About the Journal | Spanish Journal of Canon Law

1. History and background

The Spanish Journal of Canon Law (REDC) was founded in 1946, shortly after the creation of the Faculty of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Salamanca. Since its inception, the REDC has established itself as one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the field of canon law in the Spanish language.

For almost 80 years, it has published contributions from leading specialists in ecclesiastical law, canonical matrimonial law, canonical procedural law, theology of law, and ecclesiastical discipline. It is currently published twice a year (two issues per year).

2. Focus and subject area

The REDC is dedicated to scientific research in canon law, with both historical and systematic approaches. Its articles address topics such as:

Canonical matrimonial law
Canonical procedural law
Canonical criminal law
Canonical property law
Ecclesiastical law of the State
Law of the People of God
Law of the sacraments
History of canon law
Church-State relations
Statutes and autonomy of particular Churches
Clergy, laity, and associations
Church hierarchy
Bioethics and canon law
Holy See regulations
Diocesan and episcopal conference regulations

The journal also publishes book reviews, critical notes, relevant documents, and proceedings of conferences or academic seminars.

3. Open access policy

The REDC adheres to the principle of open access under the Gold OA model:

All content is free and immediately accessible upon publication.
It is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Readers may read, download, copy, and distribute the articles, provided that the authorship is acknowledged, they are not used for commercial purposes, and no derivative works are made.

The journal is available at:

UPSA portal: https://revistas.upsa.es
Dialnet, ISOC-CSIC, Latindex, MIAR, DOAJ, among other indexes and databases.

4. Copyright and licenses

By submitting a manuscript to the REDC, authors:
Retain the copyright of their work.
Grant the Pontifical University of Salamanca the exclusive right of publication, under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Ensure that the work is original, has not been previously published, and is not currently under review by another journal.

Legal notice: Any infringement of copyright will be the sole responsibility of the author.

5. Ethics and good publishing practices

The REDC is governed by the ethical principles of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics):

Double-blind: The review process is anonymous and rigorous.
Plagiarism and self-plagiarism: All manuscripts are checked using specialized software.
Conflicts of interest: Authors, reviewers, and editors must declare any conflicts of interest.
Corrections and retractions: Errata or retractions will be published if necessary, following international protocols.

6. Sponsorship and funding statement

The Revista Española de Derecho Canónico is published on a non-profit basis by the Pontifical University of Salamanca.

It does not receive commercial advertising or external sponsorship.
It does not charge authors publication fees (APC).
Its funding comes entirely from UPSA institutional resources.
The journal is published with the support of the UPSA Faculty of Canon Law.

7. Digital preservation and long-term archiving

The REDC guarantees the long-term digital preservation of its content through its inclusion in secure archiving systems.

8. Privacy policy and data processing

UPSA complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and current Spanish legislation:

The personal data of authors, reviewers, and readers are processed solely for editorial and academic purposes.
They are not transferred to third parties or used for commercial purposes.
Users may exercise their rights of access, rectification, erasure, and portability before the journal's Secretariat.

9. Information for authors and reviewers

Requirements for authors: