Universitas Scientiarum is registered under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. Therefore, this work may be reproduced, distributed, and publicly shared in digital format, as long as the names of the authors and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana are acknowledged. Others are allowed to quote, adapt, transform, auto-archive, republish, and create based on this material, for any purpose (even commercial ones), provided the authorship is duly acknowledged, a link to the original work is provided, and it is specified if changes have been made. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana does not hold the rights of published works and the authors are solely responsible for the contents of their works; they keep the moral, intellectual, privacy, and publicity rights. Approving the intervention on the work (review, copy-editing, translation, layout) and the following outreach, are granted through a use license and not through an assignment of rights. This means that the journal and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana cannot be held responsible for any ethical malpractice by the authors. As a consequence of the protection granted by the use license, the journal is able to publish retractions or to correct information already published. Publishing contents in this journal does not generate royalties for contributors.

Authors should certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria, educational grants, participation in speakers' bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, as well as expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. They should, also, manifest explicitly potential conflicts of interest related to individual authors' commitments, project support, commitments of editors, journal staff or reviewers.

Authors should submit their manuscripts online through the Open Journal System submission platform (OJS) by visiting: https://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/scientarium. Find a step by step guide submit your manuscript at OJS here or visit  the OJS web page at https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/

In the OJS submitting processes, authors should include as separate files:

i) The manuscript.

ii) One file for each table (without legends) in the appropriate format (See the authors guidelines) here

iii) One file for each figure in high resolution without legends,

iv) One file for each supplementary material.

v) A cover letter in which the author explain the significance and novelty of the work, the problem that is being addressed, and the reason the manuscript fits in this journal (see a cover letter sample here ).Please, take into account that the cover letter is the first filter used by the editor to determine whether the manuscript should continue to peer-review or be rejected.

Universitas Scientiarum publishes original (theoretical and experimental) and taxonomic articles in English that adhere to the standard rules of style and grammar of the language. Sometimes, by direct invitation, Univ. Sci. publishes topical reviews written by experts.

Original articles: Should report scientific research that significantly contributes to the study area and provides conclusions of interest and new scientific understanding to a diverse readership. Preference will be given to manuscripts presenting original and interdisciplinary methodological robustness. Authors must demonstrate and explicitly describe the contribution they make to the scientific community in relation to past research.

Taxonomic article: The publication must be registered with ZooBank (https://zoobank.org/) to obtain an LSID. Without this, any nomenclatural action will not be valid. We also suggest, at least, new species be registered. Manuscripts without an LSID will not proceed in the editorial process. This LSID number should be placed immediately after the title. Material examined must be cited in a section with the same name under each species; for example, "Material examined: COLOMBIA: Meta: Villavicencio, 100m, 23 Oct 2012, A. Acosta, leg., 1¿(catalog # 2345) (MPUJ-ENT 002345)." If more than one species is cited in this section, indicate the species before citing the material. Type specimens must be clearly identified as such before mentioning the locality. Interpolated information (for example geographic coordinates) must be in square brackets. Use the following abbreviations: sp. nov., gen. nov., syn. Nov. 4. The ICZN code should be strictly followed (https://www.nhm.ac.uk/ hosted-sites/iczn/code/).

Review article: Collect, analyze, systematize and integrate the results of published and unpublished research (e.g., author's unpublished data) on a particular problem area or field of knowledge. The topic of a review must be current, rapidly changing, and vital to the scientific community (e.g., concepts). It must be an extensive examination of published literature (primary and secondary), to produce an updated summary and to disclose new developments in the state of knowledge of an active area of research. The review must provide sufficient background to explain the issue to establish its main question, problem, or objective. It must provide the parameters of the chosen topic (including spatial and temporal limits or organisms), the literature search and selection criteria (method), and the prevailing trends and gaps in knowledge. Following consideration and critical analysis, the author will provide his/her point-of-view, reach a conclusion on the issue, question, or objective of the review, and propose new guidelines for research.

The manuscript must be submitted in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or LaTeX complying with Univ. Sci. guidelines. In order to assist you in the writing processes, a MS Word template is available here and a LaTeX template is available here. For revision purposes, the author must submit the PDF and the LaTeX version.

"Editors and reviewers have ultimate authority over a manuscript's fate, with editors primarily directing manuscript management and reviewers conducting manuscript assessment. Editors direct the process by selecting reviewers and communicating with authors and reviewers as well as by making the final decision on publication. Reviewers are selected based on their expertise and availability. Editors seek to balance the needs of their readers to receive only the most relevant information while providing a level of manuscript evaluation to authors that promotes continued submission in the face of stringent acceptance criteria. Expert reviewers focus on detecting technical and stylistic flaws within the manuscript, determining the novelty of the study, and making a recommendation of acceptance, rejection, or revision. They examine technical attributes as well as scientific quality, clarity of presentation, and ethical validity. Ideally, they do so in a manner consistent with ethical practices and journal guidelines. Reviewers donate substantial amounts of time and energy, frequently reviewing for multiple publications without remuneration. Reviewers must provide timely feedback to editors and, as consulted experts, are frequently the de facto determiner for manuscript publication acceptance or rejection". (The ups and downs of peer review, D. J. Benos, E. Bashari, J. M. Chaves, A. Gaggar, N. Kapoor, M. LaFrance, R. Mans, D. Mayhew, S. McGowan, A. Polter, Y. Qadri, S. Sarfare, K. Schultz, R. Splittgerber, J. Stephenson, C. Tower, R. G. Walton, A. Zotov Advances in Physiology Education, 31, 145-152, 2007. doi: 10.1152/advan.00104.2006).

The Universitas Scientiarum article processing includes:

i) Evaluation of the paper by the editor in chief, in order to ensure that the article meets the quality standards fixed by Univ. Sci. A rigorous revision of the scientific standards, the type of manuscript, the parts of the article, and references is done. The manuscript is processed, also, through the anti-plagiarism Turnitin software.

ii) Assignation of the manuscript to at least three international academic reviewers for peer evaluation within two months. Reviewers will have 30 days to assess the paper.

iii) The article continues the editorial process or is rejected within three days, based on feedback of peer reviewers.

iv) Returning of the article to the author with the reviewer's comments and suggestions. Authors must address reviewer's comments within a period not exceeding 15 working days.

v) Returning of the corrected papers to the referees for their feedback (second round, when necessary). Reviewers will have fifteen days to assess the paper.

vi) Adressing of new reviewer comments by the authors within a period not exceeding ten working days.

vii) The editor accept or reject the article based on the new feedback of peer reviewers within three days.

viii) If the article is acceptable for publication, it will be immediately going through a preproduction quality-control check within ten days. The authors will approve the style and language suggestions (proof) and will return the final version within three business days.

ix) The galley proofs will be delivered to the authors within ten business days. When the proof corrections have been incorporated and we have received a signed Creative Commons form, the paper will be published.