Author Guidelines

The journal currently receives submissions only by email at [email protected]

Publication Guidelines of the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería

Templates and important documents for article submissions

• Article template (a DOCX file will open in Google Drive). LINK

• Originality statement (a DOCX file will open in Google Drive). LINK

• Biodata (a DOCX file will open in Google Drive). LINK

• Publication Guidelines (a PDF file will open in Google Drive). LINK

1. SCOPE

Ciencia e Ingeniería is an interdisciplinary journal of Universidad de La Guajira that promotes dialogue among basic knowledge, innovative theories, and technological applications, integrating them into sustainable development from a holistic perspective.

The journal seeks to foster the dissemination of knowledge and interdisciplinary dialogue on theoretical knowledge and technological applications through theoretical research and experimentation, thereby contributing to the development of scientific knowledge, science, and industry.

Accordingly, the thematic areas selected and connected with this purpose are the following: biodiversity, sustainable development, technological innovation, and productive and industrial processes.

2. FEES

This journal follows a diamond open access model. Consequently, it does not charge any article processing fees. Submission, review, and publication are completely free of charge, with no fees for authors or their institutions.

3. PERIODICITY OR PUBLICATION FREQUENCY

Ciencia e Ingeniería is a biannual publication that publishes in January and July, respectively.

4. ACCEPTED CONTRIBUTION TYPES

• Research article. An original contribution that presents, in detail, the results of completed research. Its organization preferably follows the IMRaD model or an equivalent structure that makes explicit the problem, the methodological approach, the results, and their discussion.
• Review article. A contribution that analyzes, systematizes, and integrates the results of published research on a field of knowledge, in order to present current advances, trends, and debates. It must be based on a rigorous literature review of at least fifty references, with a minimum publication period covering the last five years.
• Short article. A brief scientific contribution that communicates preliminary or partial research results, or a clearly delimited advance of particular academic interest. Its distinctive feature is the focused, autonomous, and publishable nature of the contribution. The artificial fragmentation of a larger article or the simple reduction of an extensive manuscript will not be accepted as a short article.
• Scientific note. A brief and focused contribution that communicates a specific finding, a relevant observation, a technical development, a methodological innovation, a record, a validation, or a specific result whose timeliness or singularity justifies its independent publication. It is not necessarily equivalent to a short article, although it shares formal brevity with it.
• A brief text offering orientation or intellectual positioning on a general topic of interest, especially one connected with the dossier, the focus of the issue, or a discussion of relevance to the journal’s academic community.

5. JOURNAL SECTIONS

• Editorial. Publishes contributions of the editorial type. It is characterized by offering a brief opening, orientation, or positioning text on a general topic of interest to the journal. Editorials are evaluated by the editorial committee and are mainly invited contributions.
• Articles. Publishes original contributions of the following types: research article, short article, and review article. This section brings together the journal’s central scientific production in its different forms of research development, brief communication of results, and critical synthesis of knowledge. These contributions are evaluated by external reviewers under a double-blind review model.
• Scientific notes. Publishes contributions of the scientific note type. This section welcomes focused and autonomous publications on findings, records, technical innovations, or specific results of interest to the journal’s editorial profiles. This section is occasional and may or may not be opened in each issue, depending on the availability and relevance of approved manuscripts of this type. These contributions are evaluated by external reviewers under a double-blind review model.

6. ACCEPTED LANGUAGES

The journal accepts submissions in Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

7. MANUSCRIPT PRESENTATION

7.1. Accepted file format for submission

The body of the manuscript is accepted exclusively in .docx or .doc files. Manuscript files submitted in any other format will not be considered.

7.2. Manuscript preparation

• Works must be submitted electronically using the Word template format, in Times New Roman 12-point font, available on the journal’s website.
• The text must follow the required format, in accordance with the latest edition of APA standards, on letter-size pages, 1.5 line spacing, fully justified, with no indentation, and in a single column.
• Only the title and section headings should appear in uppercase and bold; the title must be centered and section headings aligned to the left margin.
• Italics should be used only for Latin terms, journal titles, and book titles in the cited literature.
• The metric system and its abbreviations (mm, cm, m, km, g, kg) must be used for all measurements, and decimals and/or superscripts should be used instead of fractions. A comma (,) must be used to separate decimal numbers and a period (.) to separate thousands.
• Whole numbers from zero to ten that are not followed by units must be written out in words. Acronyms must be fully explained the first time they appear in the text.
• Tables and figures (maps, graphs, diagrams, and photographs), in addition to being included in the manuscript submitted for evaluation, must be attached in a compressed folder as separate files, properly labeled, in Excel and JPG or TIFF format (150-300 dpi).

