Scope and focus
MORPHEÚS is the digital Psychology journal of Universidad Marista de Querétaro. Published annually, it is open access, double-blind peer-reviewed, and free of charge for both authors and readers.

Its aim is to disseminate works that explore the psychological phenomenon from academic, methodological, clinical, psychoanalytic, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary perspectives, as well as literary texts that—through narrative, lyric, or drama—open new paths for thinking about the human.

The journal seeks to articulate scientific grounding with critical, reflective, and creative dimensions, offering a plural space for knowledge building and dialogue among psychology, psychoanalysis, and related disciplines.

MORPHEÚS receives contributions in Spanish and English, with bilingual metadata (title and abstract in both languages).

Accepted contribution types
MORPHEÚS receives:

• Research articles.
• Review articles.
• Essays (argumentative, critical, interpretive, or theoretical).
• Clinical or applied case studies.
• Critical reviews of books, academic productions, films, or cultural works relevant to psychology and related disciplines.
• Hybrid texts (narrative case histories, literary analyses from a psychological lens, or other mixed formats combining academic grounding with narrative or creative resources).
• Creative texts: short narrative, poetry, and drama with a psychological dimension.

Each contribution must be submitted to the corresponding section, as detailed below.

Journal sections

Amapolas
Space for academic texts linked to the thematic axis defined for each issue by the Editorial Committee. It includes research articles, essays, reviews, and overviews that offer theoretical, clinical, methodological, or inter- and transdisciplinary dialogue around the call’s topic, fostering collective and critical analysis in psychology.

Alas
Open section for academic contributions on free topics within psychology and psychoanalysis. It receives research articles, theoretical essays, and reviews that engage with professional practice, contemporary psychological thought, and critical approaches from other disciplines.

Ébano
Section dedicated to narrative, lyric, and drama. It gathers literary texts that explore human experience and its psychological dimension from a creative perspective, constituting a sensitive and symbolic space for thinking the human beyond empirical data, in dialogue with critical and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Texts published in Ébano will be accompanied by a brief justification written by the author and an analytical postface prepared by a psychology specialist designated by the journal. This scheme seeks to enrich critical reading by articulating the literary dimension with academic reflection.

MORPHEÚS adopts leading international frameworks in editorial ethics and guarantees their application throughout all processes. Editorial decisions, manuscript evaluation, and the resolution of malpractice cases are guided by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). The journal also follows the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA, 7th ed.) for citation and references as well as ethical principles in psychological and psychoanalytic research. Authorship definition, contribution recognition, and conflict-of-interest disclosure follow the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), complemented by the CRediT taxonomy, while works involving human research must declare compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The specific policy on plagiarism and self-plagiarism is detailed in Section VII.

Responsibilities of authors, editors, and reviewers

Authors are responsible for the originality of their work, for declaring conflicts of interest, for upholding ethical principles, and for handling research data responsibly. They must also respond clearly and promptly to editor and reviewer comments. Editors are guarantors of a transparent, fair, and bias-free process, and they safeguard manuscript confidentiality and personal data protection throughout the editorial workflow. Reviewers must evaluate objectively, constructively, and confidentially, avoid conflicts of interest, and refrain from using reviewed information for personal benefit; they are also responsible for promptly notifying the editor if they detect ethical violations, undeclared conflicts, or data irregularities.

Conflict of interest disclosure

All participants in the editorial process—authors, editors, and reviewers—must declare possible financial, institutional, personal, or ideological conflicts. The Editorial Committee may request clarifications and, in significant cases, reject or reassign collaborations to protect process integrity.

Corrections, retractions, and errata

• Corrections: applied to minor errors that do not affect the validity of the work (e.g., citations, tables, names).
• Retractions: applied in cases of plagiarism, data falsification, serious errors, or ethical violations. The article will remain accessible but clearly identified as retracted.
• Errata: applied to editorial errors attributable to the journal (e.g., relevant typographical or pagination issues).

All such measures follow COPE guidelines and are publicly communicated by the journal.

Transparency and social responsibility

MORPHEÚS promotes transparency in all processes and reaffirms its commitment to the social responsibility of research. It encourages publication of works that address relevant issues and acknowledge the diversity of contexts, populations, and approaches. In line with the journal’s identity, the production of situated, critical knowledge in dialogue among psychology, psychoanalysis, and related disciplines is prioritized.

Confidentiality and data protection

Authors must ensure confidential and responsible handling of data obtained in their research, in accordance with current legal regulations on personal data protection. The Editorial Committee will verify that this obligation is explicitly addressed in submitted manuscripts.

