About the Journal

Astrolabio is an international philosophy journal created in 2005 by a group of researchers from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona. Since its first issue, Astrolabio has been dedicated to the dissemination of philosophical and humanistic thought. Recognizing the importance of a transversal approach, the journal values and receives research ranging from micro analyses to macro perspectives, and from abstract theoretical questions to applied, interdisciplinary studies or those that establish a cultural or political dialogue and their impact on subjectivities.

Throughout its existence, Astrolabio has demonstrated itself to be an important international center for scientific discussion, promoting a critical approach to problems, theories, doctrines, and realities, becoming a space for the publication of philosophical, historical, critical, or theoretical studies in the Humanities.

It also seeks to spread its content beyond the specialized and strictly academic sphere, facilitating the public's engagement with issues that today form an essential part of everyday life.

Astrolabio receives articles and reviews on a rolling basis from all over the world, in Catalan, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Italian. All submissions must follow the submission guidelines and be made through the Submissions section.

With the exception of issue 28, which was published under the CC BY NC license, all previous and future issues of Astrolabio are published under the CC BY license.

This website includes issues starting from 2024. Previous issues can be consulted at raco.cat (https://raco.cat/index.php/Astrolabio/issue/archive).

ISSN: 1699-7549

 

Peer Review Process

The works submitted to Astrolabio go through two stages of evaluation:

The first consists of a preliminary evaluation by the journal's Advisory Board, which analyzes the suitability of the work to the journal's editorial line, its scope, the contribution and novelty of the text, as well as the formal aspects required for its submission. Only those works considered relevant to the community and, in particular, to the journal's readers proceed to the next evaluation stage, and a member of the Editorial Board is assigned to continue the process. Additionally, the URKUND plagiarism detection tool provided by the University of Barcelona is used.

In the second stage, which involves the peer review process, the works are sent to two external reviewers, generally PhD professors and preferably external to the University of Barcelona, according to the double-blind peer review system (the review panel changes constantly depending on the issue's theme and the article). This system ensures critical impartiality and intellectual freedom for both authors and reviewers, essential elements for science. The evaluation criteria for the articles include the relevance of the topic, the originality of the contribution to the journal's thematic areas, the clarity of the text, the appropriateness of the bibliography, the structure and theoretical development, the methodology, and the conclusions and contributions to knowledge in the field of philosophy. Reviewers may approve the work (and still provide suggestions), approve it with mandatory corrections (which will be sent to the authors), or reject its publication.

In the case of a disagreement in the evaluation, when one reviewer presents a different position from another, the Editorial Board may issue a final ruling or submit the work to a third reviewer, who will provide the deciding opinion.

In cases of omission, the Astrolabio Editorial Team will arbitrate in accordance with the journal's ethical commitment.

The Astrolabio review team is composed of carefully selected specialists. The reviewer must complete a uniform and objective form. The deadline to issue a ruling is 4 weeks. However, since the evaluation process depends on the availability and goodwill of the reviewers, who perform highly qualified and unpaid work, it is not possible to establish an exact deadline for the final decision on each submission. On average, articles submitted to the journal take four months to receive a final response.

If accepted, the work will undergo a final orthographic and grammatical review by the journal's own members or by RCUB. This review is only intended to ensure the quality of the published work's writing, without altering the style of the text or the content of the research. When necessary, the Editorial Board may return the work to the authors for approval of the revisions made.

Apart from cultural or political manifestos, all texts received by Astrolabio (articles, texts resulting from the Political Philosophy Conferences, reviews...) go through the external review process.

Astrolabio strives to adhere to the style guidelines for journals established by the University of Barcelona, available at: https://www.ub.edu/llibre-estil/index.php.

 

Open Access Policy

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy is an open-access publication, meaning that all its content is freely available from the moment of publication, at no cost to users or their institutions. No prior registration is required to access the articles.

In accordance with the principles of the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) and the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full texts of articles. They may also use them for any legal purpose without the need to request prior permission from the publisher or the author.

This open-access policy is based on the belief that making scientific research freely available to the public fosters a greater exchange of global knowledge and democratizes access to information.

 

Publication Frequency

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy operates on a continuous flow basis and publishes two issues per year.

 

Fees and Charges for Publication

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy does not charge any fees and has no charges for the submission of works for evaluation, review, publication, distribution, or download.

 

Sources of Support

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy may participate in grant calls proposed by the Vice-Rectorate for Research at the University of Barcelona. Additionally, it is part of RCUB, a portal that gathers scientific journals specializing in various thematic fields, edited or co-edited by the University of Barcelona. Furthermore, it can receive support from the PhD Program in Citizenship and Human Rights and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Barcelona.

 

Ethical Commitment

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy is committed to the ethics and quality of its publications, following international standards for scientific publishing and referencing the Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). We require ethical behavior from all parties involved in publishing in our journal. Plagiarism or any other conduct that is inconsistent with Astrolabio’s culture is not accepted.

Specifically, the journal adheres to the Ethical Declaration and Good Practices for scientific journals edited by the University of Barcelona, ratified by the Governing Council on April 16, 2016, which establishes the following duties:

 

  • Editorial Team
  1. Is responsible for the decision to publish or not publish the articles received by the journal, which are reviewed without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, citizenship, or political orientation of the authors.
  2. It publishes updated guidelines on the responsibilities of the authors and the characteristics of the works submitted to the journal, as well as on the peer-review system used to select articles and the evaluation criteria that external reviewers must apply.
  3. Commits to publishing necessary corrections, clarifications, and apologies when deemed appropriate and to not using received articles for their own research without the authors' consent.
  4. It guarantees the confidentiality of the review process: the anonymity of reviewers and authors, the content under review, the report issued by reviewers, and any other communication made by the committees (editorial, advisory, and scientific). Similarly, it maintains confidentiality regarding potential clarifications, claims, or complaints that an author may wish to communicate to the journal's committees or the article reviewers.
  5. It declares its commitment to the respect and integrity of the works that have already been published. It is particularly strict about plagiarism: texts identified as plagiarized are removed from the journal or are not published. In such cases, the journal acts as quickly as possible.

 

  • Authors
  1. Are responsible for the content of their submission.
  2. They commit to informing the journal’s editors if they detect a significant error in one of their published articles so that appropriate corrections can be made.
  3. They guarantee that the article and associated materials are original and do not infringe the copyright of third parties. In the case of co-authorship, they must ensure that all affected authors consent to the final version of the article being published in a UB journal.

 

  • Reviewers
  1. Reviewers commit to conducting an objective, informed, critical, constructive, and impartial review of the article.
  2. Acceptance or rejection is based solely on the relevance of the work, its originality, its interest, and compliance with the style and content guidelines indicated in the editorial criteria.
  3. They respect the established deadlines (if this is not possible, they must notify the journal’s management well in advance).
  4. They do not share, disseminate, or use the information from the articles under review without the corresponding permission from the editor and/or the authors.

 

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Astrolabio: International Journal of Philosophy is committed to the originality of its published works, to ethical conduct by editors, authors, and reviewers, and has a strict policy against any form of plagiarism. To this end, we use the Urkund plagiarism detection system, provided by the Learning and Research Resources Center (CRAI) of the University of Barcelona.