Articles of association of the journal

Introduction

The Journal Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a la Comunicación (ISSN-e: 1576-4737) is a scientific periodical publication published by the UCM Research Group DIME Discourse in the media (interaction between language, styles, typology and history of genres in the media) in the Department of Spanish Philology III in the Faculty of Information Sciences. It promotes the dissemination in different languages of knowledge about the communication provided by linguistic theory applied to the reality of use. Its four issues each year (February, May, September and November) contain articles, monographic issues and reviews examined by members of the Editorial Board, members of the Advisory Board and guest experts, along with information on journals and conferences.


1.  Management bodies

The management bodies responsible for the scientific coordination and publication of the journal are the Editorial Board and the Advisory Board. All members of these boards undertake to respect the principles of the Code of Ethics established for scientific journals by the Complutense University of Madrid.

1.1. Editorial Board: structure and composition

− The Editorial Board will be made up of the Director, the Secretary and the members. The position of Director must be filled by an active lecturer with a contractual relationship with the UCM. At least one third of its members must belong to institutions other than the Complutense University of Madrid. 

− The Editorial Board will assist the Director in all their functions and, especially, in the handling of the papers (receipt, review and acceptance) and in the definition of the contents and style of the journal (writing of guidelines for the submission of originals, creation and orientation of sections, etc.).

− The members will be chosen by the UCM Research Group DIME Discourse in the media (interaction between language, styles, typology and history of genres in the media) in the Department of Spanish Philology III in the Faculty of Information Sciences. There will be three votes on the candidates proposed for each of the positions: one for the election of the Director, another for the election of the members from the institution and another for the election of the external members. The positions of Secretary and Assistant Secretary will be directly appointed by the Director.

− All members will be elected for a period of six years renewable for subsequent periods of six years.

1.1.1. Duties of the Director

− The Director will be responsible for the coordination and representation of the journal and for relations with the Editorial Board, Advisory Board and Ediciones Complutense. Similarly, they will be responsible for relations with other institutions for any matters related to the journal.

− The Director will appoint the Secretary.

− The Director will convene the meetings of the Editorial Board.

− The Director will be obliged to inform the UCM Research Group DIME about the operation of the journal, as well as its needs.

− The Director will be responsible for ensuring that the highest possible scientific quality of the journal is maintained, as well as for its recognition and inclusion in national and international databases and its evaluation to obtain quality seals, in which area they will have the support of the other members of the Editorial Board.

− The Director will have a casting vote in the event of a tie in the deliberations of the Editorial Board.

1.1.2. Duties of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary

− The Secretary will be responsible for receiving the originals and managing them throughout the review and publication process.

− The Secretary will be responsible for communication with the authors, the members of the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board and Ediciones Complutense.

− The Secretary will confirm the receipt of all papers received with the authors.

− The Secretary will organise the process for checking the originals received by the Editorial Board so that a decision can be made on which papers to review and which to return, once compliance with the journal’s requirements has been verified.

− The Secretary will be responsible for sending the originals to the reviewers along with an instruction document and review template.

− Once the decision on whether to publish the originals has been made, the Secretary will be responsible for sending notification of the decision to the authors, justifying the decision.

− The Secretary will be responsible for monitoring the complete publishing process for the journal’s issues (preparation and delivery of originals, including the first pages and statistics, layout process, sending proofs to authors, reviewing the version prior to printing, notification to the authors of the publication).

− The Secretary will prepare the meetings with the Director and draw up the minutes of the meetings of the Editorial Board. Similarly, they will be responsible for the safeguarding of the minutes and will certify the work carried out by the members, scientific advisers and reviewers.

− The Secretary will collaborate with the Director in the publicising of the journal, institutional relations, exchanges, indexing and any other tasks that result in an improvement in the quality and recognition of the journal.

1.1.3. Duties of the Assistant Secretary

− The Assistant Secretary will collaborate with the Director and the Secretary in the journal’s management tasks.

1.1.4. Duties of the Members of the Editorial Board

− The members of the Editorial Board will be obliged to attend any meetings that are convened. [If members are from other provinces or other countries, the Board may establish a procedure for their effective participation even if they are not present at the meetings.]

− The Members, under the coordination of the Secretary, will take part in the initial reading of the originals to allow a decision to be made about which will be reviewed and which will be returned to the authors.

− The Members will help with the search for external reviewers for the papers and will not under any circumstances be reviewers.

− The Members will advise and collaborate with the journal’s management in any tasks deemed necessary for the smooth running of the journal, including ensuring compliance with punctuality and timeliness.

1.2. Advisory Board

− The Advisory Board will be made up of professionals and researchers of recognised prestige and soundness, with no institutional ties to the journal. In addition to bringing rigour to the journal, it will help establish the editorial policy, make the journal attractive to both authors and readers and publicise it, as far as possible, in all forums. Similarly, it will support the evaluation and audit processes.

− The Advisory Board must have members who are professionals and researchers in foreign institutions.

− The process for electing its members will be as follows: They will be proposed by the Director and elected by a vote of the Editorial Board for a period of six years, renewable for subsequent periods of six years.

− The members of the Advisory Board may participate in the processes for reviewing originals as external peers, taking into account that at least one of the reviews must always be issued by a reviewer who is not a member of the Advisory Board.

2.  Features and operation

2.1. Frequency 

− The journal will be published in four issues per year. Furthermore, on an extraordinary basis, the journal may propose to Ediciones Complutense the publication of a special issue.

2.2. Structure  

− The journal will consist of the following sections: Articles, where appropriate in two sections, Monographic issue and Varied; reviews and information on conferences and journals

2.3. Publication guidelines

- For the submission of manuscripts, the publication guidelines document produced by the UCM Publications Service will be followed, as well as the additional instructions on notes and bibliographic references available at http://www.ucm.es/info/circulo/art.pdf and http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CLAC/about/submissions. Manuscripts will be checked by the Editorial Board and, where appropriate, submitted to anonymous review by members of the Advisory Board and guest reviewers, and the authors will be informed of the result and, where appropriate, the publication of the manuscripts. The publication period depends on the review process and can take up to a year. The journal edits the originals it receives and reserves the right to publish them in one of the four issues following their receipt.