Research Areas

Academics, professionals and students from around the world can submit their original research papers and technical reports. We currently accept submissions preferably in English, or Spanish, in the following research areas:

• Security and Privacy: Theoretical and practical fundamentals of computer security and privacy to guarantee the protection of information and any related computer systems. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following: Information security and privacy; privacy-preserving methods and applications, cryptography, security services, personal data collection and protection, database and storage security, software and application security, network security, penetration testing, threat analysis and risk assessment, digital forensics & incident response (DFIR), human and social aspects of security and privacy. 
• Information Systems: Design, implementation and deployment of information systems, including processes, actors and organizational resources involved in the production, storage, processing and communication of data and information. Desirable topics in this area are the following: Data management, information storage and retrieval, information systems applications, business process management/modelling, enterprise information systems, information integration and interoperatibility, IT and IS Governance and Management, IS Auditing and Compliance, High-Performance Computing (HPC).
• Intelligent Systems and Other Technology Trends: New breakthroughs related to the interactions and practical impacts of intelligent systems and other technology trends including: Artificial Intelligenge (AI) and Machile Learning (ML), big data, data science and analytics, blockchain applications, information systems for collaboration and social computing, virtual reality / augmented reality, mixed reality, Internet of Things (IoT), human-computer interaction and cybernetics.
• Software engineering and Applications: Software engineering and its related body of knowledge for software creation, software management, software organization and software properties, including innovations, new paradigms and development methodologies for their successful application in the deployment of computer systems. Some topics in this area are the following: Software engineering, requirements engineering, software validation and certification, continuous software engineering (e.g., DevOps, agile, etc.), interoperability and service-oriented architecture, intelligent problem solving, process management software, business intelligence, decision support systems.
• Science, Information Technology and Society (SiTS): Inter-disciplinary and Multi-disciplinary research related to the role of computer science, information technology and computer systems for understanding the social and human dimensions of their influence, impact and future involvement in shaping the modern society. Topics in this area are not limited to the following: eGoverment and eDemocracy, governmental technology policies, computing and informatics education, digital literacy and virtual education, management of computing and information systems, Web3, decentralized Internet and the Metaverse, ethics and technology, intellectual property and personal data protection, computer crime and computer misuse, internet threats and social implications (cyberbullying, harrassment, hacktivism, etc.)
• Computer Science and Information Technologies for inclusive education and disability: Inter-disciplinary and Multi-disciplinary research to promote the use of Information Technologies for aiding people with disabilities by incorporating applications and innovations that favor their inclusion, equal access to education, and information accessibility. Some of the topics of interest are: Advance learning technologies, artificial intelligence and education, assertive and assistive education, digital divide, e-learning, educational games, educational Software, educational technologies, game-based learning, inclusive education, interactive learning, MOOCS, mobile learning, multimedia in e-learning, systems and technologies in education, technological tools and media for education, technology-based education, Web-based learning. 

Peer Review Process

This journal uses double-blind review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process.
All articles and technical reports of the Journal will be managed by the Editorial Team, following these steps:

1. Once the article topic has been approved, at least two evaluators or peer-academic collaborators will be assigned to review the content and suggest format adjustments.

2. The review outcome will be timely communicated to the correponding author (registered author) according to the the following acceptance criteria:

• Acceptance without modifications
• Acceptance with modifications
• Rejection

3. Every accepted article will be checked against our plagiarism detection software TurnitIn. LAJC has a strict Anti-Plagiarism Policy that every prospective author must adhere to.

4. If an article is accepted with modifications, reviewers can suggest amendments with major changes at content level, or minor changes that may require grammar correction, format and referencing adjustments before submission of the manuscript final version (camera ready).

5. Once submitted, the camera-ready version of the manuscript will be proofread to ensure coherence, fluency and removal of any remaining ortographic/grammatical errors. If required, authors may be contacted to make final ammendments before sending the article to production. Once the article is published, authors must not pay any manuscript handling or publication fee. Please check the benefits of Publishing with Us.

6. In either case, modification or rejection decisions, LAJC will issue a report to the authors explaining the reasons of the decision.

You can see a graphical description about our peer-review process in this link.

Editorial Team

The editorial team is made up of academics from recognized and accredited universities worldwide. The list of its members can be found at the following link.

Publication Frequency

LAJC publishes with a frequency of 6 months, 1 volume per year with 2 issues; however, the reception of articles is continuous. Articles can be submitted at any time. Authors are free to submit their manuscripts for publication in either, the January Issue, or the July Issue.

For possible publication in the January Issue*:

• Send manuscripts from April to mid September.
• Accepted articles will be published during the first days of January.

For posssible publication in the July Issue*:

• Send manuscripts from mid September to March.
• Accepted articles will be published during the first days of July.

* Manuscripts sent after the submission deadlines will be reviewed for the next issue. For every manuscript submitted to LAJC, a notification of acceptance/rejection will be given within an average time of 8 weeks, not exceeding the notification due date. These dates are referential (and subject to change) for better management of the editorial process and should not be considered a guarantee of publication. Please, check the current Call for Papers section to know the exact submission, notification and publication dates.