7.3. Manuscript structure

The journal accepts documents in the format of scientific articles, notes, and review articles.

7.3.1. Scientific articles

They must not exceed 30 pages, excluding figures and tables. The first page must include the title in bold (in Spanish and English). The title must be informative but concise (maximum 12 words). Below the title, the name of the author(s) must appear, and below each author’s name the following information must be indicated: ORCID, email address, institutional affiliation, city, and country of the institutional affiliation. The following must then be presented:

ABSTRACT. Write a synthesis of your article in a single paragraph of 200 words (maximum 250). It must be concise and informative, containing a synthesis of the main points addressed in the manuscript. An introductory sentence is recommended. The research purposes, materials and methods, relevant results, and main conclusions must be mentioned; bibliographic citations must not be included. Emphasis should be placed on the new and important aspects of the study. Avoid a descriptive abstract; an analytical abstract must be presented, including the relevant data obtained in the research.

KEYWORDS. List 3 to 5 keywords, which may be compound terms, that significantly describe the work and allow it to be classified within a given field of study. Separate the keywords with semicolons. It is recommended to use words different from those used in the title in order to increase visibility in search engines.

ABSTRACT. This must be a faithful English translation of the Spanish abstract.

KEYWORDS. These must be the same keywords, translated into English.

For texts written in English, a TITLE and ABSTRACT in Spanish must be provided.

INTRODUCTION. This section must state the nature of the problem, place it in context, and justify its study. In addition, it must mention the contribution that the research makes to knowledge in the field. Only strictly relevant references should be provided. Likewise, the objectives of the work must be included at the end of the introduction. This section is not intended as an extensive literature review; therefore, it is recommended that it not exceed three pages.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. This section must present the essential information needed for the work to be replicated by other researchers. The equipment used must be mentioned, including the manufacturer’s name. For the sake of brevity, if the methods followed have already been published, they should be briefly explained and the original publication of those methods cited. The experimental design and statistical analyses must be detailed and include references. New methods or substantially modified methods must be described, providing the reasons for their use and evaluating their limitations.

If it is necessary to include subheadings, such as reagents or statistical analysis, write them as sentences and in bold. Do not write them in uppercase or place periods at the end. In one subsection, the reagents used and their brand must be listed; use subsections for each of the procedures employed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. This section must strictly comprise the data obtained in the work and present them in a logical and consistent sequence, following the order of the materials and methods. This is a single section; however, it may be divided into two sections, one for results and another for discussion. Subsections may also be used in this section.

The results that contribute to the generation of new knowledge and the relevant aspects of the study must be highlighted. Avoid repeating information from the introduction. If statistical results are presented within the text, they must be accompanied by the basic parameters of the test applied. The text of this section must not be redundant with the information included in tables and figures.

The discussion must include an interpretation of the results, indicating the hypotheses that have been tested and their applicability. It must compare the results of the work with those found by other authors, explaining discrepancies or agreements.

TABLES, FIGURES, AND EQUATIONS. This format admits only tables and figures; avoid classifying images in any way other than as “figures” (images, photos, diagrams, schemes, maps, graphs, and any other graphic material). Figures created in Excel or Word must be submitted in those programs as editable files. Avoid redundancy among tables, figures, and text.

Tables, figures, and equations must be included in the body of the article, in their corresponding order of appearance. Equations must be inserted using the Word equation editor. Both tables and figures must be self-contained, meaning that they can be interpreted without referring to the body of the article.

The caption of each table must appear above it, whereas figure captions must appear below. Avoid isolated small figures: group figures with related information into composite figures labeled with letters (Figure 1A or Figures 1A-1F).

The figure caption, or the table title, must describe keys, abbreviations, and any other explanations. In addition to means, it is recommended to provide standard deviations and any other statistical information relevant to the data.

