Editorial Guidelines

Author guidelines

Sections

Ciudades is composed of three different sections:

Monographic section: it includes articles framed in the theme of the corresponding issue, based on the call for papers prepared and coordinated for this purpose by a member of the journal’s Editorial Board or Scientific Advisory Board, or by any other invited expert. The title and text of the call for papers that is open at any time can be consulted in the Call for Papers section of the journal’s website.
Miscellaneous section: it includes articles that are not related to the subject of the issue, but to the major thematic areas that the journal generally addresses.
Final section: it includes reviews of publications and other notes on urban planning (reviews of congresses, conferences, projects, activities, etc.).

As a preamble, the journal also includes the Editorial, which is a brief presentation of the theme of the Monographic section. If appropriate, it may also include an In Memoriam section, consisting of short texts in memory of personalities linked to the journal, the editor or, in general, to urban planning, who have passed away since the publication of the previous issue.

Submission of articles

In the Monographic and Miscellaneous sections, contributions written in Spanish, English, French, Italian or Portuguese may be accepted. In the Final Section, contributions written in Spanish or in a bilingual version (in one of the languages mentioned above, and in Spanish) may be accepted.

Authors interested in publishing their contributions in Ciudades should send them before September 30th of the year before their eventual publication. All submitted works must be original, not having been sent simultaneously to other publications or having been previously published in full or in part in other media.

Contributions must be sent through the platform of Revistas UVa, which requires previous registration through this link. Once the registration is done, the submission can be done through this other link, to login and after that select “New submission”.

The submission process comprises four steps. First step (1. Start) includes the acceptance of the copyright policy and the submission requirements, as well as the selection of the submission language and the section where the paper may be published. Second step (2. Submission Upload) consists of uploading the submission files: text (DOC/DOCX format) and figures (JPG, PNG, BMP or TIFF format). Third step (3. Enter Metadata) requires providing the metadata of the submission: title, abstract and key words, as well as the data of the author o authors. Finally, in fourth step (4. Confirmation) the submission is completed.

Should you have any doubts or difficulties with the submission process, it is advisable to consult the Author Guide (Spanish) that is available at the end of this webpage, in the section of downloads, as well as on the platform of Revistas UVa, while you can also send an enquiry to the journal’s Editorial Office.

Content, structure and style of articles

The articles, which are published in the Monographic or Miscellaneous sections, will have a maximum of 40,000 characters including spaces, footnotes, figures/tables (to be inserted in their corresponding place) and bibliography.

The reviews/notes, which are published in the Final section, should not have more than 10,000 characters including spaces, although exceptionally larger extensions may be admitted (for example, reviews of two or three publications dealing with the same subject).

Regarding layout, styles and format, articles and reviews/notes must be written in accordance with the Template for articles and the Template for reviews/notes, which can be found at the end of this webpage, in the section of downloads, as well as on the platform of Revistas UVa, respecting margins, spacing, fonts and typefaces, etc.

Articles must include a title (and, if appropriate, a subtitle, differentiating both), an abstract not exceeding 100 words (indicating objectives, methods or perspectives and conclusions of the article) and up to five keywords. The title, the abstract and the keywords will be presented in Spanish and English (and additionally in the language of the article, if it is neither of these), avoiding the use of acronyms, abbreviations and symbols. If applicable, the first page will also include the corresponding acknowledgements, identifying the people or institutions that have supported the work, provided some technical assistance or economic or material support.

The body of the article should be structured into sections and, where appropriate, sub-sections, which should never immediately follow the section heading. They should be numbered consecutively in Arabic characters (1, 1.1., 2, 2.1, 2.2.). It is recommended, as far as possible, to follow the IMRAD structure (Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion), and it is essential in all cases to include a section on conclusions. The use of capital letters or the emphatic use of quotation marks, bold or underlining should be avoided as far as possible, while italics should be used only for foreign words. Clarifications should be enclosed in parentheses or long dashes and, if they are of a certain length or are collateral to the speech, in footnotes, which should be numbered consecutively with superscript Arabic characters. Acronyms and abbreviations, except those of absolutely recognized use, should be avoided if possible, specifying their meaning in any case (by means of parentheses, after their first appearance in the text).

Tables and figures (illustrations, graphs, etc.) must be inserted in their corresponding place within the text, accompanied by a caption starting with the designation ‘Table’ or ‘Figure’, as appropriate, with sequential numbering in Arabic characters. The caption must contain all information necessary to understand the table or figure and the source (or that of the data used to compose it). Tables shall be drawn up in the same fonts and style as the text, adjusting the font size to ensure correct reading. Figures must be of enough quality, with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. References to tables and figures within the text should be enclosed in parentheses.

Reviews/notes will first include the full details of the publication, event or project that is reviewed. They will be composed preferably in the form of a plain text (without sections), avoiding as far as possible the use of footnotes, citations and bibliography.

