Esfera Pública. Revista en Gobernanza y Sociedad is a venue for the dissemination of knowledge in the disciplinary field related to the public sphere, that is, to issues concerning government, management, and public policy, with an emphasis on territorial studies and the local sphere.

We are a periodical, digital, open access publication of El Colegio de Jalisco, whose purpose is to disseminate research and analysis on government, management, and public policy. We subscribe to the open science paradigm; our journal is conceived as a flexible communication medium dedicated to making generated knowledge openly available, accessible, and potentially reusable in future research.

Since the second half of 2025, Esfera Pública. Revista en Gobernanza y Sociedad has adopted a continuous publication model, organized into volumes and issues with a semiannual periodicity. This model allows contents to be published as their peer-review, editing, and copyediting processes are completed, without waiting for the full issue to close. In this way, the journal promotes more timely circulation of research results while preserving a semiannual editorial structure for the organization, citation, archiving, and preservation of its contents.

We are proud to have, in our Scientific Committee and Editorial Committee, the support of highly prestigious scholars whose trajectories provide solidity, plurality, and leadership in the fields of government, management, public policy, territorial studies, and the local sphere in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.

Open access

Esfera Pública. Revista en Gobernanza y Sociedad provides immediate open access to all its contents, without embargo periods and without requiring prior registration to consult its articles. Contents may be read, downloaded, copied, distributed, printed, searched, linked, and reused in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise expressly indicated.

License and copyright

Authors retain the economic rights over their works and grant the journal the right of first publication.

The journal’s contents are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise expressly indicated. This license allows users to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the authors, the original source of publication is cited, and any changes made are indicated.

Fees for authors and readers

The journal does not charge fees for submission, editorial processing, peer review, copyediting, layout, publication, download, or reading of articles.

It does not apply article processing charges (APCs), submission charges, page charges, color charges, manuscript withdrawal fees, or publication fees.

Editorial process and peer review

Research articles and academic essays are evaluated through peer review under a double-blind model. Each manuscript is initially reviewed by the editorial team to verify its thematic relevance, originality, compliance with editorial standards, and correspondence with the journal’s focus.

Texts approved in this preliminary review are sent to external specialists. The journal will not assign as reviewers persons affiliated with the same institution of origin as the manuscript’s authors, nor reviewers who present personal, academic, institutional, employment, or financial conflicts of interest. In the case of contradictory reports, the editorial team may request a third evaluation. The final publication decision rests with the journal’s editorial team, based on the reports received, the academic quality of the text, compliance with editorial standards, and the relevance of the contribution.

The dates of receipt and acceptance of research articles and academic essays are recorded in the published version of each article, available for individual consultation and download in PDF format.

Good editorial practices and anti-plagiarism policy

The journal promotes good editorial and academic practices. It rejects plagiarism, self-plagiarism, fabrication or falsification of data, manipulation of citations, redundant publication, simultaneous submission of manuscripts, and any practice contrary to academic integrity.

All submitted manuscripts may be reviewed using Turnitin, anti-plagiarism software used to identify textual matches, undeclared similarities, and possible misuse of sources. The result of the similarity report will not be considered, by itself, automatic proof of plagiarism, but rather an input for editorial review. The editorial team will analyze the detected matches taking into account the appropriate use of citations, references, paraphrases, common fragments, bibliography, institutional names, and other elements that may generate legitimate similarities.

When indications of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, redundant publication, inappropriate use of sources, or any other practice contrary to academic integrity are identified, the editorial team may request clarifications from authors, suspend the editorial process, reject the manuscript, notify the parties involved, or, if the problem is detected after publication, publish corrections, issue expressions of concern, or retract the article, depending on the seriousness of the case.

Authors must declare possible conflicts of interest, funding sources, use of artificial intelligence tools and, where applicable, availability of data, materials, or code. Responsibility for the originality, accuracy, proper citation, and academic integrity of the manuscript rests fully with the authors. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools is regulated in accordance with the specific policy included in the journal’s Statement on ethics, malpractice, and the use of artificial intelligence.

Open science

Esfera Pública. Revista en Gobernanza y Sociedad reaffirms its adherence to the international principles of open access and open science established in the Budapest Open Access Initiative, the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, and the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing.

In accordance with these declarations, the journal promotes the free, immediate, and economically unrestricted availability of peer-reviewed scientific literature; the responsible reuse of contents with proper acknowledgement of authorship; the preservation, interoperability, and broad circulation of academic knowledge; and the strengthening of open, transparent scholarly communication oriented toward public benefit.

This commitment is expressed through a diamond open access model, also known as platinum open access: the journal does not charge readers to consult, download, or reuse its contents, nor does it charge authors for submission, editorial processing, peer review, copyediting, layout, or publication. Contents are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0), unless otherwise expressly indicated.

Digital preservation

The journal has digital preservation mechanisms aimed at supporting the conservation, integrity, availability, and long-term recovery of its published contents.

The journal has LOCKSS and CLOCKSS enabled in its OJS platform, and preserves final files, editorial metadata, DOI, persistent identifiers, and published materials through institutional archiving procedures.

For the long-term preservation of the journal’s contents, see the section Metadata, interoperability, and digital preservation.

Editorial ownership and academic independence

Esfera Pública. Revista en Gobernanza y Sociedad is published by El Colegio de Jalisco, A. C., an academic institution dedicated to research, teaching, dissemination, and outreach in the social sciences and humanities.

The journal is non-profit, does not publish commercial advertising, and its editorial decisions are made with academic independence.