Diamond Open-Access Policy

The Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. We are a diamond open-access journal which means that all content is freely available without any charge fees to either authors or readers. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

Guidelines for Reviewers

LAJC's Scientific Committee are specialists in their corresponding research area. They act as reviewers in order to guarantee a high quality publication by providing feedback and valuable comments to authors throughout the whole evaluation process. If accepted, their feedback must be considered by authors for ammending the article before submitting its final version.

Reviewers must follow the Revision Guidelines to assess every article based on its Originality, Significance, Relevance, Presentation and Content (see Considerations for Evaluation Criteria).

Revisions must be done using this review form which has been automated and implemented inside our OJS Platform (see Evaluation Method). 

Statement of Ethics and Best Publication Practices

The Latin American Journal of Computing (LAJC) aims to bring together researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to present original research papers, technical reviews and state-of-the-art reviews for publication.

The LAJC undertakes to defend the rules of ethical behavior in every stage of the publishing process. Our efforts are oriented to guarantee that all the persons involved in the publishing process (authors, editorial board members and reviewers) must comply with ethical standards at every stage of the process.

The LAJC is a member of the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). As such, this journal follows the DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. In addition, the LAJC adopts and promotes the standards set by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) by their Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Both organizations, the DOAJ and the COPE, have collaborated to identify principles of transparency and best practice for scholarly publications.

Below is a summary of our commitment, but you should always refer to the two documents listed above for full details. They are LAJC Editor’s responsibilities:

• Strive to constantly improve the journal.
• Commit their efforts to assure the quality of published articles.
• Publish updates (corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies) when needed.
• Seek the views of other members about the ways of improving processes.
• Support initiatives to reduce research and publication misconduct.
• Educate researchers about publication ethics.
• Inform readers about who has funded a research work.
• Ensure that articles have been reviewed by suitably qualified reviewers who are able to judge the work and free from disqualifying competing interests.
• Ensure that submissions from members of the journal’s staff receive an objective and unbiased evaluation.
• Ensure that decisions to accept or reject a paper are based the paper’s importance, originality and clarity; and the study’s validity and its relevance.
• Do not deviate or change the published peer-review process.
• Provide guidance about criteria for authorship.
• Be alert to redundant publications and plagiarism and encourage reviewers to comment on the originality of submissions.
• Acknowledge the contribution of reviewers to the journal.
• Ensure that peer review is fair, unbiased and timely.
• Ensure that material submitted to LAJC remains confidential while under review.
• Follow COPE’s guidelines for dealing with misconduct allegations.

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

This Journal only accepts submissions of original contributions. As a commitment to protecting the integrity of published academic content, LAJC's peer review process includes an anti-plagiarism review process using the Turnitin tool, ensuring case detection of duplicate submissions and plagiarism.

Articles should not have been previously published nor be under consideration by another journal or conference. If a previous version of the article has been published, LAJC may consider the current submission ONLY IF IT CONTAINS SIGNIFICANT ORIGINAL AND ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS compared to the original published version. During submission, it is imperative for authors to submit (alongside with the article's current version) a cover letter addressed to the Editorial Committee with a brief description of the differences between the published and the version being submitted. Also, a statement must be included as a footnote in the article's current version, indicating that it is indeed an extension of a previous article. If accepted, once authors are asked to de-anonimize the article, please include the full citation of the published version in the footnote's statement.

NOTICE: If an article is deemed plagiarized, it will be automatically rejected. Authors will be notified by email about this decision with a copy of the plagiarism report for their consideration. Authors may appeal to this decision by sending a letter to the editor with the proper justifications and evidence.

Disclaimer

The Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC) respects the rights (including the intellectual property rights) of others and we ask our Authors to do the same. LAJC may in appropriate circumstances and in its sole discretion, report names and contact information of authors that infringe or otherwise violate such rights of others.

LAJC, under no circumstance, endorses the accuracy or reliability of any content, results, and/or views contained on, distributed through, or linked to any article submitted for evaluation prior to publication. The Authors hereby acknowledge that any content submitted to this Journal is under their own responsibility. LAJC reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to withdraw an article if there are copyright claims from a third party.

LAJC IN NO EVENT SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT CLAIMS RELATED TO ARTICLES THAT HAVE BEEN EITHER SUBMITTED FOR EVALUATION, OR PUBLISHED IN ANY ISSUE OF THIS JOURNAL. ALSO, LACJ DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE POINT OF VIEW AND STATEMENTS MADE BY THE AUTHORS IN THEIR WORK.

Publishing Organization

• Escuela Politécnica Nacional. Quito, Ecuador

Journal History

The Latin-American Journal of Computing is an initiative of the Faculty of Systems Engineering of the National Polytechnic School, which aims to contribute to the open and free dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge in the field of Informatics and Computer Science, according to The Open Archives Initiative (OAI).

LAJC is a member of The Ecuadorian Network of Editors and Scientific Journals (RERCIE).