About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información (Research in Library Science, Archivology, Librarianship and Information, from now on RIB) is an open access, bilingual Mexican scientific journal published by the Institute of Library Science and Information Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Published quarterly in both print and online versions, the journal features research reports and reviews written in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The journal strives to publish original, unpublished scientific research performed in Mexico and other parts of the world in the field of Library and Information Sciences. Research published in the journal address theoretical or empirical problems through quantitative, qualitative or mixed approaches of a multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinary nature. Submissions are subject to double-blind peer review by prestigious national and international specialists.

Peer Review Process

Review policy

The editorial team of the journal Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información establishes the editorial standards and review policy to be met by all submissions.

Editorial review. It is a diagnostic process performed to all contributions received by the journal. It is carried on by the journal´s editorial staff and evaluates the following aspects.

The submission’s relevance to stated scope of inquiry of the journal.
The submission’s compliance with guidelines for author in terms of structure and organization.
Formal presentation of the submission with complete metadata in accord with the journal’s editorial standards, including quality of images and tables.

The average time this process takes is determined by the amount of the items received. Authors shall enjoy a period of ten business days to attend to observations made on their texts. The contributions that do not satisfactorily comply with the corrections requested will not go to the academic review phase.

It is the duty of the author to confirm reception of revisions and observations to the submission within three days of the date he/she is notified by the editor. Authors shall meet the delivery deadlines assigned by the editor for re-submitting revised text. Failure to meet deadlines can result in dismissal from consideration for publication.

Academic review. The second stage of the evaluation process entails assessment and verification of the quality of the scientific method employed to sustain the validity of the research. This assessment is achieved using double-blind peer review, with the participation of three experts. Among the criteria analyzed, the most crucial are:

Originality and currency
Methodological quality of the research
Mastery of current specialized literature
Reliability and currentness of bibliography and level of self-citation limits.
Quality of title, abstract and key words included with the submission.
National and international contrast of originality
International and inter-institutional scientific collaboration
Clarity, precision and coherence of scientific writing

This process leads to one of the following outcomes:

a) Approved: No modifications required. The paper is turned over to style correction.
b) Approved with modifications: The submission requires corrections to be delivered using the journal’s online platform.
c) Rejected: The submission fails to meet editorial standards, merely duplicating previous research results, or plagiarism or fraud are detected.

The publication of an article requires from four to six months, counted from the outset of the academic review and considering the editorial processes that follow. It is the duty of the author to confirm reception of revisions and observations within three days of the date he/she is notified by the editor. Authors shall enjoy a period not exceed 10 business days to resubmit the revised text. Failure to meet this deadline can result in submission’s dismissal from consideration for publication.

It is worth mentioning that no articles of the same author will be published in consecutive numbers of RIB.

Evaluation and selection of reviewers. The experts selected as reviewers to perform the academic evaluation shall meet the following criteria:

a) They shall be academic peers of the author.
b) They shall be experts in the relevant field.
c) They shall be active contributors to scientific journals.
d) They shall not work in the institution where the author also works.
e) Cumplir con los aspectos éticos que la revista dispuso para los árbitros.

Within the term of three business days, experts shall notify the journal whether they accept or decline to review the submission. The journal shall publish, in the first issue of the year, the names and country of origin of reviewers participating in peer review during the previous year.

Reviewer report. The academic experts who serve as reviewers shall submit a report using the form provided by the journal as a guide for the evaluation process, the decision to reject a submission is not open to appeal.

Ethical standards to be met by reviewers. Peer reviewer candidates shall recuse themselves or otherwise reject the charge of peer reviewer, if they are unable to meet the following conditions of the charge or encounter any of the following circumstances, as warranted:

a) Availability. Once the peer review candidate accepts the charge, he/she shall be duty bound to meet deadlines established by the journal for the academic review process.
b) Conflict of interest. The peer reviewer finds that one or more of the authors of the submission is a member of his/her group, institution or project, or when the reviewer candidate has collaborated directly or indirectly in the research to be assessed. In such cases, the reviewer candidate shall refuse the charge and notify the journal editor of the specific conflict of interest.
c) Confidentiality. The peer reviewer is duty bound not to divulge information regarding the academic review process to any party other than the editor-in-chief of the journal or other staff editors, as warranted, in the event he/she requires their input.
d) Communication. The peer reviewer provides the author(s) professional, constructive criticism based on scientific argument. He/she shall refrain at all times from using expletives in the peer evaluation report, nor shall he/she reject submissions without providing justification based on scientific criteria.
e) Self-citations. The peer reviewer shall not suggest the author cite his/her own published papers or papers published in the journal.

Open Access Policy

The journal Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información does not charge authors or readers for the use of published contents. In compliance with the provisions of the Open Access Initiative, the journal provides immediate, free access to all sections.