If an article contains reproduced tables or figures, the source must be declared and permission to use them must be obtained. Figures must appear at a size that allows them to be read, with a minimum resolution of 150 dpi and a maximum of 300 dpi.

Location or detail maps must include the reference and coordinate system, spatial scale, and, whenever possible, geographic references. Colors and symbols on the map must be specified in the legend. Images from Google Earth may be included as map details, but the referenced area must be indicated and scale and coordinates must be included.

CONCLUSIONS. At least one paragraph with the conclusions must be included, linked to the study objectives, avoiding enumeration or presentation as isolated sentences. Statements must be fully supported by the data.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (optional). Only persons, groups, or entities that directly supported the completion of the work should be included, along with information on the permissions required to conduct the work and sources of funding (contract, agreement, etc.).

REFERENCES CITED. All information external to that obtained through this study, whether belonging to third parties or to the authors, must be properly cited in the body of the text (journals, books, book chapters, conference proceedings, web pages, legal norms, theses, etc.). The use of references from indexed publications is preferably recommended.

DECLARATIONS

Under the heading “Declarations,” the following must be added:

Contribution statement

This statement must be added whenever there is more than one author.

Author 1:

Author 2:

Author n:

Follow the instructions available at https://revistas.uniguajira.edu.co/rev/index.php/cei/contribuciones

Conflict of interest statement

This statement must always be added, regardless of the number of authors.

Declare whatever applies to the case. Follow the instructions available at https://revistas.uniguajira.edu.co/rev/index.php/cei/conflictosdeinteres

Data availability statement

This statement must always be added, regardless of the number of authors.

Declare whatever applies to the case. Follow the instructions available at https://revistas.uniguajira.edu.co/rev/index.php/cei/disponibilidaddedatos

BIODATA

Submit the document FT-03_Biodata-RCeI-2026 available through this link (it will open in Google Drive).

7.3.2. Scientific note

A brief and concise communication reporting findings, observations, preliminary experiments, or partial/complete research results. Unlike a full article, it focuses on a specific aspect, a new finding, or a phenomenon, contributing new knowledge for future studies. It must not exceed ten pages, including figures and tables. In general, scientific notes follow the same standards as articles, but with a reduced amount of content in each section.

7.3.3. Review article

In general, review articles follow the same standards as articles. The introduction must discuss background information on the topic and must address the objective or research question. The article must include materials and methods, where the information necessary to repeat the review must be provided. Search strategies must be included, such as search equations or the keywords or descriptors used, inclusion and exclusion criteria, data sources and geographic information, characteristics of the study subjects, and statistical analyses used.

In the results and discussion, authors must include all results addressed in the work and mention their relevance to the objective. The results must include the heterogeneity of the study groups or samples. Statistical significance must be mentioned.

The conclusions must be related to the object of study, mention the implications of the findings and interpretations, and identify unresolved questions. An assessment must be made of whether the studies were adequate for reaching a conclusion that can be applied to a much larger group, indicating the reasons. Suggestions for future studies must be provided.

Only references cited in the text should be listed in the reference list. Between 50 and 100 references are allowed.

8. AUTHORSHIP DATA

8.1. Anonymization

The editorial team will anonymize manuscripts before submitting them to peer review. The information in the manuscripts must be complete to ensure proper identification.

8.2. On the recognition of authorship

Only human persons who meet the minimum conditions required by the Contribution Statement Policy may be considered authors. This policy establishes that, in order to be considered an author, a person must contribute at least in the following ways: 

8.2.1. Authorship criteria

• Have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; and
• Have participated in drafting the manuscript or critically reviewing its most relevant intellectual content; and
• Have given final approval to the version to be submitted for publication;

To meet criterion 1, select all items from the following list that you consider appropriate:

• Conceptualization
• Methodology
• Investigation
• Data curation
• Formal analysis
• Validation

To meet criterion 2, select all items from the following list that you consider appropriate:

• Writing – original draft
• Writing – review and editing

To meet criterion 3, it must be explicitly indicated that the submitted version was approved:

• Final approval of the manuscript submitted to the journal.

Under no circumstances may generative artificial intelligence, or any other type of artificial intelligence, present or future, be considered an author or co-author.

To understand the scope of each contribution, review this journal’s Contribution Statement Policy.

8.3. Essential information that each author must provide

• Name in the form used for publication.
• ORCID iD with the minimum required information completed; the ORCID record must show, at a minimum, the author’s highest academic degree and academic affiliation.
• Email address, preferably institutional; the email address of each author will always be public.
• Academic affiliation, at the highest hierarchical level, for example, the university rather than its faculties; city, and, if necessary, state or province; and country of the affiliation.
• Add a biodata section, including a brief statement about yourself that indicates your academic degrees, ordered from highest to lowest regardless of when they were obtained. Indicate your academic affiliation, including membership in centers, faculties, universities, research groups, among others. You may add information about your most recent publications, including footnote links, provided that they are of exclusively academic interest. You may include any other biographical mention that you consider important. The biodata must not exceed ten lines.

For Colombian authors or foreign authors working at Colombian institutions, registration in the CvLAC system of Minciencias is required, and the information necessary to verify the registration must be provided.

9. CITATION AND REFERENCE STANDARDS

All citations must appear in the references, and all references must have been cited in the body of the text. Do not include additional material that has not been cited. In the text and in the references cited, only published bibliographic references should be included.

The journal uses APA 7th edition citation style or the current version (more information at this link; official examples published by APA: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples). To facilitate your work, the journal suggests using Zotero or Word’s reference manager. You may also find an automatic APA citation and reference generator at this link.

All references with a DOI must include it. You may search for the DOI by article title in Crossref, using the “Search Metadata” option: https://www.crossref.org/; if it does not appear in Crossref, try DataCite, using the “Works” option: https://commons.datacite.org/.

In-text bibliographic references must be cited, depending on the case, as follows:

When several references are cited, they must be listed in alphabetical order. When several works by the same author are referenced, they are listed chronologically; if they are by the same author and year, they are distinguished by adding a, b, c.

Examples for the references cited are provided below:

Print journal articles

Rodríguez, C. (2007). God’s eye does not look at signs. Early development and semiotics. Infancia y Aprendizaje, 30(3), 343-374.

Electronic journal articles with pagination and DOI

Osorio-Delgado, M. A., Henao-Tamayo, L. J., Velásquez-Cock, J. A., Cañas-Gutiérrez. (2017). Aplicaciones biomédicas de biomateriales poliméricos. DYNA, 84(201):241-252. https://doi.org/10.15446/dyna.v84n201.60466

Journal articles with an electronic identifier

Buring, D., Kilteni, K., Rabuffetti, M., Slater, M., and Pia, L. (2019). Body ownership increases the interference between observed and executed movements. PLOS ONE, 14(1), Article e0209899. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0209899

Print book

Suárez, M. F. (2011). Electroquímica: una aproximación teórica. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Electronic book

Pichardo Galán, J., and Stéfano Barbero, M. (Eds.). (2015). Diversidad sexual y convivencia: una oportunidad educativa. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. http://eprints.ucm.es/34926/1/Diversidad_y_convivencia_2015_FINAL.pdf

Book chapter

Gilmartín, M. A. (2008). Ambientes escolares. In J. A. Aragonés and M. Amérigo (Eds.), Psicología ambiental (pp. 221-237). Pirámide.

In cases where there are more than seven authors, list the first six authors separated by commas, add an ellipsis, and cite the last author preceded by “and.” For other types of references, consult the author guidelines and the links mentioned above.

10. ETHICS FOR AUTHORS

10.1. Principles guiding the journal’s editorial ethics

The editorial practice of this journal is governed by the following principles:

• Academic integrity. The journal promotes honesty in the production, presentation, evaluation, and publication of knowledge.
• Editorial transparency. Editorial decisions must be based on public criteria that are understandable and consistent with the journal’s policies.
• Impartiality and equity. Manuscripts are evaluated according to their academic merit, relevance, and contribution, without undue discrimination on personal, institutional, ideological, territorial, linguistic, ethnic, gender-based, or any other grounds incompatible with responsible scientific evaluation.
• Public responsibility. The journal recognizes that published texts form part of the scientific record and, therefore, assumes the duty to correct, clarify, warn, or retract whenever necessary to preserve the reliability of circulating knowledge.
• Respect for epistemological and contextual diversity. Ciencia e Ingeniería values the plurality of theoretical, methodological, territorial, and disciplinary approaches, provided that they meet verifiable academic and ethical standards.
• Editorial due process. Any suspicion or complaint concerning misconduct must be examined with prudence, confidentiality, the right of reply, evidence-based review of the background information, and proportionality in the measures adopted.

10.2. Best practices to ensure editorial ethics: Responsibilities of authors

Authors must submit original, methodologically honest, and properly supported works. They must declare that the manuscript has not been submitted simultaneously to another scientific journal or any other type of publication, that it does not involve duplicate or redundant publication, and that it sufficiently and verifiably acknowledges the sources used. 

They must also ensure that attributed authorship reflects real contributions to the work, that there are no fictitious, honorary, or omitted authors, and that all relevant information on funding, conflicts of interest, permissions, consent, or ethical approvals is clearly declared whenever applicable.

Authors also have the obligation to cooperate with the journal if complementary information, methodological clarifications, supporting data, rectifications, or corrections after evaluation or publication are requested.

10.3. Originality, unpublished status, and exclusive submission

The journal only receives original and unpublished manuscripts that have not been previously published and are not simultaneously under evaluation by another journal, book, collective work, or editorial outlet. Originality, novelty, and the academic interest of the topic are substantive criteria for editorial admission.

Manuscripts with preprint versions may be submitted, provided that they comply with the provisions of the policy “On the Use and Promotion of Preprints.”

The corresponding author must attach, in addition to the manuscript, the originality document (FT-02_autoria-originalidad-RCeI-2026; see at this link), which states that the manuscript is original, has not been previously published, and is not under evaluation by another journal.

Authors must declare that they approve the final version of the manuscript, that it was written by the authors, and state their contribution to its preparation. They must also declare whether or not there is any financial or personal conflict of interest.

Furthermore, authors declare that they are the exclusive holders of the moral and economic rights over the work, that the rights are free of embargoes, encumbrances, limitations, or conditions, whether resolutory or of any other kind, as well as of any circumstance that affects their free disposition.

Authors are responsible for obtaining prior authorization from the rights holder to reproduce content that is not their own, such as tables, figures, data, procedures, etc., should such content appear in the article. In the event of any dispute concerning intellectual property, full responsibility will rest with the authors and not with the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería or Universidad de La Guajira.

Authors declare that they have complied with the publication guidelines of the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería and that, if accepted, they allow the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería to carry out copyediting and accept publication of the version that the editorial team considers appropriate, under a Creative Commons CC BY NC ND 4.0 license.

Finally, authors expressly authorize the processing of their personal data, including collection, storage, use, circulation, or deletion, and agree to be contacted as reviewers if required by the journal.

10.4. Misconduct in scientific publishing

The journal considers misconduct in scientific publishing to include all actions or omissions that compromise the originality, truthfulness, traceability, legitimate authorship, transparency, or reliability of a manuscript or of an already published text.

The journal explicitly recognizes, among others, the following forms of misconduct:

• Plagiarism, understood as the partial or total appropriation of ideas, arguments, data, textual structures, images, tables, or expressions belonging to third parties without proper acknowledgment of the source.
• Self-plagiarism or undisclosed text recycling, when an author substantially reuses their own previously published materials without indicating this transparently and without sufficient editorial justification.
• Duplicate, redundant, or fragmented publication, including the presentation of the same study as if it were different works without sufficient information for the reader or for the journal.
• Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one scientific journal.
• Fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of data, results, documents, citations, tables, graphs, images, or research evidence.
• Improper manipulation of images or supplementary materials that alters the meaning or interpretation of the content.
• Improper authorship, including honorary authorship, guest/gift authorship, purchased authorship, exclusion of authors with real contributions, or inclusion of persons who did not participate substantively in the work.
• Omission or misrepresentation of conflicts of interest.
• Manipulation of peer review, including fraudulent reviewer suggestions, identity impersonation, or improper interference in the review process.
• Manipulated, coercive, or artificially inflated citation, when references are introduced without sufficient academic justification in order to alter metrics, favor specific actors, or simulate bibliographic support.
• Circularity, derived from the preceding point, as when a secondary source is cited to state basic, widely known theory in order to benefit certain authors or journals. The same applies when, except in specific studies, a single source accounts for more than one third of the reference list.
• Concealment of relevant ethical information, such as lack of consent, permissions, institutional authorizations, or approvals required by the nature of the study.
• Misleading or undeclared use of technological tools, including tools that produce or alter text, images, data, references, or evaluations in a manner incompatible with authorial and editorial responsibility.

11. MEANS, TOOLS, AND PROCEDURES TO PREVENT, DETECT, AND REMEDY MISCONDUCT

Ciencia e Ingeniería adopts a combination of preventive, verification, and editorial correction measures.

11.1. Preventive measures

The journal requires authors to know and accept its editorial policies before initiating a submission. Likewise, it publicly informs its evaluation criteria, originality requirements, and position on misconduct.

The journal may request statements of originality, authorship, conflicts of interest, funding, ethical approval, informed consent, and data availability, depending on the nature of the manuscript.

11.2. Verification tools

The publishing institution has access to Turnitin Similarity as a support tool for textual similarity review. Its use makes it possible to identify textual matches, review similarity reports, and detect matches requiring editorial analysis (10% - 15%; nevertheless, final acceptance depends on editorial evaluation). However, the similarity report does not in itself constitute automatic proof of plagiarism: Turnitin expressly indicates that it detects textual similarities and that the determination of plagiarism depends on human academic and editorial judgment.

For this reason, Ciencia e Ingeniería does not interpret similarity percentages mechanically or apply decontextualized automatic thresholds. Each case will be reviewed considering the nature of the detected matches, the presence of properly indicated citations, the length of the fragments involved, the type of manuscript, and the possible existence of improper conduct.

In addition to similarity review, the journal may use additional editorial checks, such as version comparison, reference verification, metadata review, requests for methodological clarifications, affiliation verification, image review, and analysis of argumentative or documentary consistency.

11.3. Procedure for examining misconduct cases

When there is a complaint, a well-founded suspicion, or reasonable evidence of misconduct, the journal will conduct a preliminary assessment of the background information. If the situation warrants it, the journal may temporarily suspend the editorial processing of the manuscript while complementary information is collected.

Subsequently, the journal may request explanations from the authors or other persons involved, require supporting documents, request corrections or additional background information, and, when appropriate, consult COPE guidance, cases, discussions, or flowcharts in order to decide on the most appropriate procedural course.

If the seriousness of the case requires it, the journal may bring the background information to the attention of the authors’ affiliated institution or other competent authorities.

11.4. Editorial measures in response to misconduct

Once the examination of the case has been completed, Ciencia e Ingeniería may adopt, according to the nature, seriousness, and available evidence, one or more of the following measures:

• request for formal clarifications;
• request for corrections or substantive modifications;
• requirement to correct authorship, affiliation, or declarations;
• rejection of the manuscript;
• suspension of the editorial process;
• publication of a correction, erratum, or editorial note;
• publication of an editorial expression of concern when there is a well-founded concern that still requires further clarification;
• full or partial retraction of the article;
• communication of the case to competent institutions or bodies;
• temporary restriction on new submissions by those found responsible, in serious or repeated cases.

For already published texts, the journal will act with the understanding that correction or retraction does not seek to punish authors in itself, but rather to correct the literature and preserve the integrity of the scientific record, a criterion expressly emphasized by COPE in its retraction guidance.

11.5. Corrections, clarifications, retractions, and preservation of the scientific record

When a published text contains minor errors that do not invalidate its results, the journal may publish formally identified corrections or clarifications.

When errors, omissions, or irregularities substantively compromise the reliability of the work, the journal may issue editorial expressions of concern or retractions, maintaining as much transparency as possible regarding the reasons for the decision and preserving the historical character of the published record, except in exceptional situations of a legal nature or involving serious harm.

11.6. Retraction and article withdrawal policy

Article retraction is an academic integrity mechanism used to withdraw or correct publications with serious errors, plagiarism, data fabrication, or undeclared conflicts of interest, thereby ensuring the reliability of the scientific literature. The following are considered grounds for retraction:

• Serious errors: unreliable results due to calculation or experimental errors.
• Scientific misconduct: fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of data.
• Ethical problems: plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or violation of ethical principles, such as permissions or authorizations.
• Redundant publication: duplication of previous works without justification.
• Authorship problems: use of material without authorization or inclusion of unjustified authors.
• Conflicts of interest: failure to declare interests that influence the interpretation of the study.

The retraction or correction process (erratum) must follow these steps:

• The editor-in-chief detects the problem, receives a complaint, or is contacted in writing by the authors, who set out the detailed reasons and formally request the retraction.
• The editorial committee evaluates the evidence and decides whether a retraction is required or, in minor cases, a correction or erratum. During the process, authors may provide additional information.
• In the case of retraction of the full article, when the article is unreliable:
  • A retraction notice is issued linking to the original article, explaining the reasons and detailing the errors.
  • The original article remains online, but is clearly marked as “Retracted” to prevent its use.
• In the case of a correction (erratum/corrigendum), when there are minor errors that do not invalidate the main conclusions of the work, a correction notice is published.

Unlike retraction, which occurs after publication, withdrawal is a preventive action in which the author, with justification, formally requests the withdrawal of a manuscript before it is definitively published in the journal, either during the peer review process or after acceptance but before final publication. IMPORTANT: an article must not be withdrawn without justified cause, nor for submission to another journal without the express authorization of the editor.

Legitimate reasons for requesting the withdrawal of a manuscript:

• Discovery of serious errors in the data, methodology, or analysis that invalidate the conclusions.
• The article has been submitted to two journals by mistake.
• Detection of undeclared conflicts of interest or ethical violations.
• New findings requiring a complete restructuring of the study.

Procedure for the manuscript withdrawal process

• The corresponding author must send the request to the journal’s editor-in-chief, clearly justifying the reason for withdrawal and signed by all co-authors, giving their consent to request withdrawal of the manuscript.

The editorial committee analyzes the justification and decides whether to accept the withdrawal. The withdrawal is not official until the journal confirms acceptance in writing. The journal may reject the withdrawal if it is considered an ethical breach, for example, an attempt to publish in a higher-impact journal.

11.7. Conflicts of interest, complaints, and appeals

Every person participating in the editorial process must promptly declare any real, potential, or apparent conflict of interest that may affect their independence of judgment. See the explicit conflict of interest statement policy.

The journal will receive and examine, on a reasoned basis, complaints, reports, or appeals concerning editorial decisions or possible ethical breaches. These submissions will be handled with confidentiality, respect for due process, and reasoned assessment of the available background information.

12. EDITORIAL PROCESS

Every manuscript received by the journal will be formally registered and submitted, in a first stage, to a preliminary editorial review. At this stage, the editorial team will verify the thematic relevance of the text in relation to the journal’s focus and scope, compliance with presentation standards, the general coherence of the argumentative structure, the integrity of metadata, the adequacy of references, and observance of the ethical principles of publication. When the manuscript does not meet these minimum conditions, it may be returned to its authors for initial adjustments or rejected without being sent for external review.

Manuscripts that pass this preliminary review will be anonymized and sent for peer review. For research articles and other contributions subject to review, the evaluation will be carried out under the double-blind model, so that the identity of the authors will not be revealed to the reviewers, nor the identity of the reviewers to the authors. In the case of original publications, review will be exclusively external. Non-peer-reviewed sections, such as editorials or other institutional texts, will undergo editorial review only, ensuring the integrity of the journal.

Based on the reports received, the journal may make the following editorial decisions: accept without changes, accept with minor revisions, reevaluate after major revisions, or reject. The final decision will be made by the editorial committee and communicated exclusively in writing.

When a manuscript receives a request for corrections, its authors must submit a new version within the deadline indicated by the journal, accompanied, when applicable, by a reasoned response to the reviewers’ comments. Minor corrections may be verified directly by the editorial team; major corrections, by contrast, may be sent again for review to confirm the proper incorporation of the requested changes. If corrections are not submitted within the established deadline, the journal may consider the manuscript withdrawn by the authors or reject it for failure to comply with the editorial process.

Once definitively accepted, the manuscript will enter the final editing stage, which may include copyediting, bibliographic normalization, metadata adjustment, layout, proof review, and editorial validation prior to publication. Final publication of the text will take place in accordance with the journal’s schedule and periodicity.

