About the Journal

Focus and Scope
The Cuban Journal of Chemistry (RCQ) is the scientific publication for the dissemination of chemical sciences in Cuba, with a reach throughout Latin America. It is published by the Faculty of Natural and Exact Sciences and the Publishing Department of the Universidad de Oriente, Cuba.
RCQ is aimed at researchers, professors, students, entrepreneurs, and professionals interested in learning about or publishing the results of unpublished research in the following areas: Analytical Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Natural, Medicinal, and Pharmaceutical Products, Environmental Chemistry, Biotechnology, Nanosciences and Materials, Biochemistry, and Chemistry Teaching.
It is an Open Access journal, which has been publishing annually since January 2025, establishing continuous publication in a single annual volume with no article limit. It also dedicates space to international conferences and events related to the subject. Original articles are published continuously in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. It is registered in the National Registry of Serial Publications (RNPS) 2118 with ISSN (electronic): 2224-5421.
 
Mission
The mission of the Revista Cubana de Química is to publish and disseminate the main results of recent research developed in the field of chemistry and related fields.
 
Purposes
The publication policy of the Revista Cubana de Química covers all professionals in higher education, science, and, to a lesser extent, the industrial sector, who need to communicate the results of their scientific productions, provided they comply with the current author's instructions and their articles are approved. They also have access to the journal for information management and scientific collaboration. The Revista Cubana de Química aims to motivate specialists to develop and perfect research and provide solutions to problems, as well as increase knowledge in their fields.
 
Principles
Institutional Responsibility
Declaration. When information is published in the Revista Cubana de Química for public access, there must be clear accountability for that content.
Reason. Revista Cubana de Química is responsible for the visibility of scientific production, so any information published must always have institutional and professional support, in line with its established mission.
Implications. Documents, images, or any resource published in the journal and representing any entity must be accompanied, to the fullest extent possible, by identification of the responsible organization, the person or persons responsible for that entity, and the information published.
Support, Validity, and Maintenance of Information and Services Statement. It is important that the information made public in Revista Cubana de Química by users be adequately supported, maintained, and validated by the responsible organization.
Reason. Authors must ensure the integrity and authenticity of the information published in Revista Cubana de Química, ensuring that it adequately represents their organization's information and complies with current policies and regulations.
Implications. To guarantee this principle, compliance with the corporate purpose must be ensured and institutional resources must be used to evaluate and authorize publication.
 
Section Policies
The RCQ prioritizes the publication of original and review articles, the result of unpublished scientific research, characterized by a rigorous research methodology and with significant contributions in the specified areas of knowledge.
 
Original Articles
To communicate original research
Manuscripts must be more than 10 pages (in template format) including tables, figures, diagrams, among others. We recommend the use of Supplementary Information files for articles with excessive tables, figures, diagrams, among others, to facilitate the publication process. Review Articles These are novel bibliographic reviews in a specific field of chemistry, in which the authors express their critical opinion on the topic covered. They will be prepared at the request of the Editorial Board. Articles should not exceed 25 pages, including tables, figures, diagrams, etc. To ensure the timeliness of the information contained therein, they must have at least 60 bibliographic references from the last 10 years.
 
Peer Review Process
Peer review consists of the impartial, independent, and critical evaluation of manuscripts by experts. It is essential in the decision to publish articles and also helps to improve their quality. This journal conveniently utilizes open peer review practices.
This journal conveniently uses open peer review practices as a mechanism to promote transparency in the editorial and scientific communication process.
Revista Cubana de Química suggests that readers, authors, and reviewers consult the Open Peer Review course, located on the FOSTER Portal. This way, they can expand their knowledge of this review model.
Once the manuscript is registered, it moves to the review or refereeing process depending on the editorial flow, with the Editor-in-Chief being responsible for selecting the two referees. Referees must adhere to the refereeing regulations adopted by the journal based on the refereeing model and have up to 20 days.
If the referees disagree, a third is appointed, whose assessment will be fundamental to the final decision, which is made by the Editorial Committee and is final. Open access facilitates exchange between referees, authors, and editors.
The approximate time from receipt to publication of the article is between 3 and 6 months.
The author is informed of the Editorial Committee's decision once the review period concludes, which is done either through the website or by email. The result of the review may be: The manuscript is accepted. In this case, it proceeds to the editing and publication process. Accepted with recommendations.
The authors have 7 days to prepare a new version, taking into account the recommendations of the review process. Once received, it goes through the review process again for the final decision.
If the corrected work is not received 15 days after the submission of the referees, the manuscript is automatically rejected. Rejected. Refers to articles that do not comply with the journal's publication standards.
 
