About the Journal

The scientific investigation and dissemination of knowledge and culture are essential functions of the university. This, coupled with the need for the Guardia Civil to maintain contact with social groups of interest (professional sector, security experts, academic personnel, etc.), as well as with the general public, in order to improve the provision of security services, led the University Center of the Guardia Civil to establish a new digital and serialized scientific research journal.

Thus, in 2022, the "Logos Guardia Civil" Journal (hereinafter referred to as the Journal) was born, with the firm intention of becoming a national and international academic reference for scientific publications related to public security.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE

The "Logos Guardia Civil" Journal aims to promote research in the field of public security and, therefore, contribute to the dissemination of a culture of security by transmitting and disseminating the results of scientific research related to various disciplines within the spectrum of police, legal, and social sciences, or any other discipline directly or indirectly related to public security.

The Journal is published by the University Center of the Guardia Civil and is included in the editorial program of the Ministry of the Interior. The publication is digital and completely free of charge through its website at https://www.revistacugc.es, with the aspiration to be indexed and summarized in as many systems as possible. However, if the editorial board deems it appropriate, certain copies may be printed for organizations, libraries, entities, or for representation purposes.

The Journal aims for international reach and is open to all authors. Research articles undergo a peer review process using the "double-blind" method, ensuring their quality and scientific rigor.

JOURNAL STRUCTURE

The journal, with an unequivocally academic vocation, is dedicated to the publication of research articles; however, other types of work, such as reflection articles, case studies, review articles, book reviews, research seedbeds, etc., may also be published. The number of research articles in each issue will not be less than 75% of the total published.

The Journal commits to having at least 75% of the articles published in each issue written by authors who are not part of the editorial organization.

All published articles will appear in both Spanish and English.

RESEARCH LINES

The Journal's editorial team will strive to include a representative number of articles from each thematic area in every published issue.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The "Logos Guardia Civil" Journal is aimed at the academic and scientific community in general, both nationally and internationally, as well as anyone interested in the thematic areas it covers and everything related to public security, coexistence, and the Guardia Civil.

EDITORIAL TEAM

Directorship:

The Directorship of the Journal will be held by the person holding the position of Director of the University Center of the Guardia Civil, with the following responsibilities:

• Represent the Journal, promoting its promotion and dissemination in all activities and events directly related to the University Center of the Guardia Civil, or in those where its presence is beneficial for knowledge dissemination.
• Approve the composition of the Editorial Board.
• Present to the Editorial Board any proposals for modification or development of the Regulations that are deemed appropriate.
• Propose strategic objectives to be achieved, lines of action to be developed, or any other initiatives considered beneficial for the Journal.

Editorial Board:

The Editorial Board of the Journal will be assigned to a member of the University Center of the Guardia Civil.

Their responsibilities will include:

• Editing and publishing each issue of the Journal according to the procedures specified in these Regulations.
• Convening regular meetings of the Editorial Board.
• Carrying out the necessary procedures with the consulting company responsible for maintaining the Journal's management platform.
• Receive articles for publication, conduct preliminary evaluation of the articles, and forward them to reviewers, if necessary.
• Manage and coordinate the work of the reviewers.
• Ensure that the Journal meets the appropriate quality standards and indexing requirements for maximum impact within the scientific community.
• Propose to the Director the members of the Editorial Board.
• Propose to the Editorial Board individuals to collaborate in the evaluation of submitted works.
• Assist the Journal's Director in any necessary aspects.

Editorial Board:

The Editorial Board will consist of members from the Guardia Civil and external personnel, with at least two-thirds of its members coming from institutions other than the Guardia Civil. This calculation includes the President and Vice President.

The Editorial Board will be composed of:

• President: the person holding the position of the Journal's Director. The President's vote will break ties for decision-making purposes.
• Vice President: the person holding the position of the Journal's Editorial Board. The Vice President will preside over sessions in the absence of the President.
• Members: proposed by the Editorial Team and approved by the Journal's Director, they will be individuals from the academic field and experts in the thematic areas of the Journal. They may come from both public and private university spaces, nationally and internationally, as well as from the Armed Forces and Security Forces, both national and international, in a number that ensures that two-thirds of them, including the President and Vice President, do not come from the Guardia Civil.
• Secretary: the person holding the position of the Secretary of the University Center of the Guardia Civil, with voice but no vote. They are responsible for taking minutes of the sessions and the custody of the documentation.

