Author guidelines
The purpose of Sílex journal is to publish manuscripts from various humanistic fields, such as politics, ethics, philosophy, psychology, history, anthropology, and sociology, among others. Manuscripts like essays and articles may be theoretical or empirical. They also can be written in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. Reviews of books published during the last five years are also considered.
These works must demonstrate high-quality, original, rigorous, and unpublished research, and they must adhere to our editorial process, which includes peer review and testing using similarity detection software to ensure originality. Sílex considers manuscripts that have not been previously published in academic journals or works with an ISBN to be original. Prior deposit as a preprint on open access servers is not considered prior publication.
Manuscripts cannot be a repetition of other people’s works (plagiarism). Large compilations of previously published content of your own authorship are not acceptable neither. The reuse of texts is permissible as long as the previous work is cited and referenced and does not exceed 20%. It is advised that you examine the ethics policies to prevent an article from being rejected.
This list specifies the guidelines for preparing manuscripts. A downloaded copy of this list is also available at the following link: Publication guidelines for authors.
1. ARTICLES TYPES
RESEARCH ARTICLES. These in-depth research articles require expertise, objectivity, and the capacity to delve deeply into a specific topic. Every piece, excluding the bibliography, must convey original research and be between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length. All research articles must follow the general style guidelines listed in point 2.
ESSAYS. These texts offer a thorough analysis. The author has greater freedom to support a certain viewpoint, with the aim of deepening the discussion or offering a new perspective or focus on a relevant subject. The ideas expressed must have a theoretical basis supported by information previously published in other academic sources. Essays, excluding bibliography, should be between 3,500 and 6,000 words in length. All essays must follow the general style guidelines listed in point 2.
REVIEWS. These pieces are expository and critical writings. They are short—no more than 1,350 words—and are designed to analyse scholarly books published in the last five years. Reviews must to be more than just summaries; they ought to demonstrate a critical approach and add fresh insights to the academic community. It is recommended that objections or criticism of the publications be included at the end. In addition to include the author’s full name, institutional affiliation, ORCID ID, and institutional email address, the review must contain the book’s title, author, year, and publisher.
2. GENERAL STYLE GUIDELINES
- The manuscript must be original and unpublished, and neither previously published nor submitted to another journal for consideration.
- The manuscript must be organized as follows: The title in both Spanish and English, the abstract with five keywords in Spanish, the abstract with five keywords in English, the research text, and the bibliographic references.
- Online bibliographic references must include URLs or permanent identifiers (DOI, HANDLE).
- Take the author’s metadata out of the Word document’s Information section. The manuscript should not contain the author’s name.
- The margins should all be 2.5 cm at the top, bottom, left, and right.
2.1. OTHER GUIDELINES
Tables
- The tables should be numbered according to the order in which they appear in your research. For instance, Table 1, Table 2, etc. The numbers should be bolded.
- All tables must include column headings. It is recommended that the column headings’ text be centered
- The tables should have the same font type and size as in the rest of your writing
- Single or 1.5 line spacing should be used for the table’s cells
- Use double line spacing for the table number, title, and notes
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You may include notes to describe the table’ contents that cannot be understood from the title or the data alone. In addition to adding copyright credit and further explanations using asterisks, you may describe any abbreviations you use in the table in the notes. Table notes are optional, so only provide them if they are absolutely required
Figures
- Enumere las figuras en el orden en que se mencionan en su investigación (por ejemplo, Figura 1, Figura 2). La enumeración debe estar en negritas.
- The figures should be numbered according to the order in which they appear in your research. For instance, Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. The numbers should be bolded
- The figure title should appear on a line below the figure number. It should be italicized and succinct but descriptive
- Include any information (such as explanations of abbreviations) that is not clear from the title or image alone. Figure notes should only be included when required
- A copyright declaration and matching reference entry must be included beneath any table or figure that you are adapting or reproducing that was first published by someone else. Copyright credits for an image must be cited in the Note, located below the figure.
Images copyright
- When using images or graphics, authors must consider copyright terms and verify whether or not they require permission for reproduction by including a copyright statement. For more information, see APA copyright guidelines 7th edition for images
- The copyright statement should be added at the end of the table or figure note. Copyright credit may be included in the footnote in all other cases
Footnotes
- Footnotes should include additional details that authors consider necessary to support an idea. They should be used to significantly add to or elaborate on the text’s content without detracting from the text’s main body’s meaning and relevance
- Complex or lengthy explanations should not be included
- Footnotes ought to be single-spaced and in the Arial 10-point font
- Never write footnotes at the end of the paper; instead, place them at the bottom of each page
- Bibliographic references should only be used to highlight certain Works. In this case, only the author’s last name and the year of publication should be included. This should be used in the body of the text rather than in the footnotes
- A footnote may be used to acknowledge copyright permissions for tables, figures, and photographs. Copyright statements for figures and tables should appear in the figure and table notes
3. FORMATTING
A) Title. It must be translated into English and include no more than 20 words. Centered, bold, Arial 14. The translation must be in Arial 12, italics, and bold
B) Abstract and keywords in Spanish. It should contain the objectives and results of the research and be no more than 300 words long. Five keywords, separated by semicolons, should be included. They should not be repeated from the terms that appear in the manuscript’s title. No indentation
C) Abstract and keywords in English. The abstract and keywords must be translated into English if the original language is different from that one. No indentation
D) Body text. The text should be written in the third person and in accordance with APA 7th edition. The font should be Arial 11, double-spaced, and, with the exception of the first paragraph at the start of a chapter, have a special indentation on the first line of each paragraph.
