ISSN 2215-3535
Online version

ISSN 0258-6444
Printed version

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

• Focus and Scope
• Peer Review Process
• Publication Frequency
• Open Access Policy
• Archiving
• Plagiarism Policies
• Online Submissions
• Author Guidelines
• Submission Preparation Checklist
• Privacy Statement

Actualidades en Psicología is an official publication of the Univesity of Costa Rica, and it is supported by the Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas which belongs to the same high education institution. Its main purpose is to disseminate the scientific production in every branch of Psychological sciences and related subjects. It is done by scooping original articles that show and explain results from bibliographical research and practical contributions. The magazine is available in spanish, english and portuguese. It is publishes every six months since 2013. This journal is aimed mostly to students and professionals in Psychology and related subjects.

We are interested in receiving original researchers contributions from international psychological sciences. These contributions should be researches that respect and stick to the highest ethic and scientific rules. The aim of Actualidades en Psicología consists in encouraging scientific investigation, discussion of relevant ideas for psychological sciences and the circulation of professional and relevant academic information for the discipline.

Papers presented to Actualidades en Psicologia are submitted to an evaluation process called "double blind" which is made by national and international experts outside the journal. The autors do not know who the reviewer is, and the reviewers do not know the authors.

Actualidades en Psicología publishes the articles as soon as they are ready adding them to the contents chart from the next edition, which is published twicw a year, that is, every six months.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

The articles published in this journal can be downloaded for free.

There is also a printed version that can be found in the official UCR bookstore. You can check on the prices and sending cost in this link: http://libreriaucr.com/catalogo/index.php?main_page=index

The authors do not have to pay for the publishing process.

This journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed filing system among the participating libraries, and it also allows those libraries to create permanent files of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes. More...

Actualidades en Psicología cares about national and international ethical regulations involved in the publication process. In order to achieve such purpose, Actualidades en Psicología relies on the international regulations from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and our journal also uses Google plagiarism detection technology.

If plagiarism is detected by our team, Actualidades en Psicología will follow the procedures stated by COPE. Such information is available in the next link:http://publicationethics.org/files/All_Flowcharts_Spanish_0.pdf

Some of the responsibilities that participants have are:

Editors: they must supervise publication processes in pursuit of the highest ethic principles. Also, they have to make sure that the articles are sent to peer evaluation, and that evaluators are people specialized in the topic. Finally, they must provide information about publication requisites and regulations.

Authors: They are in charge of presenting results from detailed and ethic research processes. They have to assume the responsibility for their projects. They have to provide a description of the research methods employed in order to give credibility to the data. They must not send the article simultaneously to other journals. Authors are required to reveal the funding sources and state any information related to interest conflicts.

Evaluators: They have to commit themselves to inform about possible cases of plagiarism found in the articles to be evaluated. The evaluators must check the articles in a meticulous and objective way; they have to perform such task in the time limit provided by the editors. Evaluators must support their observations and/or comment on the possible ways to improve the article's quality.

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Registration and login are required to submit items online and to check the status of current submissions.

1. Authors interested in publishing in Actualidades en Psicología have to send the articles to the journal Editor through the OJS system using Microsoft Word (*.doc, *.docx) or OpenOffice Writer (*.odt) formats. The document must have a cover letter indicating author's names, last names and institutional affiliation.

The first author listed will be considered corresponding author and will be in charge of the communication with Actualidades en Psicología. It is also necessary to include a written declaration of the authenticity of the article, a statement indicating that the article has not been sent to another journal, a statement transferring copyrights to Actualidades en Psicología, the postcode and the electronic addresses.

When corresponding, sources of funding of the research project should be indicated.

2. Authors will send a three-to-five line CV and their affiliation.

3. Author will provide electronic versions of the article via e-mail. Articles should be submitted in a single block (titles and subtitles without bold or any special font). Empirical studies, as well as theoretical and methodological papers, should have a maximum of 30 pages with font Times New Roman of size 12 with double spacing. Professional experiences and book reviews should have a maximum of 5 pages. Letter size measures 8.5 by 11 inches (215.9 mm × 279.4 mm).

4. The use of the italics and bold must be avoided to the maximum; this kind of writing will be used only if it is required for expressions in different languages to the one used in the article or to highlight some words or expressions. The use of foot notes is not encouraged by the Journal. Tables and figures must be attached at the end of the paper, each one in separate pages.The ubication of the table or figure must be indicated in the text. Authors might not make corrections to the final versions.

5. Working title and complete title (in original and English languages) must be provided in the first page. In the second page, authors will present an "Abstract" in both English and original language of the paper. Abstracts should not exceed 150 words, each one, and they have to be accompanied by 3 to 5 keywords. Abstract order must be as follows: purpose, methods, results and conclusions.

6. Regarding structure, format, style, references and list of references, articles have to be prepared according to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA).

7. Articles are checked in a "double-blind" peer evaluation process, which involves national and international peers. The Editor will communicate the editorial decisions to the authors as soon as possible. The Editor of the journal can reject any article that does not fit the standards, submission guidelines or ethical norms of Psychology science. Editorial decisions are autonomous and cannot be appealed. Editorial decisions are reserved to the journal Actualidades en Psicología, to its Editor and its Editorial Board.

