Submissions

Author Guidelines

Guide to the Preparation of Articles for the Scientific Dissemination Journal Journal Boliviano de Ciencias, Dedicated to the Areas of Technology, Computer Science, Architecture, and Exact Sciences

Introduction

Welcome and thank you for considering the Journal Boliviano de Ciencias (JBC) as an option for disseminating your work. Since the establishment of the journal in 1998, its mission has been to provide a space for professionals interested in the exact sciences, architecture, technology, computer science, and engineering in general, to disseminate all types of research work in these areas, with the assurance of doing so in a medium that meets international quality standards. This journal aims to contribute to the dissemination of intellectual production and provide researchers with a platform to publish their work.

We seek to publish original research that enhances the scientific community, reporting and teaching the state of research conducted in Spanish-speaking countries. Therefore, the articles to be published should address specific issues and disciplines within the national or international scientific realm and, preferably, should be unpublished.

In addition to original research, the JBC publishes bibliographic reviews, case studies, applied engineering projects, and reflective articles; all of which are of interest to professionals and academics.

Publishing in the Journal Boliviano de Ciencias

The JBC employs highly rigorous editorial, peer review, and statistical processes to evaluate manuscripts for scientific accuracy, novelty, and significance.

Step 1: Familiarise Yourself with the Journal's Editorial Policies

Get acquainted with the editorial policies of the journal, the types of articles, and the main style elements.

Step 2: Prepare Materials for Submission

This includes the main text, tables, figures, supplementary appendices, and statistical analysis (if applicable).

Step 3: Submit Your Manuscript

Submit your manuscript via the online submission system of the Journal Boliviano de Ciencias by registering at (https://revistas.univalle.edu/index.php/journal/user/register).

1. Editorial Policies of the Journal Boliviano de Ciencias

1.1 Peer Review

The Journal Boliviano de Ciencias employs a peer review process to evaluate manuscripts for scientific accuracy, novelty, and significance. The peer review process often serves to improve research while simultaneously preventing exaggerated results from reaching the general public. The careful editing process of the journal often requires extensive revisions and involves thorough verification of accuracy.

1.2 Authorship

It is the responsibility of each person listed as an author of a published article to have significantly and identifiably contributed to the design, performance, analysis, and reporting of the work and to agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. It is recommended that authorship credit be granted for:

- Substantial contributions to the conception and design; or acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
- Drafting the article or critically revising important intellectual content.
- Final approval of the version to be published.

The manuscript must be submitted solely by the corresponding author, who will be solely responsible for all correspondence with the journal and will receive all emails related to forms, authorship issues, manuscript files, etc. However, after acceptance for publication, authors may designate more than one person to be contacted by readers.

The order of authors is determined beforehand by the authors. Traditionally, the first author is the one who has contributed the most to the work and, therefore, receives the most credit, while the order of subsequent authors is decided based on the extent of each person's contribution and in ascending order of experience.

1.3 Conflicts of Interest and Financial Disclosures

The Journal Boliviano de Ciencias only publishes reliable and authorised research that is free from commercial influences. Authors are required to list the funding sources that sponsored the work. None of the journal's editors have direct commercial relationships with any company; however, if such a case arises, the individual in question will not be included in the review process of the work.

1.4 Manipulation of Figures

For every manuscript, authors must clearly indicate all modifications, selective digital adjustments, and electronic enhancements made to any digital image. Authors must also ensure that all submitted figures comply with the following criteria:

- No specific feature in an image that is not of the author's own authorship has been enhanced, darkened, moved, removed, or introduced.
- Any adjustment of brightness, colour, or contrast, or any other that has been made to a complete image that does not distort any feature of the original image must be indicated when citing the creation of that image.
- No image has been duplicated in the manuscript or published elsewhere.
- The metadata of the original image is available and can be provided to the JBC editors upon request.
- If the image has been generated using Artificial Intelligence, this must be clarified in the source.

1.5 Patient Identification (in the case of Biomedical Engineering)

All material, including images, that may identify a patient must be removed. When this is impossible, the material must be accompanied by written authorisation from the patient.

1.6 No Prior Publication

When making decisions regarding the publishability of a manuscript, editors consider its accuracy, novelty, and significance and strive to ensure that independent peer review of the scientific findings is conducted before public dissemination. Therefore, the journal will not consider any complete manuscript previously published elsewhere, or whose primary results have also been published. The only exception may be works that have been presented at conferences or symposia, provided they have only been included in the event proceedings.

1.7 Public Access

Articles published by the JBC are publicly accessible and free of charge on the journal's website. The JBC does not offer any financial recognition to authors, and there is no payment for submitting or publishing in the journal.

1.8 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is considered the presentation of another person's work or ideas as one's own, which is a serious ethical breach for the journal. Therefore, it must be avoided at all times. Plagiarism is considered to exist when there is an exact copy of an original text from books, articles, websites, or others without proper citation of the author; inappropriate paraphrasing; failure to provide bibliographic citations where appropriate; and/or duplication or repetition of information already presented in other documents.

2. Types of Articles

When submitting new manuscripts to the JBC, authors must identify their submissions as one of the types of articles described below:

1. Scientific Articles (Original Research).
2. Bibliographic Review Articles.
3. Reflective Articles.
4. Applied Engineering Projects.

2.1 Authorship

All individuals who meet the authorship criteria for the proposed manuscript must be named as authors of the articles. There are no preset limits on the number of authors that may be submitted with manuscripts.