Their responsibilities will include:

• Attending scheduled meetings of the Editorial Board.
• Accepting, if applicable, the personnel proposed by the Editorial Team to collaborate in the evaluation of submitted works.
• Appointing the Scientific Committee.
• Making appropriate decisions regarding the management of the Journal and defining or approving proposed objectives or lines of action.
• Approving the planning of regular and special issues proposed by the Editorial Team.
• Ultimately approving the publication of articles that have successfully completed the evaluation process.
• Deciding on proposed modifications and developments of the Regulations.

Scientific Committee:

The Scientific Committee will consist of members from the Guardia Civil and external personnel, with at least two-thirds of the members coming from institutions other than the Guardia Civil. This calculation includes the President and Vice President.

The Scientific Committee will be composed of:

• President: the person holding the position of the Journal's Director. The President's vote will break ties for decision-making purposes.
• Vice President: the person holding the position of the Subdirector of the University Center of the Guardia Civil. The Vice President will preside over sessions in the absence of the President.
• Members: appointed by the Editorial Board, they should be individuals from the academic field, recognized with the highest academic degree conferred by universities and accredited to carry out research. They may come from both public and private university spaces, nationally and internationally, as well as from the Armed Forces and Security Forces, both national and international, in a number that ensures that two-thirds of them, including the President and Vice President, do not come from the Guardia Civil.
• Secretary: the person holding the position of the Secretary of the University Center of the Guardia Civil, with voice but no vote. They are responsible for taking minutes of the sessions and the custody of the documentation.

The functions of the Scientific Committee are:

• Supervising the content and development of the Journal.
• Advising the Editorial Board on academic matters as required.
• Proposing topics of interest and possible articles for development.
• Identifying and proposing new lines of research.
• Contributing to the content of the Journal with opinion articles, prefaces, reflection articles, book reviews, etc.

FREQUENCY

The Journal is published semi-annually, with the possibility of publishing special editions related to specific topics based on public calls or submission of works.

SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES

Authors who wish to submit their articles must adhere to the article submission guidelines described in the "Submissions" section. These guidelines also detail the instructions for submitting articles through the Journal's web platform.

PLAGIARISM CONTROL

The Editorial Board of the Journal will subject all articles received in their calls to a plagiarism detection tool. If plagiarism is detected, either in whole or in part (without proper citation), the article will not be sent for evaluation, and the authors will be notified of the reason for rejection.

EVALUATION PROCESS

The evaluation process for articles will be peer review in the "double-blind" mode, ensuring quality and scientific rigor, and will be carried out as follows:

1. The Editorial Board will receive and collect all articles submitted through the Journal's web platform, as well as research work conducted within the CUGC, which is considered relevant.
2. The Editorial Board will conduct an initial assessment regarding plagiarism control and the suitability of content and format. If the article does not pass this initial assessment, the author will be informed, and they may modify and resubmit it if they choose to do so.
3. If the article passes the initial assessment, the Editorial Board will send it to two evaluators associated with the area of knowledge related to the article's content, ensuring that there is no affinity relationship between them and the author.
4. The evaluators may condition their favorable report on the publication to the implementation of modifications that, in their opinion, enhance the evaluated work.
5. The evaluation process will be anonymous in all cases.
6. For publication, the article must be accepted by both evaluators, who will assess:
   1. Originality of content and/or conclusions.
   2. Research rigor: application of scientific methodology, use of quantitative/qualitative methods, employment of sources, style, conclusions drawn, etc.
7. The author will have access to the evaluation, which will be anonymous to avoid conflicts within the scientific and research community.
8. After the peer review process, the Editorial Board will communicate relevant observations to the author, if any, so that they can make the necessary adjustments to the article for potential selection. In case the article is rejected, the author will also be informed, and no further claims can be made to the Journal's authorities.

TRANSFER OF PUBLICATION RIGHTS

Submitting an article implies that the author authorizes the Editorial Board to publish it electronically and/or on websites, as well as to include it in national and international databases, and in print if applicable.

The editing and publishing rights for accepted and published works in any format belong to the Centro Universitario de la Guardia Civil.

The Journal is not responsible for the opinions expressed by the authors in the published works. Any complaints regarding such opinions should be directed to the respective authors.

USAGE LICENSE

The publication of the Journal and its dissemination will be carried out following the policies of open access to scientific production. Therefore, the Journal will publish all articles and other digital content freely and at no cost under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

ETHICS CODE

The Ethics Code of the Journal is based on the principles of transparency and good practices in academic publishing, as established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The Journal's Editorial Board and editorial team will always adhere to the parameters set by this Code of Conduct.