Indexes and data bases

The journal Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información is indexed and registered in the leading international academic information systems, directories and databases serving the field of Library and Information Sciences.

Principles of Ethics and Negligence Statement

All of the papers published in Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información Bibliothecological shall be subject to the stated revision policy. Likewise, for the purpose of transparency regarding the respective duties of the editorial team, peer reviewers and authors, the journal hereby establishes the following guidelines:

Duties and conduct of the editorial team

The editorial team is the chief body responsible for establishing, implementing and informing the authors regarding the processes involved in reception, evaluation, publication and dissemination of the contents of the journal. The team is duty bound, moreover, to ensure transparent communication among its members, academic reviewers and the reader community. To achieve these ends, the editorial team drafts and updates the procedures of the validation cycle of works submitted for publication in order to ensure that a high quality journal is issued on a quarterly basis. The editorial team is also responsible for enforcing the journal’s code of ethics and establishing mechanisms for resolving conflicts of interest.

Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información hereby declares that it complies with the COPE (Ethics Committee for Publications) code of ethics, which can be consulted at:https://publicationethics.org/

Duties of the director of the journal

The director is responsible for ensuring open lines of communication between the reader community and the journal’s editorial team and for enforcing compliance with established deadlines.
The director shall provide procedures, work methods and all relevant information for the editorial team and authors, in order to facilitate reception, evaluation, publication, visibility and impact of the research reports and reviews published in the journal.
The director shall have the last word in conflicts of interest and is empowered to accept or reject any work submitted for publication. Rejection of a submission shall be performed with grounds in journal's Revision Policy and Code of Ethics.

Duties of the editor

The editor is responsible for the management of the entire editorial-publishing cycle and ensuring effective communication with submitting authors across each stage of the editorial process.
While maintaining the identities of authors in strict anonymity, the editor shall guarantee compliance with the academic editorial evaluation processes and the confidentiality of data contained in submissions.

Duties of authors

Authors shall guarantee that their manuscripts are the product of their original work and that the data have been gathered ethically, without incurring in scientific fraud or plagiarism. Moreover, authors are solely responsible for the intellectual work submitted.
Once submitting a work to Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e Información and it is in the process evaluation for publication, authors shall not submit the work to another journal, nor shall they submit previously published works. In any language, whether in print media or online versions, a work will be deemed previously published under any of the following circumstances:

When the full text has been published.
When extensive excerpts of previously published materials comprise a significant portion of the text submitted.
When the work submitted to the journal forms part of the contents of memoirs published in extenso.

For publication of their works, authors shall strictly follow the rules defined by the editorial team for the publication.
The authors shall send the journal an original of the paper which does not contain personal information (name, contact data, adscription), also excluding his/her name from any bibliographic references; and a copy containing all of the aforementioned information as established in the Guidelines for Authors.
The journal limits self-citation in the body of the text to 20% of overall citations and to 10% of works cited.
Authors shall meet deadlines set for responding to corrections and observations throughout the editorial and academic evaluation process.
Sources shall be appropriately acknowledged. Authors shall cite publications that are influential in the work submitted. Information obtained privately, through conversations, correspondence or discussions with third parties, shall not be used without express, written permission of the source.
Authorship should be limited to those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the study. All co-authors must sign off on the final version of the work to be published.
Authors shall declare sources of funding and projects that support their research, as well as any conflicts of interest regarding the handling of confidential information.
In the event of corrections of names of authors or changes in their institutional affiliation, the contact author shall notify the editorial staff of these changes before the peer review process is concluded.
When discovering a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author is duty bound to notify the editor or publisher of the journal immediately and cooperate in making the appropriate correction or retraction.

Duties of reviewers

Reviewers shall undertake to report any unethical conduct of the authors and to indicate all information comprising grounds for rejection of the submission.
Reviewers shall comply with the ethical duties established by the journal in the Review Policy.
All privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept in strict confidentiality and shall not be used to secure personal benefits.
Reviewers shall not evaluate manuscripts with which they have conflicts of interest.

Payment policy

This journal does not charge authors for publication of their works, nor does it charge fees from the reader public for accessing and/or downloading the full texts of published works.

Digital preservation

The contents of the journal Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información are digitally preserved in CLOCKSS through SciELO. More Information...

Journal History

Investigación Bibliotecológica: archivonomía, bibliotecología e información is an open-access, full-text Mexican peer-reviewed scientific journal. Launched in 1986 under the auspices of the University Library Research Center (CUIB), which in April 2012 was renamed the Institute of Library and Information Research (IIBI). Published without interruption for thirty-two years, the journal has become one of the leading specialized scientific publications in Latin America. Initially published twice annually, in 2008 it began to publish trice-annually, and as of January of 2018 it shall be published on a quarterly basis.