Editorial guidelines
- Aim and scope
- Double-blind evaluation process
- Frequency of publication
- Open access policy
- History of the journal
Aim and scope
The main objective of the Spanish Journal of Labour Economics is to become a channel to spread quality work from the academic and professional field of Labour Economics, an area that has always been characterized by the combination of different knowledge to understand something as complex as the employment relationship. The Spanish Journal of Labour Economics aims to become the way for pieces of research that take into account the great multidisciplinary aspects that come together in the labour market and that consider it a social institution.
For this, the Spanish Journal of Labour Economics incorporates the following sections. In "Panorama" (Outlook), original collaborations will be published that include reviews of academic literature in relation to topics of interest in the field of Labour Economics. In "Observatorio" (Observatory), original works will be included that present issues related to labour markets in which the relevance and actuality of the topic joint with the rigor analysis will be valued over the originality of the contribution to the academic literature. In “Nuevas investigaciones” (New research), articles by young researchers, new doctorates and doctoral students will be published, to which the journal encourages them to send their researches with the purpose of having a quick visibility among the academic community. In “Notas” (Notes), brief contributions will be included that present theoretical or empirical results of interest, but without having the structure of a complete original article. In “Notas técnicas” (Technical notes), various contributions will be published that may be related to the development, design and use of databases, programs linked to statistical packages for data processing, econometric models, etc. For all these sections, the Editorial Board will receive originals from the authors, and the publication of the originals will be subject to the evaluation process established for the other collaborations of the journal, although the deadlines will be noticeably shorter.
Articles that contain an adequate blend of theory and empirical analysis will be especially well received. The strictly theoretical works about the performance of the labour market should have a clear purpose of explaining economically relevant phenomena and should necessarily include illustrations of its empirical applicability. Strictly empirical works should interpret the data explicitly in the light of certain approaches or theories, thus going beyond the simple descriptive report. Works that present empirical information which it is not clearly linked to an available theory for interpretation could be admitted; nevertheless, it will be required that the particular interest of descriptive results be shown and how they can have an impact on the theoretical knowledge about the labour market. The editorial board will not make any discrimination between received papers depending on the school of thought or academic theories handled by the authors. In any case, the emphasis in the selection of articles will be placed on the practical importance, the theoretical interests, the political relevance, their analyses and/or their results, as well as on the methodology and technical competence of the research they carry out.
The aim of Editorial Board is that selected articles help reach a better understanding on the reality of the Spanish labour market, either by itself or in comparison with other labour markets, although the research about international labour markets will also be welcomed, whether they are aimed to comparing different countries or regions or comparing the Spanish labour market with those of other international areas. Strictly local or regional analyses should highlight its academic importance as an illustration or case of study about certain theoretical or applied issues properly delimited to the field of labour economics. The articles about particular cases will be evaluated in relation to their contribution to the general knowledge and their transcendence beyond the analysed geographical scope. In general, comparative analyses will be especially welcomed.
Double-blind evaluation process
The evaluation criteria of the journal will be double-blind evaluation. Each of the articles submitted for possible publication will be evaluated with the collaboration of two anonymous reviewers who will establish a series of assessments about the suitability of the article and offer some constructive suggestions to improvement (if it is necessary).
In the open issues, the reviewers will be specialists and experts in the analysed topic for each received article, being either members of the AEET or external people. In the monographic issue, the evaluation is based on a blind cross-peer evaluation.
The articles in the evaluation process will not be presented for publication to other journals simultaneously.
Frequency of publication
Spanish Journal of Labour Economics will publish one volume per year with two issues. One will contain original articles sent by the authors constituting an Open Issue. The other will be a Monographic Issue, which will be carried out under a proposal of a member of the AEET (Asociación Española de Economía del Trabajo or Spanish Association of Labour Economics), at the invitation of the Management Committee of the AEET or at the proposal of external persons to the AEET. The Editorial Committee will decide the topic of the monograph and an Associate Editor for its direction (normally, its development will correspond to several Associate Editors). Each monograph will be contain not less than five articles and not more than ten, which will be evaluated through a blind process by anonymous reviewers.
Open access policy
This journal provides open and free access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research helps to a greater global exchange of knowledge.
History of the journal
The Spanish Journal of Labour Economics (Revista de Economía Laboral - REL) began its journey in 2004, thanks to the encouragement of professors and researchers Luis Toharia, Joaquín Lorences, Carlos Peraita and Miguel Ángel Malo. After more than a decade in operation, since 2014 a new stage has opened in which REL is linked to the Spanish Association of Labour Economics (Asociación Española de Economía del Trabajo – AEET) and has its full support. This new stage is reflected in other dimensions of the journal. Regarding the structure of contents, without losing the open vocation that presides over the selection of submitted articles, the Spanish Journal of Labour Economics incorporates new sections: "Panorama", "Observatory", "New research", "Notes" and "Technical notes". In addition, the journal divides its annual volume into two issues: an open issue and a monographic issue about a topic of interest related to the labour market.
Nowadays, the journal is indexed in Dialnet, Latindex and RePEc.
ISSN: 1698-451X