2.2 Use of AI

While AI (Artificial Intelligence) is becoming an increasingly common tool in all fields, including academic production, it is advised to monitor its use concerning content generation and limit it to sections of the article oriented towards theoretical content and/or merely bibliographic references, subsequently paraphrasing the text in the style of the authors of the work, as appropriate. If it is detected or suspected that the work has been generated entirely or largely using AI, it will be rejected for publication.

2.3 Considerations for Publishing an Article

The following considerations should be taken into account:

- Scientific Article / Applied Engineering Projects: Reports the scientific results of original research. 2700 words. Includes Abstract and may have up to 40 references.
- Update Articles: Analyses, interprets, or critiques the results of previous research on a specific topic based on the most recent information. 2000 words. Includes Abstract (Max. 100 words) and may have an average of up to 25 references.
- Bibliographic Review Articles: Offers a compilation of information based on scientific publications on relevant topics. 2500 words. Includes Abstract (Max. 100 words) and a minimum of 50 references.

3. Main Style Elements of the Journal Boliviano de Ciencias

3.1 Units of Measurement

Authors must express all measurements according to the International System of Units (SI).

3.2 Abbreviations

Except for units of measurement, the use of abbreviations is strongly discouraged; however, the first time an abbreviation appears, it must be preceded by the words it represents.

3.3 Brand Names and Patented Equipment

Where possible, use generic names. When patented brands are used in the research and are necessary to mention for the design, the brand name and the manufacturer's name should be detailed in parentheses after the first mention of the generic name.

4. Preparation of Materials for Submission

4.1 Main Text

Compile all text, references, figure legends, and tables into a single digital file (preferably a MS Word document). Generally, the main text of a scientific article or case study consists of:

- Introduction
- Methodology
- Results
- Discussion
- Conclusion

In the case of an analysis or review, the variant is:

- Introduction
- Development or Analysis
- Conclusions

4.2 Title

The title must include:

- The title of the manuscript in Spanish, which must not contain abbreviations.
- A translation of the title into English, which must not differ from the original title.
- The name, highest academic degree, and affiliation/institution of each author.
- Contact information for a corresponding author.

4.3 Abstract

Provide an abstract with a suggested length of between 80 and 250 words. At the end of this section, present 3 to 5 keywords that facilitate the indexing and search of the document. The abstract must contain information from the main sections of the article: the problem addressed in the study, the objective, methodology, main results, and conclusions, without the need to use bibliographic references.

Both the abstract and keywords must be presented in Spanish and English, using the subtitles "Abstract" and "Keywords" in the latter case.

4.4 References

The Journal Boliviano de Ciencias follows APA 7th edition guidelines. Therefore, it is essential to consider the various rules when placing a citation. This section must include all references mentioned in the body of the document, without including references that are not cited in the document.

4.5 Tables

All tables must be included in the text file of the manuscript where the author deems appropriate and according to the section where their use is pertinent. It is also advisable to send them in a separate editable file (one table per page), unless the tables from other authors are too complex to reproduce or translate, in which case they may be submitted as images. Provide a legend composed of a title and description for each table. The legends should be concise but complete: the table, the legend, and the footnotes must be understandable without reference to the text. All abbreviations must be defined in footnotes. Statistical terms such as mean, standard deviation (SD), or confidence intervals (CI) must be identified in the headings.

All tables presented must be mentioned in the text in parentheses (as Table #) or as part of a sentence and must be numbered in order according to their mention in the text. All tables are initially considered as original production generated for the article; therefore, they should not carry references. However, it should be noted that tables created by other authors may also be used, duly referenced.

4.6 Figures and Illustrations

Figures and illustrations must be included in the manuscript in the location that authors deem necessary, but they should also be sent separately (in addition to being inserted in the Word document) in JPG format, preferably sized 1024x768 and with a resolution equal to or greater than 600 ppi/dpi (points per inch). Low-resolution images may be submitted for peer review, but at a later stage, the JBC may request higher resolution figures.

Since many figures and illustrations may originate from other articles, all figures must have their corresponding reference cited at the bottom of the figure, including the reference as "Original Creation" or "Based on" as appropriate. All graphs are considered original production generated for the article; therefore, they do not require references unless adapted from other sources.

4.7 Appendix or Annexes

The Appendix or Annex section, if included and/or deemed necessary, contains supplementary data that the author considers necessary for disclosure as part of the principle of "Transfer for the transparency and replicability of research work." It may include text (such as methods), figures, tables, and references if necessary. References cited in the Appendix and the corresponding reference list must be independent of those presented in the References section. The Appendix must be submitted in MS Word format (or another editable text format). The Appendix will not be edited for style and will be presented online as additional information provided by the authors.

Each figure and table in the Appendix section must include a title and legend and, if necessary, footnotes that must appear on the same page.

4.8 General Format

- The font must be Times New Roman, 12 points, on letter-sized paper, with 1.5 line spacing.
- The margin settings are: top and bottom at 2.5 cm, left and right margins at 2.5 cm.
- All sections and their corresponding paragraphs, tables, and figures must start at the edge of the page margin, with no indentation.
- Capitalisation should only be used for proper names, beginnings of titles, paragraphs, or sentences following a full stop.
- For any spelling doubts, refer to the Oxford English Dictionary
- Titles and subtitles will be hierarchised according to the multi-level list system (1., 1.1., 1.1.1, etc.), although it is not recommended to exceed the fourth level of the list.
- In cases where scientific names of any organism are mentioned in the article, they must be written in italics, with the genus in uppercase and the species in lowercase, underlined and in bold; for example, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The complete scientific name of the organism will be reported when first mentioned. For subsequent mentions, the simplified version will be used, for example, cerevisiae.
- All cited sources must be referenced in the bibliography according to APA 7th edition format, ensuring that there are no modifications in the year, place, name, or any other detail.