Publication Stages
STAGE 1: MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION
The manuscript or proposal submission process can be completed as indicated in Interested in publishing in RIC? Submissions via email or other means are not accepted.
Responsable: Corresponding author or research leader.
Deadline: Once these steps have been initiated, submissions must be made within a maximum of 14 days. For security reasons, incomplete submissions are deleted from the platform after this time.
End: Complete submission by the author and received on the platform.
STAGE 2: PRELIMINARY REVIEW
Once the manuscript has been assigned to one of the editors, the manuscript is reviewed for compliance with the journal's thematic focus and its general compliance with the Instructions for Authors and Section Policies is reviewed. It is also verified whether the author(s) have published in the current issue. In accordance with our journal's Anti-Plagiarism Policy, the manuscript is submitted to the available plagiarism detection tools, the percentage of similarity with web texts, and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Manuscripts of low quality, of little interest to the Editorial Board, of ethical noncompliance or malpractice, proven plagiarism, or lacking any required information will be immediately rejected.
Responsable: Director, Editor-in-Chief
Deadline: One day to assign an editor, three days for preliminary review.
End: Submission for peer review, if the above requirements are met, or notification of Not Publishable.
STAGE 3: PEER REVIEW
The external peer reviewer is selected, taking into account the reviewers' expertise and awareness of potential conflicts of interest. All manuscripts undergo a double-blind peer review process. However, the journal also implements open review, in accordance with the principles of Open Science and with the prior authorization of the authors and reviewers. The possible decisions are: Accept the submission, Publishable with modifications, Resubmit for revision, and Not Publishable. Details of the process can be found in the Peer Review Process.
Responsable: Director, Reviewers.
Deadline: Three days to select reviewers, one week to check reviewer availability, 4 to 8 weeks for evaluation.
End: Reviewer reports from as many rounds as necessary.
STAGE 4: EDITOR'S REVIEW
For manuscripts with a decision of Publishable with Modifications or Resubmit for Review, the author is requested to make adjustments if they have received comments or feedback from the reviewers. At this stage, given the circumstances, authors must: improve figures and graphs, complete reference data or the reference list with suggestions from the reviewers or Editor, adjust the citation according to the journal's standards, correct or add keywords according to Descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS), send supplementary files if requested as stated in the Research Data Deposition Policy, view or update ORCID profiles, among others. This is the final instance in which any additions, rearrangements, or deletions to the author list or affiliations omitted from the manuscript are accepted.
Responsable: Editor-in-Chief, Author.
Deadline: One week for editor's review, no more than 15 business days.
End: The author will address the observations within a period of time proportional to their complexity and submit a modified version, which will be subject to further evaluation.
STAGE 5: DIRECTOR`S DECISION
Proposals accepted through peer review and the authors' revised versions ratified by the Editor are reviewed by the Editor. In some cases, the Editor, an Associate Editor, or a Guest Editor are delegated to review. If an editor has a conflict of interest, they are excluded from the decision. The criteria to be taken into account in the decision are: whether the reviewers are qualified and appropriate to review the manuscript; whether the comments were thorough and relevant; whether the authors responded appropriately to the comments; and whether the manuscript meets the standards for publication in the journal. At this stage, the manuscript is re-evaluated for plagiarism. The decision, whether acceptance or rejection, will always be communicated to the author and must be respectful and justified, especially in the case of rejection. The decision made by the RIC Editorial Committee is final, unless serious problems have arisen during the publication process, which must be duly justified.
Responsables: Director, Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board, Associate Editor, Guest Editor.
Deadline: 1 week for review by the Director and Editor.
End: Upon receipt of the submission, the author is notified and the submission is submitted to the Publisher.
STAGE 6: PRODUCTION
This stage includes reviewing and verifying metadata (authors' names, ORCID, institutional affiliations according to the Research Organization Registry, email addresses); grammar, clarity, cohesion, and consistency are corrected to improve communication (editing); the journal's languages are reviewed or translated (translation); pre-submission to Zenodo is completed to obtain the DOI; the article is designed according to the journal's visual style (PDF layout) and XML markup for SciELO is developed (markup); as well as conversion to other formats (EPUB). This process is carried out internally. Before publication, authors have one last opportunity to review the final version and only make minor corrections (proofreading).
Responsables: Editor-in-Chief, Proofreader, Indexer, Translator, Markup Editor.
Deadline: 1 week for layout, proofreading, translation; Three days for the author to approve the final version of the proposed version.
Fim: Articles published in all galley proofs (PDF, XML, EPUB) and languages (Spanish and English or Portuguese).
STAGE 7: QUALITY CONTROL
The process is strictly compliant with editorial ethics, compliance with the editorial process, and standardized evaluation. In addition to structural quality control during the markup process, RIC uses MetaMetrics software, which adheres to the Manual de indización en OJS: Buenas prácticas para la región latinoamericana. This is an article-level metadata validator that assesses the adequacy, consistency, and accuracy of the articles. In this stage, the necessary details are adjusted for optimal indexing.
Responsables: Director, Editor-in-Chief, Indexer.
Deadline: One day.
End: Metadata corrections made, if necessary.
STAGE 8: INDEXING
Indexing in the DOAJ database and submission of XML files to SciELO and Redalyc.
Responsables: Editor-in-Chief, Indexer.
Deadline: One day.
End: Viewing of articles in DOAJ and confirmed submission of XML files to SciELO and Redalyc.
STAGE 9: DISSEMINATION AND OUTREACH
Published articles are deposited in the multidisciplinary digital repository Zenodo, while those related to Information Sciences are also deposited in the specialized repository E-LIS. Authors are also encouraged to share their research results published in RIC at conferences and academic events.
In addition, our journal strategically uses social and academic networks (such as X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Academia.edu) to share content, abstracts, and key advances. This fosters dialogue with authors, readers, and the public, inviting comments, questions, and collaborations arising from our publications. Authors are also encouraged to post their published article (postprint) on their Google Scholar, ORCID, Researchgate, Mendeley, LinkedIn, blog, or personal page.