Inclusion and non-discrimination

MORPHEÚS maintains an active commitment to inclusion and rejects all forms of discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, religion, ideology, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status—both in the content of published works and throughout the editorial process.

Manuscript receipt
MORPHEÚS receives contributions through its OJS platform, the preferred and mandatory route as of Vol. 4. On a transitional basis, submissions may also be sent via institutional email; in such cases, the editorial team will register the materials in the system to ensure traceability and transparency.

The initial review of submissions is conducted within a maximum of 2 weeks. Manuscripts must be original and unpublished, align with the journal’s scope and the corresponding section (Amapolas, Alas, Ébano), and include complete metadata (title, authors, affiliation, ORCID, keywords, and abstract). Submissions must also include the Declaration of Originality and Ethical Commitment, the conflict-of-interest statement, and, where applicable, the ethics declaration (APA/Helsinki) and the declaration of AI use (see Section VI).

Preliminary review (Desk Review)

Before peer review, the Editorial Committee performs an initial verification within up to 2 weeks to confirm thematic relevance, compliance with APA (7th ed.) citation standards, inclusion of the required ethical declarations, and absence of plagiarism or duplication through detection tools.

Possible outcomes include: initial rejection due to incompatibility or serious shortcomings; a request for technical adjustments prior to evaluation; or acceptance to proceed to peer review.

Copyright/License Agreement

All authors must sign the Copyright/License Agreement when submitting a manuscript. This document is mandatory for the work to enter the editorial process and establishes that:

• The manuscript may be submitted to peer review under the journal’s editorial conditions.
• If accepted, authors authorize MORPHEÚS to reproduce, distribute, and publicly communicate the article under the adopted open access model.
• The transfer is non-exclusive and fully respects the contributors’ moral authorship; authors retain ownership of their work.

The agreement is signed at the beginning of the process but only takes full effect if the manuscript is accepted for publication (see also Section V on Copyright and Open Access).

Assignment of reviewers

Once the preliminary review is passed, the manuscript is sent for double-blind peer review. Reviewers are selected based on specialization and absence of conflicts of interest. Assignment occurs within a maximum of 1 week after desk review.

Each manuscript will receive two external evaluations; a third may be requested in case of discrepancy. Reviewers must accept the invitation by signing a Confidentiality and Ethical Commitment Declaration and will receive the anonymized manuscript together with the applicable evaluation criteria.

Internal and external reviewers constitute a pillar of the editorial process through double-blind peer review. They include UMQ Faculty of Psychology professors as well as invited specialists from other institutions. Their responsibility is to issue objective, well-founded reports on the quality and relevance of manuscripts. To acknowledge their contribution, MORPHEÚS publishes in each issue a list of participating reviewers, without linking them to specific articles and preserving process confidentiality.

Peer review (double-blind)

The first round decision is issued within up to 6 weeks. Reviews consider core criteria—originality, grounding, relevance, expository clarity, updated references, and ethics—and section-specific criteria.

Recommendations may include:

• Acceptance without changes.
• Minor changes: authors must respond within up to 3 weeks.
• Major changes: authors will have up to 9 weeks to respond, depending on complexity.
• Rejection.

Revision check: reviewers will verify corrections within a maximum of 2 weeks, with the possibility of 1 additional week if further changes are required. For major revisions, the author must submit a detailed response letter, which the reviewers will cross-check.

Editorial decision and author communication

The Editorial Committee issues the final decision within a maximum of 2 weeks after receiving the peer reports. Resolutions are communicated via the OJS system or institutional email, including a summary of reviewer comments and instructions for preparing a new version when applicable. Authors are given reasonable deadlines—adjusted to the magnitude of changes—to deliver the revised version. Withdrawal of manuscripts during this process will only be accepted with valid justification and at the Committee’s discretion.

Editing and final proofs

Accepted works proceed to copyediting, technical editing, and galley preparation over approximately 3 to 4 weeks. Authors must review proofs within the indicated timeframe and approve them before publication. Only minor formal corrections are allowed, not substantive modifications. The Editorial Committee ensures correct incorporation of metadata and references.

Publication and dissemination

MORPHEÚS maintains an annual publication model, closing in April. However, accepted articles may be released early on the OJS platform starting in August of the previous year, ensuring early availability of contents and offsetting the annual periodicity.

Each issue is organized into the defined sections (Amapolas, Alas, Ébano) and may be complemented with special issues approved by the Committee. Final integration of the issue takes place within a maximum of 2 weeks after the close of editing.

MORPHEÚS adopts the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) to determine who qualifies as an author. Only those who have contributed substantially to the conception or design of the study; to data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation; who participated in drafting or critically revising the manuscript; who approve the final version; and who assume shared responsibility for the integrity of the entire work will be considered authors.

