Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras

Author Guidelines

The electronic journal Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras of the Department of Foreign Languages of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia will accept only items that meet the following guidelines:

The author should consult contents guide of the journal Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras. 

The submission of the article must comply with all the guidelines in order to start the evaluation process. If not, the article will be rejected.

Please note that only one article per issue may be submitted for evaluation by each author.

1. All articles submitted must comply with the editorial policy of the journal. Articles in disciplines unrelated to the focus of the publication will not be accepted.

2. Articles in the journal Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras are characterized by original, innovative and relevant themes in the field of foreign languages. The journal receives the following types of articles:

• Articles of scientific and technological research

A document that presents, in detail, the original results of completed research projects. The structure generally used contains four major sections: introduction, methodology, results and conclusions.

• Articles of reflection

A document that presents the results of completed research from an analytical, interpretative or critical perspective of the author, on a specific issue, using original sources.

• Articles of review

Document resulting from completed research which analyzes, systematizes and integrates the results of published or unpublished research in a field in science or technology, to account for the advances and the development tendencies. It presents a detailed bibliographical review of at least 50 references.

• Case studies

Document that presents the results of a study of a specific case to consider the technical and methodological experiences. It includes a commented systematic review of the literature on analogous cases.

The journal reserves the right to accept articles submitted that do not follow the above typology.

3. The article will be reviewed by expert peers to validate its scientific and academic quality and to ensure that it has not been submitted for publication in other media.

4. No more than four authors are accepted per article. They must previously agree on the order of appearance of their names in the byline. Also, they must  briefly document specific contributions of each in the preparation of the article. The following information must be attached for each author (in no more than 20 words): full name, highest degree obtained, name of institution and country of work.

5. All authors must have an ORCID.

6. The article must be written in the language of the discipline and the discourse used must be academic, coherent and cohesive. Correct punctuation, spelling, grammar and syntax are essential. The Editorial Committee has the right to reject any article which does not comply with these specifications.

7. The article must be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 250 words, with between four and ten keywords, which must be included in the abstract. The title, the abstract and the keywords must be in the language in which the article was written as well as Spanish and English.

8. The permitted maximum length of the article is 10,000 words, minimum 5000, including references and annexes.

9. Presentation

• The title, the abstract and the keywords must be written in Times New Roman 12 font.
• The font size corresponding to the other sections of the article are: title of the article in its original language 16, title of the article in Spanish and English and section titles 14, subtitles 12 footnotes 10.
• The text must be justified, titles and subtitles are centered.
• Line spacing in the article is 1.0; references must have double line spacing as indicated in the APA format.
• The margins of the format of the article must be 3.0 cm for each side.
• Only documents created in most up-to-date released versions of Microsoft Word will be accepted, i.e., version 11 (year 2003) to the latest.

10. The author must send two copies of the article in format .doc: one without the personal data of the author and another with the personal data of the author. Only .doc format will be accepted.

11. The graphs, figures, tables and other elements must be included within the body of the article.   Additionally they must be enclosed in separated files in their format of origin (pdf, JPEG, Excel, etc.). They must have a size of 1.100 x 860 pixels, 150 dpi.

12. Some advanced functions of Word are not compatible with HTML; therefore the following functions must be avoided:

• Background or font colors
• AutoText or fields
• Markers
• Highlighting, cross-outs, relief and other complex texts in Word format
• Forms
• Objects of drawings

13. The bibliographical references and citations within the article must follow the style format of the American Psychological Association (APA), seventh edition.

13.1. The rate of self-citation in articles may not be equal to or higher than 20%

14. Personal and article information

The author must complete the personal and article information form and the Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras journal submission and declaration letters. These letters must include the scanned or digital signature of the author. Photos of these documents are not accepted.

For articles with more than one author, all authors must sign the submission letter and the declaration letter. Likewise, a personal information form for each author must be sent.

15. Submissions

The article, the personal and article information form and the letter of declaration to the Matices journal must be sent through the Open Journal Systems.

Please send questions or requests for technical assistance to: revlenex_fchbog@unal.edu.co

16. Files to be sent in a single submission. Separate files will not be received.

• Article in .doc format with author data
• Article in .doc format without author data
• Personal and article information form
• Letter of statement to the journal Matices signed by the author
• Letter of article submission to the Editorial Committee signed by the author
• Tables, graphs, figures, and other items in their original format (According to the article)