Forma y Función

Focus and Scope

The Journal Forma y Función is attached to the Department of Linguistics of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota. Its objective is the dissemination of studies on language from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives that correspond to the various fields of linguistics: descriptive, typological, historical and comparative linguistics, dialectology, semiotic, linguistic documentation, semiotics, psycholinguistics, ethnolinguistics, sociolinguistics, text linguistics, philosophy of language, lexicography, translation theory, pragmatics, semantics, ethnography of communication, applied linguistics and philology.

Forma y Función seeks to serve as a vehicle for the expression and dissemination of basic and applied research in a variety of topics, including: the structuring, functioning and change in linguistic and semiotic systems; the relationship between language, society, culture and thought; linguistic variability and diversity, multilingualism and bilingualism; discursive practices and textual constructions; acquisition processes, the learning of languages and of reading-writing; language policies; translator equivalence, the production and reception of the translated text, the relevance of the textual typology for the translation; the fixation of the text in the study of classical philology, the text in its context from the philological perspective, philology and interdisciplinary studies; ethics of human communication and automated information systems; communication from the semiotic contemporary perspective and the problem of the transition of communication mass media to the so-called «social networks». Taking into account the rich linguistic diversity of Colombia and the importance of its visibility, particular interest is granted to the dissemination of research on native languages of our country as well as from other regions. Such variety reflects the diversity of topics and work approaches of the professors in the Linguistics Department of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

This publication (continually present since 1981) constitutes an important repository of scientific production in the area which not only contributes to the wealth of knowledge on the complexity of the language but also provides materials for the disciplinary training of future professionals. It also contributes to the creation and strengthening of links between the scientific communities in the field of language studies, both nationally and internationally.
Published work come from research conducted by experts and outstanding doctoral and master's students. Although the Journal focuses on academics, the topics covered are of interest to a broad public. In this way, Forma y Función creates open access to the knowledge produced by the academic community and disseminated with public funds.

Peer Review Process

The evaluation process for submitted articles comprises two phases.
The first is a pre-selection process by the Editorial Committee; the criteria used in this phase are:

• Verification of absence of plagiarism or self-plagiarism (using the Turnitin software program).
• Relevance of the topic for the Journal.
• Inclusion in one of the categories for publishable articles in a scientific journal.
• General textual quality that warrants peer evaluation

If the proposal is accepted, the Editorial Committee proposes peer evaluators.
The second phase is an assessment by at least two academic peers of demonstrated competency and fitness in the corresponding area of language study. This is a double-blind process and the reviewers are assigned in such a way that they are not related to the authors of the proposed articles.. The evaluators assess the article according to the following criteria:

• Discipline relevance and contribution
• Textual and argumentative coherence
• Originality
• Topicality
• Pertinence of the bibliography
• Thoroughness and fidelity (for review articles)

The evaluator will then present an argued evaluation for approval or rejection of the article. When two evaluators disagree on approval of the article, a third reviewer will settle the situation. The peer evaluators have twenty (20) calendar days to issue their opinions.

Publication Frequency

Frequency: One (1) volume with two (2) numbers per year.

Open Access Policy

Forma y Función subscribes to the Open Journal System, which means that access to it is open. Access to the Journal’s content is free and immediate under the principle that freely available research contributes to global dissemination of knowledge and the academic exchange propitious to links among scientific communities. Users can search, read, copy, download, and share all of the published texts. Their use is authorized as long as credit is granted to the authors of the texts and to Forma y Función as the original source of the publication. The commercial use of copies and distribution of content is not permitted, nor the adaption, derivation or transformation of any of these without the prior authorization of the authors and the editor of Forma y Función.
The contents of the journal are published as open access under Common Creative License Attribution-NonCommercial-NonDerived 4.0. For more information on the license terms, please consult: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode.
In line with the open access policy, Forma y Función does not charge for the processing of submitted texts or for publication.

Ethics and Good Practices in Publication

Forma y Función adheres to the codes of ethic and good practices as follows:

• As stipulated in «Hábeas Data» (Statutory Law 1266 of 2008) for the management of personal information in data bases.
• The «Guide to Good Practices for Journal Editors» of the Committee of Publication Ethics (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf).
• The Code of Ethics of the Linguistic Society of America (http://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/ethics).

