Instructions to Authors
The Latin American Journal of the Pope accepts original and unpublished articles of the following types:
1. Scientific and technological research article. It presents in detail the original research results. The generally used structure has the following essential parts: Introduction, Summary (Spanish or Portuguese and English), Materials and Methods, Results and Discussion, and Conclusions.
2. Article for reflection. It presents research results from an analytical, interpretative and critical perspective of the author, on a specific topic and using original sources.
3. Article of revision. It presents the result of research where research is analyzed, systematized and integrated, published or not, on a field in science or technology, in order to account for advances and development trends. It is characterized by a careful bibliographic support.
4. Short communication. Document that must have less than 10 pages, with a maximum of three Tables/Figures. Short communications should inform the most relevant aspects of the chosen topic, it should also serve to stimulate reader's concerns, raise questions and point out the most current lines of research on the subject. In general, the same instructions for the application of scientific and technological research articles will be followed, presenting a summary in English and Spanish (or Portuguese), the keywords, the Tables and Figures in the format described in the journal. The difference is that the body of the text is not divided into sections and the methods are described
The works accepted by the Latin American Journal of the Pope will also be published on the English-language website. Authors can access the translation service of their works into English offered by the Latin American Journal of the Pope after coordination or send it to any other translation service that the authors choose.
I. Form and preparation of manuscripts
Authors should follow the following instructions; articles that do not comply with them will be returned without being evaluated. Manuscripts in digital format must be presented in duplicate, on letter size paper (21,6 x 27.5 cm); written in double space, with margins of 3 cm and numbered both pages and lines. A copy must skip the author's details. Items must be processed with Word for Windows or a compatible application, written in Times New Roman, font size 12.
The work should not exceed a maximum of 20 pages or 6500 words, including Figures, Tables, and Bibliography. The language used must be clear and precise and the work must be written in the third person. The time spent should be used for the Introduction, Materials and Methods and Results sections.
Tables and Figures (graphics, drawings, schematics, flowchart, photos, and maps) should be presented on separate sheets and with consecutive numbering (Table 1 or Figure 1). The limit for figures and tables is three for each category, with a total limit of five elements in short communications and ten elements in scientific articles. Legends of figures and tables must be explained by themselves and be concise. If they exceed the limit of figures and tables, they shall be sent as additional information. Texts and tables should be presented in the MS-Word-word processor; the original Tables and frequency diagrams (bars and cake) must be supplied in the manuscript file and also in their original MS-Excel in the annex; other Figures such as photographs and drawings, can be sent in originals or scanned and sent in digital format (JPG) preferably with resolution 600 x 600 dpi (minimum 300 dpi). As a general rule, Tables and other Figures are only accepted in black and white; exceptionally color will be included in those used for the cover of the journal and, if strictly necessary in the opinion of the editor. The text of the article, together with the respective (Figures) should be referred to the magazine's editor.
Trade names and trademarks should be avoided in the body of the text (or mentioned in parentheses). Commercial products should be referred to by the technical name or main ingredient (initial capital letter). Only internationally accepted abbreviations should be used. In the event that little-known acronyms are used, they should be written completely the first time they are used, followed by the acronym in brackets. All acronyms and abbreviations must be written without a point and coma after them. The decimal metric system should be used for all measurements and abbreviations for common units of measurement: kilogram (kg), gram (g), milligram (mg), meter (m), etc. Avoid footnotes, except for information about authors of an article. Use a single font size.
The structure of the article should follow the accepted steps used by the Scientific Method, therefore:
1. Title. It should be brief but illustrative, not exceeding 15 words. This title should be translated into English and a short title should also be included for page headers. When it includes scientific names of plants or animals, they should be written with italics in lowercase letters, and only with capital letters the first letter of the genus and the sorter.
