Instructions for authors

Sage Sphere International Journal (SSIJ) / Esfera Sabia Revista Internacional accepts Original Research Articles, Review Articles, Systematic Reviews, and Academic Essays that are consistent with the journal’s objectives and multidisciplinary scope.

The journal accepts contributions in the fields of Social and Legal Sciences; Engineering, Science and Technology; Natural Sciences; Arts and Humanities; and Health Sciences, as well as interdisciplinary research integrating different areas of knowledge.

Before submitting a manuscript, authors must review these instructions, the Code of Ethics, the Peer Review Process, the Anti-Plagiarism Policy, the Open Access Policy, Copyright provisions, and the journal’s other current editorial policies.

1. Article Types and Length

Original Research Article. This category includes manuscripts presenting original results derived from scientific research. The main text must have a minimum length of 3,000 words and a maximum of 6,500 words, counted from the Introduction through the final conclusion. The Resumen and Abstract must contain between 150 and 250 words. A maximum of five tables and figures in total will be accepted. Depending on the nature of the research, the manuscript should include Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions.

Review Article. This category includes manuscripts that provide a critical, integrative, and up-to-date analysis of the scientific literature related to a clearly defined problem or field of knowledge. The main text must contain between 3,500 and 7,500 words, with a Resumen and Abstract of 150 to 250 words. A maximum of six tables and figures in total will be accepted. The manuscript should include an Introduction, methodology or review procedure, development or critical synthesis, Discussion, and Conclusions.

Systematic Review. This category includes studies that identify, select, evaluate, and synthesize scientific evidence through a previously defined, transparent, and reproducible procedure. The main text must have a length of 4,000 to 8,000 words, with a Resumen and Abstract of 150 to 250 words. A maximum of six tables and figures in total will be accepted. The structure should include Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. Where applicable, a PRISMA flow diagram and the methodological documentation necessary to ensure the reproducibility of the review process must be included.

Academic Essay. This category includes manuscripts that develop an original position, thesis, or critical analysis of a scientific, academic, or professional issue, supported by relevant literature and rigorous argumentation. The main text must contain between 3,000 and 6,500 words, with a Resumen and Abstract of 150 to 250 words. A maximum of five tables and figures in total will be accepted. The structure should include Introduction, argumentative development, discussion or critical analysis, and Conclusions.

The word count for the main text extends from the Introduction through the final conclusion and excludes the title, Resumen, Abstract, keywords, bibliographic references, and supplementary material.

The established word limits constitute editorial criteria of the journal. Any exception must be duly justified by the scientific characteristics of the manuscript and will be subject to assessment by the editorial team.

2. Submission File and Double-Blind Peer Review

The main file intended for peer review must be completely anonymized. It must not contain authors’ names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, acknowledgments, or any other information that could directly or indirectly reveal the authors’ identities.

Authors’ names, affiliations, country, email address, ORCID, identification of the corresponding author, and all other required metadata must be correctly entered into the OJS platform during the submission process.

The manuscript must be submitted in DOCX format using the journal’s official template. Tables must remain editable, and figures must have sufficient resolution to ensure appropriate evaluation and subsequent publication.

Before submission, authors must remove comments, tracked changes, hidden text, document properties, and any other information that could compromise the anonymity required by the double-blind peer review system.

3. Author Information

The full name of each author must be provided in the final order in which it will appear in the publication.

Each author must provide their primary institutional affiliation, including, where applicable, faculty, department, institute, laboratory, or other academic unit, followed by the institution, city, and country.

An ORCID identifier and a valid email address must be provided. The author responsible for correspondence must also be explicitly identified.

All authors included in the manuscript must meet the journal’s authorship criteria and must have made a substantive contribution to the work submitted.

Any addition, removal, or modification to the order of authors after submission must be formally justified and have the consent of the individuals involved. Changes made after acceptance will be considered exceptional and will be subject to editorial assessment.

4. Title, Resumen, Abstract, and Keywords

The title must be clear, concise, and informative and must accurately represent the object, population, phenomenon, or scope of the research, as applicable.

The Resumen must clearly present the objective, methodology, main results, and conclusion of the study. In empirical research, the main data concerning the population or sample must be included when relevant to understanding the scope of the study.

The Abstract must maintain scientific and semantic equivalence with the Resumen. Results, conclusions, or methodological information must not appear in one version if they are absent from the other.

Each manuscript must include between three and five keywords, selected according to their thematic relevance and usefulness for article retrieval and indexing.

The final version of the manuscript must include the title, Resumen, Abstract, and keywords in Spanish and English.

5. Manuscript Structure

Original Research Articles must follow an organization consistent with the nature of the study. In general, they should be structured into Introduction, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions. The methodology must provide sufficient information to understand the research design, population or sample, instruments, procedures, analytical techniques, and ethical considerations applied during the study.

Review Articles must provide a critical and integrative synthesis of the scientific literature on a clearly defined problem. Authors must identify the type of review conducted and describe, with sufficient transparency, the procedure used to locate, select, and analyze the sources included.

