Editorial Policy

Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa is a juried academic publication that is produced each quarter. The journal publishes research articles and contributions to the discussion of educational problems. Priority is given to topics involving Mexico and Latin America, although articles that address experiences in other nations are accepted if they are illustrative and contribute to current debate on educational issues. The publication is a plural forum that spreads information regarding a wide array of topics, disciplines, theoretical perspectives, focuses and methodologies cultivated in the field of educational research. A part of each issue is devoted to articles on specific topics, requested through published invitations, while the remaining part is kept as an open space for recent research on any educational topic.

Regulations of Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa

Background

Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa is an official publication of Consejo Mexicano de Investigación Educativa, A.C. (COMIE). It was approved at the board’s ordinary meeting on April 28, 1995. RMIE’s academic project was presented on February 19 of the same year, and approved by the Directorial Committee and COMIE’s Consulting Committee during the meeting of February 28, 1995. These regulations were reviewed at a meeting of the journal’s Editorial Committee on June 11, 2001, and approved by COMIE’s Consulting Committee during its meeting on September 3, 2001.

Justification

The academic project of Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa responds to the need for a plural editorial space of exchange and discussion in the field of education. The journal is of a scientific nature, with an emphasis on research, and seeks to include the results of educational research carried out in Mexico.

Because of its quality, the publication is perceived as one of the main educational journals in the Spanish-speaking world. It has expanded to the scientific communities of Latin America and Spain. To make the journal available to the international academic community and the respective indexes, an abstract of each published article is included.

The journal hopes to be a point of convergence for research aimed at various levels and types of education, regions, and disciplines. At the present time, results obtained from educational research are published in fragmented form. The public has limited access to publications that encompass a wide range of topics, with a focus on educational research.

Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa addresses topics with a long tradition in educational research, as well as emerging topics just beginning to be covered.

The journal is a space of exchange and debate that permits discussion on diverse methodological and theoretical positions in the field of education.

Characteristics

Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa is published at least two times each year, and its frequency may be modified by the Editorial Committee. The journal’s content has the following characteristics:

• Emphasis on original research.
• Quality guaranteed by means of the anonymous arbitration in two-way traffic, conforms to international criteria of the scientific magazines.

General Objetives

Revista Mexicana de Investigacion Educativa has the following objectives:

1. To make known the educational research carried out in or about Mexico.
   
2. To promote the development of theories related to the field of education.
   
3. To explain the methodologies and techniques used in educational research.
   
4. To promote awareness of Mexico’s educational reality by publishing original research.
   
5. To present international articles, previously unpublished in Latin American, that establish perspectives for educational research.
   
6. To increase the quality of Mexico’s educational research while strengthening relations between academic communities in Mexico and abroad.
   
7. To encourage the participation of teams and individual researchers in the process of consolidation.
   
8. To stimulate discussion on the problems of educational research.
   

Coordination of Journal

Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa is coordinated by an Editorial Board and an Editorial Committee, which is directed by an editor. These groups must ensure the journal’s plurality, desired quality level, and financial viability. The technical aspects are the responsibility of the Technical Secretary.

The Editorial Committee proposes new members for the Editorial Board and Editorial Committee, who are approved by COMIE’s Consulting Committee. The membership of the Editorial Board is reviewed every four years. The members of the Editorial Committee serve for four years, and 50% of the members are replaced every two years.

Editorial Boad

The Editorial Board consists of members of the academic community from Mexico and abroad. Their recognized prestige ensures the journal’s plurality from a thematic, theoretical/methodological, institutional and regional perspective.

The functions of the Editorial Board are:

• To formulate recommendations on editorial policy.
  
• To make an annual evaluation of the published issues of Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa upon the Editor’s request, and to report the findings to the Editor and the Directorial Committee of COMIE.
  
• To serve as the link between Revista Mexicana de Investigación Educativa and groups of researchers.
  
• To contribute to the bases for reviewing.
  

Editorial Committee

The members of the Editorial Committee are:

• Educational researchers with national and international prestige to ensure the journal’s plurality from a thematic, theoretical/methodological, institutional and regional perspective. One of the Committee’s members is elected Editor, and serves as the coordinator of the Committee.
  
• The President of COMIE, as an ex officio member.
  

The functions of the Editorial Committee are:

• To review and define editorial criteria periodically.
  
• To plan the journal’s issues each year.
  
• To establish the structure and organization of each issue.
  
• To read the received manuscripts, to determine their pertinence for the journal, and if required, to suggest names of reviewers according to the manuscript’s topic, and guarantee the reviewers’ anonymity during the review process.
  
• To invite Mexican and foreign researchers to participate as reviewers, to ensure the quality and correct review of the articles submitted for publication.
  
• To issue the final review for each issue.
  
• To meet once during the preparation of each issue, on the Editor’s invitation.
  

Editor

The Technical Secretary must be experienced in editing, with knowledge of the scientific, social and educational fields. The Technical Secretary is in charge of the journal’s compilation, review, editing, production and distribution. COMIE will hire the Technical Secretary and pay for his services upon presentation of a receipt for professional fees.

The functions of the Technical Secretary are:

• To perform the general tasks of the Editorial Committee.
  
• To coordinate the Editorial Committee.
  
• To act as the journal’s legal representative.
  
