Submissions

Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

1. SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL (THEMATIC, GEOGRAPHIC, TEMPORAL, AUDIENCE)

Transformación is a scientific publication of the University of Camagüey Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, affiliated with the Ministry of Higher Education of the Republic of Cuba. It is published in electronic version (ISSN 2077-2955), following the guidelines of the open access policy (Open Access) and the continuous publication modality, organized in an annual volume, which opens in January and closes in December.

Thematic scope

The journal publishes original contributions in the field of pedagogical sciences and their numerous points of contact with other social sciences. It covers, among others, the following topics: pedagogical theories and models, specific didactics, teacher training, educational evaluation, educational technologies, educational policies, school management, educational psychology, sociology of education, history of education, comparative education, inclusive education, educational guidance, curriculum, and all those fields that, from an interdisciplinary perspective, contribute to the advancement of educational knowledge.

Geographic scope

International, with special interest in the educational realities of Latin America and the Caribbean, without excluding contributions from other regions of the world that provide comparative or relevant theoretical perspectives.

Temporal scope

The journal publishes current and relevant research, with special attention to the currency of the sources cited (it is expected that around 70% of the references correspond to publications from the last five years).

Audience

Researchers, teachers, educational managers, policy makers, and education professionals in general, both from the academic and professional spheres.

2. LANGUAGES OF CONTRIBUTIONS

Manuscripts may be submitted in Spanish or English. All published articles must include Spanish and English versions of the title, abstract, and keywords. Contributions published in English must also include the title, abstract, and keywords in Spanish.

3. SECTIONS AND TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS ACCEPTED, AND THE PEER REVIEW PROCESS TO WHICH THEY ARE SUBJECTED

Transformación accepts the following document types, all of which are subject to double-blind peer review:

3.1. Original scientific report

It describes in detail the research process and the results obtained, with a verifiable theoretical or practical contribution. The Methods section must allow for the replication of the study.

Maximum length: 15 pages for the main text (up to 20 pages will be allowed if the reference list exceeds 3 pages).

3.2. Recapitulative study

Critical analysis of the literature on a subject of study, identifying consensuses, controversies, and epistemological gaps, and proposing new research problems for which scientists have not yet found a satisfactory explanation. It does not constitute a mere descriptive summary, but rather a systematization that generates hypotheses.

Maximum length: 15 pages for the main text (up to 20 pages will be allowed if the reference list exceeds 3 pages).

3.3. Brief communication

Concise report that announces, as a preliminary advance, original and novel findings derived from ongoing research, partial results of projects, or methodological innovations that require rapid dissemination for the benefit of the scientific community. Replications of previous studies that, due to their brevity and specificity, constitute a significant specific contribution to the field of pedagogical sciences are also admitted.

Maximum length: 8 pages (10 if references or a figure justify it).

Unstructured abstract of up to 150 words.

4. SUPPORT, FORMAT, AND STRUCTURE OF CONTRIBUTIONS

4.1. Support and format

·         Word processor: Microsoft Word 2007 or higher.

·         Page size: Letter (21.59 cm x 27.94 cm).

·         Margins: 2.5 cm on all sides.

·         Font: Calibri 12.

·         Line spacing: 1.15 with 6 points of spacing after paragraphs.

·         Alignment: Justified text.

 

4.2. Official templates

It is required to use the official template available for each manuscript type:

·         Original scientific report: https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/20

·         Recapitulative study: https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/19

·         Brief communication: https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/17

 

 4.3. Manuscript structure

Initial elements (in all types of contributions):

Title: in Spanish and English, in sentence case (only the first word and proper nouns capitalized). It should be concise and accurately reflect the content. It should not exceed 15 words, written in Cambria 14 bold, centered; the English title is not presented in bold.

Authors: full first and last names as they appear in the ORCID registry, ORCID number (https://orcid.org/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx), institutional affiliation (name of the institution, city, province, country), and corresponding email address.

Abstract/Resumen:

·         Original scientific report and Recapitulative study: structured, maximum 250 words. It must contain the labels "Introduction, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions" written in bold followed by a colon. The English version (Abstract) must comply with this detail (Introduction, Objective, Methods, Results, Conclusions).

·         Brief communication: unstructured, a single paragraph of up to 150 words that synthesizes the objective, essential methodological aspects, main finding, and conclusion or implication.

·         Keywords/Palabras clave (3-6): in Spanish and English, selected from the UNESCO Thesaurus (https://vocabularies.unesco.org/unesco/en/), preferably using the descriptors that appear there in bold. All are written in lowercase and separated by commas. Do not add a final period. The keywords in Spanish will appear below the Spanish abstract and those in English (Keywords) will appear below the English abstract (Abstract).

Structure of scientific content (adapted IMRaD):

Introduction:

Contextualization of the problem, review of the state of the art, and objective of the article.

It should not exceed two pages.

·         In the brief communication: one or two paragraphs that situate the problem, justify the need to disseminate the finding, and state the objective directly.

Methods:

·         Original scientific report: the research design (experimental/non-experimental), type of study, place and period of execution, universe/sample (selection criteria, type of sampling), variables or categories of analysis, empirical methods, instruments, analysis strategy (including statistical or content treatment), technological resources, and ethical considerations must be specified. The information must be sufficient to replicate the study. It is written in the past tense.

·         Recapitulative study: the type of review (systematic, scoping, critical, etc.), the databases and search engines used, search equations, selection criteria, the screening process, and the information analysis method must be specified. It is written in the past tense and must allow for the replication of the search and selection process.

·         Brief communication: a concise paragraph describing the design, participants or sources, instruments, and essential procedure, so that the validity of the finding can be understood. The level of detail of an original scientific report is not required, but it must allow for an assessment of methodological quality.

Results:

Clear and orderly presentation of findings, without interpretations. In qualitative or theoretical development studies, a first section on foundations is allowed.

·         Original scientific report: written in the past tense.

·         Recapitulative study: the results of the review (findings from other studies) are written in the present tense, as they are considered established facts in the literature. The search, selection, and analysis process (if described in this section) is written in the past tense.

·         Brief communication: results and discussion are integrated into a single section.

Discussion:

Comparison of results with previous literature (local, national, and international), explaining similarities, discrepancies, and possible explanations; identification of gaps and strengths of the study.

Exceptionally, in qualitative studies it may be merged with Results under the title "Results and discussion."

It is written in the present tense.

·         Brief communication: it is suggested to present in two or three paragraphs the central finding (with support of up to 2 editable tables or figures) and immediately the discussion, contrasting it succinctly with the most relevant literature and pointing out its implications.

Conclusions:

Generalizations derived from the study that respond to the objective and highlight the main contribution, without repeating the data. They should open new hypotheses or lines of work.

They are written in the present tense.

·         Brief communication: a final paragraph that synthesizes the contribution, its novelty, and, if applicable, a hypothesis or future line of work. It should not repeat the results verbatim.

References:

Only the sources cited in the text, in strict APA 7th edition format.

·         Each reference must include the DOI or URL that leads directly to the document (except for printed books).

·         References to works (books, articles, or any other type of document) that are in preparation, have not been formally published, or whose availability to the reader is not guaranteed will not be accepted.

·         The cited sources will be ordered alphabetically and up to 20 authors will be listed; from 21 onwards, intermediate authors will be omitted using ellipsis points.

·         Compound surnames joined by a hyphen (e.g.: Hernández-Campillo) are respected as a single surname.

5. STANDARDS FOR CITATIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

Transformación uses the APA 7th edition style for citations and bibliographic references.

5.1. In-text citations

When there is one author:

·         Narrative citation: Surname (year) ... (p. xx).

·         Parenthetical citation: (Surname, year, p. xx).

When there are two authors:

·         Narrative citation: Surname and Surname (year) ... (p. xx).

·         Parenthetical citation: (Surname & Surname, year, p. xx).

When there are three or more authors:

·         Narrative citation: Surname, Surname, & Surname (year) ... (p. xx).

·         Parenthetical citation: (Surname et al., year, p. xx).

When it is a paraphrase —in any of the three illustrated variants— the page number should not be written.

5.2. Bibliographic references (examples)

·         Book:

Surname, I. N. (Year). Title. Publisher.

·         Book chapter:

Surname, I. N. (Year). Chapter title. In I. Surname (Ed.), Book title (pp. xx-xx). Publisher.

·         Journal article:

Surname, I. N. (Year). Title. Journal, volume(issue), pages, https://doi.org/xxxx

·         Doctoral thesis:

Surname, I. (Year). Title [Unpublished doctoral thesis, University]. Repository. URL

·         Conference paper:

Surname, I. (Year). Title. In Conference name (pp. xx-xx). Institution. URL

·         Institutional document:

Organization (Year). Title. URL

·         Law:

Law name, official source, URL

·         Blog:

Surname, I. (full date). Title. Blog Name. URL

5.3. Recommendations on currency and quality of sources

·         It is expected that most references (ideally around 70%) correspond to publications from the last five years.

·         The use of references to studies published in journals indexed in Scopus, Web of Science, and SciELO will be positively valued.

·         In the case of brief communications, a maximum of 15 references is suggested.

·         References to works in preparation, non-retrievable personal communications, documents of limited distribution that do not have legal deposit or official registration, nor links to ResearchGate as the main source (the original publication must be referenced with DOI or permanent URL) will not be accepted.

·         The use of self-citations should be avoided; only those that guide the reader to a previous result of the author that is essential for understanding the new contribution will be accepted.

