About the Journal

Focus and Scope

The Revista Colombiana de Psicología (RCP) serves researchers, higher education institutions, cultural organizations, psychology professionals, and students of psychology and related disciplines. Its mission is to advance the development and dissemination of psychological knowledge in Latin America through the publication of original, peer-reviewed scholarly contributions spanning the diverse fields of psychology.

By promoting rigorous scientific dialogue and fostering the circulation of high-quality research, RCP seeks not only to strengthen the regional academic community but also to enhance the international visibility of psychological research produced in Latin America. In doing so, the journal contributes to the advancement of theoretical, methodological, and applied knowledge while encouraging exchanges among scholars working within different psychological traditions and perspectives. Consistent with this mission, the journal welcomes both empirical and theoretical contributions that adhere to recognized scientific and scholarly standards. RCP publishes original research articles, theoretical analyses, literature reviews, meta-analyses, and scholarly essays that contribute to a deeper understanding of psychological phenomena and stimulate critical discussion within the discipline.

Authorship Policy

The journal adheres to the authorship criteria established by the Authorship Tie-breaker Scorecard. To qualify as an author, each contributor must satisfy all of the following requirements:

  1. Make a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the study, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
  2. Participate in drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for significant intellectual content.
  3. Approve the final version of the manuscript before publication.
  4. Accept responsibility for all aspects of the work and ensure that any questions regarding the accuracy or integrity of the research are appropriately addressed.

On the other hand, the journal does not permit the inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) tools or systems as authors, as such technologies cannot assume ethical, legal, or scholarly responsibility for published content. AI-based tools may be used to support specific stages of the research, writing, or analytical process; however, their use must be transparently disclosed in the appropriate section of the manuscript (e.g., methodology, acknowledgments, or a dedicated disclosure statement) and must never appear in the list of authors.

Ethical Guidelines

The Revista Colombiana de Psicología is committed to the highest standards of research integrity, ethical conduct, and transparency in scholarly publishing. Accordingly, all submitted manuscripts must comply with the ethical principles and professional standards applicable to psychological research and scientific communication. Therefore, research involving human participants must have received prior approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB) or an equivalent ethics committee. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their studies were conducted with full respect for participants’ rights, dignity, safety, and well-being.

Informed consent must be obtained for studies involving direct interaction with participants or the collection of identifiable personal information, except in circumstances where established ethical guidelines allow justified exemptions. Authors should clearly indicate the procedures followed to ensure ethical compliance whenever applicable.

In addition, the journal also supports initiatives aimed at strengthening transparency and reproducibility in scientific research. Although study preregistration, data sharing, and the provision of research materials are not mandatory requirements for publication, authors are strongly encouraged to adopt open science practices whenever feasible and appropriate. Such practices contribute to the credibility, accessibility, and cumulative development of psychological knowledge.

Peer Review Process

The publication process in the Revista Colombiana de Psicología begins when a manuscript is submitted through the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. Upon submission, the Editorial Team conducts an initial screening to ensure that the manuscript falls within the journal’s scope and complies with its editorial, scientific, and ethical requirements. Then, manuscripts that successfully pass this preliminary evaluation, proceed to external peer review. At this stage, the journal assigns the manuscript to experts in the corresponding field, who evaluate its scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, theoretical contribution, and relevance to the discipline. The editorial decision is based on these evaluations as well as on the authors’ responses to reviewers’ comments and recommendations. This review and publication process generally takes between six and twelve months. However, the duration may vary depending on factors such as the quality and readiness of the manuscript, the timeliness of authors’ revisions, the journal’s editorial schedule, and the availability of qualified reviewers.

In line with its commitment to scholarly collaboration, the Revista Colombiana de Psicología encourages authors to actively contribute to the peer-review system by evaluating another manuscript that has successfully completed the preliminary editorial screening. Consequently, manuscripts may be reviewed both by invited specialists and by anonymous reviewers who are also authors contributing to the journal. All evaluations are conducted under a double-blind peer-review model, ensuring that neither authors nor reviewers know each other’s identities during the evaluation process. This policy reflects the journal’s commitment to maintaining a collaborative academic community and recognizes the essential role of peer review in ensuring the quality and integrity of scientific communication. By participating as reviewers, authors not only support the publication process but also engage with emerging research, contribute to disciplinary discussions, and strengthen professional and scholarly networks that may foster future collaborations. Finally, it is important to note that submission forms, templates, and supplementary documents are available on the journal's website.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to all of its content by making scientific research freely and permanently available to readers worldwide. In doing so, it seeks to promote a broader exchange of knowledge, increase the visibility and impact of scholarly work, and contribute to the advancement of science and society.


Statistics (Google Analytics - Users) (Visits)

 

Directrices para la revisión por pares

To Accept and Upload a Review 

Please have in mind the following information when conducting your review.

a) In the step 1 of the REVIEW STEPS section, you have to accept the review.


b) In the step 3 of the REVIEW STEPS section, you can download the manuscript. This option only will be available if you previously accepted the review in step 1.


c) You can upload your review in the step 4 of the REVIEW STEPS section by clicking on the small icon beside the “revisions” word. This action will activate a new window, in which you can write your comments to the article. If the window does not open, it is necessary to review the cookies configuration of your browser. This option only will be available if you previously accepted the review in step 1

d) If you want to upload a file (e.g., a commented manuscript), you can do so in the step 5 of the REVIEW STEPS section. To do so, you need to “Seleccionar un archivo” (select a file) and then click in the upload button.


e) You have to choose a recommendation for the article. Among the options
available in the menu, you can choose among (See below for specific criteria):
                        Accept Submission: Accept without changes.
                        Revisions Required: Major Revisions are needed
                        Decline Submission: Reject
Any other recommendation will be interpreted as a rejection.

