General information

SCOPE AND AIMS

The journal Advocatus (Print ISSN 0124-0102 – Electronic ISSN 2390-0202) is a scientific, open-access publication, published semiannually, under a double-blind peer review model, aimed at disseminating research results, reflection articles, reviews, and book reviews in the field of Law and socio-legal sciences.

Its editorial approach focuses on the comprehensive analysis of legal phenomena from an interdisciplinary perspective, promoting the understanding of law as a dynamic system interacting with social, political, economic, and cultural contexts.

Advocatus continuously receives contributions in areas such as constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, disciplinary law, labor and social security law, private law, international law, legal theory, and socio-legal studies.

The journal has national and international reception and welcomes manuscripts resulting from research work, in Spanish and English, aimed at researchers, academics, and professionals interested in the critical analysis of law in local, regional, and international contexts.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

Manuscripts submitted to the journal Advocatus undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Preliminary review: The editorial team verifies that the manuscript complies with formal requirements, the journal’s thematic scope, and ethical and originality standards. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be rejected without external review.

Assignment of reviewers: Manuscripts that pass the initial review are sent to two external peer reviewers, experts in the relevant field, selected based on academic qualifications, independence, and absence of conflicts of interest.

Double-blind evaluation: The anonymity of authors and reviewers is guaranteed throughout the process. Authors must remove any information that could reveal their identity in the manuscript.

Evaluation criteria: Peer reviewers assess manuscripts based on criteria such as:
-Structure and organization of the text
-Coherence and development of the topic
-Methodological rigor and quality of analysis
-Originality, contribution, and academic relevance
-Clarity, precision, and quality of writing
-Appropriate use and currency of sources

Editorial decision: The editorial team makes the final decision based on the reviewers’ reports. In case of disagreement, a third reviewer may be assigned.

Author revision: When revisions are required, authors must address the reviewers’ comments within the established timeframe and submit a revised version along with a justification of the changes made.

Final quality control: Before publication, accepted manuscripts undergo a final editorial review, including formal, regulatory, and stylistic aspects.

COPYRIGHT

For publication in the journal Advocatus, authors must complete and sign the institutional copyright transfer and author information forms.

Through this transfer, authors authorize Universidad Libre to reproduce, distribute, and disseminate the work in any medium or format, without territorial limitation and for the duration of legal copyright protection.

Authors guarantee the originality of the manuscript, declare that they are the rights holders, and assume responsibility for any claims related to intellectual property infringement. The journal respects authors’ moral rights and may disseminate contents through repositories, digital platforms, and indexing systems.

ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY

The journal Advocatus ensures the academic integrity of its publications through the systematic verification of the originality of all submitted manuscripts. For this purpose, all texts are analyzed using the similarity detection tool Turnitin. The similarity index must not exceed 20%, excluding properly cited references and quotations; manuscripts exceeding this threshold will be rejected or returned to the authors for revision.

Regarding the use of artificial intelligence tools, the journal requires that their use be declared by the authors when applicable. Furthermore, the manuscript must reflect original intellectual contribution; texts that show improper use of such tools compromising academic quality, rigor, or authorship will be rejected.

The journal considers plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, data fabrication or falsification, and any other unethical conduct as serious offenses. Accordingly, the editorial team will take all necessary measures to prevent and detect such practices. If misconduct is confirmed, the manuscript will be rejected. If detected after publication, the article will be corrected, retracted, or withdrawn as appropriate.

When misconduct is suspected, the manuscript will be suspended from the editorial process and the author will be notified to respond within a maximum of ten (10) business days. Based on the response, the editor will make a reasoned decision, which may be reviewed by the Editorial Committee, ensuring due process.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY AND LICENSE

This journal provides open access to its content and uses the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA Attribution – NonCommercial – ShareAlike license. This license allows any user to access, copy, distribute, publicly communicate, and adapt the published content under the following conditions:

-Attribution (BY): Proper credit must be given to the original author and source.
-NonCommercial (NC): The content may not be used for commercial purposes.
-ShareAlike (SA): Any derivative work must be distributed under the same license as the original.

Accordingly, published articles may be freely reused and disseminated for academic, scientific, and educational purposes, provided that authorship is acknowledged, no commercial use is made, and the same license is maintained.

CROSSREF / CROSSMARK POLICY

The journal Advocatus uses DOI identifiers through Crossref to ensure identification, visibility, and traceability of published articles. In this context, the journal adopts principles of content updating and integrity in accordance with international editorial best practices, promoted by the Crossmark system.

PRESERVATION AND SELF-ARCHIVING POLICY

This journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archive among participating libraries, allowing them to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes. Further information...

PRIVACY STATEMENT

The journal Advocatus, published by Universidad Libre – Barranquilla Section, informs that personal data provided by authors, reviewers, and users through the editorial platform will be used exclusively for the management of the editorial process. The information will be treated confidentially and will not be shared with third parties unrelated to these purposes, except when required by law or for indexing and interoperability in academic systems.

JOURNAL FUNDING

Universidad Libre Seccional Barranquilla

INDEXING

The journal Advocatus is included in the following Abstracting and Indexing Systems:

DOAJ
OpenAlex
Dialnet
BIBLAT
CLASE
EBSCO
REDIB
Other bibliographic databases
vLex
Latindex
LatinREV
MIAR