ESCENA. Revista de las artes is divided into different sections that respond to the nature of the methodologies and questions of research and/or creation in and about the arts. In each of the biannual issues, a section of academic articles can be found. In addition, each issue may include a section of reflections on a process of research and/or creation of its own or someone else's; a section of artistic works in which several original and unpublished productions will be published; a section of reviews on books of the related disciplines, or on artistic manifestations; a section with interviews to artistic exponents about their work; and, in special cases, it may contain a thematic dossier, proposed by one or several guest editors. Except for the reviews and interviews, the rest of the aforementioned sections are peer-reviewed, i.e., they undergo a double-blinded process of evaluation.
In addition to the biannual issues, ESCENA. Revista de las artes has two special publications, included in the corresponding volumes. One of them is the Suplemento Músicas de Costa Rica, which is published in collaboration with the Escuela de Artes Musicales of the Universidad de Costa Rica. The other consists of the Cuadernos de las artes, formerly called Aportes Especiales. This is a space for reflections on and from the artistic disciplines that go beyond the delimitations of academic articles. The following is a breakdown of the scope of each of the sections and supplementary publications.
Articles
It is a section devoted to the publication and dissemination of academic research results in the field of the arts in general (dramatic arts, musical arts, plastic arts, cinema, aesthetics, art history, cultural management), excluding specifically literary studies. However, comparative studies with literature are published in ESCENA. Revista de las artes. Requires abstract and keywords in Spanish and English, in addition to other guidelines indicated in the following link.
Reflections
Section designed as a space in which the artist or scholar can comment and reflect, through an academic essay, on the artistic process involved in a given creation, which may or may not be personal. As of 2023, this type of collaboration also requires an abstract and keywords in Spanish and English. For further guidelines on the format of this publication, please click here.
Artistic works
This section is a space that publishes diverse artistic productions, such as visual art works, scores, literary texts, photographic collections, among others. The contributions received in this section will be double-blinded peer reviewed, experts in the field to which the work belongs, in order to determine its originality and quality. This type of contribution does NOT require an abstract or keywords in Spanish and English. If citations are included, they must be in accordance with APA format (seventh edition).
Works in written format should be sent in OpenOffice Writer or Microsoft Office files. Sheet music should be sent in pdf format. Likewise, each image must be sent separately in .tiff, .jpeg or .png files (minimum resolution of 300 dpi). In the case of photographic series, the documents must be sent separately in .png or .jpg format in a minimum quality of 300 dpi. The works submitted must comply with the editorial specifications.
Reviews
In this section critical comments on different works and books in the field of the arts are published. Comments on musical works, films or any visual text can also be published. This section does not include a summary or keywords because it would be considered redundant, since it is a critical synthesis of a larger text, whose content and author is clearly specified in the title. If citations are included, they must be in accordance with APA format (seventh edition).
Interviews
This section opens the space for academics and professionals to divulge interviews they have conducted with artists, creators and communicators in the various fields of the arts. It is not arbitrated; however, it must be approved by the Editorial Board of our journal in order to be published.
Músicas de Costa Rica Supplement
This is a special supplementary issue associated with our publication. This new editorial contribution is the result of a collaborative agreement between ESCENA. Revista de las Artes and the School of Musical Arts of the University of Costa Rica, specifically the Archivo Histórico Musical. The objective of the supplement is to make known the different types, styles and musical works composed by national musicians and musicians. The text includes the edition of one or several scores of a Costa Rican composer, accompanied by a musicological study. The latter undergoes the respective double-blinded peer review to guarantee its academic quality.
Cuadernos de las artes
It is a section separate from the regular issue of the journal, published every four months as a special issue. This space has been created to publish academic contributions that, due to their length or some other particularity, do not meet the criteria to be published in the articles section, which enrich our editorial project in multiple ways. The following guidelines should be taken into account if you wish to make a nomination:
a. The publication process takes approximately 12 to 18 months. However, this also depends on the submissions that are ahead, so publication could take longer than this period. Due to the editorial flow, the journal is not in the position to set an exact publication date after the proposal has been approved.
b. Like the refereed sections, all submissions to the Cuadernos de las artes must be evaluated by the Editorial Board and then undergo blind peer review in order to be published.
c. The document proposed for this section must comply with all the editorial format specifications stipulated in the guidelines for authors. These include author information, publication authorization, and image publication authorization, the latter only if necessary.
Special section: Dossier
This section publishes articles, reflections and reviews of an academic-scientific nature related through a thematic axis, grouped by the guest editor, according to the guidelines dictated by our journal. The editor will propose a theme to the Editorial Board and a tentative index of the texts to be included in the section. If approved, each manuscript will be refereed, either by the Editorial Board or by external professional reviewers. When proposing the dossier, the editor must verify that the following requirements are met:
a. When the dossier is proposed, the invited editor must make an editorial-style presentation, where the subject matter to be addressed, its objective and academic relevance will be explained. Likewise, a brief presentation of each of the manuscripts to be submitted should be made. Beforehand, the guest editor should provide a tentative index of the manuscripts.
b. If the Editorial Board approves the dossier proposal, the guest editor must compile each of the manuscripts, verifying that they comply with all of the journal's guidelines. This includes the information of the authors, the authorization for publication and the authorization for publication of images, the latter only if necessary. All these documents must be signed by each of the authors. Manuscripts should be sent only by the invited editor by the means requested by the journal. Also, a letter must be signed in which the author accepts all the dossier publication policies and commits to continue the editing and publication process until the end.
c. The minimum number of manuscripts to propose a thematic dossier is five. There is no restriction on the maximum number of articles. It is necessary that at least 50 % of these proposed texts come from international authors.
d. All proposed manuscripts will go through the evaluation process of the Editorial Board. Each of the proposals will be evaluated individually, so that the members of the Board are free to request preliminary corrections to any of the manuscripts or even reject any of the proposals ad portas. Based on the results obtained, the invited editor may choose to continue the review and publication process or withdraw the application. If he/she agrees to continue the process, he/she will not be able to withdraw the dossier in subsequent stages.
e. Manuscripts belonging to refereed sections will subsequently be submitted to double-blinded peer review. Based on the results obtained for each manuscript, those recommended by international experts may be rejected. For this stage of the editorial process, the invited editor will not be able to withdraw the dossier if he/she disagrees with any of the opinions. It should also be clarified that it is the responsibility of the guest editor to communicate the results of these evaluations to the authors of the manuscripts that make up the dossier.
f. The guest editor should also be responsible for delivering all requested corrections to the manuscripts and should also be communicating to the other authors any issues that need to be corroborated in the process of revising second versions and layout.
g. In order to publish the dossier, the final layout version must be approved by the authors of each of the manuscripts and, finally, by the guest editor.