Citations and bibliography

Ciudades will ensure the correct use of the citation systems and will not allow the attribution of conclusions or arguments drawn from other people’s works without the corresponding mention of authorship. Therefore, any data or ideas taken from the works of other authors must be conveniently cited. Citations will be transcribed in the text of the article itself, in quotes and without italics. If the texts that are quoted are long (more than 35 words), they should be transcribed in a separate paragraph, with indentation and in a smaller font size, as shown in the template.

Authors must scrupulously respect the texts of other authors, even if they contain errors or misprints. Brackets may be used to interpolate comments, to highlight words or expressions considered irregular (using the word sic) or to indicate the omission of a part of the text (using suspension points, dispensing with the brackets if they are at the beginning or end of the quotation). When texts are quoted in a language other than that of the article being cited, the text must be transcribed in its original language. If deemed necessary, the translation can be added in a footnote.

The method of citation will be the so-called “author-year system” or “Harvard style”. The first surname of the author or authors of the work cited shall be indicated in parentheses, followed by the year of publication and, where appropriate, the page or pages cited. If applicable, a letter (a, b, c…) should be added after the year, to distinguish two documents by the same author and year. If the work cited corresponds to two authors, their surnames will be separated by &; if there are three authors, the first and second will be separated by a comma and the second and third by &, and if there are four or more authors, only the surname of the first will be indicated, followed by the expression et al. The author and the year will be separated by a comma, and the year and the page or pages cited (separated by a short dash), by a colon.

All references cited must be included in a final bibliography, separated from each other by a blank line and arranged in alphabetical order of surnames, in accordance with the following format:

Books and Monographs: Last name, First name (Year), Title, Place of publication, Publisher.
Multiple authors or chapters: Last name, First name (Year), “Chapter title”, in Last name, First name –ed.(s.), coord.(s.), dir.(s.)– Title, Place of publication, Publisher, pp. first-last.
Journal articles: Last name, First name (Year), “Article title”, Journal Title, vol., nº, pp. first-last.
Conference proceedings: Last name, First name (Year), “Title of the contribution”, in Conference Title, Place, date, pp. first-last.
Doctoral thesis: Last name, First name (Year of dissertation), Thesis Title. Doctoral Thesis, University where the dissertation took place.
Citations from the Internet: Last name, First name (Year), “Title of the document”. Retrieved from: http://… (date of reference: dd-mm-yyyy)

It is necessary to indicate the DOI in all the works cited that have it. To check which of the works cited in the final bibliography have a DOI, the Simple Text Query tool can be used. If no DOI is available, any other identifier, such as Handle, should be included. If the cited work has no identifier, but it is available on a webpage, the URL will be included at the end of the reference, indicating the date of consultation in parentheses.

Examples of all types of references mentioned can be found in the Template for articles.

Relevant information on revision process

Editorial process for articles

Ciudades follows working protocols that seek the greatest transparency and quality to the process of reception, evaluation and publication of articles, which consists of the following stages:

Initial review: It is carried out by the journal’s Editorial Office once the article has been sent and the deadline for submission of articles for the corresponding issue has expired.

Firstly, the authorship of the article is checked, applying the plagiarism detection tool provided by the Servicio de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones de la Universidad de Valladolid (STIC), which is currently Turnitin. In case of detection of plagiarism, the article will be discarded and its author will lose, at least, the possibility of publishing it in the corresponding issue of the journal, which will reserve the right to bring such malpractice to the attention of the relevant authorities and, where appropriate, the research funding institutions.

Secondly, the article is checked for compliance with the guidelines of presentation of manuscripts and for the absence of relevant technical-formal defects. If the non-compliances or defects are abundant or substantial, the authors will be required to rectify them within a maximum period of fifteen days.

The Director of the journal will notify the authors of the result of the initial review within approximately fifteen days after the closing date for submission of articles.
Preliminary acceptance: It is decided by the Editorial Board, which assesses whether the article fits within the thematic scope of the journal and meets the requirements of originality, interest, methodological rigour and relevance.

Authors will be notified of preliminary acceptance or rejection of the article within approximately one month after the notification of the initial review.
Peer review: The articles received for the Monographic and Miscellaneous sections that have been preliminarily accepted by the Editorial Board will be submitted to the opinion of two external evaluators to the journal’s Editorial Board, specialists in the field.

The scientific review of the contributions will be totally anonymous, both in terms of the identity of the authors and the identity of the evaluators in charge of the opinion, according to the “double blind” modality.

The selection of the evaluators is a responsibility of the Director of the journal, who may require, if necessary, the advice of the coordinator of the Monographic section and the members of the Editorial Board. The judgements of the two evaluators will be absolutely taken into account, and if they are not in agreement or raise doubts, a third evaluation will be requested.

The Director of the journal will ask the evaluators to send their reports as soon as possible, and once they have been received, both will be immediately sent to the authors.
Revision by the author: According to the reports of the evaluators, the Director of the journal may require the authors to introduce modifications in their article, for which they will have an approximate period of one month. Likewise, the correction of any formal defect that has not been previously corrected will be required. If one or two of the evaluators so request, the article will be sent back to them for evaluation.

