About the Journal
Focus and Scope
UNICIENCIA Journal is a publication of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the National University of Costa Rica. Its areas of interest are mainly related to the work of the Faculty; these areas are the following: Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, surveying, and Geodesy. The Journal receives articles resulting from studies using different types of research designs, such as experimental, descriptive and inferential analysis, correlational, observational, and action research, as well as case study analyzed with quantitative or qualitative techniques, or a combination of both. No essays, non-systematic literature reviews, discussions, dissertations, educational proposals or technical notes are published.
Estimated times currently in our journal (Publishing timeline)
Reception and desk rejection (First decision): approximately 4 weeks.
Evaluation (Review time): approximately 12-14 months.
Publication of accepted papers: approximately 8-10 months (after evaluation).
Publication scheme: continuous.
Process of receiving papers and rejection of the editor.
All submissions must be made through our journal's OJS system. From October 2021 onwards, we will no longer receive submissions by email. It is madatory complying with the basic format of Preprint. The letter of submission of papers duly signed must be sent. Papers that have already been rejected or subsequent versions are not accepted.
In the first stage, the editor will check that the initial conditions of submission are met and a review of the quality of the scientific writing, sections, writing and citation forms requested, among others, is made. In this stage the editor can make a request for modifications to several elements or, eventually, reject the proposal (desk rejection).
The result of this stage will be communicated to the author who submits the article. If the paper meets the initial conditions, then the process of searching for reviewers will begin.
Peer Review Process
Two external reviewers conduct the review process according to the Single-blind peer review strategy (with identifying the authors). The reviewers for evaluation are selected anonymously. See our "About" section for current estimated times.
The reviewers can submit one of the following three kinds of evaluation (according to the relevance of the paper): 1. Positive with changes in content and format. It is considered that part of the document requires modifications to be published. A new revision is performed to verify that corrections were made. 2. Positive without content modifications. The content and treatment are appropriate. Format changes may be required. 3. Rejected. The article does not fit the quality criteria for the Journal or does not follow formatting instructions.
The reviewers evaluate the manuscripts using an assessment tool that the Journal provides to them. The evaluators provide the main reasons to justify their decision (without being exhaustive).
Once an article is positively evaluated, the Advisory Committee will decide to publish it or not. The opinion held by peers does not necessarily imply that the paper would be published. The publication mainly depends on whether all the observations and corrections were made.
1. The final decision will be made by the journal's editor-in-chief and it is unappealable.
2. The selection of articles for each volume/issue does not depend on the reviewers’ judgment but on the criterion of suitability for the Journal.
3. The Journal will provide an acceptance letter, signed and stamped by the Editorial Board.
Publication Frequency
Until 2021, Uniciencia published two issues per year (31/January and 31/July of each year). From 2022 onwards, the journal will be published on a continuous publication basis.
What is a Uniciencia PostPrint?
A postprint is a paper that 1) has already been peer reviewed, 2) has already been accepted by the journal's committee, 3) has already been reviewed by philologists and translators. This version is released for distribution and is pending final artwork such as layout and graphic design. Several months may pass between the postprint and the final artworks so we are releasing this version to allow the results of the already accepted research to be known.
The postprint does not appear on our official site but rather in our repositories at Zenodo, Academia.edu and others. Since this postprint has already been accepted and scheduled for publication, it will have the volume, issue and year in which it will appear. The final version will appear until the scheduled date.
Open Access Policy
Access to articles, review of proposals, or publication of papers is free of charges for authors and readers.
UNICIENCIA Journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle of making research freely available to the public; this policy encourages a greater global exchange of knowledge.
Use and reuse and Self-archiving policy
Both authors and readers may use and reuse the papers and information in the journal according to our policy as guided by CC-BY-NC-ND. Anyone can get all the papers for free on the journal's official site. Uniciencia is an open access journal. The authors can enter into additional agreements separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the article published in the Journal (for example, to place it in an institutional or scientific repository) or publish it in a book (with an obligatory recognition of its initial publication in this Journal). The journal invites authors to share their published papers in as many free repositories as possible.
Preservation, interoperability and identification of information.
The journal uses the following systems and protocols: OAI-PMH, DOI, LOCKSS and keeps their papers in external hard drives, the repository of UNA, CLOCKSS, PKP-PN, and SINABI. interoperability protocol: https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/uniciencia/oai
- Internally, through external storage (Hard Disk).
- Preservation at the institution, in the Repository of the Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica.
- Long-term preservation, in CLOCKSS, PKP-PN.
- Preservation in libraries: In the National System of Libraries (SINABI).
- A deposit is made in Academia.edu.
Policy about plagiarism.
The Journal penalizes plagiarism in all its forms. The detection of plagiarism implies the conclusion of any editorial process. The Turnitin software is used, among others, to determine matches in the manuscripts submitted with other texts and papers already published on the Internet. In the case of articles already published, the journal's retraction criteria will be used.
See our Code of Ethics for more information.
Policy on receiving articles in English.
The journal receives articles in Spanish and English. At the discretion of the editor or based on the evaluations, a proofreading certification (linguistic review) certification by an expert may be required, depending on the language of the article (Spanish or English). The cost of this review must be covered in full by the authors.
Licence
UNICIENCIA and all its productions are under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License:Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas.
Sponsors Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica (National University)
Journal History
The Journal Uniciencia has a rich history that dates back to its foundation in the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the Universidad Nacional, in Costa Rica. The following are some of the most interesting elements.
1. Origins and Foundation:
- The Journal Uniciencia was created with the purpose of being a space for the dissemination of scientific and academic research in areas such as biology, physics, computer science, mathematics, chemistry, topography and geodesy, and education in these areas.
- Its foundation dates back to 1984, when a group of academics and scientists from the faculty decided to establish a publication that would promote the exchange of knowledge and collaboration among researchers.
2. Evolution and Development:
- Throughout its existence, the Uniciencia Journal has evolved in response to scientific and technological advances.
- It has maintained a constant periodicity, publishing original and scientific articles that have been evaluated by external academic peers.
- It was born as a printed journal, however, as of 2014 with the incorporation of its editor in chief Yuri Morales López, it became online with the use of the OJS system. In addition, as of 2020 it became a publication that publishes continuously throughout the year (when an article is ready, it is published).
- Starting in 2014, under the leadership of Yuri Morales, a campaign for compliance with international standards was initiated, which resulted in the indexing of Uniciencia in Latindex, Doaj, Scielo, Redalyc, Scopus (where it has reached up to quartile 3) and many other indexes and databases.
- In 2023, Uniciencia incorporates the use of Preprints as mandatory.
- Its focus has been on the quality of the contents and the promotion of research in the areas related to the faculty.
3. Impact and Contributions:
- The Uniciencia Journal has had a significant impact on the academic and scientific community.
- It has contributed to regional and national development by fostering the scientific and creative spirit among researchers and students.
- Throughout these years, it has strengthened university academic research.
4. Future Vision:
- Uniciencia Journal remains committed to its mission of offering high quality inputs at the national and international level.
- It seeks to continue to be a reference in the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the promotion of interdisciplinary research.
- Uniciencia Journal and its editorial management seek to innovate in topics such as open science, artificial intelligence and others that allow the creation and democratic use of knowledge.
In summary, the Uniciencia Journal is a valuable resource for the academic community, and its legacy continues to enrich the scientific landscape in Costa Rica and internationally.
Note: For the elaboration of this historical overview, Copilot of Microsoft was used
