About the Journal

APPROACH AND SCOPE

The Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation is an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal, published quarterly. It has been published in electronic version since 2020, and since 2022 under the modality of continuous production, by the Union of Informaticians of Cuba, a social, self-financed, and non-profit organization. The magazine publishes articles in Spanish and English. It is registered in the National Registry of Serial Publications (RNPS N. 2487, Folio 230 and Volume III) with the ISSN (electronic): 2708-3411.

Mission

The mission of the Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation is to publish research results, innovative solutions, good practices, and case studies that reflect digital transformation in Cuba and internationally.

Vision

To become a reference magazine, recognized and with international visibility in the field of Computer Science, Automation, and Telematics, with a marked emphasis on digital transformation.

Target audience

The universe of readers and contributors to the magazine is made up of professionals in information technology, automation, telematics, and other related disciplines; as well as, the civil servants of the public administration, the entrepreneurs of the state and non-state sector, the academics who are involved in the digital agendas of the country, the Latin American region and the rest of the countries of the world. Especially included as a target audience are the new generations who natively have a greater avidity for digital transformation.

Thematic coverage

The term “digital transformation” has been gaining momentum in the last decade associated with the unprecedented changes that are occurring motivated by new “disruptive” technologies. It is universally well-accepted to understand digital transformation as the changes that digital technology causes or influences all aspects of human life. In the focus of our magazine, the meaning of digital transformation privileges some of its perspectives that are related to the main thematic lines it addresses:

  • Enabling technologies for digital transformation.
  • Digital government.
  • Business and industrial digitization.
  • Digital economy.
  • Digital innovation.

SECTIONS AND TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS

The sections of the Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation are as follows:

  • Original articles: In this section, works that are published show, in detail, the results of concluded investigations or new speculations on the thematic lines of the magazine. The original articles are structured according to the IMRyD format (introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, and references) and are subject to peer review.
  • Brief communications: In this section, descriptive or retrospective studies are published that report preliminary or partial research results, which require rapid dissemination. They are contributions of less scope and extension than the original articles; but their structures are also made up of an introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusions, and references. Short communications are peer-reviewed.
  • Case studies: In this section, papers are published that describe and analyze the behavior, the results, and the technical and methodological experiences observed in one or more cases of interest. The case studies are composed of an introduction, methodology, development (with subtitles for each topic), conclusions, and references. They are peer-reviewed.
  • Review articles: In this section, articles are published that examine the state of the art or make a study of the situation of a particular topic, to analyze progress and development trends, as well as insufficiently studied aspects. Its structure includes an introduction, methodology, development (with subtitles for each topic), conclusions, and references. Review articles can be commissioned by the journal's Editorial Board and are peer-reviewed.
  • Reflection articles: In this section, documents are published that present research results from an analytical, interpretative, or critical perspective of the author, on a specific topic, using sources. They are peer-reviewed.
  • Editorial: Contribution written by the Director of the magazine or an invited expert to introduce the topics that are treated in the articles published in a special issue of the magazine. The editorial is also used to make known the position or opinion of the journal with a certain aspect (political, theoretical, conceptual, etc.). It is not peer-reviewed.

EVALUATION BY PAIRS

Contributions sent to the sections of original articles, short articles, and review articles are subjected to a peer-review process, using the double-blind system, where neither authors nor reviewers identify each other, which helps to avoid the existing conflicts of interest in the evaluation process and the impartiality of the opinion. The publication of contributions in other sections will be made at the discretion of the Editorial Board.

EVALUATION PROCESS

The evaluation process consists of the following phases:

  • Editorial evaluation.
  • Academic evaluation.
  • Final evaluation.

As a result of the evaluation process, the following decisions can be made:

  • Accept the manuscript for publication without modifications.
  • Accept the manuscript for publication with modifications (basic, moderate, or complex).
  • Reject the manuscript.

The estimated time for the contribution evaluation process and its subsequent publication ranges from six to eight months.

Editorial Evaluation

It is the first stage of the review process. It is carried out by the Executive Editor to verify that the manuscript complies with the norms for the presentation of articles defined in the instructions for authors and its relationship with the thematic lines of the journal. The maximum duration of this evaluation phase is 15 days. The evaluation criteria considered are:

  1. Relation of the content of the contribution with the thematic lines of the magazine.
  2. The submission includes all required submission data as metadata:
    • Title in Spanish and English.
    • Authors' data: names and surnames, institution, country, email, curriculum synthesis, and ORCID registry.
    • Summary in Spanish and English.
    • Keywords in Spanish and English.
  3. The format, structure, and length of the manuscript correspond to the standards defined in the Instructions for authors.
  4. Correct use of citations and bibliographic references, following the APA 6th standard. edition.
  5. General aspects of the novelty of the work.
  6. The submission includes as a complementary file the cover letter duly completed and signed by all the authors of the work, which includes the declarations of originality, authorship, and conflict of interest.