Systematic Reviews must establish a clearly defined research question and describe the eligibility criteria, information sources, search strategy, study selection procedure, data extraction, and synthesis method. Where appropriate according to the nature of the study, an assessment of methodological quality or risk of bias must also be included.

Systematic reviews must use PRISMA 2020 or another international reporting guideline appropriate to the review design. When a protocol has been previously registered, the name of the registry and its identifier must be provided. If the protocol was not registered, this circumstance must be transparently declared.

Academic Essays must develop an original contribution supported by relevant scientific literature and present a clearly identifiable thesis, problem, or position. The manuscript must demonstrate argumentative coherence, theoretical grounding, critical analysis, and conclusions derived from the discussion presented. Manuscripts that are exclusively descriptive, opinion-based, or lack sufficient bibliographic support will not be considered academic essays.

6. Tables and Figures

Tables and figures must be numbered consecutively according to the order of their first appearance in the manuscript and must be explicitly mentioned in the text.

Table titles must appear above the tables, while figures must include their corresponding identification and caption in a clear and consistent manner.

All tables and figures must be understandable through their title, content, and corresponding notes. Unnecessary duplication of the same information in the text, a table, and a figure should be avoided.

Figures must be submitted at an appropriate resolution, with clearly legible text, symbols, scales, and values. Where applicable, units established by the International System of Units must be used.

When reproducing or adapting third-party material, authors are responsible for obtaining any necessary permissions and correctly identifying the original source.

7. Equations, Software, Data, and Research Materials

Equations must be presented in editable format and numbered consecutively when referenced in the text.

Software, algorithms, databases, code, instruments, questionnaires, protocols, and other materials relevant to understanding or reproducing the research must be described with sufficient precision.

When publicly available, authors are encouraged to provide versions, persistent identifiers, and links to the corresponding repositories.

8. Ethical Considerations

Research involving human participants must report, as applicable, ethical approval or exemption, informed consent procedures, and the measures adopted to ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and protection of participants.

When ethical approval has been obtained, the responsible institution or ethics committee must be identified, together with the approval number, code, or protocol when available.

When a study did not require formal ethical review, this circumstance must be stated and the corresponding justification provided where appropriate.

Informed consent, assent from minors, authorization to publish identifiable information, animal welfare requirements, institutional permissions, and other authorizations must be declared when applicable to the design and nature of the research.

9. Final Declarations

Manuscripts must include the appropriate declarations concerning authorship contributions, funding, conflicts of interest, ethical approval, informed consent, availability of data and materials, use of generative artificial intelligence, and acknowledgments, where applicable.

The individual contribution of each author must be described transparently. The CRediT taxonomy is recommended for this purpose.

Funding sources must be clearly identified. When the research has not received specific funding, this circumstance must be explicitly declared.

All authors must declare the existence or absence of financial, professional, institutional, or personal conflicts of interest that could influence the interpretation of the work.

The data availability statement must indicate where the data, code, instruments, or materials supporting the research can be accessed. When ethical, legal, institutional, or confidentiality restrictions exist, the conditions under which these materials may be made available must be explained.

Any substantive use of generative artificial intelligence tools during manuscript preparation must be declared in accordance with the journal’s editorial policy. Artificial intelligence tools may not be recognized as authors or co-authors.

10. Bibliographic References

Sage Sphere International Journal uses APA, 7th edition, for the presentation of in-text citations and bibliographic references.

Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and authenticity of each reference directly against the original source. Authors’ names, year of publication, title, journal or publisher, volume, issue, pages or article number, and DOI or URL, as applicable, must be verified.

When a publication has a DOI, it must be included in the corresponding reference.

All references included in the reference list must be cited within the manuscript, and all sources cited in the text must appear in the final reference list.

References must be directly related to the scientific statements they support. Practices aimed at artificially increasing bibliometric indicators through scientifically irrelevant references will not be permitted.

Authors are encouraged to prioritize current and relevant scientific literature, without excluding classic works when they are fundamental to the theoretical or methodological development of the research.

11. Originality and Prior Publication

Manuscripts submitted to Sage Sphere International Journal must be original and may not be simultaneously under evaluation by another journal.

The prior existence of a preprint will not automatically prevent the manuscript from being considered for evaluation. However, it must be declared during the submission process, and the corresponding DOI or URL must be provided.

The existence of theses, works deposited in repositories, conference abstracts, or other forms of prior dissemination must be declared when relevant.

Any previously published content must be properly cited and may not be presented as original or unpublished material.

12. Language and Editorial Preparation

Authors must submit manuscripts written in clear, precise, coherent scientific language appropriate to the corresponding field of knowledge.

Articles may be submitted in Spanish or English. Regardless of the primary language of the manuscript, the final version must include the title, Resumen, Abstract, and keywords in both Spanish and English.

Once the manuscript has been accepted, the journal may carry out language editing, bibliographic and metadata standardization, layout and typesetting, editorial production, and adaptation to scientific interoperability formats.

Editorial modifications do not transfer scientific responsibility for the article’s content to the journal. Authors remain responsible for the accuracy of the data, results, references, declarations, and all other information contained in the manuscript.