INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC REVIEWERS COMMITTEE:

Chakiñan, Social Sciences and Humanities Journal emerges as a space for debate among researchers and scientists, refereed, open access, with international scope and dependent on the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Humanities and Technologies of the National University of Chimborazo (Riobamba, Ecuador). Its subject matter covers original research related to Social Sciences and Humanities, giving continuity to the lines of research approved by UNACH for the mentioned UNESCO fields:

• Social and Behavioral Sciences (political science, sociology, anthropology, ethnography, demography, geography, psychology, peace studies, human rights), and
• Humanities (education, arts, fine arts, graphic and audiovisual arts, design, crafts, living and dead languages, regional studies, literature, linguistics, history, archeology, philosophy).

The main objective is to serve the national and international community with the non-profit dissemination of innovative research results of the highest quality, for which external reviewers are used for arbitration, in the form of double-blind peer review of the manuscripts received, where the reviewers do not know the identity of the authors and the authors do not know the identity of the reviewers, so that the Editor-in-Chief mediates the interactions between reviewers and authors.

Peer reviewers, also called evaluators or referees, are grouped in the INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC REVIEWERS COMMITTEE of the journal and are responsible for evaluating the quality and relevance of the manuscripts submitted. It is the body of prestigious researchers in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, with predominantly foreign institutional affiliation, whose scientific results qualify them as experts in the thematic areas of the journal. They are professionals selected on the basis of their prestige and scientific results achieved in the area of knowledge addressed by the manuscript they are assigned to evaluate and perform their work voluntarily and free of charge, with high commitment and professionalism.

The following is a list of peer reviewers who participate in the evaluation of manuscripts submitted to the journal: 

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IDENTIFICATION, SELECTION, EVALUATION AND UPDATING OF THE BANK OF PEER EVALUATORS.

IDENTIFICATION AND SELECTION OF PEER REVIEWERS

The main sources considered for the identification of potential members to integrate the International scientific reviewer committee of the journal Chakiñan, in correspondence with the declared thematic areas, are:

1. Authors with relevant scientific results.
2. Researchers with scientific relevant scientific results
3. Presenters and authors of papers presented at international scientific events.
4. Members of Editorial Boards and Scientific Committees of related journals.
5. Research professionals belonging to prestigious Universities and Scientific Research Centers.
6. Authors and researchers recommended by members of the Editorial Board and International scientific reviewer committee of the journal.
7. Personal requests.

Once the potential members of the International scientific reviewer committee have been identified, it is the responsibility of the Editorial Team to recruit and select the members according to the following criteria:

General criteria:

1. Geographic diversity among members.
2. Representation of small groups by country.
3. Possibility of forming groups by thematic areas covered by the journal.
4. Association of candidates to organizations, or entities of interest to the journal.
5. Predominance of members who do not work at the university (Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo), or in the country where the journal is published (Ecuador).
6. Preferably bilingual professionals (Spanish - English, Spanish - Portuguese and Spanish - French).

After identifying potential peer reviewers, in accordance with the general criteria, the Editor-in-Chief sends a personal invitation to join the International scientific reviewer committee, requesting the candidate's agreement. If the invitation is of interest, information is also requested that demonstrates compliance with the following specific selection criteria

Specific criteria:

1. To possess a fourth level degree, preferably a PhD.
2. To demonstrate academic training and professional experience in the thematic areas covered by the Chakiñan journal (at least 5 years).
3. Demonstrated experience of participation and results in research projects and scientific publications in one or more of the thematic areas of the journal.
4. ORCID code.
5. To send the formal application, updated curriculum vitae, and data related to their area of expertise.

Once the information is received, the members of the Editorial Team proceed to analyze it and select the peer reviewers to integrate the International scientific reviewer committee, which is formalized through the issuance of the respective certificate.

EVALUATION OF THE PEER REVIEWERS' WORK

The work of the referees - peers - evaluators, has a major impact on the quality of the published articles, not only because of the result of the qualification, but also because with their signals they enhance the learning of the authors and the realization of corrections, to ensure compliance with high quality standards of the articles.

As a consequence, the performance of the peers is constantly evaluated by authors, databases and even by readers and members of the scientific community who use, in one way or another, the published information.

In this regard and in correspondence with the transparency assumed in the editorial team of Chakiñan, it is considered pertinent to apply the systematic evaluation of the management of the members of the International scientific reviewer committee, taking into account the following aspects that are part of the Editorial Policy of the journal:

1. Peers assume the commitment to carry out an objective review, with scientific, critical, honest and unbiased criteria, in order to provide the editors with truthful information about the quality of the article they are evaluating and to provide the authors with constructive comments that will favor the appropriate corrections.

2. They must submit the corresponding review form clearly indicating the reasons for accepting or rejecting an article and warn, in case they detect or suspect cases of duplicity, conflict of interest, ethical problems or fabricated data.

3. Once the review has been accepted, they undertake to carry out the review within the maximum deadlines established by the journal's editorial team.

4. Papers assigned for review must be treated with complete confidentiality and may not be discussed with others prior to the publication process.

5. All information related to the review process may not be used for personal purposes or shared with others not involved in the editorial process.

6. Referees are obliged to inform the Editor if they suspect that the manuscript they are evaluating does not disclose conflicts of interest that should have been declared.

7. In addition, a peer reviewer should not accept a review assignment if he/she has a potential competing interest, including the following:

• Previous or current collaborations with the author(s) of the manuscript.
• The arbitrator is a direct competitor.
• To have a known background of antipathy for the author(s) of the manuscript.
• To have a personal affinity relationship with an author who does not allow the reviewer to evaluate the manuscript objectively.
• To take financial advantage of the research work.

8. They should only accept the evaluation of the manuscript if they do not have any conflict of interest with it. In case of conflicts, the reviewer should inform the editors or journal staff that he/she should recuse him/herself if he/she considers that he/she cannot provide an impartial review. When submitting your review, you should indicate whether or not you have a conflict of interest.

9. Peers, as members of the International scientific reviewer committee, must present formal excuses in the event of desisting from participating in any of the phases foreseen in the procedures for which they have been selected.

10. The members of the International scientific reviewer committee undertake to provide the information requested for the updating of the Chakiñan journal's database and to issue their considerations, assessments and criteria on the consultations that are formulated in order to improve the editorial management and the evaluation processes to which the publication is subjected.

As a result of the above and taking into account that non-compliance with the aforementioned aspects affects the scientific rigor and/or the quality of the editorial process, as well as the image and credibility of the journal, the Editorial Team systematically and permanently evaluates the activity of the members of the International scientific reviewer committeee.

In this regard, the pertinent agreements are taken for the issuance of acknowledgements and certifications and also proceed to the exclusion in case of detecting repeated faults, which is timely and formally informed to the interested parties. The updating, in terms of integration of new members, has an annual periodicity.