• To ensure the journal’s financial viability in coordination with COMIE’s Directorial Committee.
  
• To hire, supervise and evaluate the Technical Secretary.
  

Technical Secretary

The Technical Secretary must be experienced in editing, with knowledge of the scientific, social and educational fields. The Technical Secretary is in charge of the journal’s compilation, review, editing, production and distribution. COMIE will hire the Technical Secretary and pay for his services upon presentation of a receipt for professional fees.

The functions of the Technical Secretary are:

• To edit, produce and distribute the journal.
  
• To manage the journal’s files and correspondence.
  
• To prepare a budget of expenses for editing and administrating the journal.
  
• To contract, with the Editor’s approval, the technical services necessary for editing and producing the journal.
  
• To receive the articles to implement the process of technical review.
  
• To send the assigned reviewers the corresponding materials and to transmit their opinions to the authors.
  
• To act as secretary of the Editorial Committee.
  

COMIE’s Directorial Committee is responsible for establishing the necessary mechanisms for distributing the journal.

Review of Articles

All manuscripts received are read by two members of the Editorial Committee. If an article’s content meets the journal’s quality requirements, the two Committee members jointly propose two reviewers.

Reviewers are academics with recognized national and international prestige. The Editor and members of the Editorial Committee do not participate in the review, except in the event of contradictory reviews, when they may cast the deciding vote.

During the review process, the anonymity of authors and reviewers is guaranteed.

The result of the review may be:

1. Accepted
2. Conditional to a revision, with a new submittal within three months.
   
3. Rejected.

Conflictive reviews are resolved as follows:

• "Accepted with minor modifications" and "Conditional" are considered "Conditional", and the inclusion of the proposed modifications is requested.
  
• "Conditional" and "Rejected" are considered "Rejected".
  
• "Accepted with minor modifications" and "Rejected", i.e., polarized opinions, are discussed by the Editorial Committee and eventually sent to a third reviewer; if two of three reviewers issue a negative opinion, the positive opinion is discarded.
  

Structure of the Journal

The journal consists of the following sections:

1. Editorial (by the Editor)
   
2. Research. This section dedicates one-third of the material to a topic, and includes five types of articles:
   
   • Research of an empirical nature with a theoretical basis that adds to the understanding of the phenomenon under study.
     
   • Essays: reflections on educational phenomena that contribute to reformulating or conceptualizing a problem, topic or methodology; thar form part of current debate on the topic; and use a pertinent, updated bibliography.
     
   • Analytical reports on interventions and the systematization of experiences in educational transformation or innovation, with the inclusion of references to other interventions, experiences, and conceptual debate.
     
   • Studies of an evaluative or diagnostic type that show an innovative theoretical/methodological approach, have a broad spectrum (national, regional studies) or evaluate the results of various studies.
     
   • State of the art or state of knowledge of a topic.
     
3. Thematic, methodological, and book summaries. Thematic summaries are the analysis and discussion of a short recent bibliography on a specific topic.
   
4. Discussions. This section will promote the exchange and debate of ideas among authors and the community of researchers and readers.
   
5. Documents. COMIE documents on educational matters and documents of importance for educational researchers are published.
   
6. Information. This section is destined to present information of interest for the community of educational researchers, such as national and international congresses, researcher training programs, and graduate programs in education.
   

Sections 1, 2 and 3 are permanent, and sections 5 and 6 are optional.

Financing

The journal is financed by subscriptions, sales, sponsoring institutions and joint editions, the sale of advertising, and the support of CONACyT and similar organizations. In the event of occasional difficulties, COMIE must guarantee the journal’s publishing.

Functions of the Coordinator of the Thematic Section

1. To write the call for papers.
   
2. To request articles from researchers involved in the topic. All articles, regardless of their source, must be delivered exclusively and directly to the Technical Secretary.
   
3. To make an initial, blind review of all thematic articles, along with another member of the Editorial Committee. The second Committee member may vary.
   
4. In the event the initial review is favorable, to propose, in consensus with the second reviewer, two reviewers per article for the outside review.
   
5. To give the list of reviewers to the Technical Secretary to begin the process. The reviewers are sent the journal’s general criteria for research articles, the general review format, and the call for papers for the thematic section. The Technical Secretary establishes contact with the reviewers and safeguards their anonymity. After receiving their opinions, the Technical Secretary prepares the list of articles that are accepted, conditional to modifications, or rejected, and sends the list to the Thematic Coordinator and Editor, along with the reviews.
   
6. To review the list sent by the Technical Secretary and determine, along with the Editor, the number of articles that fit in the thematic section. To decide, depending on the number of articles conditional to minor modifications or to more substantial modifications, whether the author should be informed (especially in the event of major modifications) that the article will not be included in the thematic section due to space limitations. The Editor will advise these authors that the journal cannot guarantee the publication of their articles in the non-thematic section of future issues, even if the suggested modifications are made.
   
7. Once the authors have made the modifications suggested by the reviewers, the Coordinator of the Thematic Section makes a final reading of the articles to verify inclusion of the modifications.
   
8. To specify the positively reviewed articles that will form part of the thematic section of the issue in question. The editor determines the procedure to follow for positively reviewed articles that do not fit in the thematic section.
   
9. To prepare the presentation of the thematic section and indicate the order in which the articles are to be published.
   

10th of March of 2002