Submissions

Author Guidelines

Editorial Guidelines

• The Journal VinculaTégica Efan requires the submission of the manuscript in electronic form (OpenOffice, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect format). It should be submitted using the journal's website (https://vinculategica.uanl.mx/). The article will be submitted to a double-blind peer review, and you will receive a response through the same means on the result of the evaluation.

Manuscript submission period

The journal receives manuscripts only during the period between the second Monday of January and the last Sunday of May of each year. Outside this period, the platform will remain closed for new submissions.

The receipt of a manuscript within the established period does not imply automatic acceptance. All submissions will undergo a preliminary editorial review and, if they meet the journal’s formal, thematic, methodological and ethical requirements, they will be sent to the peer review process under the double-blind modality.

Spectrum of publications

The scope of the journal is oriented toward the publication of original scientific articles in Spanish or English. Manuscripts must be derived from formal research processes, and three types of documents are considered:

1. Research articles with an IMRyD structure, clearly presenting the introduction, methodology, results and discussion, or an equivalent structure according to the disciplinary nature of the study.
2. Bibliometric articles, that analyze scientific production, thematic trends, collaboration networks, citation, co-authorship or other documentary indicators through explicit, verifiable and replicable methodological procedures.
3. Systematic literature review articles, that synthesize and integrate academic evidence through a clear protocol for searching, selecting, screening and analyzing documents.

Narrative reviews, theoretical essays, book reviews, commentaries or documentary papers without an explicit systematic methodology will not be accepted.

Submission of the manuscript (general aspects)

• The language of the journal is English and Spanish.
• The font to be used throughout the document is Times New Roman.
• There is an electronic template that includes the complete format for the research journal, please request it through the journal's e-mail.
• Title in Spanish and English in size 15.
• Main author and co-authors in font size 12.
• Institution of affiliation in font size 10.
• The beginning of the sections is in bold in size 12.
• The general text will be in size 12.
• The line spacing will be 1.5 spacing.
• The indentation will be only in the first paragraph at 1 cm, with the space before and after between paragraphs in zero points.
• The previous space in sections is 12 points.
• The previous space in sub-sections, figures, tables, and equations is 6 points.
• The alignment will be justified.
• The margins of the bottom and top at 2.5 cm and the left and right at 3 cm, and in design with header and footer at 1.25 cm.
• Letter size paper format (21.59 cm x 27.94 cm).
• Footnotes are not accepted.
• Maximum 3 authors.
• The number of pages is a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 20.

The summary (in Spanish) and the abstract (in English) with a font size of 10.

• An abstract of a maximum of 200 words with a tight margin. The abstract should not have abbreviations without definitions or unspecified references.
• Keywords may be from three to five, in alphabetical order, and placed below the abstract with left alignment.
• The spacing should be single-spaced.
• Include at least 3 JEL codes with three characters each (https://www.aeaweb.org/jel/guide/jel.php).

Document structurwe

The manuscript must be structured according to the type of document submitted. The journal accepts three different types of works: research articles with an IMRyD structure, bibliometric articles and systematic literature review articles.

1. Research articles with an IMRyD structure, Research articles must include, at least, the following sections:
   • Introduction
   • Theoretical framework and/or literature review
   • Methodology: research design, population, sample, instrument or data collection technique, procedure and analytical techniques
   • Results
   • Discussion
   • Conclusions
   • References
2. Bibliometric articles, Bibliometric articles must present a clear, verifiable and replicable methodological structure. They must include, at least, the following sections:
   • Introduction
   • Theoretical framework and/or background of the field of study
   • Bibliometric methodology: information source, database or repository used, search strategy and document selection criteria, indicators, analytical techniques and tools used
   • Results
   • Discussion
   • Conclusions
   • References
3. Systematic literature review articles, Systematic literature review articles must integrate academic evidence through an explicit protocol for searching, selecting, screening and analyzing documents. They must include, at least, the following sections:
   • Introduction
   • Theoretical framework and/or contextualization of the problem
   • Systematic review methodology: search strategy, inclusion and exclusion criteria, document selection and screening process
   • Review results
   • Discussion
   • Conclusions
   • References

Section headings

• The sections will not be numbered, therefore, the author should have each section defined in bold and subsections in italics.

Abbreviations

• Abbreviations should be explained in parentheses at the first occurrence, thereafter only the initials should be indicated.

Symbols and units

• Only SI (International System) units should be used. Use numerals for numbers of two or more digits, and for single digits when they come with the units of measurement.

Figures and tables

• Figures and tables should have a title in italics at the top and be numbered consecutively.
• In the case of figures that present an interpretation of an original source, it should be indicated as its own adaptation, in addition to the corresponding reference.
• In the case of tables presenting indicators, and values that have been taken from an original source, the source should be mentioned with the corresponding reference. Notes should be at the bottom. They should not include vertical lines, only the horizontal lines of the first line of the titles and the final line of the table. Each column, without exception, must have a title.
• Tables and figures should be completely legible in simple letter-size print and be justified across the width of the page. At no time should they exceed the margins of the document. They should be editable in Word (no images).

Equations

• Equations must be submitted in Microsoft Word for Windows using the Microsoft Equation Editor. No images are allowed.
• Equations must be numbered consecutively. Numbering must be aligned to the right.

Appendices

• Supplementary materials may be placed in the Appendix part, before the references part. (Only if strictly necessary).

References

• References should follow APA 7th Ed. style. Consult the APA guidelines for further reference or ask the editorial coordinator for a reference document.
• The font for references should be Times New Roman 11.

Legal Aspects

• For more information on legal aspects, please see the magazine's policies.

Errata and Retractions

• Authors may request the publication of errata if errors are detected after publication. The journal assumes responsibility for retracting articles when necessary to ensure the quality of publications.

Submission of manuscripts

• To submit a manuscript you must first register as a user at: https://vinculategica.uanl.mx/index.php/v/user/register

Anonymous peer review process

The blind peer review process is a process used in the review of academic or scientific papers, in which the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors of the paper and vice versa. This process is implemented to ensure that the review is based solely on the quality of the work and not on the reputation or affiliation of the authors. In this way, we seek to reduce review bias and guarantee a fair and objective evaluation.

Every paper submitted to the VinculaTégica Efan journal is evaluated by two members of a group of external reviewers, who are selected according to the thematic area/discipline to which it was submitted. This evaluation process lasts a maximum of 20 working days.

Once the reviewers have completed their evaluation, the authors are informed of the editorial decision, which can be:

• Accepted: the author is informed in which volume and issue his/her submitted article will be published.
• Accepted with conditions: The author will receive the reviewers' observations, which must be addressed within 15 calendar days, and return the article for a second review, which may take 10 to 15 working days.
• Rejected: A communication will be sent to the author informing the reasons for such a decision.

In addition to the above, the TURNITIN tool will be used within the evaluation process for the detection of plagiarism, having a maximum tolerance of 20% in the report that the platform produces.

Last updated: June 2026