 

Peer Review Instructions

 

Please have in mind the following information when conducting your review.

1. The manuscript should cover a topic close to your area of expertise. If that is not the case, we appreciate that you inform us of that situation, and do not conduct the review.

2. Be sure that you do not have any conflict of interest to review the article, by any reason (e.g., institutional, financial, personal). However, you should know that the authors will not know your identity.

3. Be sure you have the time to conduct a careful review of the article.

4. Have in mind that your role as reviewer is providing the editor with the means to make an informed decision about the publication of the article, as well as, providing authors with suggestions to improve the manuscript. Your critics, arguments and suggestions will be useful to the editor and the authors, if they are carefully documented and if they are constructive. In that sense, later you will find a form to make your comments regarding each aspect of the article. We will appreciate if you include specific suggestions on how to solve your critical comments to the article. Please, DO NOT include offensive or dismissive comments, and, in general do not use your review as space for personal attacks.

5. Protect the document. Do not cited before it is published and do not use the information included in it for your research or any other personal advantage. This information is confidential, no details of the manuscript or its contents will be disclosed to third parties.

6. Remember that your task as a reviewer is to comment on the scientific aspects of the manuscript, and not its style. However, if you observe repetitive mistakes, please let us know.

Answer SOME of the following questions regarding the different criteria that the Colombian Journal of Psychology considers relevant to assess the publication of an article.

Originality

Does the manuscript propose an original and new idea (for a local journal)? Does it adds new knowledge to the research area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organization and Structure

 

Is the general organization of the manuscript clear and efficient? Is it well written?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

¿Do the title and the abstract describe correctly the content of the manuscript? ¿Does the keywords good descriptors of the documents´ content?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethical Aspects

From your point of view, the article fulfills the ethical requirements related to subjects´ rights, data fabrication or falsification, inadequate analysis, use of deceiving graphs, double publication, and omission of citations or plagiarism?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Question for specific types of articles

1. Empirical article: This type of article presents the results of research projects that include data collection and analysis. The general structure of this type of article should include at least four sections: introduction, methodology, results and conclusions.  

2. Reflection article: This type of article presents results from research that reflects and develops theory from an analytical, interpretative or cricital perspective on some field of subfield with psychology, using original sources.

3. Lit. review article. This type of article analyzes and integrates systematically the results of empirical articles, published or unpublished, with the goal to identify the advances and tendencies of development within a field of psychology. This type of article is characterizaed by using at least 50 references.

EMPIRICAL ARTICLES

Introduction

Does the article reviews relevant theoretical and empirical precedents in the field? Does the literature reviewed in the article supports in a straightforward manner the problem and goal of the article?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the variables and hypothesis of the article clearly defined?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Method

Is the method pertinent to answer the research question?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is the sample appropriate? Are the characteristics of the sample and process of selection clearly described?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the instruments adequately described? Is it clear how data were recollected and the measures are explained? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is the procedure clearly described? Is there enough information to replicate the study?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Results

Is the data analysis appropriate? Are the statistical methods, if applied, pertinent?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the results relevant to answer the research question? Are the results well-organized and clear?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are tables and figures clear and pertinent?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion

Does the article explore the way in which the results answer the research question and their relationship with the hypothesis of the study?  Does the article present the importance of the study in the field of research?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the conclusions derived from the results? The article connects the conclusions with relevant literature?

 

 

 

 

 

 

REFLECTION ARTICLES/ESSAYS

Does the text have a clear argument that is developed consistently in all the document?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the conclusions consistent with the arguments in the document?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are the arguments clearly supported by relevant prior research in the field?

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIT. REVIEW ARTICLES

Does the article cite the more relevant references in the area?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is there a critical approach regarding the presented literature? Does the article propose new interpretations to prior literature?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does the article organize the literature in a clear and pertinent manner?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recommendation

Based on your answers, please select from the list your recommendation for the manuscript. 

You can upload you review following these steps: you can select your decision in the system following the instructions presented at the beginning of this guideline.

 

0. Accept. This option applies when the manuscript has the characteristics required for publication in the journal and, therefore, can be publish in its current state, without changes.

1. Revise. This option applies when the manuscript requires minor changes in terms of form, analysis and lit. review. The manuscript is accepted but needs minor changes to be published.

2. Revise and submit. This option must be used in cases in which the article presents a high relevance in some level (e.g., evidence, method) but the development is not completely correct. In these cases, the manuscript is not accepted but can be consider for further review. Please, point out which changes are indispensable, and which are optional.

3. Rejection. The manuscript must be rejected when indispensable changes that imply:

a) Global changes in the structure of the text, and the inclusion of new sections of lit. review.

b) New large data analysis procedures.

c) Additional data recollections in a similar scale to that presented in the study.

d) The presentation of additional evidence to complement the theoretical model.

e) Recurring writing and grammatical mistakes that imply a complete style proofread of the text.

Additionally, the article can be rejected if:

a) The article does not relate to psychological questions or interdisciplinary debates connected to this discipline.

b) The article has methodological problems that cannot be solved without an additional data recollection.

c) The research question is not clear.

d) The research question cannot be solved with presented data.

Note. If you want to send the manuscript with comments and you are going to use the comment tool in MS Word, please be sure of changing your user name to keep your comments anonymous.