About the Journal
Configurações: Revista de Sociologia was launched in 2005 as part of the Sociology Studies Centre (Núcleo de Estudos em Sociologia - NES), based at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Minho. The new journal, heir to the Sociology Series of the Journal Cadernos do Noroeste, entitled Sociedade e Cultura, marked a new stage for the NES, which, two years later, would become the Centre of Research in Social Sciences (Centro de Investigação em Ciências Sociais - CICS). In 2015, and as a result of the merger with other national research centres, CICS became a Branch of the recently created Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences (Centro Interdisciplinar de Ciências Sociais - CICS.NOVA.UMinho) while retaining ownership and management of the journal.
From issue 25 (2020) onwards, and in order to reflect a greater adjustment both to its actual contents, which have rarely been limited to the disciplinary field of Sociology, as well as a change in its editorial policy to promote dialogue with other Social Sciences, the journal was renamed Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais (Configurations: Journal of Social Sciences).
EDITORIAL POLICY
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais is an open access academic journal, which uses a double-blind peer review system. It publishes unpublished academic works in the form of articles and book reviews, which contribute to enriching scientific knowledge regarding national and international social reality.
The aim is to balance the publication of high quality original work by senior and young researchers.
Manuscripts may be published in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English, and are always published in their original language.
Two calls for papers for thematic issues are published each year, in June and December. Authors can also submit manuscripts for publication that are not subject to the calls related to thematic issues under the Ongoing Call.
SCIENTIFIC REVIEW PROCESS AND PUBLICATION DECISION
1. All manuscripts submitted for publication in Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais must comply with the rules laid down (see Rules for submitting articles). It is the responsibility of the editorial assistants to check this beforehand and, if necessary, inform the author of any aspect that needs to be corrected.
2. The manuscript is then analysed by the Editorial Board, which is responsible for determining whether it meets the conditions to be submitted for peer review, considering in particular the following requirements:
- Conformity to the journal’s editorial line;
- Offering an original theoretical and/or empirical contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the field of social sciences;
- Compliance with the requirements of academic writing, including the safeguarding of ethical and deontological principles.
3. In the event of non-compliance with the above requirements, the Editorial Board reserves the right not to publish the work and this decision will be communicated in writing to the authors.
4. Manuscripts that meet the above requirements, duly anonymised, are submitted for independent review by experts on a double-blind peer review basis. Reviewers are responsible for providing a reasoned written opinion on their quality. This review will result in a recommendation for publication (with or without changes) or rejection.
5. Acceptance of the manuscript for publication is conditional on a positive opinion from both experts and, in the relevant cases, after due notification of the authors, on compliance with the recommendations set out within the deadline indicated by the Editorial Board, specified according to the necessary changes.
6. If the manuscript is the subject of conflicting opinions, the Editorial Board will make the final decision taking into account its content. An exception to this rule is any situation that conflicts with the principles set out in the Statement of Ethics and Best Practices, in which case a third-party expert opinion is requested.
- Where a manuscript is submitted for publication in a compilation or thematic issue, the competences described above are assigned to the respective organisers.
7. The decision will be communicated in writing to the author, accompanied by the respective reviews.
8. All manuscripts accepted for publication will be subject to linguistic revision of which the author will be informed.
9. Where there are thematic issues or compilations, it is up to the respective organisers to undertake the tasks listed in points 2 to 6, assisted by the Editorial Board.
10. No fees are charged for submitting and handling works.
- Average time between submission and publication | ≈ 9 1/2 months
- Average rate of rejection of submitted works | 29%
CODE OF ETHICS AND GOOD PRACTICES
Configurações: Revista de Ciencias Sociais is governed by the general principles of best practices and ethical values in scientific research, as defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, in line with its host institution, in accordance with the Code of Ethical Conduct of the University of Minho. The latter is defined as an “ethical guideline, framing the activities of teaching, research, interaction with society and general operation, aimed at the entire academic community”, emphasising that “all those involved in scientific research have special responsibilities towards the participants, the University, society, funding bodies and research teams” (p. 17).
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais seeks to follow best research practices and the fundamental principles of integrity, namely reliability, honesty, respect and responsibility. These principles must be followed by the permanent Boards of the journal, editorial teams for themed issues and compilations, reviewers and authors. Within their respective tasks, the existence of any conflict of interest must be expressly declared to the Journal’s Management body, and any of the following situations that violate scientific integrity are considered reprehensible – and, in certain cases, subject to sanction:
- plagiarism;
- appropriation of another’s intellectual creation, protected by intellectual property rules, without his/her legal consent;
- manufacturing results;
- falsification of results;
- intentional distortion of results to favour a particular line of work or to satisfy interests other than scientific truth;
- the presentation of the same work, in whole or in part, in subsequent publications without explicit mention of the original source and the replicated parts;
- failure to respect the standards of integrity and best practices listed above.
OPEN ACCESS POLICY
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais allows free and immediate access to its content based on the principle of free availability and the democratisation of access to scientific knowledge duly validated by peers.
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
DIGITAL FILING POLICY
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais issues are digitally preserved and fully deposited in open access in the Institutional Repository of the University of Minho (RepositoriUM), a member of the Rede de Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto em Portugal (Network of Open Access Scientific Repositories in Portugal - RCAAP), as well as in OpenEdition Journals. The journal is also digitally preserved through the service of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP).
PUBLICATION
Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences - University of Minho Hub
Institute of Social Sciences
University of Minho
Gualtar Campus
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
Telephone: +351 253 601 752
As far as the hosting service is concerned, this is with the support of:
Documentation Services
Gualtar Campus
4710 - 057 Braga
Portugal
Telephone: +351 253 604 982
FUNDING
Configurações: Revista de Ciências Sociais is financed by national funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project «UIDB/04647/2020» of CICS.NOVA – Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
