About the Journal

Creation

Created in 2018 by the Faculty of Administrative and Economic Sciences of the Technical University of Cotopaxi (Ecuador). It disseminates the results of original research involving studies in the fields of Social Sciences, Business Education, and Law, according to the specific areas of the Standardized Classification of Education – CINE, and that have been developed in universities and research centers both nationally and internationally.

ISSN

Online: 2631-259X

Journal Objective

UTC Prospectivas: Journal of Administrative and Economic Sciences is a biannual publication, edited by the Technical University of Cotopaxi, aimed at national and international researchers, which accepts articles through the calls established by the Editorial Committee. The purpose is to encourage debate around proposals related to topics within Social Sciences, Business Education, and Law, where a scientific approach should prevail. Articles that comply with the journal’s guidelines will be considered as received.

The distribution of the magazine is in electronic format and provides free full-text access.

Scope of the Journal

It seeks to promote critical analysis that connects the academic concerns of administrative and economic sciences with the challenges of today's society and contemporary organizations. It is aimed at the scientific community, professionals, academics, students, and those interested in Social Sciences, Business Education, and Law, specifically those generally related to Economics, Administration, Personnel Administration, Marketing, and Finance. Delve into topics of organizational, business, social, political, cultural, and economic debate, especially focusing on Ecuador, the Andean Region, and Latin America in general.

Posting frequency

UTC Prospectivas is a biannual journal, with editions covering the periods January-June and July-December. The journal is published in electronic format (e-ISSN: 2631-259X) in Spanish and English, with the interface, titles, abstracts, and keywords in the complementary language (manuscripts in English are accepted starting with volume 9, number 2). Regular issues are published in the first months of each edition (January and July).

Estimated time of the editorial process

The average number of weeks between submission and the completion of the editorial process for each article is calculated to be approximately 10 weeks. It is recommended to review the editorial process for more details on the scientific management processes and their respective estimated times.

Open access policy

UTC Prospectivas is an open-access journal, allowing all its content to be available free of charge to users of the information. The journal is based on the principle of offering the public free access to research, with the aim of promoting greater global exchange of knowledge and scientific advancement.

This commitment is realized through a publication model in which the author retains copyright and distributes their work under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license. This license guarantees free, immediate, and unrestricted access, allowing any user to read, download, copy, distribute, or even adapt the content for any legitimate purpose, with the sole condition of properly attributing the original authorship.

License Terms

This journal provides open access to its content, based on the principle that providing the public with free access to research helps promote greater global knowledge sharing, through a Creative Commons license. CC BY 4.0

This means that users of the information are free to copy, distribute, disseminate, and perform this work, as well as to create derivative works, as long as proper credit is given to the original author of the article and any changes made are indicated.

Copyright

The authors retain all copyright over their works published in this journal. By submitting their articles, authors grant the journal the right of first and exclusive publication, and agree that their work may be distributed under terms that allow open access and academic use, always maintaining recognition of their original authorship. The journal does not require the transfer of copyright, so authors retain full freedom to use, distribute, and reuse their works, with the sole condition of citing their publication in this journal.

Article Processing Charges (APC)

The UTC Prospectivas Journal, which means that it does not charge any fees or charges for the processing and publication of articles submitted by authors, nor fees for editorial processes (APCs are not charged).

Text Similarity Detection

All manuscripts submitted for review in the UTC Prospectivas Journal are inspected by the Editorial Board, which ensures the originality of the articles. For this, the Turnitin text similarity detection tool will be used, which checks the originality of the document by comparing the content with an extensive database. Any document that has a high level of similarity will be automatically discarded, with the respective notification sent to the sender.

Code of Ethics and Best Practices

UTC Prospectivas is based on the code of ethics for publications developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Position on the use of Artificial Intelligence in articles

The UTC Prospectivas journal adheres to the principles of the Heredia Declaration (2024) on the ethical use of artificial intelligence in scientific publishing. Within this framework, the use of generative AI is allowed as a support tool, provided that its use is explicitly declared in the Methodology section, specifying the model used, its purpose, and degree of contribution, in addition to being cited according to academic standards. It is emphasized that these technologies should be used transparently and responsibly, without replacing human intellectual authorship or creativity.