In addition to these criteria, authors are asked to describe their specific contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy), detailing roles such as conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, drafting, review and editing, or supervision. This practice ensures transparency and avoids ambiguities regarding each contributor’s participation.

The order of authorship must be consensually agreed upon by all co-authors before submission. The Editorial Committee will not intervene in disputes on this matter; any disagreement must be resolved internally by the authors prior to submission.

Individuals who collaborate in a secondary capacity—such as technical support, administrative assistance, translation, ad hoc advising, or other contributions that do not meet authorship criteria—must be acknowledged in the Acknowledgments section. This recognition is part of MORPHEÚS’ editorial policy to ensure transparency in the publication process and to value collaborative work beyond formal authorship.

All authors jointly share ethical and academic responsibility for the manuscript. If irregularities such as plagiarism, data falsification, or serious errors are detected, responsibility will rest with all signatories.

MORPHEÚS publishes its contents under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, unless otherwise authorized by the Editorial Committee. This license ensures that articles can be freely consulted and shared, provided original authorship is acknowledged, access remains free of charge, and no modifications or commercial uses are made.

Authors retain moral and intellectual ownership of their work at all times. The authorization granted to MORPHEÚS for reproduction, distribution, and public communication of articles is established in the assignment/license agreement signed at submission. This grant is non-exclusive, allowing authors to reuse and disseminate their work in repositories or personal platforms, provided the original publication is cited.

The journal permits self-archiving in institutional and thematic repositories at all stages: as a preprint (before peer review, indicating its provisional nature), as a postprint (the accepted version after review), and as the published open-access version, with the official link to the journal’s OJS platform.

MORPHEÚS maintains a firm commitment to open access and free publication, guaranteeing that neither authors nor readers must cover processing or publishing costs.

Finally, the Editorial Committee promotes the inclusion of articles in indexes, databases, and academic repositories to ensure maximum visibility and international impact of the published works.

MORPHEÚS recognizes the growing relevance of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in research and academic production and sets clear guidelines to ensure their use aligns with the principles of transparency, responsibility, and integrity.

Guiding principles

AI use at any stage of manuscript preparation must adhere to three fundamental principles: Transparency, by explicitly declaring its use; Responsibility, by affirming that intellectual authorship and responsibility for content rest solely with human authors; and Integrity, by ensuring AI is used as support rather than a substitute for critical thinking and originality.

AI use declaration

When an author uses these tools, they must include an Appendix on the Use of Artificial Intelligence at the end of the manuscript, after the references and before the appendices. MORPHEÚS provides a reference template for this purpose. The declaration must specify the tool used (name, company, version) and clearly detail how it was employed.

Permitted and prohibited uses

• Permitted: grammar/style support, translation, synthesis of information selected by the author, generation of graphic resources under the author’s instructions, and auxiliary contrasts in theoretical discussions.
• Prohibited: attributing authorship to AI, generating texts without the author’s critical review, manipulating or fabricating data, or delegating scientific validation to automated systems.

Use by reviewers and editors

Reviewers are prohibited from drafting reports with AI support, as evaluation requires critical judgment and expertise that cannot be delegated. Non-compliance will result in exclusion from future collaborations.

The editorial team may only use AI for auxiliary functions, such as similarity checks or grammar support, always under direct human supervision. No acceptance/rejection decision may be based on the use of such tools.

Implementation and visibility

The AI policy is an integral part of the Editorial Policies of MORPHEÚS and will be published visibly on the journal’s official website. The Editorial Committee will also promote periodic training of its team in detecting AI-generated text and in the ethical handling of these technologies. Non-compliance will be considered an ethical breach and may lead to rejection or retraction of the manuscript.

MORPHEÚS maintains a strict commitment to the originality and academic integrity of the works it publishes. All manuscripts are reviewed by the Editorial Committee to identify possible textual overlaps or practices that may constitute plagiarism or self-plagiarism.

Plagiarism is understood as the total or partial reproduction of others’ texts without proper acknowledgment, and self-plagiarism as the reuse of one’s previously published work without citation or justification. The journal carefully distinguishes between plagiarism and features intrinsic to academic writing—such as referenced quotations, bibliographic references, common technical expressions, or standardized methodological fragments—which do not constitute malpractice.

Detection of irregularities is based on qualitative editorial review and, in specific cases, may be supported by similarity-checking tools as an auxiliary resource—but never as the definitive criterion. The final decision always rests with the Editorial Committee.

