Book Reviews

Review process for original and unpublished manuscripts

All submissions undergo rigorous scrutiny, review, and evaluation. This process consists of five stages:

1. All manuscripts are checked using the specialized anti-plagiarism software iThenticate.

2. All manuscripts are examined by our editorial office to ensure they comply with the journal’s author guidelines and are impeccably written. The following are evaluated:

  • Each submission must be accompanied by a free-form letter in which the author(s) explicitly state that the manuscript is original, unpublished, and not currently under review, adjudication, or editorial processing elsewhere. The letter must be signed by the author(s) (the signature must be handwritten). Additionally, each author’s contact information and ORCID must be included.
  • The manuscript file must be in .docx (Word) format and must be completely anonymized. If there are self-citations, these must not be included in the “References” section and, in the main text, must be cited as: “(XXXX year page).” If the manuscript passes all reviews, the self-citations will be included in the final version.
  • For the “Reviews” section: title and subtitle in the original language and their translation into English or Spanish, as applicable.
  • Strict word limit for the manuscript. This is 5,000 words for the “Reviews” section: this includes the entire manuscript.
  • Strict adherence to the citation system. Espacialidades uses the Chicago style (author-date).

3. Manuscripts that comply with the journal’s author guidelines and are impeccably written are sent to the Editorial Committee (composed of experts, academics, and researchers from outside the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana) to evaluate their relevance, quality, and scientific rigor.

The following are evaluated:

  • The suitability of the manuscript in accordance with the call for submissions.
  • The solid, logical, and coherent development of the argumentation, instruments, and method across the different sections (title, subtitle, problem statement, justification, objectives, background, hypothesis, method, results, discussion, and conclusion; as well as any others required by the topic addressed). Espacialidades selects for double-blind peer review only those texts that demonstrate they have been produced under the strictest criteria regarding writing quality and scientific rigor.

4. Manuscripts that pass the first three stages are sent for double-blind peer review. Espacialidades works with experts, academics, and researchers from outside the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana. Each manuscript is reviewed by at least two specialists with proven expertise.

The following are evaluated:

  • The relevance and significance of the problem within the specific field or branch of knowledge.
  • Originality and novelty in the approach, findings, discussion, and conclusions.
  • The soundness of the referential, theoretical, conceptual, and methodological frameworks.
  • Quality of the arguments and clarity of writing.
  • The soundness of the sources.
  • Any other aspects that the reviewer considers relevant.

5. Manuscripts that reach the double-blind peer review stage receive one of the following four decisions:

  • Accepted without changes.
  • Accepted with suggestions.
  • Accepted subject to revisions.
  • Rejected. Not publishable.

6. Metadata Policy. The metadata included in each published item is used to feed search engines and is included in the DOI (https://www.doi.org/) protocol. This includes:

  • Title of the product in Spanish and English
  • Full first and last names of authors and co-authors in order of appearance
  • ORCID identifiers of authors and co-authors in order of appearance and citation
  • Affiliation
  • Location of the institution of origin
  • Acronym of the institution of origin
  • Abstract in English
  • Publication date
  • Final page range of the item within the published issue
  • DOI of the item
  • Product URL
  • Journal title
  • Publisher
  • ISSN
  • DOI request date

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Results

Espacialidades receives and processes the reviews:

  1. If the manuscript receives two “Accepted without changes” reviews, it proceeds to style editing, layout, and publication.
  2. If the manuscript receives two reviews stating “Accepted with suggestions” or one of these and another stating “Accepted without changes,” it is returned to the author(s) for their consideration and, in any case, to incorporate the suggestions. The manuscript must be returned to Espacialidades for verification of the final version, after which it will proceed to the editing, typesetting, and publication stages.
  3. If the manuscript receives two “Accepted with revisions” reviews, or one such review and another “Accepted with suggestions,” or even one “Accepted as is,” it is returned to the author(s) so they may incorporate all the changes and, if applicable, address the suggestions. The “Accepted with revisions” decision implies that each and every change is mandatory in order to proceed with the process. The author(s) is/are free to reject the changes and withdraw their manuscript from the process. Manuscripts with all required changes incorporated and, if applicable, with the suggestions addressed will be returned to Espacialidades for review of the final version and to proceed with style editing, layout, and publication.
  4. Manuscripts that receive two “Rejected. Not publishable” reviews are definitively rejected.
  5. In the first three cases, if there is a “Rejected. Not publishable” decision, the manuscript is sent to a third reviewer.

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Guidelines for Authors

For the “Reviews” section, manuscripts selected for evaluation are the result of in-depth analytical, critical, and bibliographic work on the volume under consideration. Reviews must be structured so that each detail, piece of data, and aspect discussed is developed consistently in accordance with the line of argument the author wishes to highlight, evaluate, or scrutinize.

Espacialidades limits publications by members of the Autonomous Metropolitan University community. For each issue, no more than 30% of the content will come from contributors affiliated with the Autonomous Metropolitan University ( ). Seventy percent of the published articles and reviews come from researchers outside the Autonomous Metropolitan University.

Espacialidades accepts for evaluation only original and unpublished manuscripts. Submissions must strictly comply with the following requirements:

1. The file must be submitted in .docx (Word) format.

2. Manuscripts for the “Reviews” section must include a title, subtitle, body of the review, and references.

3. Manuscripts for the “Reviews” section must not exceed 5,000 (five thousand) words, including references, tables, and notes.

4. The body of manuscripts for the “Reviews” section should, as far as possible, not contain subheadings; however, if they do, the sections must exhibit strong coherence and a logical, consistent flow of argument.

5. The document must be formatted as follows:

Font: Times New Roman or Arial, 12-point.

  • Double spacing (2.0).
  • Margins: Left, right, top, and bottom 3 cm.
  • Alignment of the entire document: Left. Page numbers at the bottom of the page, centered and in 12-point font.
  • Direct quotations longer than 5 lines must be in a separate paragraph with narrower margins, without quotation marks, and in 10-point font.
  • Footnotes are in 10-point font and left-aligned.
  • Captions, diagrams, and tables are aligned with their respective elements and in 10-point font.

6. The citation format must be Chicago (author-date). If the author uses a reference manager, they must ensure that the “References” section and each citation in the body of the work are converted to “Static Text.”

7. If the manuscript includes tables, graphs, or images, these must be submitted as a duplicate in .jpeg format with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.

8. Manuscripts must be completely anonymized.

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Citation System

All manuscripts submitted for review must use the Chicago-style citation system (author-date). We suggest consulting the Brief Guide to Citations and Bibliographic References in the Chicago Manual of Style.