At the end of the editorial evaluation, three possible decisions can be made:

  • Decision 1:Reject the shipment in case of not complying with points 1, 2, and 6;
  • Decision 2:Make editorial changes in form and presentation and/or adapt the manuscript or cover letter so that they meet all the requirements defined in the instructions for authors. The author will have 7 days to make these modifications. Failure to do so within this period will result in the shipment being rejected.
  • Decision 3:Accept the submission without modifications and submit it to the academic evaluation phase.

Each of the decisions will be managed and reported by the executive editor of the journal to the authors.

Academic assessment

The academic evaluation of original articles, short communications, review articles, and case studies is carried out using the double-blind peer review method and in strict anonymity. For this process, two reviewers are used and in case there is a contradiction in their decision, the manuscript will be evaluated by a third referee.

  1. a) Selection of reviewers

The Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation has a database of national and international referees, classified by academic category, and distributed by disciplinary areas and institutions. In this way, the Editorial Board of the journal guarantees that the referees are external to the publishing entity and to the entity of the authors who send their contributions. The arbitrators are instructed to comply with the Code of Ethics for peer review of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE),https://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_Guidelines_For_Peer_Reviewers_2.pdf.

  1. b) Time of academic review

A contribution can be evaluated up to 3 times maximum, according to the complexity of the changes and the suggestions of the referees. In the first academic review, the referees will make and issue the first opinion in a maximum period of 4 weeks. If necessary, they will conduct two more rounds of evaluation. The delivery time available for the second and third academic reports is a maximum of 2 weeks for each case. The total time of the academic review will not exceed 4 months.

  1. c) Criteria to take into account in the academic review

The criteria to be evaluated in this phase and that affect the acceptance or rejection of the work are the following:

  • Actuality and novelty.
  • Methodological quality, reliability, and scientific validity of the work.
  • Relevance and scientific or practical contribution of the results.
  • Organization and coherence.

In all cases, the academic evaluation also includes the verification of ethical aspects to avoid behaviors such as redundant or duplicate publication, plagiarism, manipulation and/or invention of data, and undeclared conflicts of interest.

To carry out the academic evaluation, the reviewers have different formats where they must express their evaluation of the work, as well as the recommendations for authors and editors:

  • Evaluation form for original articles, and short communications.
  • Review the article evaluation form.
  • Form for the evaluation of case studies.
  1. d) Decisions of the academic review

Referees can make three types of decisions:

Decision 1. Reject the manuscript, if:

  • Do not make a new scientific contribution.
  • The result is out of date.
  • There is no correspondence between the objective of the research, the methods used and the results obtained.
  • The presentation of the results and their discussion is insufficient.
  • Unethical conduct is suspected during research and/or publication (duplicate publication, plagiarism, fabricated and/or manipulated data, undeclared conflict of interest, etc.).

Decision 2. Accept the manuscript with modifications, which can be minimal, moderate, or complex:

Some minor modifications can be:

  1. Sort bibliographic references.
  2. Consistent writing of the introduction.
  3. Suitable keywords.
  4. Titles of tables and figures.

In this case, the author will have 2 weeks to correct and deliver the article. In case the article has been revised a second time, the author will have 1 week to deliver the corrected article.

Moderate modifications:

  1. Clarify the materials and methods used.
  2. Rearrange the structure of the article.
  3. Redo the introduction (clarify novelty, importance, and contribution).
  4. Synthesize the results.
  5. Improve tables and figures.

In this case, the author will have 3 weeks to correct and deliver the article; In case the article has been revised a second time, the author will have 1 week to deliver the corrected article.

Complex modifications:

  1. Clarify the correspondence between: the introduction, materials and methods, results, and conclusions.
  2. Improve the presentation of the results, following the established objectives.
  3. Improve the discussion of the results.
  4. Update the bibliography.

In this case, the author will have 4 weeks to correct and deliver the article; In case the article has been revised a second time, the author will have one week to deliver the corrected article.

Decision 3. Accept the article without modifications.

Each of the decisions will be managed and reported by the Executive Editor of the journal to the authors, referees, and the writing and production committee, as appropriate in each case. In the event of rejection of the manuscript, the Executive Editor will inform the author that, for his part, he may submit a claim within 72 hours, to which the editor will respond within a maximum period of 5 days.

Final evaluation

It is made after the article has been edited and processed by the writing and production Committee. The article is sent to the author so that he, within a maximum period of 5 days, notifies the editor of the journal of his agreement to publish it. The author may only make minimal changes in grammar and writing. In case the author exceeds the established time, the article will be postponed for publication in later issues of the journal.

