About the Journal

Editorial Policy

The Journal Propuestas Críticas en Trabajo Social - Critical Proposals in Social Work aims to disseminate analyses, debates, and proposals on social phenomena from a plurality of critical theoretical, political, and historical perspectives. It adopts a transdisciplinary perspective on the construction of knowledge, accepting contributions both from social work and other disciplines, produced in collaboration with service users, communities, social movements, and public/private organizations. Contributions from diverse methodological traditions are welcome, including qualitative and quantitative, mixed designs, participatory and / or collaborative, among others methods.  Articles of theoretical discussion in essay format are also welcome.

The journal is refereed by specialists in social work and the social sciences through the double-blind system, in which a review is requested from two external evaluators for each article received. The names of the authors and evaluators are kept anonymous throughout the evaluation process and after the publication of the manuscripts.

Contributions must be original works and not previously published or sent for evaluation to another journal.

The Journal has an international scope, and publishes articles, classic texts, and reviews, written in Spanish, Portuguese and English. All contributions, in addition to being published in the original language, are also published in English. Contributions written in English are published in English and Spanish.

The Journal is open to the reception of articles throughout the year and is published every six months.

The evaluation, editing, and publication process is of no cost for the authors.

Sections of the journal

Articles: manuscripts that develop theoretical discussions and / or empirical research reports. The maximum length of the articles is 7,000 words, including abstract and references.

Translations: translations into Spanish and re-publication of texts considered to be of great relevance to the debates that the Journal intends to encourage. The maximum length of these manuscripts is 10,000 words, including references.

Reviews: comments to articles published in this or another Journal, book reviews, among others. The maximum length of these texts is 2,500 words including references.

Interviews: conversations with prominent representatives on topics addressed by the Journal, lasting approximately 30 to 60 minutes - 2,500 to 3,000 words.

Article evaluation criteria

Our journal complies with the most relevant social science indexation standards.

The evaluation criteria of the articles are the following:

1) Must be original work, which reports either final or preliminary findings drawing upon research or theoretical discussions in essay format.

The following writings are not considered original articles: brief communications, editorials, interviews, events, news, reviews, case studies, notes, presentation summaries, thesis summaries, among others.

2) The content of the manuscripts must refer to the analysis and discussion of social phenomena from a broad range of critical perspectives. These include theoretical traditions inspired by the work of Marx, Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School, various currents of poststructuralism, Latin American philosophy, feminisms, postcolonial and decolonial thought, and other perspectives that answer, articulate or derive in critical analyses of “the social” and that seek to discuss conceptual, methodological and / or political-strategic proposals that challenge the current political, economic, social, and cultural context.

3) The articles will be evaluated considering the following criteria:

• It has a clear purpose (a premise or thesis to defend) and the article completes that purpose.
• It offers relevant contributions to social work in terms of conceptual approaches, historical perspectives, political debates, discussions on social research and/or practice, analysis of social phenomena from interdisciplinary perspectives, among other possible contributions.
• A critical approach (s) of the social sciences is consistently observed throughout the article.
• It develops relevant content for a national and international audience. It provides sufficient background context for understanding the subject outside the author's country of origin.
• The text is structured consistently and is written fluently and clearly.
• The literature used is relevant, updated and / or pertinent.

Additionally, articles that report research results will be evaluated considering the following criteria:

• It gives a rigorous account of the methodology used. The type of study is described and the methodological decisions and steps are justified.
• High ethical standards are met (informed consent, anonymized informants, confidentiality in sensitive information, etc.)
• It declares the approval of the ethics committee of the institution sponsoring the research.
• The results presented support the proposed conclusions.

4) All manuscripts must comply with the formalities and specific citation requirements indicated in the Guide for Manuscript Submission.