Approach and Scope

Saber Ser is an open-access scientific journal specialized in qualitative research in education. Its objective is to disseminate original studies, literature reviews, and reflective articles that contribute to the development and understanding of educational phenomena through qualitative approaches. The journal covers a broad spectrum of topics in education, addressed from different perspectives and qualitative methodologies. It is aimed at researchers, academics, and professionals in the educational field interested in critical analysis and the production of knowledge in this area.

Publication Frequency

Biannual. The journal publishes one issue each semester.

Digital Object Identifier

To ensure the availability, accessibility, and intellectual property of its editions and articles, the journal has implemented a digital object identifier (DOI) system for its electronic versions. This promotes interoperability between systems and enhances the visibility and scientific impact of the published works.

Publication Fees

Saber Ser journal is financed through resources provided by the Adventist University Corporation, a private entity. In line with its academic objective, the journal is open access and does not charge any fee for the submission, processing, editing, and publication of articles.

Editing and Review Process

1) Initial Editorial Assessment

Criteria considered: topic relevance, compliance with submission guidelines, and appropriateness for the journal.
Possible decisions:

• Minor adjustments required to comply with editorial policy, followed by submission to peer review once revised.
• Rejection when the topic is not within the journal’s scope or when the required changes are too extensive.
• Direct referral to peer review.

2) Double-blind Peer Review

Two external expert reviewers are selected based on:

• Master’s or doctoral training in the subject area.
• Publications in the field within the last five years.
• Institutional affiliation different from the publishing institution, preferably international.
• No affiliation with the manuscript’s authors.
• No conflicts of interest with the publishing institution, the journal, or any of its members (editors, authors, Editorial Board and Scientific Board).

The editor forwards the manuscripts for peer review to the reviewers, who will submit their reports via the online evaluation form on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform. They may also provide comments directly on the manuscripts using MS Word’s Track Changes tool.

Peer review is conducted under a double-blind model; that is, manuscripts are sent with the identities of the authors and the reviewers—and any other identifying information—concealed.

Possible outcomes of peer review:

• Accepted without changes.
• Accepted with minor revisions.
• Accepted with major revisions.
• Rejected (with reasons).

3) Post-review and Communication with Authors

The reviewers’ decision is sent anonymously to the authors.
When revisions are required, authors receive the reviewers’ suggestions and comments by email, both in the message body and in attached documents.

The Editorial Board verifies incorporation of the changes and, if deemed pertinent, may send the manuscript back to a reviewer for an additional opinion. The final publication decision rests with the Editorial Board, after verifying inclusion of the requested modifications.

Confidentiality

To ensure impartiality, the names of authors and reviewers remain confidential.

Disputes

If a dispute arises (e.g., opposing reviewer reports or the author’s disagreement with the decision), an additional reviewer will be appointed. If the dispute persists, the Editor-in-Chief will make the final decision after carefully analyzing the peer reviews, with possible support from the Editorial Board and the Scientific Board.
Regardless of the external reviewers’ outcome, the Editorial Board may add recommendations to improve the work’s quality. The final acceptance or rejection decision is not subject to appeal.

Overall Timelines

The average time from submission to publication is approximately 23 weeks. Actual processing times may vary depending on the peer-review process, the number of revision rounds required, and author/reviewer response times.

Open Access, Copyright, and Licensing Policy

Open Access

Saber Ser is an open-access journal. All of its contents are freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, without embargo and without any requirement for user registration. Users may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, link to the full texts of articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, and use them for any other lawful purpose, provided that authorship is properly acknowledged and the terms of the applicable license are respected. This policy is in accordance with the DOAJ definition of open access.

License

The journal’s publications are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows anyone to copy, redistribute, adapt, transform, and build upon the material, even for commercial purposes, as long as appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and any modifications are indicated.

Copyright

Authors retain full copyright and are solely responsible for the content of their works.

Rights Granted to the Publisher

By submitting a manuscript, authors grant the Adventist University Corporation a non-exclusive license to perform the necessary editorial tasks, including review, copy-editing, translation, layout, and XML markup, and to publish and make the work publicly available under the CC BY 4.0 license.

This authorization does not involve any transfer of economic rights, and publication does not generate royalties or financial compensation. Authorization for the editorial processing and dissemination of the work is granted exclusively through this license of use.

Previous Issues

As of Volume 2, Issue 2 (2025), Saber Ser publishes its contents under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). Previous issues, from Volume 1, Issue 1 to Volume 2, Issue 1, remain under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which continues to apply to those issues.

Editorial Ethics

Saber Ser applies recognized standards of publication ethics and good editorial practice throughout submission, peer review, and publication, and handles suspected misconduct (including plagiarism, redundant publication, data fabrication/falsification, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research practices, and authorship disputes) using COPE-aligned procedures. Editorial decisions are made on scholarly merit and relevance to scope, without discrimination, and all parties involved in editorial handling and peer review are expected to disclose conflicts of interest and maintain confidentiality of manuscript content and communications. Where concerns arise, the journal may request clarifications, supporting documentation, or institutional review when appropriate, and will document outcomes in the editorial record.

Plagiarism and Text Recycling

All submissions are screened for originality using similarity-detection software (Turnitin) and editorial assessment. Plagiarism in any form (verbatim copying without quotation and citation, close paraphrase without attribution, and reuse of figures/data without permission and credit) is grounds for rejection and may lead to post-publication action if discovered later. Text recycling from an author’s own prior publications is assessed case-by-case; authors must cite and clearly distinguish any reused material, and extensive unacknowledged reuse or redundant publication is not accepted. Similarity reports are interpreted by editors (they are not used as the sole basis for decisions) and, when concerns arise, the journal follows COPE-aligned procedures for investigation and resolution.

Digital Preservation

Saber Ser is currently working toward implementing a formal long-term digital preservation solution compatible with its OJS infrastructure. Until this is implemented, the journal maintains operational backups to support service continuity and data recovery.