13. DOUBLE-BLIND REVIEW PROCESS

This journal publishes works in Spanish or English, evaluated under a double-blind system, meaning that they are sent to a minimum of two academic peers with expertise in the relevant field, who evaluate them according to the criteria indicated in our review guidelines.

To guarantee double-blind review, author information is hidden from reviewers, including name, institution, and email, by anonymizing file metadata or using the OJS system. If a reviewer infers the identity of the author, the reviewer must inform the journal and withdraw from the review.

Submitted works must receive two positive reviews in order to be published. If both reviews reject the manuscript, it is definitively rejected. In cases where one review is favorable and the other is unfavorable, a third review will be requested to resolve the controversy.

The manuscript must be submitted through the platform or by email to [email protected], attaching:

• Electronic version of the manuscript (.doc or .docx).
• Compressed file containing figures and tables in the accepted formats.
• Authorship and originality letter.
• Any other current or future documentation that the journal may request in due course.

The author may suggest up to four potential reviewers, providing their name, institutional affiliation, email address, and expertise or research area; this recommendation does not imply that any of them will be selected.

Once the manuscript is received, the journal verifies that it follows the required format and that all complete information has been attached, including manuscript, authorship letter, table and figure files, and biodata. A confirmation of receipt is then sent, accompanied by a code that the author must use when communicating with the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería, and the manuscript enters the editorial process (7 calendar days).

The Editorial Committee reviews compliance with editorial standards and the scientific quality of the manuscript and conducts a similarity check using Turnitin software (10% - 15%; nevertheless, final acceptance depends on editorial evaluation). Works that do not follow editorial and quality standards will be returned with comments from the assigned editor without entering the peer review process (7 calendar days). Works that meet presentation and quality criteria will be sent to external reviewers, who have 7 days to accept or decline the request and 21 calendar days to complete their evaluation. The suggestions will be compiled by the assigned editor and sent to the authors (7 calendar days).

The reports issued by reviewers may be:

• Accept without changes (24 points and compliance with all general conditions).
• Accept with minor revisions (above 18-23 points).
• Reevaluate after major revisions (15-17 points).
• Reject (14 points or fewer).

Depending on the reports issued by the reviewers, their comments are sent to the lead or corresponding author, who must return a corrected version of the manuscript addressing the reviewers’ observations. Along with this new version of the manuscript, a document must be attached responding point by point to the reviewers’ comments and providing justification in cases where a suggestion or recommendation is not accepted.

If the changes suggested by reviewers are substantial, the Editorial Committee may decide to send a second version of the manuscript to the external reviewers. The Editorial Committee reviews the document (7 calendar days), and when the manuscript meets the journal’s requirements, the editor-in-chief communicates acceptance for publication to the authors.

The staff of the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería edits each accepted manuscript, correcting grammar, syntax, and spelling errors. The final version is sent to the authors for final verification, after which layout and publication proceed. 

To consult the “Reviewer Guidelines” and the “Article Evaluation Instrument of the Journal Ciencia e Ingeniería,” review the following documents:

Guidelines

On the website: https://revistas.uniguajira.edu.co/rev/index.php/cei/orientacionesrevision

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MOocK2gaGidbEVhZK2Pm5sRRQc5hAOgu/view?usp=drive_link

Instrument

On the website: https://revistas.uniguajira.edu.co/rev/index.php/cei/instrumentoevaluacion

Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MOocK2gaGidbEVhZK2Pm5sRRQc5hAOgu/view?usp=drive_link

14. AVERAGE RESPONSE TIMES

The journal reports average response times separately for the main stages of the editorial process. These timeframes are estimates and may vary depending on reviewer availability, manuscript complexity, the number of revision rounds, and the editorial schedule of each issue.

• Average initial editorial review time: 1-2 weeks.
• Average peer review time: 4 weeks (7 weeks in cases involving revisions or additional rounds).
• Average time for an editorial decision after receiving the review reports: 1 to 2 weeks.
• Estimated average time between acceptance and publication: approximately 32 to 34 weeks minimum for a biannual journal.

15. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

The journal currently receives articles exclusively by email: [email protected]

16. EDITORIAL CONTACT

Use the same email address mentioned above to resolve any questions.