Focus and Scope
EduSer is a scientific publication of the Polytechnic University of Bragança (UPB), founded in 2003 (formerly the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança). It is an electronic, interdisciplinary publication aimed at researchers and education professionals in general, which aims to encourage scientific debate and the dissemination of research results that induce changes in educational and training practices. From 2022, with a view to further strengthening the sharing of scientific knowledge at international level, the journal will publish original articles in three languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish. The journal accepts unpublished manuscripts on empirically supported research or innovative theoretical reflections and critical reviews that promote the advancement of knowledge in the field of education in general. It also accepts submissions of open-ended articles. It also publishes thematic and non-thematic issues at the request of researchers.
Review time
Reviewers have 20 days to complete the review. The time for communicating results to authors may be longer than this period of time if the articles require a new round of review.
Publication time
Once the process of scientific review and review of the translation of abstracts has been completed, EduSer will publish the articles in a continuous flow, changing its biannual periodicity from January 2023 onwards.
Conflict of interests
EduSer asks reviewers to express the absence of conflict of interest when evaluating articles.
Ethical responsability
The Editorial Team of EduSer follows good practices in matters of ethics and prevents irregularities in its publications by not tolerating any type of unethical conduct. Authors submitting articles must ensure:
- that all ethical procedures were complied with in the investigation processes;
- that the proposed article is original and has not been submitted, in whole or in part, to another journal, either in printed or electronic format;
- the non-existence of any form of plagiarism and self-plagiarism (for more information consult https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/citations/plagiarism)
Therefore, texts with content or language that are discriminatory and/or offensive to a certain social group will not be permitted. In these cases, articles do not enter the evaluation process and are rejected beforehand.
In the case of empirical research, the authors are responsible for ensuring that the ethical standards for research involving human beings are met. For more information:
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (American Psychological Association) >> Section 8: Research and Publication, and WMA Declaration of Helsinki - Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Beings.
Licencing
To protect copyright, Eduser uses the Creative Commons Licence Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)and, for omitted situations that may arise, the Editorial Team will contact the authors and follow the Code of Conduct and Standards of Good Practices for Magazine Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics – http://publicationethics.org) ) and the Ethics committee regulations of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança.
Periodicity
Frequency From January 2023 onwards, EduSer began publishing articles, in CONTINUOUS FLOW, which were published shortly after they had been evaluated and approved.
Incompatibility Policy
Articles that, in any way, directly advertise products or brands are not accepted.
Open Access Policy
EduSer is an open-access journal. All published articles are available free of charge and immediately, with no embargo period and no need to register or pay to access the full text.
Open access allows any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search and link to the full text of articles, as well as to crawl the content for indexing purposes, use it as data for software and make other uses for any lawful purpose, in accordance with the terms of the applicable licence.
Articles published by EduSer are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0.) licence. This licence permits the use, sharing, copying, distribution and adaptation of the articles, including for commercial purposes, provided that proper attribution is given, the licence is indicated and any alterations are identified.
No prior authorisation from EduSer or the authors is required for uses permitted by the licence. Access to the scientific content published by the journal is not subject to the payment of fees, subscription or user registration.
EduSer makes the full text of all articles available as open access from the moment of publication, thereby contributing to the dissemination, accessibility and reuse of scientific knowledge.
Open Access Statement
EduSer provides free and immediate access to articles and allows any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for, or link to the full text of the articles; to allow them to be crawled for indexing; to feed them as data into software; or to use them for any other lawful purpose, provided that the article is properly cited.
Peer Review Process
EduSer adopts a double-blind peer review system. In this process, the authors’ identities are not disclosed to the reviewers, and the reviewers’ identities are not disclosed to the authors.
Following submission, all manuscripts undergo a preliminary editorial assessment to verify their suitability for the journal’s scope and guidelines, as well as compliance with the formal submission requirements. Manuscripts that meet the necessary criteria are forwarded for peer review.
Each article is assessed by at least two independent reviewers, selected according to the scientific field and subject matter of the manuscript. Reviewers must possess knowledge and experience appropriate to the article’s subject matter and must not have any conflicts of interest that could compromise the independence of the assessment.
EduSer’s Scientific Committee is involved in the selection of reviewers. Where the Scientific Committee does not have a specialist with the appropriate expertise to assess a particular manuscript, EduSer selects external reviewers with relevant experience in the scientific field of the article.
Reviewers assess manuscripts in accordance with the scientific and editorial criteria defined by the journal, namely the relevance and appropriateness of the topic, scientific quality and rigour, theoretical underpinnings, methodology, clarity of presentation and contribution to the field of knowledge.
Based on the reviewers’ opinions, the editorial decision may be:
- Accept the submission;
- Accept the manuscript subject to amendments/revisions;
- Request a further round of review, where necessary;
- Refer the manuscript to another journal, where it does not fall within the scope of this journal;
- Reject the manuscript.
Where the reviewers’ opinions differ or do not allow for a clear editorial decision, EduSer may request a further peer review, consulting, where necessary, another specialist in the field.
Authors receive the reviewers’ comments and recommendations underpinning the editorial decision, whilst always respecting the anonymity inherent in the double-blind review system.
Thematic issues and special editions
Manuscripts submitted for thematic issues or special editions follow the same peer-review process as that applied to regular issues of EduSer. Each article is subject to at least two reviews by independent reviewers, in accordance with the double-blind review system.
Thematic issues may involve guest editors or researchers responsible for the scientific organisation of the issue. However, final editorial responsibility for the selection and publication of articles remains with the EduSer Editorial Team.
Guest editors do not take part in editorial decisions regarding manuscripts with which they have conflicts of interest, including those of which they are the author or co-author. In such cases, an independent evaluation process is ensured, in accordance with the same rules applicable to all other manuscripts.