We recommend consulting the Ethics in Research Information Service of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia: http://www.unal.edu.co/bioetica/paginas/etica_investigacion_dinain_05.htm. If there are concerns related to the ethical aspects of the publication, these should be communicated to fyf_fchbog@unal.edu.co.

Ethics Guidelines for Authors

• Manuscript Preparation. The authors commit to prepare the manuscript taking into account the guidelines of Forma y Función.
• Authorship and co-authorship. Anyone listed as an author of a text submitted to Forma y Función must have participated in the research process and the elaboration of the text. Those who have partially participated in such processes must be listed as contributors in a footnote.
• Originality. The manuscripts submitted to Forma y Función must be unpublished original work by the authors. However, translations of texts published in others languages may be considered for the translations section.
• The texts will be reviewed by Forma y Función with the Turnitin plagiarism detection software. The authors can base their texts on theoretical and methodological frameworks that they have elaborated for other work or publications; this is not considered self-plagiarism. However, the new text’s contribution must be original and unpublished. Those contributions or conclusions must not be the same as those of work already published (of the author or of others authors).
• Exclusivity. The authors must commit to not submitting the manuscript to other journals from the time of submission of the text until the Forma y Función evaluation process. Any wish to withdraw the submission to Forma y Función must be communicated to the editorial team not more than one month from the submission date, so as not to affect the editorial process.
• Fluency and diligence in communication. Authors commit to follow up on revisions arising from the editorial process; all authors must respond on a timely basis to communications from Forma y Función regarding the submitted manuscript and any work to be done arising from the evaluation, style correction and lay out.
• Methodology and explicit informed consent
  • The research articles must explicitly detail the methodological procedures used.
  • Research articles which include experimentation with persons must have the explicit informed consent of the persons and maintain respect for the participants’ privacy. Formats used to request such consent must be submitted as annexes.
• Transparency. If there are any relationships or conditions that may hinder the impartiality of the editorial process, a statement of possible  competing interests must be attached.  If the situation regarding conflict of interest changes during the editorial process, authors should notify the editorial team of the change.
• Authorizations. The texts proposed for the translation section of Forma y Función must be accompanied by a letter of authorization by the authors and original editors so the text can be published in a new version.
• Availability of data. It is suggested that the sources of data supporting the research be made available to the publication in order to promote transparency.

Ethics Guidelines for Evaluators

Editorial Process

• Invitation. Receipt of unpublished original articles is continuous; nevertheless, the Editorial Committee reserves the right to close receipt of articles when the number exceeds the possibilities of the journal’s editorial management.
• Reception of articles. This does not commit the Journal to publish the submitted text. The proposal will be returned if it does not contain the items indicated in the Author Guidelines. 
• Evaluation
• Phase 1: Examination by the Editorial Committee. Consideration for relevance and quality that merits peer evaluation, verification of absence of plagiarism/self-plagiarism, assignment of peer evaluators. If the proposal is not accepted, the author will be informed.
• Phase 2: Delivery of the proposal to peer evaluators. When two evaluators disagree on approval of the article, a third reviewer will settle the situation.
• Communication of evaluation to authors. When all peer evaluators have issued their evaluation, the author will receive a communication regarding the acceptance or rejection of the article. In case of acceptance, the comments and adjustments requested by the peer evaluators will be communicated.
• Reception of revised article. The author has up to 20 days calendar to return the revised and adjusted proposal.
• The submitted article notification to the author, when accepted, will contain a request for the translation into English of the title, the abstract, and the keywords. If the language of the submitted article is English, the corresponding translations must be in Spanish.
• The authors will receive the publication rights licensing document along with the notification of the beginning of the style correction process. The acceptance of this agreement determines the final dissemination of the article.  
• Publication process
• The text is submitted for style correction; the author will receive a copy of the reviewed text and must explicitly approve or disapprove the suggestions arising from this process within three calendar days.
• After approval by the author the text is laid out, the author will receive a copy of the final proofs which he/she must approve within three calendar days.
• Dissemination. Upon publication of the article, the author will receive access to the digital links. Printed copies are not sent to the authors.
• The Editorial Committee reserves the right to reject the articles that do not comply with any of the editorial team requirements throughout the entire revision and editing process. The rejected articles may not be subject to evaluation again.

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