About the Journal

  • About the Journal
    Focus and Scope

    POLIS México publishes scientific research articles in the fields of Sociology, Social Psychology, Political Science, and Human Geography. It welcomes submissions that contribute to theoretical reflection as well as those that foster dialogue and reasoned discussion on topics related to social studies, particularly in Mexico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The objective of the journal is to contribute to scientific research through the publication of original and unpublished articles offering new perspectives.

    POLIS México is a peer-reviewed and indexed journal, published biannually by the Department of Sociology at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Unidad Iztapalapa, since 1990. It is included in the Index of Mexican Journals of Scientific and Technological Research (CONACYT) and is indexed in the following databases: Dialnet, Scielo, Clase, Redalyc, and Biblat.

    Peer Review Process

    1. The Editorial Committee will first conduct a technical review to assess thematic relevance to the disciplines of the UAM-I Department of Sociology (Political Science, Human Geography, Social Psychology, and Sociology) and compliance with minimum publication requirements. The technical review must be completed within five days following the committee session in which the proposal was presented. If the manuscript does not meet the criteria, it will be returned to the author for necessary formatting adjustments.

    2. All manuscripts that pass the initial review will be submitted to at least two academic peer reviewers, based on the subject and specialization. Reviewers will be asked to submit their reports within 30 calendar days. The evaluation process follows a double-blind system, meaning both the authors and reviewers remain anonymous throughout.

    3. If the reviewers request revisions, the manuscript will be returned to the author for correction. Once the changes are made, it will be resubmitted to the same reviewers, who must provide a final assessment within 15 working days.

    4. The evaluations must include a reasoned justification and will result in one of the following outcomes: acceptance, revision, or rejection. Once two fully positive or negative reviews are available, the full Editorial Committee will be informed. If one is positive and one negative, and both are well-founded, a third review will be solicited. Justification will be prioritized over opinion.

    5. All final review decisions will be analyzed by the full Editorial Committee, which will confirm or reject the recommendation for publication. The Editorial Committee reserves the right to send the content of negative reviews to authors who request them.

    Open Access Policy

    POLIS México is an open-access journal. All content is freely available provided the authors’ moral rights are respected.

    It is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

    Publication Frequency

    POLIS México is published semiannually, with online issues released in January and June each year.

    Code of Ethics

    POLIS México adheres to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines on Good Publication Practice.

    Responsibilities of the Journal POLIS México

    To receive article submissions and verify that they meet formal and thematic relevance criteria. If so, the manuscript will be sent for peer review by subject specialists, whose feedback will be shared with the author. Once this process is completed, the journal commits to scheduling publication and overseeing the editing process.

    The journal will keep authors informed about the editorial and review processes. Formal communication will be sent at each stage: receipt, pre-review decision, peer review results, receipt of final version, editing queries, pre-press version, and final publication.

    If an author disagrees with the review result, they may submit a written justification. This will be evaluated by the Editorial Board, which will decide collectively.

    No editorial team member may share manuscript information with anyone other than the corresponding author(s), reviewers, prospective reviewers, other editorial team members, or UAM staff.

    Responsibilities of Authors

    Authors must submit manuscripts in accordance with POLIS editorial guidelines and maintain an accurate record of the submission’s data.

    By submitting for review, authors affirm that the manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere and that it is original and unpublished. Previously published material will be automatically rejected.

    Authors must properly cite all direct quotations or ideas from other authors, including their own previous works. Misappropriation of others’ work will be considered plagiarism.

    Authors guarantee the inclusion of all those who have made significant scientific or intellectual contributions to the manuscript, and authorship must reflect the level of responsibility and involvement.

    Authors must disclose any funding sources that might influence the interpretation of data or the discussion of the manuscript. All funding, public or private, must be declared.

    If a significant error is identified post-publication, authors must immediately notify the editor and collaborate on issuing a correction, erratum, addendum, or retraction.

    Responsibilities of Reviewers

    Peer review assists the editor in decision-making and helps authors improve their manuscripts.

    Reviewers must provide sufficient rationale for acceptance or rejection and should always aim to improve the manuscript through constructive feedback. Criticism must remain academic and never personal.

    If a reviewer feels unqualified or lacks time to conduct the review, they must inform the editor. Reviewers should only accept assignments in areas where they have expertise and must report any suspicion of plagiarism to the editor.

    Reviewers must maintain confidentiality and not share manuscripts with others, except with explicit permission from the editor.

    Reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, personal, or collaborative) and recuse themselves if necessary.

    Responsibilities of the Editorial Committee

    The Editorial Committee is composed of academic staff from the UAM-Iztapalapa Department of Sociology. Its composition reflects a balance of research areas represented in the journal. Membership is honorary, personal, and non-transferable.

    The Committee’s composition may be periodically updated to ensure staggered replacements. Appointments last two years and may be renewed. The Committee conducts initial manuscript evaluations.

    It is responsible for proposing peer reviewers and may also designate a committee member to coordinate a journal issue in agreement with the journal’s editor.

    Indexing

    POLIS México is indexed in:

    International Indexes

    • Latindex (Regional Online Information System for Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal)

    • CLASE (UNAM)

    Directories

    • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)

    • CONACYT Classification System for Mexican Science and Technology Journals

    Portals

    • Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO)

    • Dialnet

    • Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y El Caribe, España y Portugal (Redalyc)

    • Bibliografía Latinoamericana (Biblat)

    Databases

    • Crossref

    • Digital Object Identifier System (DOI)

    Digital Preservation Policy

    POLIS México stores all its published documents electronically. Additionally, the UAM-Iztapalapa’s Coordinación de Servicios Documentales backs up and secures the journal’s website. A digital repository is being developed to allow long-term preservation and format migration when necessary.

    Review Form

    Please read carefully and answer each section:

    • Relevance of the topic:

    • Quality of argumentation:

    • Appropriateness of cited bibliography:

    • Brief critical judgment:

    • Does the manuscript constitute an original contribution? In what way?

    • Suggestions for manuscript modifications:

    Recommendation (mark only one):

    ☐ Publishable in current form without modifications.
    ☐ Publishable, with recommended changes left to the author's discretion.
    ☐ Publishable, subject to mandatory revisions specified by reviewer.
    ☐ Not publishable.

    Anti-Plagiarism Policy

    POLIS México uses Turnitin plagiarism detection software. The similarity threshold is 22%; any manuscript exceeding this will be rejected.

    San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment

    POLIS México adheres to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).

    Copyright

    The economic rights to articles published in POLIS México are transferred by the author to the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana upon acceptance for publication, for both print and electronic versions. However, authors retain their moral rights as established by law.

    Authors may reuse material from their article in other publications or books of their own, provided they cite POLIS México as the original source.

    Journal History

    POLIS México is a semiannual publication of the Department of Sociology at UAM-Iztapalapa. Since its founding in 1990, it has published more than forty issues, building a historical archive spanning over 35 years.

    It is listed in the Index of Mexican Journals of Scientific and Technological Research (CONACYT) and indexed in databases such as Dialnet, Scielo, Clase, Redalyc, and Biblat.

    POLIS México covers themes in the field of Social Sciences, specifically in Sociology, Social Psychology, Political Science, and Human Geography. However, it is also open to submissions from other branches of the social sciences that contribute to theoretical reflection.

    Its goal is to foster exchange and dialogue in social studies by revealing a rich and diverse analytical universe, encouraging ongoing scientific research.