About the Journal

Aims and scope

International scientific journal specialising in communication in its different aspects in the area of social sciences and visual arts: journalism, audiovisual, advertising and film. Interdisciplinary themes that relate to the above are also considered. Articles and reviews are welcome.

Edited by researchers at the University Miguel Hernández (Spain), Miguel Hernández Communication Journal belongs to the Plataforma Latina de Revistas de Comunicación, PLatCom, and its vocation is to provide a public service to the research communities in order to disseminate their scientific results.

Publishing in MHJournal is free of charge. Neither the Editorial Team nor the reviewers receive remuneration for their work and involvement in the journal.

Peer review process

All texts are reviewed by the "double-blind peer review" system, which preserves the anonymity of authors and reviewers throughout the process.

The article review process is carried out with the Open Journal System (OJS) software, which guarantees the automated and auditable electronic registration of all interactions. It is a transparent process, which enables the improvement of texts when publication is feasible.

The review process takes an average of 16 weeks, barring any incidents. Reviewers receive the request for review with a suggested timeframe and are asked to commit to avoid delays.

The review process is the same as that agreed with the rest of the communication journals associated with the Plataforma Latina de Revistas de Comunicación. 

The reviewers are provided with the MHJournal review form to establish their evaluations and send them to the author. In addition, recommendations for completing each item are included.

STEPS:

  1.   The papers received will be subjected to an initial review process by the Editorial Committee to check:

- Their relevance to the academic line of the journal.

- That they are of notable interest.

- That they conform to the journal's rules of style.

- That the author has duly completed his/her personal file and has his/her ORCID identifier.

- Plagiarism check with the Turnitin system (to speed up the process, authors are recommended to use an anti-plagiarism system and send it as a complementary document together with the article).

  1. Once this first review has been completed, the articles, without the identity of their authorship, will be submitted to a blind peer review by the Reviewers Committee, made up of professors from national and international universities of recognised prestige in their areas of knowledge.
  1. These committees will be assisted by the Scientific Committee.
  1. The same article can be sent to up to three reviewers for evaluation. It will be edited if two favourable reports are available.
  1. The reviewer's evaluation report will be sent to the author of the article for consideration. The new article that incorporates the suggestions or notes indicated by the reviewer of the text will be sent again to referee, awaiting the new report, until it is accepted, in the event that this possibility exists. There will only be two rounds of review, apart from the initial review by the Editorial Committee as indicated above. Finally, in view of the reviewers’ reports and the authors’ report on the incorporation of revisions, the editorial committee will carry out a full review of all citations in the text, both in the submitted manuscript and in the metadata in Spanish and English. Once this process is completed, the committee will, where appropriate, issue the final decision to accept or reject the manuscript.
  1. Non-observance of the rules set out in this editorial style guide will be grounds for non-publication.

Frequency of publication

A single volume is published each calendar year in electronic and print versions with Universitas Publishers (Q4 SPI, General 2018). Acceptance of texts is open throughout the year and they are published after the blind peer review process, corrections and layout in one volume with two issues: January and July. Since 2016, each volume presents around 14/26 articles.

Miguel Hernández Communication Journal envisages the publication of between two and four monographs per year.

Open access policy

This journal provides open access to its content, based on the principle that providing the public with free access to research helps to increase the global exchange of knowledge. It does not charge or pay authors for publication.

  • The content of this journal is made freely available without time restrictions.
  • No submission or processing fees are required for articles to authors.
  • The journal does not have an exemption policy (for developing countries, authors, etc.). Authors from all over the world are welcome.

Licence terms and copyright

All content in the journal is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. 

Users have the right to:

  • Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
  • Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Under the following conditions:

  • Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
  • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Repository policy

All articles published in the journal are deposited in the publisher's institutional repository: https://dspace.umh.es/

In addition, authors are permitted to deposit all versions of their paper in other institutional or subject repository after publication, both:

  • Author's Accepted Manuscript
  • Published article (Version of Record)

Backup of publications

The journal has an internal electronic backup process managed by the IT Services of the Miguel Hernández University. 

