About the Journal

Focus and Scope

UNED Research Journal / Cuadernos de Investigación UNED j is an indexed  international scientific journal that is published online (ISSN 1659-441X). Pre-publication drafts are published as soon as they are available, adding them to the table of contents of the next issue under the modality of continuous publication. Until December 2023 it was published twice a year, and changed to a single issue of continued publication, covering from January 1 through December 31, starting January 2024.

Its aim is to publish university research of international quality. We publish articles in all fields of science. The journal is aimed at an academic audience. This journal provides immediate free open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public, fosters a greater global exchange of knowledge. We do not charge authors or readers, and all our content is available with a CC BY 4.0 license.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms: Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

FULLY FREE ARTICLE TYPES

Our main type of publication is the article, maximum 6000 words. Articles have concrete hypotheses, clear methods, solid results and a good analysis of how they are related to previous scientific knowledge. Read an example.

We also welcome:

Short Communications, maximum 1500 words, based on short studies or preliminary data. Read an example.

Cases, maximum 4000 words. These are data-based studies of particular problems with practical recommendations to solve them. Read an example.

Hypotheses, maximum 2000 words. These propose new explanations for scientific phenomena based on a critical review of published data or models. Read an example.

Forum, maximum 1000 words, based on well-argued analyses of errors in the literature. These are open to replies from the criticized authors or from other researchers. Read an example.

Reviews, maximum 12000 words, based on critical reviews of the literature and presenting practical recommendations for future research. Normally, these reviews are written by authorities in the field. Read an example.

Additional Material

Additional material is published online as needed, also for free. It includes datasheets, images, audios, videos, GIS map data, PowerPoint presentations and additional text, presentations and additional text that would exceed the word-count for each article type.

We accept scientific audio and video files in common formats such as MP3, WAV, MP4, HTML5, AVI, WMV and MOV. They must be your property and will be published with our CC BY 4.0 License. We recommend H.264 encoding and splitting files over 150 MB into smaller files.

Paid Publications

Notes, maximum 1000 words, based on small or opportunistic observations. Read an example.

New records and range extensions can be published for a small fee of US$75 (maximum 2000 words). Read an example.

Monographs and supplements, no word limit: please contact researchjournal@uned.ac.cr for a cost estimate. Read an example.

Peer Review Process

The journal publishes only original work based on appropriate scientific procedures. When authors submit a manuscript they legally imply that they followed all pertinent legislation and ethical principles (including informed consent and proper treatment of nature according to UNESCO Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers; Committee on Publication Ethics and Helsinki Ethical Norms, onlineethics.org); that all coauthors participated in the main aspects of research and agree to publication; and that the study is original; scientifically valid; has not been published before, and was not sent simultaneously to another journal. Board and staff members can publish in the journal but are excluded from all decisions regarding their manuscripts.

Authors, reviewers, board members and staff must report conflicts of interest as soon as they arise. Any cases of error, citation manipulation, piracy, plagiarism, duplicate submission, republication, fabrication or falsification of data, must be informed to the Editorial Board, which will investigate them even if the report is from anonymous sources. Articles found in fault can be rejected, retracted or be added errata. We check for plagiarism with the software Turnitin and we ask the reviewers if they detect plagiarism or ethical flaws of any kind.

Manuscripts are sent to three external anonymous reviewers who act as referees. The peer review process is double blind. The evaluation forms are public (here)

The decision of acceptance or rejection rests with the Editor, who is based on the opinions of referees and is backed by the support of an Editorial Board and an International Scientific Board. Authors can appeal Editor’s decisions once to the Editorial Board and that decision is final. Board meeting proceedings are stored in the University Archive as public documents.

The journal publishes about 50 articles per year, not including the occasional supplements. The rejection rate is 17% ad portas and 26 % after peer review.

From 2022 data: 83% of board members are external to the publishing institution and 90% of articles are from external authors (55% foreign). All processing is documented in the OJS and can be seen by authors in real time. 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public, which fosters a greater global exchange of knowledge. We encourage authors to publish pre-prints, post-prints, supplementary files, raw data, etc. All our content is available via a CC BY 4.0 license.

Privacy statement

Names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be available for any other purpose or another person.

Ethical requirements

The journal publishes only original work based on appropriate scientific procedures. When authors submit a manuscript they legally imply that they followed pertinent legislation and ethical principles (including the Helsinki Ethical Norms, onlineethics.org); that all coauthors participated in the main aspects of research and agree to publication; and that the study is scientifically valid; has not been published before, and was not sent simultaneously to another journal. They also accept to abide by the journal norms and procedures; that editorial board decisions cannot be appealed, and that once accepted, manuscripts cannot be recanted without the approval of the editorial board.

Digital preservation

All the content available on the web page of UNED Research Journal, is backed up daily in the servers of the State University at a Distance (UNED), the publishing entity. The unit responsible for carrying out this cycle of backups is the Information and Communications Technology Directorate (DTIC), through two types of storage: one on hard disk in a system called SAN, and the other housed in magnetic tape in a backup robot .

This journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed file among the participating libraries, allowing these libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes. More info...

Creative Commons

CC BY 4.0: All our contents are covered by a CC BY 4.0 license.

Metadata Harvesting

For Metadata Harvesting purposes please refer to the following base URL: https://revistas.uned.ac.cr/index.php/cuadernos/oai

Publishing institution

Address:

Universidad Estatal a Distancia, Vicerrectoría de Investigación

De la Rotonda de Betania 500m al este, Carretera a Sabanilla, Mercedes de Montes de Oca, San José 474-2050 Costa Rica.

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