The structure of the article must include an introduction outlining the objectives of the study, the background, and the justification. In case of a research work, a section on methodology should be included. In an essay, the discussion will be written by the author, but in any case, a section on conclusions at the end should provide a summary of the key points
E) Bibliography. The bibliographic sources cited in the manuscript must be listed. Online bibliographic references must include URLs or permanent identifiers (DOI, HANDLE)
4. REFERENCE STYLE AND REFERENCES
The Sílex journal adheres to the style guide of the American Psychological Association’s 7th edition, published in 2020.
4.1. TYPES OF QUOTATIONS
4.1.1. Direct quotation
Direct quotation, also known as “verbatim quotation” or “direct citation,” is the practice of directly reproducing a text word for word in another different text that is being worked on. Although APA 7th edition suggests that paraphrasing is preferred to direct quotation, it is nevertheless advised to use direct quotations when an author has expressed something concise or memorable or when you wish to reproduce an exact definition of a concept. In other words, direct quotation is used to present an author’s original idea.
Short direct quotation
When a direct quotation is under 40 words lengthy, it is referred to as a short quotation
- In these cases, the citation should be incorporated into the text without italics, enclosed in double quotation marks.
- The author, year, and page information are placed in parentheses immediately after the quotation marks
Quotations can work in several ways: either by incorporating them into the text itself, matching the quotation with the author’s voice (see Example 1), introducing the quotation with a colon (see Example 2), or through what is known as “theoretical quotation,” which refers to the author or authors of a theoretical concept (see Example 3).
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Example 1 Effective teams can be difficult to describe because “high performance along one domain does not translate to high performance along another” (Ervin et al., 2018, p. 470). Example 2 Previous research indicated the following: "Insecurely attached children are more likely to attach firmly to parents or caregivers, or behave indifferently or distantly" (Mitchell & De Klein, 2014, p. 32).
Example 3 |
Block direct quotation
“Block quotations” or “long direct quotations” are terms used to describe quotations longer than 40 words
- Quotations should have a 1.25-centimeter indentation of the left margin to distinguish them from the main text
- They should be double-spaced, in the same font size, and written without italics or quotation marks
- The author, year, and page information are placed in parenthetical reference after the quotation ends, followed by a period; if the author and year have already been mentioned, only the page number is referenced.
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Example Flores et al. (2018) described how they addressed potential researcher bias when working with an intersectional community of transgender people of color: Everyone on the research team belonged to a stigmatized group but also held privileged identities. Throughout the research process, we attended to the ways in which our privileged and oppressed identities may have influenced the research process, findings, and presentation of results. (p. 311) |
Direct quotations in foreign languages
There are two approaches we can follow when directly quoting a source in a language different than our own:
- Provide a personal translation in square brackets right away after quoting the text in its original language while adhering to the formal guidelines for direct quotations. After this, add the corresponding parenthetical reference
- Place the corresponding parenthetical reference after quoting the passage in the language we are writing in. The quotation will not require quotation marks since it will be considered a paraphrase
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Example 1 Example 2 Schröder et al. (2022) noted that sleep problems affect autistic patients’ daytime functioning by disrupting their learning and emotional regulation abilities (p. 301). |
4.1.2. Indirect quotation or paraphrasing
- The aim of paraphrasing is to use an author’s idea with words different from those in the original text. This enables the author to synthesize information from one or more sources, focusing on ideas that are relevant to the research in process
- Paraphrases follow the author-year system, i.e., the last name of the author and the year of the publication are cited. However, unlike direct quotations, it is not required to provide the page number
- Paraphrases may consist of several sentences. In such cases, the cited text must be referenced in the first sentence
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Example Velez et al. (2018) found that for women of color, sexism and racism in the workplace were associated with poor work and mental health outcomes, including job-related burnout, turnover intentions, and psychological distress. However, self-esteem, person–organization fit, and perceived organizational support mediated these effects. Additionally, stronger womanist attitudes—which acknowledge the unique challenges faced by women of color in a sexist and racist society—weakened the association of workplace discrimination with psychological distress. These findings underscore the importance of considering multiple forms of workplace discrimination in clinical practice and research with women of color, along with efforts to challenge and reduce such discrimination. |
5. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
The bibliographic references cited in the text will be added to a list at the end of the conclusions of the paper, under the heading Bibliographic References and never in the footnotes. Printed or online books, book chapters, and articles in printer or online scholarly journals are examples of these.