Languages of publication

It is published in Spanish and English. In any case, a summary in Spanish and an abstract in English will always be included.

Publication Ethics

Miguel Hernández Communication Journal, in line with the recommendations of the main international bodies, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (Cope), considers it necessary and important to promote ethical publishing and observes the following ethical principles throughout the editorial process:

- Freedom of expression for authors, attention to diversity and minorities.

- Freedom of decision of the reviewers and the editor. Editorial decisions will always be communicated in a reasoned manner to the authors. There are public indications on the complaints procedure in case of disagreement, specifically in the "About the journal/review policy" section of the website.

- Gender balance in the composition of the different journal boards.

- The commitment to ensure accessibility for users with text-only browsers or assistive devices, activating the tools offered by the open journal system.

- The editor's responsibility to preserve the anonymity of authors and reviewers during the review process.

- The commitment to confidentiality of data and texts on the part of reviewers and editors. The author's commitment to internationally accepted guidelines when the research involves humans or animals.

- Acknowledgement of conflicts of interest, if any. In these cases the COPE flowcharts will be followed.

- Date manipulation practices are discouraged.

- Auditable logging of all interactions.

- In cases of disputed authorship, the review process or publication of the text will be suspended until it is resolved.

- Rights are licensed under the Creative-Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0).

- The moral and ethical responsibility of authors implies:

  1. Consistency and reliability in research: it must be responsible and legal, carefully worked out, use correct methods of analysis, guarantee the results and present it properly.
  2. Honesty: no lies, falsifications or manipulation of data.
  3. Original: not published in another country or language, not submitted simultaneously to more than one publication without the editors having agreed to co-publication, subject to copyright laws and citing identifiable primary sources. The anti-plagiarism procedure followed by the journal can be consulted at this link.
  4. Transparent about sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, provision of equipment or materials, or other support.
  5. Responsibility: authors must adjust the text to the established publication standards. They must collaborate by making quick and agile corrections. They must respond to acceptance or rejection and to reviewers' suggestions.
  6. Good editorial practices in gender equality. The MH Journal applies the recommendations of the UMH Guide of Recommendations for Non-sexist and Inclusive Language.
  7. Indications on co-authorship. The degree of participation in the study will depend on the simultaneous presence of these conditions: involvement in all phases (structure, drafting and review), coordination with the other authors, contribution to obtaining funds, data collection and analysis. The order of signature will be decided by consensus and in advance. The author assumes public responsibility for the content of the article. Researchers with minor contributions will only appear in the acknowledgements.
  8. The quality of the texts is based on the process of anonymous peer review and on the option of correspondence with the editor or comments to the articles where other professionals not directly linked to the review process can express their opinions, contributing to the recognition of the scientific contributions of what has been published.

These indications are an extract from TUR-VIÑES, Victoria; FONSECA-MORA, M. Carmen; GUTIÉRREZ-SAN MIGUEL, Begoña (2012). "Ethics of scientific publication: initiatives and recommendations". El profesional de la información, vol.21, September-October, nº5, pp. 491-497.http://dx.doi.org/10.3145/epi.2012.sep.07

The journal subscribes to the COPE and Wiley (2014) Good Practice protocols. 

Conflict of Interest

During the submission process, authors must explicitly disclose any personal, professional, or financial relationship that could influence the interpretation or outcomes of the manuscript. If no such circumstances exist, they must state that there is no conflict of interest. The editorial team will review the information provided and determine whether it constitutes a potential conflict, as well as the appropriate measures to address it. If the situation cannot be resolved, the manuscript will be rejected.

Individuals designated as reviewers must refrain from assessing a manuscript when there is, or may be suspected to exist—bearing in mind that manuscripts are provided in anonymised form—any type of connection that could compromise their objectivity, whether due to personal affinity, contractual relationships, or previous collaboration. Furthermore, reviewers are required to explicitly declare the absence of any conflict of interest both before and throughout the entire evaluation process.