POLICY FOR THE DETECTION OF PLAGIARISM AND OTHER NON-ETHICAL CONDUCT

The editorial team of Revista Cubana de Transformación Digital is committed to its user community in guaranteeing the integrity and quality of the articles published in it. Contributions are evaluated by anonymous external peers with criteria based on the scientific relevance, originality, and relevance of the works presented in it, guaranteeing the confidentiality of the evaluation process and the anonymity of the evaluators and the authors.

Authors are responsible for the opinions they express in their works and must guarantee that the articles are original and that they have not been submitted for consideration by other publications. In the same way, they assume the responsibility that in the signing authors only those people who have made an intellectually important contribution to the development of the work appears.

The journal has a procedure to detect and avoid bad scientific practices and fraudulent behavior, following the Code of Conduct for Editors and the Good Practice Guidelines defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In this way, compliance with the quality standards and principles of transparency of the publication is guaranteed, as well as the original and unpublished nature of the published results.

Plagiarism constitutes unethical and unacceptable conduct. Consequently, any manuscript that incurs plagiarism will be eliminated and not considered for publication. The Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation uses the anti-plagiarism tool in the manuscript review process Dupli Checker for the detection of bad practices to guarantee compliance with the quality standards of the publication and to maintain the original and unpublished character of the published results.

To facilitate the decision-making process in cases where unethical behavior is detected or observed, the Editorial Board of the Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation follows the decision flows recommended by COPE for the following cases:

  • Suspicion of redundant or duplicate publication.
  • Suspicion of plagiarism.
  • Suspicion of fabricated and/or manipulated data.
  • Changes of authorship.
  • Suspicion of undeclared conflict of interest.
  • Violation of investigation norms.
  • Evaluator bias.

CHARGES AND COSTS FOR AUTHORS

Publication in the Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation is completely free, which means that the journal does not charge authors fees for sending, processing, and/or publishing manuscripts.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

The Cuban Journal of Digital Transformation subscribes to the principles of the Budapest Declaration for Open Access (2002), so it offers its readers immediate free access to the published content and allows the reuse of them and their derivative works for purposes non-commercial.

The authors retain the exploitation rights of the published articles and are free to disseminate through personal websites and open access repositories the version evaluated and accepted for publication (postprint), as well as the published version of the article, referring to the original post.

The journal actively collaborates with numerous databases and aggregation portals, both specialized and general, facilitating access to the metadata of published documents. The objective is to achieve the maximum diffusion and visibility of published scientific production.

Authors do not pay fees for the submission, processing, and publication of their articles in the journal.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY POLICY

Copyright

  1. The authors will retain all the rights over the published articles; as well as patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property rights (including research data) incorporated.
  1. Authors will ensure they have obtained permission for the use of copyrighted material from other sources, including the Internet, and credit the source (s) in the article.

Those authors who send their contributions to be published in this journal, accept the following general clauses:

  • The authors will guarantee the journal the right to the first publication of their work.
  • Authors are allowed and recommended to disseminate through the Internet the version evaluated and accepted for publication (postprint) of the works before their publication since it favors their circulation and earlier dissemination, can produce interesting exchanges and with it, a possible increase in its citation and reach among the academic community.
  • To protect the dissemination of open content and prevent profitable exploitation, the author signs or electronically accepts the corresponding formats or conditions to assign the rights of distribution and reproduction of the materials to third parties.

Use and reuse licenses

  • All the contents of the magazine are distributed under the open-access license that allows the end-users of the work to copy, distribute, publicly communicate the work and make derivative works; under the following conditions: acknowledgment and citation of the original author; not to use the work for commercial purposes. These conditions correspond to those internationally recognized in the "Creative Commons-Non-commercial Recognition 4.0 International" License (CC BY-NC 4.0). It is noted that this policy was established as of July 1, 2021, which replaces the previous policy based on the "Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International" License (CC BY).

  • The journal includes the information related to the license (machine-readable) in the metadata of the articles in portable formats (PDF, ePub...).  The indication of this license must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.

USE OF INTEROPERABILITY PROTOCOLS

The journal incorporates the OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) interoperability protocol that allows the collection of its digital resources. It can be accessed at https://rctd.uic.cu/rctd/oai.

POLICY ON LONG-TERM DIGITAL PRESERVATION OF CONTENT

The Cuban Magazine of Digital Transformation regularly backs up its files with current best practices. The PKP Preservation Network (PN) provides preservation services for any journal managed and operated through the Open Journal System (OJS). The PKP PN plugin for OJS 3 is available in the plugin gallery. Therefore, meeting the basic criteria, this plugin has been activated for the Cuban Magazine of Digital Transformation. This journal also performs backup and preservation processes for the documents of each article and issue that is published, on the Editorial Committee's computer equipment, on institutional servers, and in the cloud with the provider's Backup system policies, the ETECSA Telecommunications Company.

INDEXES & DATABASES

REDIB, AmeliCA, Latindex Cat. 2.0, MIAR, BASE, Google Scholar, Sello CITMA