The authors will be listed alphabetically in the Bibliographic References section:
Last name, first name initial, publication year (in parentheses), text’s title, edition number, city of publication, and publisher
Arrangement rules and formatting for bibliographic references
- They are listed alphabetically, without using bullet points or numbering
- Every bibliographic reference is styled with justified text and a hanging indent; the first line begins at the page’s left margin, and the second line continues with a 1.25 cm indent
- If the author’s last name has an article or preposition, these will follow the name
- If the cited text lacks a publication date, (n.d.) should be placed after the author’s name
- When we cite multiple works by the same author, the oldest publication is listed first
- If there are more than five authors in a publication, et al. should be placed after the first last name assigned according to the cited text
- Texts written by the same author and published in the same year should be arranged using the alphabet’s consecutive letters (a, b, c, etc.). These will be incorporated in the text’s body in the order they appear.
Examples of the many types of references are given below
Article in books
A book article is an academic work written by one or more authors that is included in a book on a particular subject. Editors (ed. or eds.) are the people responsible for editing the book, although compilers (comp. or comps.) or coordinators (coord. or cords.) may also be included. It is structured as follows:
Last name, N. (Year). Article title. In N. Last name (ed.), Book title (pp. page range of article). Publisher.
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Examples
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Article in journal
Most journals are currently organized sequentially according to two criteria: volume and issue. The volume refers to the annual order, whereas the issue related to the specific publication for each year. It is structured as follows:
Last name, N. (Year). Article title. Journal title, volume(issue), pp. page range of article. DOI or full URL.
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Example
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Article in newspaper or news portal
These pieces may include opinion columns, reports, press releases, among others. Regarding author attribution, there are two possible scenarios: those with a known author and those without. For the former, we will consider the given name or alias; for the latter, the newspaper or news portal will be regarded as the author if the publication does not have a specific author. It is structured as follows:
Last name, N. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Newspaper title, pp. page range of article.
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Examples
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Article in website
A web portal article is a text that has been published on an institution’s website. The institution. It is generally an informative text, and the institution is considered the author. If the author is an institution and the name of the website is the same entity, the latter information is left out. It is structured as follows:
Last name, N. or Institution Name. (Year, Month Day). Article title. Website name. Full URL.
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Example
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Interview or report
The name of the institution responsible for disseminating the interviews or reports will be referred as “production companies,” written in parentheses. The institution’s official websites will be our first priority for the URL link; if we are unable to access them, we may opt for an alternative URL. It is structured as follows:
TV channel or radio name. (Production company). (Year, Month Day). Episode title. In Name of the TV channel or radio [TV/Radio/Online episode]. Full URL.
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Example
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Research books
These works are generally framed by organizations that support their academic nature, such as universities, research centers, publishing funds, among others. An important feature is that, unlike books or articles, these do have authors as such, who are fully recognized for the publication. It is structured as follows:
Last Name, N. (Year). Book title. Publisher. DOI or full URL.
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Examples
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Edited book
This type of publication compiles the works of multiple authors on a certain subject, which have been examined and arranged by an editor or team of editors. For this type of source, we mention the name of the editor with the abbreviation “ed.” in the part of the reference where we typically specify the author. It is structured as follows:
Last Name, N. (Ed.) (Year). Book title. Publisher. DOI or full URL.
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Examples
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Anthology
An anthology is a collection of Works by one or more authors selected based on certain criteria—be they thematic, stylistic, geographical, or otherwise—and that the compiler considers noteworthy. For this type of source, we indicate the name of the editor with the abbreviation “ed.” in the part of the reference where we typically indicate the author. It is structured as follows:
Last Name, N. (Ed.) (Year). Book title. City of publication: Publisher. DOI or full URL.
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Examples
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Ancient texts
Texts written before to the end of the Middle Ages are referred to as ancient texts. Their authors are almost always referred to by their first names, as the modern concept of first and last names did not exist at that time. The bibliographic information includes the estimated year of original publication with the abbreviation “ca.” (circa, “around” in Latin) wherever possible.
It is crucial to have information regarding translators. In fact, the year given in the annual details corresponds to that of these translators. It is structured as follows:
Author. (Edited publication year). Publication title (Translation by Full name of translator). Publisher. Original URL (Original publication year)
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Examples
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Theses and dissertations
In Peru, we can find bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral theses. These works are arranged in physical or digital repositories by several institutions. It is structured as follows:
Last Name, N. (Ed.) (Year). Thesis or dissertation title [type of degree]. Institution name, City. Full URL.
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Example
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MORE INFORMATION
Prior to submitting their manuscript, authors can reach us at revista.silex@uarm.pe to review the journal’s editorial policy.
Please register in the Submit section with your ORCID account or institutional email address to submit your manuscript.
