Guide

Step-by-Step SciELO Preparation for Scientific Journals

Operational guide to prepare a complete issue in SciELO SPS format: from accepted manuscript to validated package ready for delivery to the coordinator.

Preparing an issue for SciELO is not a single technical step at issue closure: it is an editorial workflow with clear milestones, defined responsibilities, and intermediate validations. This guide describes the complete process —from accepted manuscript to validated SPS package— so directors and production teams can plan timelines, resources, and deliverables without surprises during indexing.

For detailed technical requirements, complement this guide with the article on SciELO XML requirements.

Phase 0: Editorial prerequisites

Before producing XML, confirm the journal meets SciELO admission criteria: open access with Creative Commons license, active electronic ISSN, documented editorial board, and peer review policy. Without these elements, no XML package will be admitted.

Assign an internal coordinator responsible for communication with your national SciELO collection coordinator and maintain a record of editorial decisions (mandatory languages, image formats, ID conventions).

Phase 1: Structured metadata collection

Do not wait for XML conversion to collect metadata. Use a structured form per article including:

Title, subtitle, and translation when the collection requires it.
Authors with structured name, ORCID, role (corresponding author), and complete affiliation.
Abstract and keywords in each required language.
Received, accepted, and publication dates.
Registered or pending DOI.
Funding, conflicts of interest, and license.

<article-meta>
  <article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1234/j.2026.015</article-id>
  <title-group>
    <article-title>Article title</article-title>
    <trans-title-group xml:lang="es">
      <trans-title>Título del artículo en español</trans-title>
    </trans-title-group>
  </title-group>
  <history>
    <date date-type="received">
      <day>10</day><month>02</month><year>2026</year>
    </date>
    <date date-type="accepted">
      <day>05</day><month>06</month><year>2026</year>
    </date>
  </history>
</article-meta>

Incomplete metadata at this stage generates costly rework during validation.

Phase 2: Conversion to JATS Archiving

Convert each approved manuscript to JATS XML conforming to the Archiving profile, the basis of the SPS schema. Common sources are styled Word, LaTeX, or native PDF; difficulty varies with source quality.

Minimum <body> structure:

<body>
  <sec sec-type="intro">
    <title>Introduction</title>
    <p>Article content...</p>
  </sec>
  <sec sec-type="methods">
    <title>Materials and methods</title>
    <p>Methodological description...</p>
  </sec>
</body>

Tag figures in <fig> and tables in <table-wrap> with unique IDs. Link images with correct relative paths and xlink namespace declared on the root element:

<article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
         article-type="research-article"
         dtd-version="1.3">

If your team lacks internal capacity, the JATS XML production service covers conversion, tagging, and initial validation.

Phase 3: Reference normalization

SciELO favors structured references. Convert free-text citations to <element-citation>:

<ref id="ref1">
  <element-citation publication-type="journal">
    <person-group person-group-type="author">
      <name><surname>Lopez</surname><given-names>Ana</given-names></name>
    </person-group>
    <article-title>Cited article title</article-title>
    <source>Scientific Journal</source>
    <year>2024</year>
    <volume>12</volume>
    <fpage>100</fpage>
    <lpage>110</lpage>
    <pub-id pub-id-type="doi">10.1234/sj.2024.012</pub-id>
  </element-citation>
</ref>

Manually review ambiguous references: books without publisher, URLs without access date, DOI with incorrect prefix. See the malformed references guide for frequent patterns.

Phase 4: JATS validation and SPS rules

Validate each article individually before integrating it into the issue:

Well-formed: XML parses without syntax errors.
Valid JATS: Complies with Archiving schema.
SPS rules: CC license, linked affiliations, translated abstract, coherent dates.

Use the JATS validator continuously. Fix blocking errors —element not allowed, missing attribute, invalid structure— before moving to the next article.

Phase 5: Issue packaging

The delivery package includes, per your collection:

XML files per article with agreed naming.
Images in specified formats and resolutions (typically PNG or TIFF, 300 dpi for print).
Article PDF (accepted manuscript or final version per policy).
Issue metadata: volume, number, publication date, ISSN.

Organize folders per the national coordinator's guide. A naming error can reject the entire batch even when XML is valid.

Phase 6: Review with SciELO coordinator

Before the first full batch, send a pilot article to your collection coordinator. Incorporate their observations into the journal's XML template so subsequent issues inherit corrections.

Document approved exceptions (for example, special article types) to avoid inconsistencies between issues.

Phase 7: Delivery and iteration

After formal delivery, the coordinator may return technical or editorial observations. Maintain a log of returns and response times. The most frequent causes are incomplete metadata, references without year, and incorrect licenses.

Plan at least two weeks of margin between final internal validation and the SciELO delivery deadline.

Summary checklist per article

Step	Verification
Metadata	DOI, authors, ORCID, affiliations, dates
Body	`<sec>` sections, figures and tables with ID
Back	References in `<element-citation>`
Permissions	CC license with valid URI
Validation	No blocking errors in validator
Multimedia	Linked images and correct resolution

When to outsource

If your editorial team already produces strong scholarship but XML has become the bottleneck, outsourcing is often cheaper than improvising in-house capacity. Consider SciELO preparation when you recognize any of these symptoms:

The SciELO coordinator returns the same issue for metadata, references, or structure — more than once.
The archive still lives as PDF-only, and every new issue restarts the same manual effort.
There is no dedicated XML staff, and the editor or technical secretariat absorbs validation at the cost of delayed publication.
You have a composed issue and an indexing deadline that cannot absorb another round of trial and error.
Volume is growing (often from about one or two dozen articles a year) and the internal process stops being sustainable.

You do not need a large team or a fixed article threshold to start: a pilot issue is enough. The service covers full conversion, SPS-oriented validation, support through coordinator iterations, and ready-to-deliver packaging.

Next step: request a quote with the estimated volume of one issue, or validate a sample first in the JATS validator.

Conclusion

Successful SciELO preparation combines editorial discipline in metadata, rigorous JATS conversion, and early validation. Treating each article as structured product —not as PDF with attached XML— reduces returns and shortens time to international visibility.

Validate your next article in the JATS validator or request a workflow evaluation through SciELO preparation.