Open Access Policy
Cuban Journal of Chemistry provides immediate Open Access to its content, based on the principle of offering the public free and open access to research, which contributes to a greater global exchange of knowledge. Its content is freely and universally accessible, at no cost to the reader, through the Internet or any other means. More information at: http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/translations/spanish-translation
In accordance with this open access policy, Revista Cubana de Química is published under a Creative Commons license type CC-BY-NC-ND. This means that you are free to share, copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format, provided that you comply with the following terms:
You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests that you or your use is endorsed by the licensor.
You must not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
The journal is currently hosted on preprint servers as part of the Scielo-Cuba collection requirements. Opening its editorial flow to continuous publication as much as possible, which accelerates the process of communicating research and thus facilitates its availability to users for reading and citation.
Promotes the openness of research data and encourages authors to publicly post and reference the data they consider in their research, so that it can be shared and reused, thus facilitating transparency and credibility.
 
Archive
This journal uses the LOCKSS program to create a distributed storage system among participating libraries and allows the creation of permanent archives within the journal for preservation and restoration purposes. More...
 
Publication Frequency
Revista Cubana de Química is published annually, as it is a continuous publication. It also publishes special issues requested one year in advance, generally linked to scientific conferences related to the journal's thematic axes.
 
Ethical Statement and Publishing Malpractice
The editorial team of Revista Cubana de Química is committed to ensuring the ethics and quality of the published articles, based on the code of conduct and good practices that the International Committee on Scientific Publication Ethics (COPE) defines for editors of scientific journals. Therefore, authors, referees, and those responsible for the journal must fulfill the duties and rights detailed below.
 
Authors'
Duties
Submit their manuscripts for publication, having previously adapted the author's instructions.
Submit their articles based on honest observations or reviews and assume public responsibility for their content.
Await the results of the peer review process within the allotted timeframe.
Submit modified articles after taking into account the referees' and editors' suggestions within a period of no more than 7 days.
Accept the impartiality and integrity of the experts designated to evaluate the articles.
Write to the editor-in-chief of the journal to communicate their considerations related to the peer review process.
 
Rights
Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish the reviewed and accepted versions of their papers online before publication (postprint), as this facilitates earlier circulation and dissemination.
To protect the open dissemination of content and prevent its commercial exploitation, the authors electronically sign or accept the corresponding forms and conditions to assign the distribution and reproduction rights to third parties.
THE AUTHOR grants the JOURNAL the rights to the published works, which entitles it to: Reproduce the article, as well as its translated, adapted, or summarized version, in whole or in part, and make it available to the public in print or electronic form, combined or not with third-party works, with online or offline access.
Reproduce the article by photocopying, subject to legal limitations.
 
Referees
Duties
Review the content of the articles as quickly as possible, but not to exceed 15 business days. Consult the state of the art in the field to evaluate the originality of the assigned manuscripts. Waive the peer review of any scientific paper if any conflict of interest with the primary author (personal relationships, academic rivalry, or other) could prejudice their assessment of the content.
Do not use the information contained in peer-reviewed works to advance their own claims before publication. Respect the copyright, which includes not discussing or publicly commenting on the content of unpublished articles or the results of their peer-review.
Clearly indicate the suggested modifications or the criteria used to reject the work.
 
Rights
Receive digital drafts without erasures or corrections and accompanied by the official form for content evaluation. Reject papers that have not been formally submitted by the editor-in-chief. Stay informed of any changes or updates to the instructions to authors. Re-review the peer-reviewed article, subject to modifications, to verify whether their criteria were taken into account.
 
