Editorial Policy

 Open Access

RELATEC is an open access "diamond" journal that offers free availability on the public Internet of all its articles, allowing any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or use for any legal purpose, without any economic, legal or technical obstacles, beyond those inherent to Internet access. Authors have control over the integrity of their productions, as well as the right to be acknowledged and properly cited when their works are reproduced or distributed. RELATEC is included in DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals) which is the most important repository of open access journals. 

Open Access makes our scientific publications available online, immediately and free of charge, as well as the application of rights that are compatible with the digital environment. The use of the Internet to communicate research results in the open favours its development and accelerates scientific progress. It also makes public investment more efficient by making knowledge accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Open Access democratises the scientific community and makes it possible for advances not to depend exclusively on institutions with the economic capacity to access the latest published knowledge. It also broadens the audience for researchers and, consequently, gives greater recognition to their findings. There is a greater chance of gaining readership, potential collaborators and receiving more citations for their publications.

RELATEC only retains the publication rights of the works, favouring the reuse and self-archiving of its articles in databases, repositories, directories and international information systems. In this sense, the journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial, Non-Derivative Licence 4.0. 

Peer review process

The review of the articles is carried out in the "double blind" mode and is performed by experts in the field of Educational Technology. This method aims to guarantee the quality and originality of the content of the articles published in the journal. The process allows the authors to receive a report on the weaknesses and strengths of the originals, as long as they have been accepted for peer review. In the double-blind system, the anonymity of authors and reviewers is guaranteed.

RELATEC publishes the complete list of reviewers per year.

When a reviewer accepts the evaluation of a manuscript, he/she undertakes to carry out the review within a period of no more than one month. In addition, they must declare any conflict of interest and maintain strict confidentiality. The reviewers carry out a rigorous and constructive analysis of the manuscripts, producing a report that includes the following criteria:

1. Originality, structure and writing: Is the article sufficiently novel and interesting to justify publication? Does it contribute to scientific knowledge? Does the text have a clear, logical and complete organisation? Does it possess the formal characteristics of a scientific article? Is the spelling and grammar correct? Is the text adequately argued?

2. Title, abstract and keywords: Does the title clearly describe the article? Does the abstract reflect the content of the article and include the IMRD elements (Introduction-Method-Results-Discussion or Conclusions)? Do the key words correctly identify the themes of the article?

3. Introduction: Is the subject matter of the article relevant and does it conduct a rigorous review of the literature? Does it present a synthesis of the state of the art, identifying the most significant research and authors, explaining the findings of other authors and justifying the need for the article?

4. Methodology: Is the choice of method correctly justified? Is the research design adequate to achieve the stated objectives? Does the article identify the procedures followed in the development of the research? Is it precisely explained how the data were collected? Are the techniques and instruments used adequately described?

5. Results: Are the research findings clearly explained? Is a logical structure used according to the research objectives or research questions? Are the analyses of quantitative and/or qualitative data correct and rigorous? Are the tables, graphs or figures (if applicable) appropriate, clearly present the data and are they easy to interpret?

6. Conclusions and discussion: Are the statements in this section supported by the results? Do they seem reasonable? Have the authors indicated how the results relate to initial expectations and to previous research? Does the article support or contradict previous theories and/or results? Does the conclusion explain how the research has produced advances in scientific knowledge?

7. References and citations: Is the selection of references up to date and does it include relevant authors/research? Do the citations in the text reveal a thorough knowledge of the subject? Are all citations included in the references? Are references and citations included in the text according to APA 7th edition?

The review process consists of the following different phases. Authors can follow the evaluation process of their article on the journal's website (https://relatec.unex.es/index).

1. Acknowledgement of receipt, assessment by the editorial board and sending to reviewers. The journal's OJS system automatically activates the acknowledgement of receipt. From that moment the Editorial Team will proceed to review the format, style and editorial policy, and it may be returned for corrections or rejected. Once rectified by the author, the work may be re-evaluated until it complies with these rules. After this phase, the manuscript will be sent to external reviewers who are experts in the subject, and may be returned for corrections or rejected. The estimated deadline is two months.

2. Review method. Two or more external expert reviewers will be assigned to evaluate the article confidentially and anonymously (double blind). They will issue a proposal as to whether or not the article should be published and, if necessary, suggest appropriate corrections. Final acceptance of the manuscript is conditional upon the authors incorporating all the modifications and suggestions for improvement proposed by the reviewers, if any, and submitting it within a maximum period of 30 days.

3. Results of the review. The reviewers may determine: a) that the article is published as is (or with minor formal modifications); b) that it is published after certain corrections and improvements of substance and/or presentation; or c) that it cannot be published due to content and/or editorial problems, which cannot be remedied in a short period of time.

Estimated deadlines:

- Initial review: 1 month.
- First decision for reviewed articles: 3 months.
- From submission to acceptance: 5 months.
- From acceptance to publication: 6 months.

Anti-plagiarism policy

In order to guarantee the originality of submissions, RELATEC uses the Ouriginal programme to detect plagiarism and self-plagiarism by recognising non-original documents that have not been correctly cited. If irregularities are detected in this respect, the manuscript will not be reviewed or evaluated. If irregularities are detected after publication, a retraction note will be published.

Authors and reviewers also have access to a set of specific plagiarism detection tools, such as Grammarly, Plagium, PaperRater, Plagarisma.net, among others, which monitor originality and control plagiarism.