Foreword

Teknokultura: Revista de Cultura Digital y Movimientos Sociales (ISSN-e: 1549-2230) is an open-access and free scientific journal published by the Cibersomosaguas Research Group at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Teknokultura (ISSN-e: 1549-2230) examines the complex ways that technology and new social communication media, in their role as significance systems, restructure social, economic, political, and cultural life. The journal addresses these issues through the publication of original research and innovate theoretical propositions. While the journal focuses on the Ibero-American context, that does not exclude publication of works from other geographical areas.

  1. Management bodies

The Editorial Board and the Advisory Board are the two management bodies responsible for the coordination and publication of scientific content in the journal. All members of these boards undertake to respect the principles of the Complutense University of Madrid’s (hereafter UCM) Code of Ethics for scientific journals and Code of good practices concerning gender.

1.1. Editorial Board: structure and composition

  • The Editorial Board shall consist of the Director, the Deputy Director, the Secretary, the Indexing and Metrics Coordinator and the Social Media and Visibility Coordinator, and the members of the Board. The position of Director shall be held by an active professor with a contractual relationship with the UCM and be an official member of the Cibersomosaguas Research Group (hereafter Cibersomosaguas). At least one third of the board’s members shall belong to Cibersomosaguas and another third to institutions external to the UCM.
  • The Editorial Board shall assist the Director in all their duties and, in particular, in the monitoring of papers (reception, assessment, approval), and in the definition of the contents and style of the journal (drafting of rules for the submission of originals, creation and direction of sections, etc.).
  • The members of the Editorial Board shall be elected by Cibersomosaguas and ratified by the Board of the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (UCM) [Faculty of Political Science and Sociology at UCM].
  • Four voting rounds shall be carried out on the candidates proposed for each of the positions: one for the election of the Director, another for the election of the Deputy Director, a third for the members of the Editorial Board corresponding to the members of Cibersomosaguas (or to cover vacancies) and another for the election of the external members from among the specialists proposed by Cibersomosaguas. The position of Secretary, the Indexing and Metrics Coordinator and the Social Media and Visibility Coordinator shall be appointed by the TeknokulturaEditorial Board following proposals by the Journal Director.
  • The members of the Editorial Board shall be elected for a four-year term and may only be renewed for a second four-year term if they are re-nominated and re-elected for any of the vacancies. After two four-years terms, a four-year period shall elapse before they can be reappointed, unless there are no other candidates to fill the vacancies.
  • The appointment of the Director, the Deputy Director and the Secretary shall be communicated to the Vicerrectorado de Cultura, Deporte y Extensión Universitaria [Vice-Rectorate for Culture, Sports and University Extension] and to the Ediciones Complutense Director [Complutense Editions], including the corresponding accrediting documentation issued by the Faculty Board. The appointment shall be effective from the moment of receipt of the aforementioned document, taking effect from the date of appointment by the Board of the Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (UCM).

 1.1.1. Duties of the Director

  • The Director shall be in charge of the coordination and representation of the journal, as well as of the relations with the Editorial Board, the Advisory Board and Ediciones Complutense. Additionally, they shall be in charge of the relations with other institutions for any issue related to the journal.
  • The Secretary, the Deputy Director, the Indexing and Metrics Coordinator, the Social Media and Visibility Coordinator and International Coeditors (in charge of the pre-evaluation and editing of articles in languages other than the official languages of the journal) shall be appointed by the Editorial Board by suggestion of the Director. These appointments shall be approved by a simple majority of the Editorial Board.
  • The Director shall convene the meetings of the Editorial Board.
  • The Director shall report to Cibersomosaguas, and the Board of Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (UCM) when required, on the operation of the journal as well as its needs.
  • The Director shall be responsible for ensuring the maintenance of the highest scientific quality of the journal as well as its recognition and inclusion in national and international databases and its evaluation for the achievement of certificates of quality, for which they shall be assisted by the rest of the members of the Editorial Board.
  • The Director shall have a casting vote in the event of a tie in the deliberations of the Editorial Board.

 1.1.2. Duties of the Deputy Director

  • The Deputy Director(s) is part of the Editorial Board and shall actively collaborate in the coordination and representation of the journal.
  • The Deputy Director(s) shall assist the Director and the Secretary throughout the complete editorial process of the Journal.
  • The Deputy Director(s) shall assist the Director in the dissemination of the journal, institutional relations, exchanges, indexing and any other duties that result in the improvement of the quality and recognition of the journal.
  • The Deputy Editor(s) shall replace the Director in case of illness or justified absence and shall convene the meetings of the Editorial Board.

 1.1.3. Duties of the Secretary

  • The Secretary shall be in charge of receiving the originals and managing them throughout the assessment and publication process.
  • The Secretary shall be responsible for communication with the authors, the members of the Editorial Board and the Advisory Board and Ediciones Complutense.
  • The Secretary shall acknowledge receipt to the authors of all the submitted papers.
  • The Secretary shall organize the review process of the originals received by the Editorial Board in order to decide which papers are submitted for assessment and which are returned, once the compliance with the requirements of the journal has been verified.
  • The Secretary shall be in charge of sending the originals to the reviewers, along with an instruction document and an assessment template.
  • Once the decision to publish the originals has been made, the Secretary shall be in charge of communicating the decision to the authors.
  • The Secretary shall be in charge of the monitoring of the complete editorial process of the issues of the journal (preparation and delivery of originals –including the first pages and statistics–, layout process, sending proofs to authors, review of the pre-print version, communication to the authors of the publication).
  • The Secretary shall prepare the meetings with the Director and take minutes of the meetings of the Editorial Board. They shall also be responsible for the custody of the minutes of meetings and shall certify the work carried out by the members, scientific advisors, and reviewers.

1.1.4. Duties of the Members of the Editorial Board

  • The Members of the Editorial Board shall attend the convened meetings. In the case of members from other provinces or countries, the Board may articulate a procedure so that their participation is effective even if they are not present at the meetings.
  • The Members of the Editorial Board, under the coordination of the Secretary, shall collaborate in the preliminary reading of originals in order to decide which are submitted for assessment and which are returned to the authors.
  • The Members shall collaborate in the search for external reviewers for the papers and shall avoid in as much as possible, with some exceptions, acting as reviewers themselves.
  • The Members shall advise and collaborate with the management of the journal in any duties deemed necessary for the proper operation of the journal, including ensuring compliance with punctuality and periodicity.

1.2. Advisory Board

  • The Advisory Board shall consist of professionals and researchers of recognized prestige and reliability, with no institutional ties with the journal. It should serve not only to give the journal rigor, but also to set editorial policy, make the journal attractive to both authors and readers, and disseminate it, to the best of its ability, in all forums. Additionally, it shall collaborate in the assessment and auditing processes.
  • At least ten percent of the members of the Advisory Board shall include professionals and researchers from foreign institutions. The process for the election of its members shall be as follows: The members of the Advisory Board shall be appointed by the Editorial Board. If the number of candidates proposed exceeds the number of vacancies available, the candidates with the highest number of votes shall be elected. The appointments shall be ratified by the Board of Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología (UCM).
  • The Members of the Advisory Board may participate in the assessment of originals as external peers, as long as at least one of the assessments is conducted by a reviewer external to the Advisory Board.
  1. Characteristics and functioning

2.1. Periodicity

  • Teknokulturais published exclusively online, open access; the journal follows an online first publication model. The journal shall be published with a periodicity of two issues per year: January-June and July-December. The first issue is published in June and the second issue in December. In addition, and on an ad hoc basis, the journal may propose the publication of a special issue to Ediciones Complutense.

2.2. Structure

  • Each volume shall include two issues per year, and each issue shall consist of a dossier with original research-based articles, preferably funded, on a variety of topics (miscellaneous issues) or specific topics (monographic or thematic issues).
  • The journal shall consist of the following fixed sections: Karpeta [Folder] Miscelánea [Miscellany] and Reseñas[Book Reviews], and the variable sections: Revisiones Temáticas [Thematic Reviews] and Videoensayos [Video Essays].
  • The Karpeta[Folder] permanent section gives priority to the publication of articles based on unpublished research, preferably funded, on the growing role of technology in contexts of communication and social mobilization from a critical perspective, with a maximum length of 7,000 words (including bibliography, tables, graphs, annexes, etc.). Contributions are evaluated by an external review committee and the peer review system.
  • The Miscelánea [Miscellany] permanent section includes papers on technology or technoscientific issues and debates from a critical socio-cultural prism. Its breadth of "view" takes essays (and interviews) that are agile and informative snapshots of technosocial realities, without losing the rigor or analytical interest. Contributions are evaluated by an external evaluator committee. and the peer review system.
  • The Reseña(Book Reviews) permanent section publishes evaluations and short reviews of current works with a maximum length of 2,500 words (including bibliography), with special emphasis on analyses of recent publications (books, reports, monographs, compilations, etc.) related to the topics covered by the journal. The main intention is to publish critical readings that are not limited to summarizing other texts, but to contextualize and constructively question them.
  • The Revisiones Temáticas (Thematic Reviews) variable section publishes articles that are reviews of the state of a field of research or the “State of the Art” of a subject related to the journal’s areas of editorial interest and which are both current and relevant. These papers must demonstrate quality and source validity. These articles have a maximum length of 8,000 words (including bibliography, tables, graphs, annexes, etc.). Contributions are evaluated by an external review committee and the peer review system. Unlike the permanente sections of the journal, the frequency of publication of the Thematic Reviews section is variable, in accordance with the journal’s editorial criteria and policy.
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  • The Videoensayos [Video Essays] variable section includes original videographic work created using film, television, or other multimedia objects, that address issues relevant to Teknokultura, that is, the way in which technology and new social communication media restructure social, economic, political and cultural life. The video essays can also address the specific topics and issues approached by ongoing monographic issues. The video essay must be accompanied by a supporting written statement that articulates the aims and process of the work as well as the ways in which those aims are achieved in the audiovisual form. It should avoid reiterating the information presented in the video essay.  The maximum length of the video essays is 10 minutes. The maximum length of the written statement is 500/1000 words, including bibliography (and filmography), graphics and other supplementary material. Unlike the permanente sections of the journal, the frequency of publication of the Video Essays section is variable, in accordance with the journal’s editorial criteria and policy.
  • In a thematic or monographic issue, the Karpetasection is devoted exclusively to the theme proposed by the coordinators of the issue, which has previously been approved by the Editorial Board. The other sections of the journal may also be devoted to this theme, although this is not a prerequisite. The editing of these sections is the responsibility of the Co-ordinator(s) of the thematic issue, under the supervision of the Director, the Deputy Director, and the Secretary. A detailed presentation of the requirements and deadlines for thematic issue proposals are available in Guidelines for the Proposal of Thematic Issues.

2.3. Languages

Teknokultura is a bilingual journal, published in Spanish and English, although quotations or appendices in other languages may be included. The suitability of publishing, on an extraordinary basis, articles in other languages is subject to the discretion of the Editorial Board. The metadata of the articles (title, abstract and keywords) shall be published in the two official languages of the journal. The rest of the metadata (authors’ data, biographic notes and sponsoring agencies, etc.) shall also available in the open journal system (OJS) in Spanish and English.

2.4. Publication guidelines

The section Submissions and guidelines for authors includes detailed information on manuscript submission, editorial process (peer review, evaluation, and publication of manuscripts), bibliographical notes and references, etc.