Journal Editors
Duties
Formally review the received article before submitting it to the referee and return it to the author if it does not meet the established requirements. Ensure open peer review of papers that comply with established standards.
Consult the author regarding any questions, concerns, or substantial changes to the content that arise during the editorial process. Deliver the results of the review directly to the author.
Process the publication in the Cuban Journal of Chemistry of papers approved by the referees and the editorial committee. Exceptionally, issue the official certificate of publication in process due to urgent scientific or educational needs.
 
Rights
Reject papers deemed unsuitable, propose text modifications, delete tables and figures, improve the style, and eliminate linguistic errors, always respecting the content and obtaining the author's prior approval when deemed necessary.
Remove from the current issue of the journal and place in another issue any article whose author does not complete certain requested information within a period of no more than 72 hours.
THE EDITOR undertakes to respect the moral rights of the author and, consequently, to maintain the integrity of the information, protecting it from alterations or modifications other than those necessary for the publication of the work, which generate inaccuracies or undermine the image of the journal or the author.
 
Conflict of Interest
Public confidence in the peer review process and the credibility of published articles depend in part on how conflicts of interest are addressed before and during the editorial process. A conflict of interest exists when an author (or the institution to which they belong), reviewer, or editor has personal or financial relationships that may interfere with or influence their judgments regarding the preparation, evaluation, or publication of a manuscript. If there is a conflict of interest among any of the parties involved—authors, referees, or editors—it must be immediately reported in writing to the journal's editor. Conflicts related to the protection of the aforementioned intellectual property are subject to the discretion of the competent Cuban authority under the legislation in force in the Republic of Cuba.
 
Procedure for dealing with anomalous conduct
Complaints and claims that various interested parties may raise regarding actions considered incorrect and contrary to the principles that inspire this Declaration of Ethics and Malpractice will be submitted to the Editorial Committee of Revista Cubana de Química, or, where appropriate, to the Editor-in-Chief, at the time they occur. The interested party must provide all available information to facilitate the investigation and analysis of the aforementioned action. Once the necessary information has been collected and analyzed, the RCQ Editorial Committee will assess the measures to be taken, deciding in each case the appropriate manner in which the perpetrators of the malpractice will be reprimanded and the repercussions of this conduct on future relations with them.
 
Fees and Advertising
At the Cuban Journal of Chemistry, peer review, editing, and publication of contributions are completely free for authors.
There is no commercial or for-profit use of any kind, nor is advertising accepted or hosted for any product, person, or service mentioned.
 
Content Licensing
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This journal provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle that offering the public free access to research contributes to a greater global exchange of knowledge.
The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons license type CC-BY-NC-ND. This means that you are free to share, copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format, provided you comply with the following terms: 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 that you or your use is endorsed by the licensor.
-You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
-If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
 
Plagiarism Policy
Authors are responsible for the opinions expressed in their work and must ensure that the articles are original and have not been submitted to other publications. They also assume responsibility for ensuring that the authorship includes only individuals who have made an intellectually significant contribution to the development of the work.
The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) considers plagiarism to include theft, misappropriation of intellectual property, and substantial unattributed verbatim copying of another person's work. "Theft or misappropriation of intellectual property includes the unauthorized use of unique ideas or methods obtained through a privileged communication, such as a grant or manuscript review."
All articles received by Revista Cubana de Química are verified by the editors before and during the publication process, using the free software Plagiarisma. It can detect plagiarism in more than 190 languages, uses different search engines, and supports a large number of document extensions.
Reviewers and members of the Editorial Committee can also detect this malpractice. If any type of plagiarism is detected during review and processing (5-20%), the author will be notified, and the article must be modified. However, if it exceeds 20%, the author(s) must submit it with the new modifications. Readers are requested to inform the RCQ Editorial Committee if plagiarism is detected by sending the article title, author(s) name(s), volume, issue, and year of publication to the following email address: revcubanaquimica@uo.edu.cu.
Revista Cubana de Química does not encourage any form of plagiarism, so we recommend reviewing the content of your article before submitting it, as well as taking careful care with the use of citations and bibliographic references.
 
Journal Sponsors
Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
 
Journal History
The Revista Cubana de Química (Cuban Journal of Chemistry) was founded in 1985. Over time, it has evolved and adapted to the demands of the databases in which it is included.
The journal's emergence is closely linked to the development of chemical sciences in the country, particularly in the eastern region. The Universidad de Oriente played a decisive role as the first university in the country to offer a program in Industrial Chemical Engineering, followed by programs in Physical and Chemical Sciences and Sugar Chemical Expertise. These programs later led to the creation of a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry, thanks to the incorporation of some of its students into the latter.
During the early years of the Revolution, a series of events catalyzed the development of chemistry within the University of Oriente. This included the creation of the Center for Chemical Research, which from its inception fostered the need to disseminate the results of the scientific research being conducted at the time. In 1964, the first chemistry event was held at the University of Oriente, later known as the Chemical Conference, and twenty-one years later, the first issue of the RCQ was published.
It is important to emphasize that the Chemistry Conferences held since 1964 were characterized primarily by the need to establish a society that would unite the country's chemists. This was achieved in the 1970s. It was within the framework of its 11th edition, held in conjunction with the 2nd Congress of the Cuban Chemical Society from January 22 to 25, 1985, at the Universidad de Oriente, that the publication of the first issue of the RCQ was finally approved. From its inception, the RCQ's objective was to promote scientific exchange and the dissemination of the activities of specialists linked to this science in the country and abroad. From this date on, what we call the first or founding stage of the RCQ began, characterized by the majority of original articles in the field of carbohydrate and laterite chemistry, in line with the development of these branches in the country at that time.
This first stage of the RCQ is characterized by growing development since its inception and by achieving international visibility despite being published in paper format.
Despite some limitations that affected its print publication between 1985 and 1997, the RCQ maintained a high prestige in the national and international chemical community. Particularly noteworthy during this period are the efforts made by the leadership of the Cuban Chemical Society, the dedication of the Journal's Editorial Board, and the dedication of many directors at the Universidad de Oriente to keep the publication alive.
To make RCQ issues available in digital format, the paperback issues were digitized, thus completing most of the volumes in digital format, which continues to this day.
Currently, the journal is published by the Ediciones UO imprint of the Universidad de Oriente. It is published continuously, with an annual frequency, although it also publishes special issues for events related to the journal's themes from the Universidad de Oriente and the Cuban Chemical Society.
The journal is indexed in: SciELO, DOAJ, Redalyc, Latindex, Google Scholar, REDIB, MIAR, Sherpa Romeo, LatinREV, Advanced Science Index, refseek, WorldCat, ISSN PORTAL, loop, and DORA.
 
Digital Preservation Policy
The Cuban Journal of Chemistry is committed to ensuring the long-term preservation and permanent access to its digital content for the global academic community. Recognizing the inherent technological challenges, we implemented a multiple and redundant preservation strategy.
Preservation Strategies Implemented:
-Preservation in the UO Institutional Repository: A full backup copy is maintained in the Universidad de Oriente institutional repository, ensuring preservation within the publishing institution itself.
-Preservation in International Repositories:
  • SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online): We deposit and maintain the entire collection in the SciELO Cuba Collection. SciELO is not only a visibility portal, but a consolidated digital preservation program that uses international protocols and standards (such as the XML JATS criteria), guaranteeing high-level technical preservation and maximum international visibility.
  • CLACSO-REDALYC: We prioritize our storage in the CLACSO (Latin American Council of Social Sciences) and Redalyc network repositories due to their cooperation agreements with Cuban institutions, their focus on Latin America, and their barrier-free access. These repositories provide a layer of preservation outside of Cuba.

-Internal Technical and Format Strategies: Master Files and Redundancy: Maintains master copies in preservation formats (PDF/A) and metadata in XML on the Universidad de Oriente servers, with regular backups on physical disks stored in separate locations. This protects against technical failures and natural disasters.

 
About this publishing system
This journal uses Open Journal Systems 3.2.1-4, which is open access journal management software developed, supported, and freely distributed by the Public Knowledge Project under the GNU General Public License.
The Cuban Journal of Chemistry implements the OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol to ensure maximum interoperability with international indexing systems and repositories.
OAI-PMH endpoint: https://cubanaquimica.uo.edu.cu/index.php/cq/oai
External systems can automatically harvest our metadata for indexing, preservation, and distribution, facilitating open access to our scientific production.