·         It is recommended to avoid citations to generic encyclopedias or non-institutional websites. Blogs will only be citable if they belong to recognized academics and contain original results.

 

6. POLICY ON THE CONTROL OF EXPLOITATION RIGHTS AND THE LICENSE UNDER WHICH DOCUMENTS ARE PUBLISHED

Articles are disseminated under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), which allows sharing and adapting the material for non-commercial purposes, citing the original source. The act of submission implies acceptance of this license. Therefore, authors retain copyright and grant the journal permission to publish under CC BY-NC 4.0.

Authors may archive the published version of their articles in institutional repositories, thematic repositories, or on their personal pages, without embargo restrictions, provided that the original publication in Transformación is cited.

7. GUIDELINES ON PLAGIARISM, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AND OTHER ETHICAL ASPECTS

Transformación adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the ethical principles of the 7th edition of the APA manual.

7.1. Originality

Authors must guarantee that the manuscript is original, has not been published in whole or in part in any language, and is not simultaneously submitted to another journal. Prior deposit of the manuscript on preprint servers (arXiv, SocArXiv, etc.) is not considered prior publication and is compatible with submission to the journal.

7.2. Conflict of interest

Its existence or non-existence must be explicitly declared. This declaration will appear below the bibliographic references and must coincide with what was submitted in the Letter of originality and publication license. If there is no conflict of interest, it can be stated "The author(s) declare(s) no conflicts of interest"; otherwise, they must be described.

7.3. Use of artificial intelligence

Authors must declare the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the writing of the manuscript, specifying their use and verifying the accuracy of the contents. AI should not be listed as an author; authors are fully responsible for the content.

7.4. Plagiarism detection

The editorial team will verify the originality of all manuscripts using the Turnitin tool, in its iThenticate module, during the initial editorial review, before sending them for peer review. The purpose is to detect textual overlaps with previously published sources, including those of the author themselves (self-plagiarism).

In order to guarantee authenticity and correct use of information, the following quantitative similarity parameters are applied, which will in all cases be complemented by a qualitative analysis by the editorial team:

Similarity percentage	Similarity level	Editorial action
≤ 10 %	Low	Not considered intentional plagiarism. The manuscript will proceed to subsequent review phases, provided that no block of continuous text from a single source exceeds 25 words without proper quotation marks and corresponding citation.
11 – 20 %	Moderate	The editor will generate the originality report and notify the author, granting a period of 15 business days to correct or properly reference the information. The author must reduce the similarity percentage below 11% or, failing that, submit a formal and detailed justification of the detected coincidences.
21 – 35 %	High	The editor will generate the report and bring it to the attention of the Director of the journal and the authors. An exceptional period of 20 business days will be granted for a thorough correction of the text. If, after this period, the similarity percentage does not drop below 20%, the manuscript will be definitively rejected.
> 35 %	Possible plagiarism	The text will be subject to detailed scrutiny. Unless conclusive proof of an error in the tool is provided (for example, coincidence with standardized metadata of the journal itself), the manuscript will be automatically rejected, without the right to correction or resubmission.

 

In addition to the above thresholds, the review process will be governed by the following qualitative rules and good practices:

·         Contextual qualitative evaluation: In all cases, the editorial team will thoroughly examine the origin and nature of the coincidences. Special attention will be paid to extensive continuous text blocks (≥ 25 words) from the same source, even when the overall similarity percentage is low, as these coincidences may indicate inappropriate use of information.

·         Self-plagiarism: The reuse of substantial fragments of previous publications by the same author, without explicit citation and without proper quotation marks, is considered a serious ethical violation. Self-plagiarism will be equated with third-party plagiarism and may lead to immediate rejection of the manuscript, without prejudice to other editorial measures.

·         Justified exceptions: In the Recapitulative study type or in those requiring extensive textual quotations due to their nature (for example, regulatory or legal definitions), authors may request a special evaluation from the Editorial Committee. The granting of this exception and the final decision on the pertinence of the citations will be the sole responsibility of said committee.

·         Uniformity and traceability: In order to guarantee consistency and fairness in decision-making criteria among the different editors, an anonymized record of all incidents related to textual similarity and the decisions adopted in each case will be kept.

This policy is based on the recommendations and good practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and its application will be rigorous and transparent at all stages of the editorial process.

7.5. Ethical considerations in research involving human subjects

When research involves human subjects, authors must declare that the study was approved by a recognized research ethics committee, indicating the name of the committee, the approval number, and proof of informed consent obtained from participants or their legal guardians (in the case of minors or persons with disabilities). This information must appear in the Letter of originality and publication license.

When research involves animals, authors must declare that the ethical principles for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed, and that the study was approved by the corresponding institutional committee.

8. CHARGES OR NOT FOR SUBMISSION AND/OR ARTICLE PROCESSING

Transformación does not apply charges for processing, submission, or publication of articles (Article Processing Charges - APCs). The journal is a diamond open access journal, with no cost to authors or readers.

9. AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA

Transformación follows the authorship criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which recommends that authorship be based on:

1)      Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.

2)      Drafting of the work or critical revision of intellectual content.

3)      Approval of the final version for publication.

4)      Agreement to be responsible for all aspects of the work.

Individual author responsibility statement: At the end of the manuscript, the individual author responsibility statement must be included, specifying the contribution of each signatory according to the CRediT taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy). This statement will be published with the final article, ensuring transparency and proper recognition of each author's contributions.

10. INFORMATION ON THE SUBMISSION PROCESS

10.1. Submission platform

The manuscript, written on the corresponding template, must be submitted through the journal's OJS (Open Journal Systems) platform, available at: https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/

10.2. Required documents

Along with the main file (manuscript in Word), the following must be uploaded:

·         Letter of originality and publication license (Downloadable template at: (https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/16

10.3. Preparation for double-blind review

The manuscript must not contain names, affiliations, or information that identifies the authors. The editor in charge will anonymize the file before sending it to reviewers. The anonymization process will also be guaranteed to return authors' suggestions and reviewer assessments on the manuscript.

10.4. Curricular summary

A brief paragraph (maximum 5 lines) must be included indicating the training and research experience of each author on the topic. It is suggested to include undergraduate and postgraduate degrees; as well as teaching and/or scientific category if applicable.

11. DESCRIPTION OF THE REVIEW PROCESS

11.1. Initial editorial review (pre-check)

An editor will check thematic suitability, compliance with formal requirements, quality of writing, originality (using iThenticate of Turnitin), and currency of the bibliography. This evaluation will be carried out according to the specificities stated in the editorial compliance model (Available athttps://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/18).

Non-compliance with any of these aspects will result in the return of the manuscript to the authors, with suggestions in the first editorial review and the cessation of the evaluation process. Manuscripts that do not pass this phase will be archived in the journal's platform.

11.2. Peer review (double-blind)

Works accepted in the previous phase will be submitted to evaluation by two reviewers —experts of recognized prestige in the national and international scientific community— under the double-blind review modality. The evaluation will be carried out according to the specificities stated in the peer reviewer model (Available at:https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/index.php/transformacion/es/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/6). The deadline for issuing the report is 30 business days.

11.3. Successive rounds

If the manuscript requires modifications, with the explicit agreement of authors and reviewers, an open peer review modality may be chosen in subsequent iterations, in which both parties will know each other and dialogue transparently through the journal's platform. If either party does not consent to open review, anonymity will be maintained in successive rounds. In no case will the reviewer's decision regarding the disclosure of their identity affect the report issued on the work.

11.4. Editorial decision

In the event of disagreement between the two reviewers (one approves and the other rejects, or both propose contradictory substantial changes), the Director may request a third evaluation, whose verdict must be assumed by the Director. Editorial decisions will always be reasoned. Against the editorial decision of rejection that may result, authors will have ten business days to submit in writing to the Editorial Board a reasoned reply to the rejection report. The Board will resolve within a maximum period of fifteen days and its decision will be final.

11.5. Process timelines

·         Deadline for reviewer reports: 30 business days.

·         Average time between final acceptance and publication: up to six months.

·         Each volume will report on the reviewers who participated in it.

·         12. JOURNAL CONTACT INFORMATION

·         Contact email: transformacionesuc@reduc.edu.cu, revistatransformacionuc@gmail.com

·         Director/Editor email: barbara.carvajal@reduc.edu.cu

·         Website URL: https://transformacion.reduc.edu.cu/

·         Telephone: (53) 32262484

·         Postal address: University of Camagüey Ignacio Agramonte Loynaz, Carretera Circunvalación Norte s/n, km 5½, between Camino Viejo de Nuevitas and Avenida Ignacio Agramonte, Camagüey, Cuba. Postal Code 74650.

13. DIGITAL PRESERVATION POLICY

The contents of Transformación are preserved long-term through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) and LOCKSS digital archiving and preservation system, which guarantees their accessibility and permanence over time, even in the event of cessation of publication.

14. OPEN SCIENCE POLICY AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

In line with SciELO guidelines, the journal requests:

·         Indicate in the references section (or in a note) the repositories where the research data that do not appear in full in the article are hosted, as well as links to preprint versions.

·         Authors may upload to the platform, as supplementary files, datasets, instruments, protocols, or additional materials, provided they respect confidentiality and intellectual property rights.

15. CORRECTIONS AND RETRACTIONS POLICY

Transformación is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record. If significant errors are detected in an already published article, an erratum will be published. In cases of serious scientific misconduct (plagiarism, data fabrication, etc.), retraction of the article will be managed, following the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). All corrections and retractions will be carried out transparently and will be linked to the original article.