigation and evaluation in education; Public policies in education and training; Reforms and educational innovations; Curriculum; School organization; Attention to diversity, among other topics.
 
The objectives are:     
  • To offer teachers, students, researchers and educational professionals a space where valuable reflections, findings, analyzes, critiques and proposals converge to the different educational problems in force so that they can be useful to the intellection and generation of new knowledge.  
  • To contribute, through the management of high quality publishing processes, to the strengthening of the scientific, national, regional and international society dedicated to the study of the social sciences and humanities in relation to the field of education in its different fields, levels and Modalities.
The criteria of the editorial policy of Sinéctica are:     
 
  • Quality of the articles published: contribution to the best understanding of the studied phenomenon, with methodology and consistent theoretical-conceptual foundations.     
  • Originality and novelty: unpublished articles that are not in the process of arbitration in other magazines and that provide valuable knowledge and results.     
  • Compatibility with the scope and focus of the journal     
  • Opportunity and pertinence: to publish with punctuality subjects that contribute to the knowledge of current educational phenomena.
 

Peer Review Process

As a Mexican scientific magazine of arbitrated quality of the CONACYT, Sinéctica is committed to submit each proposed article to a strict evaluation process, in which each stage must be approved in order to go on to the next. Once the author has sent their article through this platform, they are subject to the following review policies:

PRE-EVALUATION. The Pre-Evaluation Committee carries out a pre-evaluation in order to verify the information of the document and check that it is in accordance with the criteria and guidelines of the magazine.

EVALUATION. In the case of being approved in the pre-evaluation, the article is sent for review to the Evaluation Committee based on the double blind method, in which both the authors as well as the evaluators remain anonymous.

The result of each evaluation can be:

A. Accepted without changes.

B. Accepted with changes.

C. Not accepted.

DECISION OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD. Is based on three evaluation scenarios:

a) If the article receives two failing evaluations, it is rejected and is sent to the author with the general opinion of the evaluation and the invitation to publish in the Center of documentation on education “Edu-doc” of the Psychology, Education and Health Department of the ITESO.

b) When the article receives an approving evaluation with changes and a failing evaluation, the author is notified that his/her document is conditioned for a new evaluation, as long as the changes noted in the evaluation report sent are made and it complies with the submission deadline.

c) If the article is approved by both evaluators, the author receives the evaluation report with the recommendations of its reviewers; the author must address them and send the modified text by the noted deadline in order to proceed with the publishing process.

d) The Editorial Board is the organism that has the final decision, which cannot be appealed, on the publication of an article that has been evaluated and, as the case may be, modified by the author.

It is important to consider that Sinéctica:

a) Preserves at all times the anonymity of the authors and arbitrators (double blind method).

b) Has an Evaluation Committee comprised by a broad range of specialists in the educational field, both at a national (the majority, members of the National System of Researchers) and international levels.

c) Establishes four months as a maximum period to provide an evaluation report, from the date in which a paper is accepted by the Pre-Evaluation Committee.

d) Does not commit to the publishing of all the collaborations received.

e) Does not offer any sort of financial compensation.

f) Reserves the right to select the articles that will be published in the yearly physical version.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle that free access to research articles and essays contributes to a greater global exchange of knowledge.

OJS editing and publishing process

Resultado de imagen para OJS editing and publishing process

Instructions to submit articles

The procedure that any author must follow in order to submit his/her article for consideration, utilizing the OJS platform, is the following:

 

  1. Register as a user in the portal of the magazine.
  2. From your account, choose the option to submit your article following five steps. (To see guides and support elements for the author, go here).
  3. Select basic information, including the section of the magazine in which you wish your article to be published.
  4. Upload the article (before that, read the information in the link “Guarantee an anonymous peer evaluation” that appears therein).
  5. Introduce the metadata. Ensure that you are including the biographical summary: academic degree and discipline, institution and department where you work, duties that you perform and research fields. In addition, add your mailing address, phone number, e-mail and, preferably, twitter, Facebook account and blog.
  6. Load the complementary files, should there be any, such as graphs, figures, photos and tables. The files must be uploaded in .jpg format.
  7. Confirm the submission. From this moment, you may follow up on the advance of your article and/or get in contact with the publisher.

This process is shown in the following video.

Important clarification: The reception of a work does not imply any commitment for its publication on behalf of the magazine.

Frequency of publication

Sinéctica is a biannual magazine that inaugurates issues in January and July, and incorporates articles on a monthly basis.

Every year, in December, it publishes a physical version (500 copies) with a selection of the articles published in the digital version. These copies are delivered to the authors and collaborators in appreciation for their support in the publication and are also sent to libraries and institutions both in the country and abroad, as part of the interinstitutional exchanges. In this manner, the magazine has presence both virtually and physically among researchers.

