Submissions

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Author Guidelines

Enfoque UTE is a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal. Authors are strongly encouraged to read and comply with the following guidelines before submitting a manuscript. Submissions that do not adhere to these requirements may be returned to the authors prior to peer review.

1. Types of Articles

Enfoque UTE publishes the following types of articles:

  • Research Articles: Primary, research-based articles. Recommended length: 5,500–6,500 words, including title, abstract, keywords, body text, figures, tables, and references. The maximum number of references allowed is 30.
  • Review Articles: Narrative review articles providing a critical and up-to-date synthesis of the state of the art on a current research topic. Recommended length: 6,000–8,000 words, including title, abstract, keywords, body text, figures, tables, and references. The maximum number of references allowed is 60.

2. Thematic Coverage

The thematic coverage of Enfoque UTE includes the following areas of engineering:

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Food Engineering
  • Agricultural Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

3. Open Access and Publication Costs

Open Access Policy: All articles published in Enfoque UTE are made immediately available online as final, peer-reviewed versions, free of charge and without access restrictions. For full details, please visit the Open Access Policy.

Publication Costs: Enfoque UTE does not charge authors any fees at any stage of the publication process. There are no submission fees, no article processing charges (APCs), and no publication fees for accepted manuscripts. The journal is fully financed by Universidad UTE (Ecuador) as part of its institutional commitment to open science.

4. License and Copyright

All contents published in Enfoque UTE are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). For the official license terms, please visit the License section.

5. Open Science

Enfoque UTE supports open science practices, including open data and the submission of manuscripts that have been deposited as preprints in recognized repositories. This does not imply the publication of preprints by the journal; Enfoque UTE publishes only the final peer-reviewed version of record. For full details, please visit the Open Science Policy.

6. Peer Review and Editorial Process

All manuscripts must be submitted through the journal platform and must comply with the Submission Preparation Checklist. The editorial process includes the following stages:

  1. Editorial Review (Initial Screening): The Managing Editor evaluates compliance with the journal guidelines, including originality, relevance, language quality, clarity, and adherence to editorial policies. Anti-plagiarism software may be used.
  2. Peer Review (Double-Blind): An Associate Editor manages a double-blind peer review process. One or more rounds of revision may be required. Authors are expected to respond to reviewer comments within the timeframes established by the editor.
  3. Editorial Decision: Based on peer review results, the manuscript may be accepted, returned for revision, or rejected.
  4. Copyediting and Layout: Accepted manuscripts undergo copyediting and production. Authors may be asked to provide original figures or additional materials.
  5. Galley Proof and Consent to Publish: Authors review the final proof and provide explicit consent for publication.

Rejection may occur at any stage of the process. For detailed reviewer guidance, please visit Instructions for Reviewers.

7. Editorial Ethics

Enfoque UTE adheres to high ethical standards regarding authorship, research integrity, and publication ethics. For the official policy, please visit the Authorship and Author Ethics Policy.

8. Submission Guidelines

Cover Letter: Authors must submit a cover letter together with the manuscript, stating that they have read and agree with the journal policies and that the submission complies with the Guidelines for Authors. The cover letter must be signed by the corresponding author.

Author Information and Declarations (in the manuscript): The following information must be clearly included in the manuscript:

  • Author Names
  • Institutional Affiliation
  • Email
  • ORCID
  • Funding Sources: A separate section titled Funding must be included in the manuscript. Authors must indicate the source of financial support or explicitly declare that no funding was received. Please select one of the following statements:
    • "This research was supported by [Name of funding institution], under grant number [XXXX]."
    • "This research received no external funding."
  • Conflicts of Interest: A separate section titled Conflict of Interest must be included. Authors must explicitly declare the existence or absence of any conflicts of interest. Please select one of the following statements:
    • "The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest."
    • "The authors declare the following conflict of interest: [describe clearly]."
  • Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): A separate section titled Artificial Intelligence Statement must be included. Authors must declare whether generative artificial intelligence tools were used in the preparation of the manuscript. Please select one of the following statements:
    • "The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript."
    • "The authors declare that generative artificial intelligence tools were used for the following purposes: [describe clearly]. The authors take full responsibility for the content of the manuscript."