If appropriate, the authors will send the revised article to the Director of the journal. They must clearly indicate the changes that have been made, along with an explanatory text of these changes, justifying compliance with the indications of the external evaluators.
Final acceptance: Once the authors send their revised articles, the journal’s Editorial Board will decide on their final acceptance or rejection, at the proposal of the Director of the journal and taking into account the reports of the external evaluators.

The final acceptance of the article, or its rejection, will be notified to the authors by the Director of the journal. Each article will include on its first page the date of receipt (entry into the Editorial Office) and of final acceptance (date on which the Director proposed such acceptance, then approved by the Editorial Board).
Publication: After the notification of final acceptance, the Director of the journal will send the authors, within a maximum of one month, a proof of their article, already formatted in PDF, for their final review. Only spelling or grammatical corrections will be accepted, excluding substantial alterations to the content of the text. Authors must communicate any changes within a maximum period of one week.

The article will be published in digital format within a maximum period of nine months from the closing date for submission of articles for the corresponding issue. Each author will also receive a paper copy of the issue in which their article has been published.

Editorial process for reviews/notes

After an initial review equivalent to that for articles and also carried out by the journal’s Editorial Office, the reviews/notes received for their publication in the Final section will be reviewed directly by the Director of the journal, who may request the assistance of other members of the Editorial Board or external experts if necessary.

The Director may request the authors to make any changes that he considers appropriate, both in terms of form and content. After the incorporation, where appropriate, of these changes, the Editorial Board of the journal will decide on their final acceptance or rejection, at the proposal of the Director of the journal. The definitive acceptance of the review/note, or its rejection, will be notified to the authors by the Director of the journal. After notification of final acceptance, the publication stage is equivalent to that of the articles.

The Director may commission reviews of publications or events that he considers of interest to the journal’s readers and will also attend to suggestions received in this regard by the Editorial Office, which may also include a suggestion regarding the possible author. In any case, the Director may accept or reject totally or partially the suggestions received.

Instructions for evaluators

Committed to editorial transparency, Ciudades informs the authors of the instructions that are sent to the evaluators regarding the evaluation criteria of originality, interest, methodological rigor and relevance of the articles, as well as the way in which the review is carried out.

The Director of the journal will send the article to the selected potential evaluator, from which any identification of the author will be previously withdrawn, as well as an evaluation template. He or she will be asked about his or her availability and ability to carry out the task, warned about maintaining confidentiality regarding the article and the review, notified of the absence of financial compensation, expressly informed of the time limit available to him or her, and provided with the criteria-guidelines for evaluation. It shall also be given the opportunity to abstain if he or she is unable to carry out the evaluation and, in particular, if he or she perceives any conflict of interest.

The evaluation report will include a general assessment of the article based on four criteria (1st-characterisation of the article, 2nd- contributions, relevance and originality, 3rd- overall assessment of the quality of the work and 4th- final recommendation), a table of review of the technical and scientific aspects (in two parts, 1st- structure and style, and 2nd- rationale, methodology, results and discussion), as well as a section for comments for the author (with possible proposals for improvement, mainly in terms of scientific content), and a final section for confidential comments for the Director of the journal (especially the indication of excellence or priority in publication).

The evaluation should take into account the following general aspects: regarding the technical-formal aspects, the style and above all the clarity and solidity of the structure of the article; regarding the contents, its suitability for the journal, the interest for its readers, its rationale, originality, scientific relevance and methodological quality and, where appropriate, its contribution to the theme of the Monographic section.

As detailed criteria for the review of the articles, when appropriate, the following are to be considered: adequacy of the title; adequacy of the abstract; adequacy of the key words; clarity and legibility, structure, bibliographic references; up-to-date review of the state of the art and theoretical background and contributions; originality, quality and adequacy of other technical-scientific aspects of the work (depending on the nature of the work: research, report, essay or experience); design of the work (depending on its nature; if applicable, population and sample); perspectives, methods and techniques of information collection and analysis; results (presentation, discussion and analysis); prospective (whether or not explained by the authors); illustrations, graphs and tables (suitability, sufficiency, clarity); limitations (whether or not expressed by the authors) and conclusions (adjustment to the problem and objectives, relevance, sufficiency).

The journal will update every four years on its website the list of the reviewers who have contributed to the review of its contents during that period, without establishing any link between the reviewers and the articles or the issue of the journal. Likewise, the statistics of articles received, rejected and published, and of the geographical origin of the latter, including the last ten issues published, will be updated annually.

Ethical and malpractice statement

Ciudades currently operates following the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, drafted by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), OASPA (Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association) and WAME (World Association of Medical Editors), in its January 2018 version. The journal also follows the Ediciones Universidad de Valladolid Good Practice Guidelines, approved in April 2021.

The full document of the Ethical and malpractice statement of Ciudades can be found at the end of this webpage, in the section of downloads.