The purchase of a physical copy can also be requested at: sinectica@iteso.mx

Publication of articles in other languages

Since 2014, the work plan of Sinéctica considers the publication of articles in Spanish and English or other languages. Therefore, in the event that an article is accepted for publication in our magazine and the author is interested in publishing it in English or another language, the translation must be sent by the author itself.

In order to guarantee the quality of the translation, the authors must present written evidence (or a certificate) that the article was translated by a trained professional. Sinéctica shall only publish the articles in English or another language that comply with this requirement. The costs of said translation shall be absorbed by the authors themselves.

Citation of the bibliographical references

The bibliographical references are presented according to the APA style guidelines.

Specifications to cite within the text:

a) The author-date citation method must be utilized: the last name of the author and the year of publication are inserted in the text in the appropriate place. Examples:

-According to Bull (2004) or (Bull, 2004)

b) In a paragraph, it is not necessary to include the year in subsequent references for a study, as long as it is not mistaken with other studies cited in the article. Example:

-In a recent investigation regarding the reaction times, Walker (2000) described the method... Walker also found that...

c) If there are three authors, all three of them must be cited.

d) If there are more than three authors, the first one is cited followed by et al. Example:

         - (Orozco et al., 2004).

e) The corporate authors are fully written in the first citation and are abbreviated from then onward. Example:

         - (World Health Organization [WHO], 1994)

         - (WHO, 1994)

f) When the global idea of a work is referred, it does not require a page number.

g) When a work has no author, the first couple of words of the book or article and the year must be cited in the text. Italics are used in case of books, but not in case of articles. Example:

         - (Niños de la calle, 2003)

         - (La situación política de México, 2005)

h) The citations of two or more works within the same parenthesis must be ordered in the same manner in which they appear in the references list. Example:

         - (Morales, 1984, 1992)

i) The works of the same author with the same publication date must be identified after the year with the suffixes a, b, c… and so on. The suffixes are assigned alphabetically by the title in the references list. Example:

         - (González, 2004a and 2004b)

j) Two or more works carried out by different authors cited within a parenthesis must be placed in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. The citations are separated by a semicolon. Example:

         - (Balderas, 1980, Cardona, 2007; Funk, 1990)

k) When a work does not have a publication date, the abbreviation n.d. (no date) must be written after the last name. Example:

         - (Minor, n.d.)

l) To cite a specific part of a source, the page, chapter, figure or table must be indicated in an abbreviated manner after the year. Example:

         - (Bustamante, 2004, p. 60)

         - (Maldonado, 1999, chap. 3)

m) For references of interviews in the text, the last name, interview and year of the interview must be placed in parenthesis. Example:

         - (López, interview 2003)

n) To refer information without author, contained in a newspaper, it must go as follows: newspaper, abbreviated date, section page. Example:

         - (Panorama, November 7, 2003, pp. 1-3)

o) Laws must be cited with a corporative author and year. Example:

         - (National Assembly, 2000).

p) Personal communications must be only cited in the text. The initial letter of the name, the last name of the issuer, and the date must be provided. Example:

         - T. Godínez (personal communication, April 18, 2001)

 

Specifications to elaborate the references list:

a) All authors cited in the text must appear in the bibliographical references.

b) The reference of each cited author must be complete: name of the author, date of the edition, title of the work, location of the edition and publishing house.

Functions of the coordinator(s) of the thematic section

Each thematic issue published in Sinéctica has one or two coordinators, whose function is to propose a relevant and current subject in the educational field. To this end, they shall invite researchers, academics and specialists, who will develop it through various articles.

The coordinator(s) of the issue are academics specialized and up-to-date on the subject matter; they know the most recent discussions, main actors and authors, the scenarios and the bibliography on the subject.

Their main contribution resides in defining the central theme of the issue, with its limits and scopes, proposing the possible specialist authors and making decisions on the articles that comprise the issue.

The responsibilities of the coordinator(s) of the thematic section are, to:

a) Define the central theme of the issue and write a 250 words text.

b) Present a list of possible authors (approximately 15)

c) Invite the authors and send them the call for the issue.

d) Suggest the arbitrators that would be invited to evaluate the articles.

e) After the evaluation of the articles, make decisions, alongside the director and the publisher, with regard to the articles to be published and their order of appearance.

f) Write the presentation of the issue.

Dates for the reception of articles

Thematic section: each call is published at least six months before deadline, which ought to be taken into consideration by the authors interested in this section.

Open section: this space is kept open year-round without a deadline in order to receive articles with distinct subjects in the education field, as well as reviews.

Sources of Support

Sinéctica acknowledges CONRICyT – CONACYT (National Consortium of Resources of Scientific and Technological Information of the National Council of Science and Technology) for the support provided through eScire and the UNAM for the training, and technical consultancy and assistance in the use of the Open Journal System.