Misconduct Reports, Retractions, and Corrections

Any individual may contact the editor assigned to a manuscript to report alleged irregularities in published articles, such as plagiarism, data manipulation, or other inappropriate conduct. The editorial team will review the case, grant the authors a 15-day period to submit their statements, and issue a reasoned decision. If malpractice is confirmed, the article will be withdrawn and a public notice of retraction will be issued. The editorial team will always ensure the possibility of publishing retractions for any of the reasons mentioned, as well as for unintentional errors.

Similarly, if the authors of an article detect serious errors (excluding those related to spelling or grammar) after publication, they must notify the editorial team, which will assess whether it is appropriate to publish an erratum linked to the original text.

Acknowledgements, Complaints, and Suggestions

Any individual may submit acknowledgements, complaints, or suggestions via the journal’s primary contact email address (mhcjournal@gmail.com). The editorial team will receive the communication and will inform the sender of the measures taken.

Sponsors

Vice-Rectorate for Research and Transfer, Miguel Hernández University (Spain)

Department of Social and Human Sciences, Miguel Hernández University (Spain)

Digital archives preservation policy

This journal is part of the Public Knowledge Project's Private LOCKSS and CLOCKSS Network (PKP-PLN), which generates a decentralised archiving system, distributed among collaborating libraries, in order to create permanent archives of the journal for the preservation of the original contents and their restoration if necessary.

https://revistas.innovacionumh.es/index.php/mhcj/gateway/lockss

https://revistas.innovacionumh.es/index.php/mhcj/gateway/clockss

In addition, the journal develops a number of processes to ensure the permanent accessibility of the digital objects it hosts on its own servers:

- Digital preservation metadata.

- Use of DOI.

- Use of Crossref.

- Use of DOAJ.

Interoperability Protocols

This journal provides an OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) interface that allows other portals and information services to access the metadata of published content.

Specifications:

OAI-PMH Protocol

Dublin Core Metadata

Path for harvesters:

https://revistas.innovacionumh.es/index.php/mhcj/oai

Journal History

The Miguel Hernández Communication Journal was established in 2010 at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche, and from 2015 it started utilizing the OJS platform.

Reviewers Issue 2024

José Carlos Cano Zárate |Universidad de las Californias Internacional, México
Ana María Morales Nevárez |Universidad de las Californias Internacional, México
Alejandro Morales |Universidad de Chile, Chile
Félix Arias Robles |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Adrien Faure |Universidad de Barcelona, España
Francisco Albarello |Universidad Austral, Argentina
Javier Sanz Aznar |Universidad de Barcelona, España
Irene Belmonte Martín |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Salvador Rafael Giner Llopis |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Ana Isabel Martín Ares |Universidad de Coruña, España
Germán Llorca Abad |Universitat de Politécnica de València, España
José Luis González Esteban |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Leila Mohammadi |Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, España
María del Mar Suárez |Universidad de Barcelona, España
Daniela Lazcano |Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile
Javier González Torres |Universidad de Málaga, España
José Luis González Esteban |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Carlos Lopezosa |Universidad de Barcelona, España
Carmen María López Rico |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Marián Alonso González |Universidad de Sevilla, España
Juliana Campos Lobo | Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Portugal
Enrique José Chaires Velasco | Universidad de Colima, México
James Dettleff | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Perú
Luis Enrique Cruz García |Universidad de Colima, México
Jessika Villalon |Universidad de Tocantins, Brazil
Adolfo Carratalá |Universitat de València, España 
Eva Hernández Martínez |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España