The journal checks the originality of manuscripts using similarity detection tools (Turnitin) in order to identify potential undeclared or inappropriate uses of generative AI. We reserve the right to reject work that violates these guidelines or shows excessive reliance on these technologies.

Digital Storage and Preservation

The UTC Prospectivas magazine (as well as all the magazines published by the Technical University of Cotopaxi) is hosted on an exclusive server. To ensure the safe and long-term preservation of published articles, automatic backups are performed weekly. This internal process reinforces the integrity and availability of the academic content published in the journal.

Responsibilities of Editors

a) Publication decisions

The journal Editor is responsible for deciding whether or not to publish articles. The Editor relies on the journal's Scientific Committee and is subject to the requirements of applicable laws regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The journal Editor may communicate with other editors or reviewers to make their own decisions.

b) Equity

The journal editor evaluates proposed articles for publication based on their content without discrimination on the basis of the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political views.

c) Confidentiality

The Editor and any member of the journal's Editorial Team may not disclose any information about a manuscript submitted for the journal's review to anyone except the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, editorial consultant, and section editors as appropriate.

d) Conflicts of interest and disclosure

Unpublished materials contained in a submitted manuscript must not be used in research by the Editor or any member of the journal's Editorial Team without the author's express written consent.

Responsibilities of the Reviewers

a) Contribution to the editorial decision

The peer review process helps the journal Editor make editorial decisions and, through editorial communication with the author, also helps improve the quality and content of a manuscript submitted to the journal. Reviewers commit to carrying out a critical, constructive, and honest review of the scientific quality of a manuscript.

b) Respect for review deadlines

The reviewer who feels unfit to carry out the proposed task or believes they cannot complete the review within the time required by the journal should inform the Editor immediately.

c) Confidentiality

Any text assigned for your reading will be considered confidential. Therefore, such texts should not be discussed with others without the express permission of the Editor.

d) Objectivity

Peer review must be conducted objectively. Any personal judgment about the author is inappropriate. Reviewers are required to adequately justify the assessments and comments made on a manuscript.

e) Acknowledgment of information sources

Reviewers commit to accurately indicating the bibliographic references of key works that the author might overlook. These recommendations should be made transparently, without attempting to increase citations to works done by the reviewers themselves. The reviewer should also inform the Editor of any similarity or overlap of the text received for review with other works they are aware of.

f) Conflicts of interest and disclosure

Confidential information or guidance obtained during the peer review process should be considered confidential and may not be used for personal purposes. Reviewers are required not to accept reviewing articles for which there is a conflict of interest due to collaborative or competitive relationships with the author and/or their home institution.

Authors' Responsibilities

a) Data access and retention

If the Editor considers it appropriate, the authors of the articles should also make available the sources or data on which the research is based, so that they can be maintained for a reasonable period of time after publication and possibly made visible.

b) Originality and plagiarism

Authors must ensure that they have written completely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, they must indicate this or cite it correctly in the manuscript.

c) Multiple, repetitive, and/or concurrent publications

The author should not publish articles that describe the same research in more than one journal. Submitting the same text to more than one journal at the same time is ethically wrong and unacceptable.

d) Font specifications

The author must always provide the correct indication of the sources and contributions mentioned in the article. An article should contain enough details and references to allow for a response.

e) Authorship of the work

The authorship of the work must be correctly attributed, and all those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, organization, implementation, and revision of the research underlying the article should be listed as co-authors. If other individuals have significantly participated in certain phases of the research, their contribution must be explicitly acknowledged. In the case of multiple contributions, the author submitting the text to the journal must declare that they have correctly indicated the names of all other co-authors, that they have obtained approval of the final version of the article, and their consent for its publication in the journal.

f) Conflict of interest and disclosure

All authors must indicate in their manuscript any financial conflict or other conflict of interest that could be interpreted in a way that might influence the results or the interpretation of their work. All sources of financial support for the project must be properly disclosed.

g) Errors in published articles

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they should immediately notify the journal editor to retract or correct the text.

Definition of author and contributor

To be considered an author, it is necessary to meet the following criteria:

To have made a substantial contribution to the conception or design of the article, or to the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data.
To have participated in the design of the research work or in the critical review of its intellectual content.
To have been involved in approving the final version to be published.
To be able to take responsibility for all aspects of the article to ensure that issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are properly investigated and resolved.

People who supported the research but do not meet the criteria for authorship will be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section of the article.