Responsibilities of the authors:

1. Authors must certify that the submitted works are original and their own and have not been previously published elsewhere.
2. Authors must submit their works following the instructions provided in the submission process to ensure an anonymous review.
3. Authors are committed to participating in the double-blind peer review process.
4. Authors are obliged to incorporate rectifications or corrections of errors if they wish their article to be evaluated.
5. All authors must have made a significant contribution to the research.
6. Authors must confirm that all personal data included in the document is true and authentic.
7. Authors must notify the Editorial Board of any conflicts of interest.

8. Authors must identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript.

9. Authors must inform the Editorial Board of any errors they discover in the published work.

10. If the article has received any type of funding from a public or private institution, the author must inform the Journal's Editorial Board, providing explicit information about the grant, contract, or project from which the resources originate.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF EVALUATORS:

1. Evaluators must maintain the confidentiality of all information related to the articles and treat them as privileged information. It should never be shown or discussed with third parties, except in exceptional cases where consultation with individuals who can provide scientific or academic advice may be necessary. In these cases, the identities of the consulted individuals must be disclosed to the Editorial Board.
2. Reviews should be conducted objectively, without personal criticism of the authorship.
3. Evaluators must substantiate their views based on corresponding supporting arguments.
4. Evaluators must identify relevant published works that have not been cited by the authors.
5. Evaluators must assess whether the article is methodologically sound, presents clearly presented results supporting the conclusions, includes an appropriate bibliography, and contributes something novel to the legal or social sciences.
6. Evaluators must also report any substantial similarity or overlap between the work under consideration and any other published article of which they have personal knowledge.
7. Evaluators should not review works with which they may have conflicts of interest—whether they result from competitive, collaborative, or other types of relationships—with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the articles.
8. All submitted texts will be evaluated based on their intellectual content, without regard to the ethnic or national origin of the authors, their gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political philosophy. Likewise, reviews that interject any personal position on the quality of the work will be disregarded.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD:

1. The Editorial Board has the responsibility and authority to accept or reject an article.
2. The Editorial Board is responsible for the content—excluding the opinions expressed by the authors—and the overall quality of the Journal; therefore, it must ensure the quality of the works and the integrity of the academic process.
3. The Editorial Board must publish errata or make corrections when necessary. When a significant error is found in a publication, the corresponding author, in conjunction with the Editorial Board, will publish an erratum in the next issue of the Journal, and the withdrawal of the article may even be considered.
4. The Journal is always willing to rectify errors, provide clarifications, retract articles, and issue apologies when necessary. Under no circumstances will it allow its ethical and intellectual standards to be compromised by internal or external pressures on publication. In order to prevent plagiarism and fraudulent data, translations of documents or transcriptions of other articles, short works, or works that are still in the research process will not be considered.
5. The Editorial Board must have a clear understanding of the sources of research funding.
6. The Editorial Board must respect the intellectual independence of the authors and consider all submitted manuscripts for publication, evaluating each contribution objectively.
7. The Editorial Board should not reverse its decisions or revoke those made by previous editors without serious and well-founded reasons.
8. The Editorial Board must preserve the anonymity of the evaluators in relation to the authors they evaluate and vice versa.
9. The Editorial Board must ensure that all published research material complies with internationally accepted ethical guidelines.

Conflict of Interest:

1. A "conflict of interest" refers to the divergence between a person's personal interests and their responsibilities regarding the scientific activities they carry out—as an author, reviewer, or member of the Editorial Board—that may influence critical judgment and integrity.
2. The Editorial Board must avoid any conflicts of interest between authors or reviewers and members of the Editorial Board.
3. Authors and reviewers must disclose any relevant conflicts of interest to the Editorial Board prior to submission.
4. If a conflict arises after the publication of a contribution, a retraction or a statement of the fact will be made if necessary.
5. Conflict of interest can be academic when the participants in the evaluation or editing adhere to a specific methodological or ideological tendency, which can bias the evaluation process.
6. Personal or employment conflicts of interest occur when there is a friendship, enmity, or employment relationship between any participating individuals—authorship/evaluation/editing. To avoid this, the Editorial Board should take into account the sources of funding and the affiliation of the authors in order to select evaluators who do not belong to those specific circles.

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

The names and email addresses entered on this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes established herein and will not be provided to third parties or used for other purposes.

INTEROPERABILITY PROTOCOLS:

The Journal of the Guardia Civil University Center provides an OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) interface that allows other portals and information services to access the metadata of the published content.

Specifications:

OAI-PMH Protocol Version 2.0
Dublin Core Metadata
Harvesting route: https://revistacugc.es/oai