Editorial Process
The Colombian Journal of Anthropology (RCA) accepts unpublished contributions that make a theoretical or ethnographic contribution to anthropology or related social sciences and that fall into the following categories: scientific research articles, review articles, reflection articles, short articles, case reports, and critical reviews.
Manuscripts undergo the RCA's editorial process, which consists of two phases: evaluation (approximately 9 months) and publication (at least 3 months). This means that at least 12 months elapses between receipt of the manuscript and its publication.
It is understood that articles or reviews submitted for consideration by the journal are original, unpublished, and will not be simultaneously submitted to other publications. If this is not the case, the author must inform the RCA at the time of submission.
Reviews should focus on recent publications (no more than 4 years old). The journal will only evaluate critical reviews. A critical review not only provides an adequate summary of the work but also offers an argument or commentary on it that highlights the contribution of the reviewed text or its relevance to the understanding of a given situation, problem, or topic of academic or public interest. The evaluation of these contributions depends exclusively on the RCA editorial team, which will determine the relevance of the contribution within 3 to 6 months after it is received, based on the criteria mentioned above.
Contributions received by the RCA that are research articles, reflections, reviews, short articles, or case reports will undergo a three-stage evaluation process: 1) preliminary evaluation by the journal's editorial team, 2) evaluation by two external peers, and 3) final editorial evaluation.
1. Preliminary editorial evaluation by the RCA editorial team
The journal's editorial team initially assesses compliance with the guidelines for manuscript submission, as well as the quality, originality, and relevance of the contributions. These include form and content requirements, the unpublished nature of the contribution, the relevance of the topic, the bibliography used, clarity of writing, and proper citation. This evaluation determines whether the contribution is rejected or accepted and continues the evaluation process. In either case, the decision will be communicated to the author within a period not exceeding 6 months after receipt.
2. Double-blind evaluation by two external peers
Papers accepted in the first editorial evaluation will be reviewed by two national or international academic peers, who will evaluate them according to criteria such as content, formal aspects, clarity of the arguments presented, and assessment of the conclusions reached, among others (see the evaluation format). Each reviewer must specify one of the following recommendations: whether the refereed article is publishable as is; whether it requires minor adjustments for publication; whether it requires substantial changes for publication; whether it must be completely rewritten to be publishable; or whether it is an unpublishable text. The peer review process is conducted on a double-blind basis.
In the event of a dispute between external evaluations, the journal will assign a new external evaluator and submit the evaluations to the Editor for consideration, who may refer the matter to the RCA Editorial Committee. If an external evaluator withdraws from the evaluation, the journal will assign a new reviewer. When the reviews do not meet the RCA's standards of rigor, quality, and clarity, or are written in a manner that is disrespectful to the authors, the journal may replace or seek new reviewers.
In the review form, reviewers must declare that they do not know the author of the manuscript and have no conflict of interest in evaluating the subject.
3. Final editorial evaluation
Before being published, an article may require several versions, which will be constructed based on the recommendations made by both external peers and the journal's editorial team. The RCA will determine the final version of each article and the volume in which it will be published.
To facilitate traceability of adjustments between versions, authors will receive a form in which they must record: a) suggestions made by reviewers and/or editors, b) the location in the text where modifications were made, and c) the reasons why omitted suggestions were not accepted.
In turn, the RCA reserves the right to make stylistic corrections and adjustments to the editorial guidelines of the Icanh publishing house, which are governed by the rules of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).
Evaluation deadlines
The evaluation process for each article requires at least 9 months from the date of receipt. This timeframe depends on factors such as the speed of the reviewers, the quality of the article, delays in sending the revised versions, etc. However, the estimated time is approximate and subject to the number of revisions required for the article to be approved by the editor.
Contribution publication process
When contributions successfully pass all stages of evaluation and the RCA editor approves their publication, the decision will be communicated to the author, indicating the volume and date on which the manuscript will be published. The journal reserves the right to make formal adjustments to the text in the context of bibliographic standardization, adaptation to the editorial guidelines of the ICANH publishing house, and orthotypographical and stylistic corrections. During this process, the journal will ask the author to review the adjusted versions, and their prompt cooperation is expected. Once the style correction has been completed, the journal will begin the layout and galley proofing process until the volume is published. During this last phase of the process, the author will not be asked to review the manuscript. However, until the time of publication, the journal may request clarifications or missing information. The publication process requires at least three months after the manuscript is approved.
Communications
During the editorial process, communication between authors and the journal will be established through the journal's online editorial manager (Open Journal Systems).