2. Authors. Full names should be included when accrediting the authors of any article. Authors should agree with the importance of their contribution to the investigation or in the preparation of the article and not in alphabetical order, or in terms of rank. Their respective academic distinctions, the institution to which they belong and their full postal address (including email) must be marked with an asterisk and in a footnote, identifying the author by correspondence. The correspondence author is responsible for the final edition of the document, as well as the final approval of the work by the co-authors.
3. Summary in Spanish or Portuguese. This should be concise and contain information on the concrete justification, objectives, methodology and results of the research. It should indicate the main conclusions, emphasizing achievements. It should not exceed 250 words, these must be written in a single paragraph.
4. Keywords in Spanish or Portuguese. There should be a list containing up to five keywords of the article (other than those included in the title) that facilitate the use of modern computer cataloguing and information search systems. These words should be below the last line of the Summary, on the left side of the text and with lowercase, separated from each other by commas.
5. Summary in English. This should be a technical translation of the summary into the English language.
6. Keywords in English. There must be a faithful translation of the keywords into the English language.
7. Introduction. He describes the general purpose of the problem investigated, giving the necessary information precisely, referring only directly to the related literature considered indispensable to develop the topic, allowing the current state of the topic to be known. It should clearly indicate the objective of the research hypothesis and its relationship to other relevant works (not to include extensive bibliography reviews). If scientific names are included, they must be accompanied by their vernacular name as well as the abbreviation of the sorter in the first mention within the article.
8. Materials and methods. The techniques and equipment used should be described in a specific and logical sequence that shows the development of the research so that they can reproduce. The sources of the materials, their purity status and the detailed description of the equipment should only be included when they are very specific or novel. The procedures described by other authors should be avoided; but, if modified, the details of such a modification should be included.
9. Results and discussed (discussion can be given as a separate section). The results must be presented in a logical, objective and sequential way through texts, tables and figures; these last two supports must be easy to read and must be interpreted autonomously, although they should always be quoted in the text. Where the results are sustained by statistical calculation, mention should be made of the origin of the data and the statistical method used. Tables should have a title and be identified by continuous Arabic numerals. Figures (photographs, drawings, graphics and maps) must appear with a title and be identified by Arabic numbers. Computerly processed figures are accepted (the original figure must be sent unprocessed to verify that there are no ethical failures). Black and white or color photography are accepted. The discussion should be brief and limited to the significant aspects of the work, however, it must be complete and exhaustive, contrasting the results obtained with the most current literature on the subject, it is necessary to explain the extent to which the results obtained contribute to the solution of the problem and can be translated into recommendations, applications, suggestions, hypotheses, etc.
10. Conclusions. They should be based on the results achieved. If possible, they should offer a solution to the problem described in the Introduction.
11. Conflicts of interest. Authors should refer to any financial relationship they have and that might give rise to a conflict of interest in relation to the published article. In the case of sponsored studies, the authors should indicate whether they have had full access to the data and are responsible for the integrity and accuracy of the analysis of the data. The authors should also indicate any family or friendly relationship, which could incorrectly influence the duties and responsibilities of the reviewers and/or the editorial team themselves.
12. Thank you. If it is necessary to show gratitude to people or institutions that make a significant contribution to the work, they must be brief and concrete.
13. References cited.They should follow the style recommendations of the APA, they should not exceed 10 years of age (except methodological references) or the limit of 30 bibliographical references per article. In the body of the text, only published references will be accepted, mentioning the author's surname, followed by the year of publication in parentheses, for example: Rodriguez (1997). When there are three or more authors, the Latin expression et al. should be used, for example: López et al. (1996). If the reference is made at the end of a sentence, the author and the date are given in parentheses, for example: (Roddriguez 1997; López et al. 1996). In the section cited above, they must be submitted in alphabetical order of the authors appointed. More details about their presentation can be found at: https://normas-apa.org/wp-content/uploads/Guia-Normas-APA-7ma-edicion.pdf
If any work has special characteristics and therefore cannot meet all the specifications indicated above, it is recommended at least title, author(), summary, keywords, translations of the summary and keywords, bibliographic quotes and conclusions, should be given.