8. Printing and reproduction rights are granted to the editor.

9. The retirement of an article is requested in writing and will be performed only after the editorial decision has been communicated to the authors.

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.

• The article has not been published yet; it is original, and it has not been sent to any other journal.
• The article format is Microsoft Word (*.doc, .docx) or OpenOffice Writer (.odt)
• Font letter is "Times New Roman", size 12 or 14. It is double spaced. Tabulation: Upper 3 cm (1 inch); lower 4 cm (1,5 inches); left 4 cm (1,5 inch) and right 3 cm (1 inch).
• The maximum length includes tables, diagrams, references and appendixes. Empirical work, articles and theoretical discussions 30 pages maximum, double spaced. Bibliographic reviews 10 pages maximum, double spaced.
• The article follows instructions on Authors Guidelines (document that you can find in the section About in this Website).
• If you are sending to a section of the journal with double-blind peer evaluation process, you have to make sure you are following the corresponding instructions.
• Foot notes are infrequent.
• The use of italics and bold is only to indicate the words in different languages from the one used in the article.
• Title has a 14 word length or less. From 3 to 5 keywords. Has an abstract in the original language of 150 words maximum length, also an abstract in English of 150 words maximum length.
• Titles and subtitles do not have bold format.
• Language used in the text is inclusive in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, national origin, sexual orientation and other socio-demographic relevant characteristics.
• Each of the next aspects is considered in the method section: participants, instruments, procedures and analysis strategies.
• When necessary, sociodemographic characteristics of the participants are clearly and correctly described. This is important because Actualidades en Psicología has international readers. Also, the procedures used to protect the participants and the way of obtaining the informed consent must be clearly described.
• When needed, measuring, data registration and construction instruments or techniques are clearly described, including the psychometric properties of validation and confiability.
• Analysis procedures are clearly defined.
• When needed, tables, charts and diagrams follow the instructions in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). It's presented in separeted sheets at the end of the text. Within the text it is announced the place where they are.
• A note adressed to the Editor including the name and last name of the first author and the other authors; their specific institutional membership (including the position they have there with the specific department, center or institute); 5 line length Curriculum Vitae describing their highest academic degree, institution where they got it and investigation interests nowadays; postcode and e-mail address. Also:

- Autenticity and originality declaration for the article.

- A declaration indicating that the article has not been submitted to any other journal.

- A declaration of concession of intellectual rights of the article to Actualidades en Psicología.

- When needed, a declaration of the auspices in which the research was carried out.

- When needed, a declaration of the academic forums where the article has been presented.

• References format are written according to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition). Every reference is cited inside the text and viceversa. Please follow the next recommendations:
  
  At the end of each article should be an ordered list of references formatted according to APA's Publication Manual at the moment. Thanks to this list, the readers can find the source of any information in an easier and faster way. General elements are:
  
  Citing a work by author:

When the author's last name is part of the text, only the publication year is included between parentheses:

• Pettigrew (2008) clarifies that not all prejudices come out of conformity to societal norms.

Last name and publication date are not part of the text, so both elements are included between the parentheses, separated by a comma:

• Intergroup prejudice consists of negative opinions against an outgroup without sufficient evidence (Allport, 1954).

When date and last name are part of the sentence, no parentheses are necessary.

Works with multiple authors:

When a work has two authors, both must be cited every time the reference occurs in the text:

• Thus, prejudice becomes evident when there is a perception of "role incongruity" (Eagly & Dickman, 2005).

When a work has three, four, or five authors, all of them are included in the first citation of the reference. Next citations include the first author's last name, followed by "et al." and the publication year:

• "Would you be willing to buy a car from a Turk?" is a question often asked in German surveys; and individual prejudice predicts the results far better than any other variable (Wagner, Christ & Pettigrew, 2006). (first time in text).
• Recent survey data reveal a relationship between the syndrome and a desire to avoid interpersonal closeness (Wagner et al., 2006). (second time in text).

When a work has six or more authors, only the last name of the first author is cited, followed by "et al." and the publication year, from the first time on; but, in the reference list should include all last names however.

If there are two or more works by different authors in the same reference, last names and publication years are written separated by a semicolon within the same parentheses.

• Two personality syndromes have been uncovered that are especially prone to intergroup prejudice in countries all over the world. The first is authoritarianism (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson & Sanford, 1950; Altemeyer, 1988, 1998).
  
  The list will be titled 'references'.

APA-styled reference lists maintain an exact relationship with the citations appearing in the manuscript's text. Include only those resources actually used in order to do the research and writing job. The list is sorted alphabetically by the author's last name, and the first letter of his or her given names are included; the list is double-spaced. Journal and Book titles are underlined; for journals, the underscoring goes from the title up to the volume number.

Other general elements:

Periodicals (journals):

• Author, A. A. (year). Article Title. Journal Title, vol., pages.

Non-periodicals (books):

• Author, A. A. (year). Book Title. City of Publication: Editor or Publishing House.

The names and e-mail addresses entered in this website will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose.