Author Guidelines

Áreas: Revista Internacional de Ciencias Sociales establishes these guidelines that authors must follow when submitting manuscripts. Failure to comply will result in the rejection of the manuscript. For any information or related queries please write to the journal's contact email address. Once the manuscript has been submitted, authors must communicate with the editors using the platform’s “Discussions” tool.

The journal publishes scientific research articles and book reviews on the topics listed in the Aims and Scope section.

Deadlines for submitting papers to the “Monographic Dossier” section will be set out in a Call for Papers, which will be published in the Announcements section and on the journal’s home page. Submissions for the “Miscellaneous” and “Book Review” sections are open year-round. However, no editorial activities will be carried out by the journal during the holiday period in August.

In addition to these guidelines, authors are advised to consult all relevant sections of the journal’s website before submitting, such as our peer review process , publication ethics policy , artificial intelligence use policy, our anti-plagiarism policy, etc.

1 Requirements

The general requirements for submitting a scientific article are:

  1. Originality. The work is original; it is not a translation, has not been published, and is not currently under review by another journal.
  2. Compliance with the submission procedure. Manuscripts must be submitted via the journal’s platform. To do so, authors must log in via the platform or register to create a user profile if they do not already have an account. Registered authors are advised to add their ORCID identifier to their profile.
  3. Languages. Manuscripts are published in Spanish, Catalan, English and Portuguese.
  4. Authorship. Authors or co-authors must provide on the platform:
    • Name and surnames.
    • Main institutional or professional affiliation (written in full, without acronyms).
    • Country.
    • Email address (preferably institutional or professional).
    • ORCID identifier in link format (https://orcid.org/XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX).

    When giving their name and surnames, authors are advised to follow the format recommended for indexing in international databases (see the FECYT [Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology] recommendations for standardising formats of author names and email addresses).

  5. Manuscript Requirements:
    • Text file format will be Microsoft Word (.docx) or Open Document Text (.odt).
    • Manuscripts must be fully anonymised: author names and institutional affiliations should be removed and replaced with the label “Author” or “Author(s)”. Any other elements that could directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the authors must be deleted and marked as anonymised.
    • The manuscript must not include any information regarding conflicts of interest, authorship and contributions, funding sources, or acknowledgements.
  6. Cover letter. Authors must complete and submit the following cover letter (.docx), which includes information on:
    • The originality and relevance of the work.
    • Competing interests.
    • Copyright and ownership of tables, figures, etc.
    • Use of artificial intelligence.
    • Authorship and contributions.
    • Sources of funding.
    • Acknowledgements.
  7. Tables and Figures. Tables that have not been created with the word processor, i.e. that have been inserted into the work as an image, and figures (images, photographs, graphs, diagrams, etc.) should be attached in separate files. Files should preferably be provided in vector graphics format (SVG). If this is not possible, they should be provided in raster format (JPEG, GIF, TIFF, etc.) at the highest quality available.
  8. Datasets: The datasets used in the research that led to the work may be attached in separate files in xlsx, csv, or ods format. If the article is published, the data will be deposited alongside the work and will be linked by the same persistent identifier.

2 Research articles

Research articles may consist of original research, case studies or systematic reviews, conforming to the standards of the scientific community for each type of work.

2.1 Structure

The following elements must be provided at the beginning of the manuscript:

  • Title: The title must be clear, concise, and informative (avoid rhetorical expressions or questions), and unambiguous, without acronyms or overly specific terms. It should include keywords that define the subject of the article.
  • Abstract: It is recommended that it includes the following sections: objectives, methodology, results, and conclusions. Narrative abstracts are also accepted, provided they contain the information of the above sections. The abstract should be at least 200 words and no more than 300 and include keywords in the appropriate places. It must be a single paragraph and must not have subsections or include citations.
  • Keywords: While there is not a maximum number of keywords, at least six must be provided. Terms from Interdisciplinary Didactics and common terms in the relevant field will be provided. Consider including terms that help contextualise the article:
    • Topical (themes, concepts, ideas): e.g international migration; climate change; economic history; cultural tourism; gender perspective; social inequality; public policy; educational innovation; industrial heritage; regional sustainability; military orders; nobility; rural elites; peasantry; etc.
    • Geographical (place names): e.g., Buenos Aires (Argentina); Toledo; Spain; Region of Murcia; Mediterranean; Latin America; Europe; Andalusia; Southeast Asia; Al-Andalus; Kingdom of Castile; etc.
    • Chronological (periods, historical context): e.g., 1898; 1936–1975; 21st century; Late Middle Ages; Franco regime; democratic transition; contemporary era; etc.
    • Onomastic (names of people, entities): e.g., Alfonso XIII; John Maynard Keynes; the Crown of Aragon; the United Nations (UN); UNESCO; the European Union; the OECD; the World Bank; the Cervantes Institute; etc.

Following these guidelines will improve the article’s visibility on the internet and in academic databases.

The title, abstract and keywords shall be provided in the original language of the paper and also in English. If the original language is English, translations into Spanish will also be provided.