Reviewers Issue 2023

Antonio Fernando Cascais |Universidad Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
Juliana Campos Lobo| Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Portugal
Uta Felten |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Sergio Rodríguez Blanco| Universidad Iberoamericana, México
Pauline Van Mourik Broekman |University College London, Inglaterra
Isabel Villegas Simón |Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España
María-José Establés |Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España
Marta Lopera Mármol| Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España
Ricardo Jimeno |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Claudiene Santos |Universidad Federal de Uberlândia, Brazil
Paloma Piqueiras-Conlledo |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Juan Manuel Corbacho |Universidad de Vigo, España
Carla Matos Mejías |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Álvaro Chavero Molina |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Galo Vásconez Merino |Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo, Ecuador
Cristian Ramón Marín Sanchiz |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Raquel Ávila Muñoz |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
José María Valero Pastor |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Beatriz Morales Fernández |Universidad de Granada, España
Julián Franco Lorenzana |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Begoña Ivars-Nicolás |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
José Carlos Cano Zárate |Universidad de las Californias Internacional, México
Magdalena López |Universidad de Salamanca, España
Javier Abuín |Universidad de Vigo, España
Álvaro González de Pablo |Universidad CEU San Pablo, España
Nekane Orella Peinado |Universidad de Navarra, España
Ana Isabel Martín Ares |Universidad de Coruña, España
Isabel María González Mesa |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Patricia Gascón |Universidad de Zaragoza, España
Sara Mariscal |Universidad de Cádiz, España
Juan Manuel Corbacho Valencia |Universidad de Vigo, España
Jesús Pérez Seoane |Universidad de Vigo, España
Rafael Marfil Carmona |Universidad de Granada, España
Victoria Cuesta Díaz |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Alba-María Martínez-Sala |Universidad de Alicante, España
Juan Manuel Barceló |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Juan Pablo Mateos Abarca |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Luis Mauro Sujatovich |Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Argentina
Ana Quiroga |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Luz Martínez Martínez |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Paloma Piqueiras-Conlledo |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Daniel Becerra Fernández |Universidad de Málaga, España
David Caldevilla |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Juan Enrique Gonzálvez |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
José Rodríguez Terceño |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España

Reviewers Issue 2022

Eva Campos Domínguez |Universidad de Valladolid, España
Estrella Alonso del Barrio |Universidad de Valladolid, España
Marta Hernando Lera |Universidad de Valladolid, España
Nuria Alabau-Tejada |Universidad Europea de Valencia, España
Dafne Calvo |Universitat de València, España
José Gamir Rios |Universitat de València, España
Marina Pascual Ortiz |Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, España
Lorena Cano |Universitat de València, España
María Díez Garrido |Universidad de Valladolid, España
Seolin Sear |Universidad de Guadalajara, México
William C Smith |University of Edinburgh, Inglaterra
James Dettleff | Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Perú
Jorge Pulla González Universidad de Alicante, España
Pablo Garrido Pintado |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Pablo Díaz Morilla |Universidad de Málaga, España
Beatriz Acuña Peña |Universidad de Huelva, España
Lorena Santos Maestre |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Gema Teso Alonso |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Joselito Fernández Tapia |Universidad de la Sierra Sur, México
Sebastian Horacio Gago Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
Ezequiel Ramon Pinat |Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, España
Pablo Andrada Sola |Universidad Pompeu Fabra, España
Marián Alonso González |Universidad de Sevilla, España
Félix Arias Robles |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano |Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España
Alicia de Lara González |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Isleny Cruz Carvajal |Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, España
Alicia Parras Parras |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Pedro Luis Pérez Díaz |Universidad Católica de Murcia, España
Ana Quiroga |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Javier Mateo |Universidad de Granada, España
Jacob Bañuelos Capistran |Tecnológico de Monterrey, México
Carmen María López Rico |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
José Antonio Jiménez de las Heras |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Julia Sabina Gutiérrez |Universidad de Alcalá, España
Javier Cossalter |Universidad Buenos Aires, Argentina
Javier Ramírez |Universidad de Granada, España
Carlos Crossocordón |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Elisa Gutiérrez |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Ángela Pavón |Universidad Pontificia Comillas, España
Uta Felten |Universidad Complutense de Madrid, España
Mercedes Durá |Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, España
Giovana Ribes | Universitat de València, España  
Sebastián Sánchez Castillo |Universidad de Valencia, España
Carlos Fernández Rodríguez |Universidad de León, España
Gonzalo Pardo Beneyto | Universitat de València, España 

Reviewers from Previous Years