If plagiarism or self-plagiarism is detected during evaluation, the manuscript will be immediately rejected and the authors notified of the reason. If detection occurs after publication, the article will be retracted following COPE guidelines: it will remain accessible on the OJS platform, accompanied by an editorial note explicitly explaining the reasons.

By submitting a manuscript to MORPHEÚS, authors declare under ethical commitment that their work is original, unpublished, and respects academic citation principles. Breach of this declaration constitutes a serious ethical violation and may limit participation in future issues of the journal.

The MORPHEÚS Editorial Team is composed of academic, operational, and institutional bodies that together guarantee the journal’s quality, legitimacy, and continuity.

Institutional support

In accordance with the guidelines of Universidad Marista de Querétaro, the Editorial Team has the endorsement of the Rector’s Office, General Secretariat, Academic Directorate, and the Faculty of Psychology, who formally accompany and support the editorial work.

The MORPHEÚS Editorial Committee is the collegiate body responsible for accompanying the journal’s academic and ethical process. Its function goes beyond administrative oversight; it operates as a space for collective deliberation that ensures editorial coherence, content integrity, and academic quality.

Editorial Committee

The Committee is composed of scholars and professionals in psychology and related disciplines, from Universidad Marista de Querétaro and external national and international institutions.

Its role is collegiate and decision-making. It defines the journal’s thematic scope, ensures editorial coherence, and deliberates on acceptance or rejection of manuscripts based on peer-review reports. It also safeguards adherence to ethical policies, process transparency, and disciplinary and institutional diversity in publications.

The Committee exercises its functions collectively, preventing responsibility from falling on a single member, and ensures that all decisions are clearly documented and communicated to the academic community in a timely manner.

Editorial Board

The Editorial Board is composed of academics, professionals, and specialists from Universidad Marista de Querétaro and external institutions and professionals.

Its role is consultative and supportive. It includes reviewers, methodological advisors, subject-matter specialists, and external critics who collaborate in building content, evaluating editorial structure, and continuously improving the journal.

Unlike the Editorial Committee, the Board does not have final decision-making authority regarding acceptance or rejection of articles; it acts as a technical and academic advisory body that ensures diversity of perspectives and strengthens editorial quality.

Operational Editorial Team

The Operational Editorial Team is made up of internal members of Universidad Marista de Querétaro who participate directly in the journal’s production and technical management.

Its role is to ensure the day-to-day operation of the editorial project. It comprises those responsible for copyediting and style, design editing, web development, and legal support, who work in coordination to ensure text quality, graphic presentation, and proper publication on the OJS platform.

Unlike the Committee and the Board, the Operational Team does not take part in academic deliberation or editorial decision-making on manuscripts; it focuses on the technical, communicative, and administrative processes that enable the journal’s integral functioning.

Exogeneity and transition

In line with Latindex Catalog 2.0 criteria (“Editorial openness”), at least two-thirds of the members of collegiate editorial bodies should belong to institutions different from the publishing entity. MORPHEÚS acknowledges this standard as an international reference and adopts it as a medium- and long-term goal.

This principle of openness applies to both the Editorial Committee and the Editorial Board and includes the participation of guest writers and external collaborators in the literary sphere, enriching diversity of perspectives without displacing the active presence of UMQ students, faculty, and the broader academic body—who maintain a fundamental role in building and consolidating the journal.

Given the current consolidation stage, a gradual transition plan is established:

• Short term: ensure a minimum of 30% external members.
• Medium term: move toward parity (50% internal – 50% external).
• Long term: reach the 60–67% external standard, in line with Latindex criteria and international best practices.

MORPHEÚS declares that its funding comes from Universidad Marista de Querétaro, with no charges for publication or reading. Institutional backing ensures operational stability, while the journal maintains a commitment to editorial openness, welcoming contributions from authors, reviewers, and committee members both internal and external to UMQ.

Published works must indicate research funding sources and any potential conflicts of interest, where applicable. The journal also promotes the openness of data and materials that enable study replicability, provided confidentiality of participants is not compromised.

The journal fosters disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity, ensuring the inclusion of multiple approaches in psychology, psychoanalysis, and related areas, in line with its critical and plural identity.

MORPHEÚS maintains clear institutional channels for communication with authors, reviewers, and readers. All official correspondence is carried out through the journal’s institutional email and the OJS platform.

Authors may submit inquiries, complaints, or appeals regarding the editorial process through the same channels, and these will be promptly addressed by the Editorial Committee. A transparent and respectful feedback process is guaranteed, with the possibility of requesting collegiate review in cases of disagreement.

The Editorial Committee also encourages feedback from readers and collaborators as part of its commitment to continuous improvement.