The text of research articles should be structured in the following sections:

  1. Introduction: It will include the basis (theoretical framework) and the objectives of the study. It will clearly and precisely state the main purpose of the research, specifying the phenomenon, problem, or relationship under study, and using only the bibliographic references that are strictly necessary. It will not include data or conclusions from the presented work, or provide a detailed literature review.
  2. Methodology: This should be presented with appropriate detail, providing sufficient information about the empirical work conducted to enable an understanding of the research process and its reproducibility. Previously published sources and methods should be described only briefly and accompanied by the relevant citations, unless modifications have been made to them. Where applicable, the calculation of the sample size and the sampling method used in each case should be described. Reference will be made to the type of analysis used (documentary, critical, statistical, etc.). If an original methodology is employed, the reasons for its use must be explained, and its potential limitations described. If artificial intelligence tools were used in the research, this will be indicated in this section in accordance with our policy.
  3. Results: The results obtained by applying the relevant methodology will be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, or figures, and the same data should not be repeated across these sections. Significant points will be emphasised.
  4. Discussion: The author’s own viewpoints will be compared with other relevant studies, highlighting the strengths and limitations of each. Data or other material already discussed in other sections should not be repeated in detail.
  5. Conclusions: This section will summarise the conclusions that can be drawn from the results and their discussion.

As an alternative to this structure, manuscripts may also be submitted with the following sections:

  • Introduction: The opening section, which will include the basis (theoretical framework) and the objectives of the study. It will clearly and precisely state the main purpose of the research, specifying the phenomenon, problem, or relationship under study, and using only the bibliographic references that are strictly necessary. It will not include data or conclusions from the presented work. It will not provide a detailed literature review. It will also include the methodology, and if artificial intelligence tools were used in the research, this will be indicated in this section in accordance with our policy.
  • Development: Authors may create the numbered and titled sections and subsections they deem necessary to organize the text of their research paper.
  • Conclusions: The concluding section, which will summarise the ideas that can be drawn from the results and their discussion.

The paper should be between 8,000 and 12,000 words n length and must include all the following elements: title, abstract, keywords (and English translations of these three elements), the body of the article, footnotes and references.

2.2 Format

2.2.1 Style guide

Submissions should follow these general style or formatting guidelines:

  • The pages should be A4 size with 3 cm margins.
  • Only one font type should be used in the text; this may be: Aptos, Arial, Calibri, Liberation Sans, Liberation Serif or Times New Roman. The text font size should be 12 points. The title should be 18 points.
  • Paragraphs should be fully justified and single-spaced.
  • Sections and subsections shall be numbered, titled and written in a mixture of upper- and lower-case letters.
  • Typographical devices used for emphasis (capital letters, bold type, etc.) should be avoided, except where necessary.
  • Only standard, universally accepted abbreviations should be used. When shortening a term that appears frequently in the text, the abbreviation should be given in brackets alongside the full term the first time it appears.
  • The use of footnotes should be kept to a minimum; their content should preferably be incorporated into the main text, and they should be reserved exclusively for clarifications that cannot be included in the text or listed as a bibliographical reference.
  • Do not use a hyphen (—) in the bibliography. All references must include the authors’ first names and surnames.

2.2.2 Metadata

The first or second page of the article will be reserved for metadata. Only four elements will be included:

  • Title: It will be written in upper and lower case, in the original language and in English.
  • Abstract: The text should be presented in a single paragraph, in the original language and in English. These should be preceded by the headings "Resumen" and "Abstract".
  • Keywords: They should be separated by semicolons (;), in the original language and in English. They should be preceded by the headings "Keywords" and "Palabras clave".
  • Use of artificial intelligence: Please state whether or not artificial intelligence tools were used in drafting the text, in accordance with our policy. This information is important for verifying the originality of the work and preventing plagiarism.

The text of the article will start on a new page.

2.2.3 Tables and Figures

All illustrations, figures, charts, tables, and graphs must be placed in the appropriate position within the text, not at the end of the document. They must be consecutively numbered and include a title. Only elements that, because of their relevance, are necessary to support the arguments set out in the text will be used. Each table or figure must be referred to in the body of the article.

Each of these items must include a heading with its number and title. Examples:

  • Table 3. Volume of imports from Latin America in 2025
  • Figure 7. Age distribution of the population in Spain

Each item must also include a caption indicating the source. Examples:

  • Source: Author’s own
  • Source: The British Library

Images, drawings, photos, figures, tables, charts, etc. must either be original works by the author(s), rights-free, or under Creative Commons licences that allow for reuse and specify usage terms. If copyrighted materials are used, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright holders.

3 Citations and bibliographical references

Manuscripts submitted to the Áreas will adapt in-text citations and the final list of bibliographical references to the standards of the 7th edition of the APA style guide. You can also consult the APA style guide (PDF) of the Library of the University of Alicante.

After the conclusions, the article will end with a section entitled ‘Bibliographical references’ in which all the works cited throughout the article will be placed, following an alphabetical and chronological criterion, if there are several works by the same author. It is important that each bibliographical reference, except those ending with a URL or DOI, ends with a full stop and that a line break is left.

3.1 Digital Object Identifier

If the publication has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), it must appear at the end of the entry as a secure URL link, without prefixes or a final full stop. The DOI replaces any web address in the reference.

CrossRef’s Simple Text Query can be used for checking DOIs included in a reference list.