Author Guidelines

1. Preparation of the manuscript:

• Content: The essay or paper should go in depth on a social project that is related to at least one Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). It can address different topics related to the social project such as: the relationships established with the community, the problem or need of society that the project seeks to solve, the work methodologies used, the results that have been obtained, and an analysis or discussion about them.
• File format: For initial submission, manuscripts can be in any of the following formats: DOC, DOCX.
• Length: The manuscript should have a maximum of 15 pages including tables or figures, without considering references.
• Font: Times New Roman, 12-point size.
• Format of the article title (Level 1): 

• • Centered, Bold, First letter in upper case and the rest in lower case
  • The text starts in a new paragraph
• Format of subtitles (Level 2):
  • Left-aligned, Bold, First letter in upper case and the rest in lower case
  • The text starts in a new paragraph
• Format of subtitles (Level 3): 

• • Left-aligned, Bold, Italics, First letter in upper case and the rest in lower case
  • The text starts in a new paragraph
• Body of the text: The text should not have any additional formatting, except for placing foreign words in italics that do not have a Spanish version.
• Page layout: The manuscript should be aligned to the left (not justified), with single spacing (1 line spacing), A4 size sheets, 2.5 cm margins on each side.
• Page numbers: All pages must be numbered sequentially in the lower right corner.
• References format: APA Seventh Edition format should be used for in-text citations and bibliographical references.
• Language: Write the text and legends of tables and figures in a clear and unambiguous way, focused on an audience that does not know about the subject. Manuscripts in Spanish should follow the recommendations of the Real Academia de la Lengua Española (except for the use of tilde in "et al."). Manuscripts in English may use American English or British English, but in a consistent and unified manner throughout the document.
• Measurements: Use the International System of Units. Authors may use discipline-specific units that are not SI only when they have been widely adopted in that scientific field. Place a space between the number and the unit symbol, and do not place a period at the end of the unit symbol. For example: 4 km
• Dates and time: Dates should be indicated as follows for the manuscript in Spanish: day month year. Do not abbreviate the month. Example: 12 de febrero de 2015. If the manuscript is written in English, the dates should be as follows: month day year. Do not abbreviate the month. Example: January 14, 2013. The time should follow the 24-hour format. Example: 13h00
• Digits: Use the period to mark decimals (example: score of 9.15) and the comma for thousand and above (example: 2,000 people), both for English and Spanish manuscripts.
• Numeration and percentages: Use words to express numbers from zero to nine (unless they are units, e.g., 5 ml), and use numerals to express numbers 10 and up. Do not include a space between the value and the percentage symbol, e.g., 45%.
• Geographic coordinates: Express geographic coordinates in decimal degrees. Do not report coordinates in degrees-minutes-seconds or UTM.
• Nomenclature: Technical terms and terms in a language other than the original language of the manuscript should be written in italics.

2. Organization of the manuscript

The manuscript should include the following sections, each separated by a line:

• Title of the article: in bold, centered, and maximum 18 words. It should be catchy, concise, and understandable to readers outside the field of knowledge. Only the first word and proper nouns begin with capital letters. It can be divided into title and subtitle, separated by a colon (:).
• Title in alternative language: If your manuscript is in Spanish, the alternative title is the English translation and vice versa. It must be in bold and centered.
• Type of article: Define whether the article is an Essay or a Paper.
• Names of Authors: A first and last name should be included for each author. The order of the authors will be determined by their degree of contribution to the article. In the manuscript, authors should be separated from each other by hyphens (no commas, "and", or "&") and centered after the titles.
• Letterhead: Create a letterhead for each author. The letterhead should be aligned to the right and should contain the following information:
  • Author's first and last names.
  • Affiliation: The name of the organization or university to which the author belongs.
  • Area of the affiliated organization or university.
  • Postal address: Include the city, postal code, and country. Example: Quito 170901, Ecuador.
  • Author's e-mail address.
  • Author's ORCID code with https://orcid.org/.
• Abstract: written as a continuous paragraph of minimum 150 words and maximum 250. It briefly details the main objectives of the project; explains how it was carried out, but without going into methodological details; and summarizes the most important results and the problem or need of society that it seeks to solve. It should not include bibliographic citations or abbreviations and should not be separated into paragraphs.
• Keywords: maximum 5 words or groups of words in English. They must be different from what appears in the title of the manuscript.
• Resumen: the abstract translated into Spanish.
• Palabras clave: the keywords translated into Spanish.
• Development of the paper or essay:
  
  • Paper (should contain the following sections, which should be well identified with subheadings):

• • • Introduction
    • Methods
    • Results
    • Discussion and Conclusions
    • Authors"™ contributions: Write how each author contributed (only if there is more than one author).
    • Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest or declare the conflict that could exist.
    • References
  • Essay (should consist of the following sections, which should not be subtitled, except for the References section):
    • Introduction
    • Development
    • Conclusions
    • Authors"™ contributions: Write how each of the authors contributed (only if there is more than one author).
    • Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest or declare the conflict that could exist.
    • References

