Encrucijada, the journal of the Center for Studies of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, aims to provide a space for reflection and dissemination of research, analysis and critical debates on public administration through articles, case studies, contributions from experts and reviews of publications, which seek to promote a deeper understanding of practices, policies and theories in the field of public administration.

From the perspective of the journal's name, the main topics are related to government and public administration. Within this framework, it addresses the set of institutions and organizations that face complex realities, where decision-making does not refer to simple matters, but tries to fulfill a task of enormous relevance: to give order and channel the uncertainty of a public space in which there are winners and losers in the treatment of public problems, hence the decisions to be made constantly pose "institutional crossroads".

Encrucijada, expresses this complex range of interests of the Mexican and international public administration, to provide social science scholars with elements of understanding, criticism and creativity to define, redefine and address social problems and to constantly reinvent their tasks.

Encrucijada is published every four months (January-April; May-August; September-December), and is available in digital format and open access on the Internet.

       Ethical principles and malpractice statement

1. Responsibilities or behavior of the Editorial Committee
   • The Editorial Committee shall meet as often as necessary for the development and performance of the substantive tasks of the journal.
2. Responsabilities or behavior of the Director
   • The Director shall strive to satisfy the needs of readers and authors; to constantly improve the journal; to ensure the quality of the material published; to promote academic and scientific standards.
3. Responsibilities or behavior of the Editor
   • The Editor undertakes to guarantee the confidentiality of the evaluation process and will not reveal the identity of the authors to the reviewers. The Editor will not reveal the identity of the reviewers at any time.
   • The Editor assumes the responsibility of duly informing the author of the stage of the editorial process in which the submitted text is, as well as of the resolutions of the opinion.
   • The Editor must evaluate the manuscripts and their intellectual content without distinction of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy of the authors.
   • The Editor will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, or potential reviewers. 
   • Information or ideas obtained through peer review will be kept confidential and will not be used for personal advantage. The Editor must make fair and impartial decisions and ensure a fair and appropriate peer review process. 
4. Authors' responsibilities
   • Authors must guarantee that their manuscripts are the product of original work and that the data have been obtained in an ethical manner.
   • Authors must guarantee that their work has not been previously published or is not being considered in another publication. A paper will be considered as previously published when any of the following situations occur:
     1. When the complete text has been published.
     2. When extensive fragments of previously published material form part of the text submitted to the Journal.
     3. When the work submitted to the Journal is contained in proceedings published in extenso.
     4. These criteria refer to previous publications in printed or electronic form, and in any language.
   • For the publication of their papers, authors must strictly follow the rules for the publication of articles defined by the Editorial Board.
   • Authors should send to the Journal an original of the article without personal information (name, contact information, affiliation, etc.) and excluding their name from the bibliographical references in which it appears.
   • Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
   • Authors should ensure that they have written in full the original works, and if authors have used the work and/or words of other authors it must be properly cited. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical editorial conduct and is unacceptable. Consequently, any manuscript that engages in plagiarism will be eliminated and will not be considered for publication.
   • Authors should cite publications that have been influential and are referenced in the nature and body of the work presented. Information obtained privately, such as in conversations, correspondence or discussions with third parties, should not be used without explicit written permission from the source.
   • Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. The lead author(s) should ensure that all co-authors are included in the article, and that all have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
   • When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, it is his/her obligation to notify the  Director or Editor immediately.
   • All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial or other conflicts of interest that might influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.
5. Responsibilities of reviewers
   • The reviewers undertake to report any unethical conduct on the part of the authors and to point out any information that may be a reason to reject the publication of the articles. In addition, they must undertake to keep confidential the information related to the articles they evaluate.
   • For the review of the papers, the reviewers must have the guidelines to perform this task, which will be provided by the Editor and are the ones to be considered for the evaluation.
   • All selected reviewers must notify the Editor as soon as possible if they are qualified to review the research of a manuscript or if they are unable to review it.
   • Any manuscript received for review should be treated as a confidential document. It should not be shown or discussed with other experts, except with the permission of the Editor.
   • Reviewers should conduct themselves in an objective manner. Any personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly and with valid arguments.
   • Any information or ideas obtained through peer review should be confidential and not be used for personal advantage.
   • Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts (if any) in which they have a conflict of interest.

Encrucijada's editorial policy is composed of the following elements:

1. It promotes the publication of unpublished research products developed by the academic community, specialists, members of the public service of the different orders of government and students of higher and postgraduate level, who wish to make contributions on the discipline of Public Administration.
2. Articles that allow a closer understanding of the reality of public administration, with the objective of influencing it.
3. Articles that constitute a reference in the work and decision making of the vicissitudes that public administration faces permanently.
4. Articles that provide social science scholars with elements of understanding, criticism and creativity to define, redefine and address governmental and political-administrative problems.
5. Products that meet high methodological, analytical and bibliographical standards are promoted.
6. Articles that not only promote the theoretical and methodological analysis of public problems and organizations, but also establish creative and solid proposals for solutions with a scientific basis.
7. In order to be published, all articles must be submitted to the opinion of experts in each subject, according to the criteria established in the article evaluation form.
8. Encrucijada uses the iThenticate tool in each of the articles it receives, in order to prevent and detect plagiarism.
9. The articles reflect the plurality of ideas that exist around the most innovative topics in the discipline of public administration, as well as the classics.