Review process

Photo: Pixabay | Translated by Nazarena Galeano | Last update: 07/12/2021

4. Average days from submission to publication

1. Pre-evaluation

All articles submitted through the Salud Colectiva platform will be subject to a preliminary evaluation by the editor-in-chief and the associate editors. During this stage, it will be determined whether the article is in line with the aims and scope of the journal, whether it complies with the guidelines on the research ethics policy, and whether it maintains clear authorship criteria and meets all the remaining requirements stated in the publication policy section.

When submitting an article, authors are asked to include a "Declaration of ethical considerations and conflict of interests" in which they must make explicit whether they have already published other articles derived from the same research. If other articles have been published, authors are asked to describe the differences and similarities with respect to the article submitted for review.

Crossref's Similarity Check service, based on iThenticate software, is used to verify the condition of originality and to avoid sending out for external review papers in which plagiarism, self-plagiarism or duplication practices are detected. Additionally, Internet search tools are used to track the research team's previous publications in order to detect cases of “salami slicing.”

This process takes a maximum of 10 days. If the article is accepted in the pre-evaluation stage, the authors will be notified and the originals will be sent to two or more external reviewers and/or ad hoc reviewers for evaluation. Approximately 25% of the articles submitted go on to the external review stage.

2. External Review

The external review process is conducted confidentially: the reviewers and the authors do not know the others’ identities. The reviews are intended to provide a critical reading and an external and knowledgeable view of the subject, which allows the texts to gain depth, richness and clarity. This is why the comments made by the reviewers are so relevant for the quality of a publication. For a list of reviewers who have agreed to participate in review processes since 2005, click here.

Based on the opinions issued by the external reviewers, articles may be accepted or rejected for publication, or their publication may be subject to the authors' compliance with the modifications requested in the external review process. In the event that modifications are requested, the authors must rework their papers and submit them within the indicated deadline for re-evaluation.

As a result of this process, approximately 15% of the articles submitted are approved. If practices are detected that are not in accordance with the research ethics guidelines or with the publication policy defined by the journal, articles may be rejected at any stage of the evaluation process, even after they have been accepted.