9. Manuscript Preparation

Templates: Manuscripts must be prepared using the official journal templates: Word template or LaTeX template.

References (IEEE Style): All references must follow the IEEE citation style and be numbered according to their order of appearance in the text. Each reference must include a clickable digital identifier (DOI preferred; otherwise, a stable URL). Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy and completeness of all references. Please consult the official IEEE Reference Guide.

10. Before Submitting

Before submitting a manuscript, authors must complete the Submission Preparation Checklist. Only manuscripts that fully comply with the checklist and these guidelines will proceed to peer review.

Submission Preparation Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript to Enfoque UTE, authors must carefully verify that their submission fully complies with all the requirements listed below. Manuscripts that do not meet these criteria may be returned to the authors prior to peer review.

General Requirements
☐ The manuscript falls within the thematic scope of Enfoque UTE, which includes one of the following engineering areas: Environmental Engineering, Food Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, or Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
☐ The manuscript has not been previously published and is not currently under review by another journal or conference.
☐ The manuscript is written entirely in English, including the title, main text, figures, tables and captions.
☐ The abstract and keywords are provided in both English and Spanish.
☐ The manuscript does not contain spelling or grammatical errors. Any elements translated from Spanish into English have been reviewed by a competent or professional translator.
Formatting and Template
☐ The manuscript is 100% adapted to the official journal template (LaTeX or Word), without structural or formatting modifications.
☐ The manuscript fully complies with the bibliographic, citation and style requirements described in the Author Guidelines.
☐ The manuscript length, structure, figures, tables and references comply with all journal requirements.
Figures, Tables and Equations
☐ All figures, tables and equations are written in English.
☐ All figures, tables and equations are explicitly cited in the text (e.g., “Figure 1”, “Table 2”, “Equation (3)”).
☐ No figure, table or equation appears in the manuscript without being referenced in the text.
☐ Figures have printing quality (minimum 300 dpi) and have been specifically created or adapted for the article.
☐ Tables are provided as editable tables (Word or Excel) and not as images or screenshots.
☐ All figures and tables fit within a single page, are vertically oriented, and maintain adequate resolution and readability.
References and Citations
☐ All references are real, accurate and verifiable.
☐ All references listed are cited in the text, and all in-text citations appear in the reference list.
☐ References strictly follow the IEEE citation style, using a numerical sequential system according to the order of appearance in the text (not alphabetical), and include complete bibliographic information (authors, title, source, volume, issue, pages, and year, when applicable).
☐ Each reference includes a clickable digital identifier: DOI (preferred) or URL if a DOI is not available.
☐ The total number of references does not exceed 30 for research articles or 60 for review articles.
Author Information and Declarations
☐ The first page of the manuscript includes full author names, institutional affiliations (institution name, city and country), institutional email addresses, and ORCID identifiers for all authors.
☐ The primary institution name matches the official name registered in the Research Organization Registry (ROR) whenever possible. In exceptional cases, the official institutional name adopted by the institution must be used.
☐ The manuscript includes separate sections titled Funding, Conflict of Interest, and Artificial Intelligence Statement, explicitly declaring funding status, conflicts of interest, and the use or non-use of generative AI tools.
Submission Metadata and Files
☐ At least one author is designated as the corresponding author.
☐ All required metadata fields and files have been correctly completed and uploaded during submission.
Editorial Policy and Ethics
☐ The author acknowledges that only one article (exceptionally two) per author may be published per volume/year and that no author may have more than one manuscript under review at the same time.
☐ The author agrees with the journal’s Copyright Statement and Privacy Statement.

Copyright Notice

The authors retain the copyright of their work and grant Enfoque UTE the right to be the first publication of the work.

  • The authors retain their trademark and patent rights, as well as rights to any process or procedure described in the article.
  • The authors retain the right to share, copy, distribute, perform, and publicly communicate the article published in Enfoque UTE (for example, post it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), provided that acknowledgment of its initial publication in Enfoque UTE is given.
  • The authors retain the right to publish their work at a later date and to use the article or any part of it (for example, in a compilation, lecture notes, a thesis, or a book), provided that they indicate the original source of publication (authors, journal title, volume, issue, and publication date).

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.