# UNED Research Journal

UNED Research Journal is the scientific research journal of the Distance State University of Costa Rica (UNED). It is a continuous online publication (ISSN 1659-441X), where articles are published as soon as they are edited, covering the period from January 1 to December 31 of each year.
Its objective is to publish internationally recognized academic research in all scientific fields. The journal is aimed at an academic audience. Currently, it publishes academic research conducted in Latin America, Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe.
This journal provides immediate, free, and open access to its content, under the principle that making research freely available to the public encourages a greater global exchange of knowledge. The journal charges no fees to authors or readers, and all its content is available under a CC BY 4.0 license.
It is indexed in Scielo, Latindex, and Redalyc. According to Latindex standards, the journal meets 37 out of 38 criteria for a high-level journal. The journal and its published articles can be found in the virtual libraries of OCLC and WorldCat, as well as Google Scholar and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Several catalogs worldwide include UNED Journal Research in their databases, such as the National Library of Australia, University of Brighton, Journal TOCs, and the National Scientific and Technical Research Council.

## History

The journal was created in 2008 through an initiative led by the then Vice-Rector for Research at UNED, Katya Calderón Herrera. At that time, Julián Monge-Nájera was appointed as the journal's editor, a position he has held to this day.
The first volume was published in January 2009, and since then, two issues have been published per year. The journal was published in print from its inception until January 2018. It is now exclusively available in digital format.
UNED Journal Research was the first UNED journal to reach international audiences.

## Areas of Study

UNED Journal Research publishes articles related to all fields of science. Most publications come from the fields of education and natural sciences, which correspond to UNED's two largest schools. However, research in other scientific fields is also accepted, as long as it is of general interest to the academic audience. The publication formats can include articles, brief reports, literature reviews, notes, case studies, opinion letters, or hypothesis presentations.
According to the Qualis journal classification system (CAPES), UNED Journal Research is categorized in the fields of Biodiversity (B5) and Biological Sciences (C).

## Article Publication

Authors who publish in UNED Journal Research do so under the following terms: authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License, which allows others to share the work with acknowledgment of authorship and its initial publication in this journal.

### Types of Fully Free Articles

Article: This is the main type of publication, with a maximum length of 6,000 words. Articles must include concrete hypotheses, clear methods, solid results, and a thorough analysis of how they relate to prior scientific knowledge. Read an example.
Brief Communications: Up to 1,500 words, based on short studies or preliminary data. Read an example.
Cases: Maximum of 4,000 words. These are studies based on data regarding particular issues, with practical recommendations for solving them. Read an example.
Hypotheses: Maximum of 2,000 words. These propose new explanations for scientific phenomena based on a critical review of published data or models. Read an example.
Forum: Up to 1,000 words, based on well-argued analyses of errors in the literature. These are open to responses from the criticized authors or other researchers. Read an example.
Reviews: Up to 12,000 words, based on critical literature reviews and presenting practical recommendations for future research. Typically, these reviews are written by authorities in the field. Read an example.

### Additional Material

Additional material is published online as needed, also free of charge. This includes data sheets, images, audio, videos, GIS map data, PowerPoint presentations, and text that exceeds the word count for each article type. Scientific audio and video files in common formats like MP3, WAV, MP4, HTML5, AVI, WMV, and MOV are also accepted. These must be your own property and will be published under our CC BY 4.0 License. We recommend H.264 encoding and splitting files over 150 MB into smaller segments.

### Paid Publications

Notes: Up to 1,000 words, based on small or opportunistic observations. Read an example.
New Records and Range Extensions: These can be published for a fee of US$75 (maximum 2,000 words). Read an example.
Monographs and Supplements: No word limit. For this type of publication, prior contact with Cuadernos de Investigación UNED is required to obtain a quote. Read an example.

## Policies

The journal publishes only original and innovative works that contribute new information to the field of study. Manuscripts are sent to three anonymous external reviewers. Based on their reviews and with the support of the Editorial Committee and the International Scientific Council, the journal's editor makes the final decision to accept or reject the submission.
The journal uses the Open Journal Systems (OJS 2.4.8.0), which is an open-access journal management and publishing software. This system is developed and distributed freely by the Public Knowledge Project under a General Public License. Copyright is shared under open-access principles. The journal's content can be reproduced as long as the source and credits are properly acknowledged. Cuadernos de Investigación UNED promotes knowledge exchange by providing immediate and free access to research for a global audience.

## Ethical Requirements

Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal legally declare that their research adheres to ethical principles, including the Helsinki Ethical Guidelines and legal standards. All co-authors must declare that: 1) they participated in the research and have agreed to its publication, 2) the methodology and data analyses are scientifically valid, and 3) the results have not been previously published or submitted to another journal for publication

## The Editorial Committee and International Scientific Council
### The Editorial Committee is composed of the following members:

* Adolfo Quesada Román. Escuela de Geografía, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
* Eric Wong González. Escuela de Tecnología de Alimentos, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
* Frank González Brenes. Laboratorio de Ecología Urbana, Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica.
* Harold Arias LeClaire. Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular y Evolutiva, Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica.
* Nancy Gamboa Badilla. Escuela de Ingeniería Forestal, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa Rica.
* Rodolfo WingChing Jones. Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
* Zaidett Barrientos Llosa. Sistema de Estudios de Posgrado, Universidad Estatal a Distancia, San José, Costa Rica.

### The International Scientific Council is composed of:

* Andrés O. Angulo. Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile.
* Amparo Marroquin Comper. Departamento de Comunicación y Cultura, Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas, San Salvador, El Salvador.
* Aristides R. Baraya. Hispanic Business and Leadership Institute, Southeastern Louisiana Univesity, Louisiana, EE.UU.
* Cleci Werner da Rosa. Universidade de Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil.
* Fernando Allende. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España.
* Francisco Rojas Aravena. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ciudad de México, México.
* Hector M. Guzmán. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panamá, Panamá.
* Jorge Llorente-Bousquets. Museo de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México.
* Mónica Casalet Ravenna. Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Ciudad de México, México.
* Nieves López Estébanez. Departmento de Geografía, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España.
* Omar Defeo. Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
* Theodore Quarcoopome. CSIR-Water Research Institute, Accra, Ghana.