3. Guidelines for citations and references

For citations and references you must use the APA Seventh Edition format available at the following link: General Format - Purdue OWL® - Purdue University

Below are relevant details:

• Subtitle the list of references as "References."
• Include at least 10 bibliographical references in the article.
• Each entry in the references list should be indented one-half inch (1.27 cm) from the left margin.
• The references list should be arranged alphabetically.
• Place the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) in all references where it is available. The DOI must be in long link format: http://doi.org/xxx.xxx.xxx
• If a DOI is not available (you must do an exhaustive search), place a stable link to the journal's website (e.g., the JSTOR stable link). Do not include a link to a web page that might change in the future or whose access is not public. Back up the document in a digital file for future safekeeping. For this you can use https://archive.org/web/ or the http://archive.is system. This should be done in particular for pages that come from online encyclopedias, news periodicals, and personal or institutional pages. Do not place links to personal web pages or non-permanent file upload/download services.
• All URLs included in the references must be short (they must fit on one line). To shorten URLs, you can use the web pages https://bitly.com/ or https://cutt.ly/es.

4. Guidelines for tables

• Cite all tables within the text with Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear. Examples: "Table 1," "Tables 1-3."
• Place the tables in the corresponding position within the text and centered.
• Tables should be on an A4 sheet with 2.5 cm margins, which can be oriented vertically and horizontally as is best for the appearance and legibility of the table.
• Each table should have its own explanatory legend, which should be understandable without reference to the text.
• Each legend should go at the top of the table, centered, in Times New Roman 10-point font, and should begin with the table number.
• All tables must include column headings. Header texts must be centered and in bold. They must be made with MS Word Table tool or imported from MS Excel.
• All letters and text used in tables should be in Times New Roman 12-point font.
• Tables should not be formatted with colors.
• Include units in column and row headings in parentheses.

Example of table:

5. Guidelines for figures

• The term Figure refers to all types of images, including graphs, drawings, photographs, and maps.
• Cite figures in the text with Arabic numerals in the order they appear. Example: "Figure 1," "Figures 1-3."
• In the initial submission, figures should be in low resolution, provided they are legible, and included in the appropriate position within the text. However, once the manuscript is accepted, figures should be sent in high resolution (minimum 300 dpi, 600 dpi recommended) as separate documents from the text file.
• All figures must be in "in line with text" format. Do not include formats such as "square," "narrow," "transparent," or "behind the text." Figures should be centered under the paragraph to which they correspond.
• The figure legend should be placed below the figure. The legend should be self-explanatory and should be understandable without reference to the text. Each legend should be in Times New Roman 10-point font and centered.
• Whenever possible, the figure should be presented in an editable format with texts in Times New Roman 12-point font.
• Remember that the figures will be adjusted to the size of a column on an A4 page, so all image elements must be large enough to be readable after downsizing, especially internal texts and lines.
• Eliminate unnecessary white space or empty spaces around the figures.
• Include the respective credits of the figure in the caption. Remember that it is the author's responsibility to have the necessary permissions to reproduce the figure under the journal's Creative Commons License.

Example of figure:

6. Manuscript submission

• All manuscripts submitted to the journal Esferas must be sent through the Open Journal System (OJS). To submit, please register on the journal page, make sure that your username appears in the upper right corner, and click on the "Submit an article" button located on the right-side menu. This will display a form which must be filled out completely.
• If the manuscript has more than one author, please include the information of all authors in the system (including their e-mail addresses and ORCID code as a link).
• At the time of submitting your manuscript, you must upload the following information in an additional Word or Excel document. In this document you must indicate: the full name, institution, title, e-mail, and telephone number of at least five potential reviewers who could do the blinded academic peer review of your manuscript or a similar one. These persons must be able to provide an objective evaluation, so they cannot belong to the institution of any of the authors, nor be involved in the study directly or indirectly. The Esferas editorial team reserves the right to select the reviewers suggested at the time of manuscript submission or to seek other reviewers. We recommend using this template to enter the reviewers' information: .
• For the initial submission, the manuscript should consist of a single file including text, tables, and figures. Tables and figures should be placed within the text. Each table and figure should be accompanied by a legend. If Supplementary Material is submitted, it should be sent as separate files and uploaded at the time of initial submission.
• Esferas shall maintain direct communication with the author for correspondence, who is responsible for submitting the manuscript, receiving revisions, submitting the revised manuscript, and approving corrections and galley proofs.
• Please review these guidelines for preparing your manuscript, as all manuscripts submitted to the Esferas monographic series must comply with them. These guidelines will help you to be sure that your manuscript is complete and that the editorial process will be conducted as smoothly as possible. Be sure to review the "About the Journal" section of our website, where you will find all of our publication policies.