ANECA, UNE and FECYT guarantee with an agreement the continuity of the CEA-APQ Seal of Quality in Academic Publishing.

ANECA, the Union of Spanish University Publishers (UNE) and the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) have signed an agreement to collaborate in the evaluation procedure for obtaining the Seal of Quality in Academic Publishing (CEA-APQ seal). They thus guarantee the continuity of this quality recognition, which is now in its seventh call for applications, open until 17 February.

The purpose of the agreement is to establish the participation of each institution in the development of the evaluation procedure for obtaining the CEA-APQ seal, owned by the UNE and endorsed by ANECA and FECYT, in its different modalities: CEA-APQ seal collections and CEA-APQ seal monographs, the latter of new creation with this agreement.

At present, 56 collections have this seal, which recognises best practices in Spanish university publishing, promotes and stimulates quality in academic publishing and is an indication of scientific quality recognised by research activity evaluation agencies and the scientific community. It is aimed at all those public and private academic publishers who wish to obtain it or renew the one obtained in previous editions. 

ANECA, in collaboration with UNE and FECYT, is in charge of the creation and development of the CEA-APQ seal. 

The signing of the agreement was attended by:

On behalf of UNE:

• María Isabel Cabrera García, president.
• Joaquín Corbacho, administrator of the CEA-APQ seal.

On behalf of FECYT:

• Cristina González Copeiro, Director of Scientific Information Management.
• Pilar Rico, head of the Open Access, Repositories and Journals Unit.

And from ANECA:

• Mercedes Siles Molina, Director.
• Clelia Martínez Maza, Director of the Teaching Staff Assessment Division.
• José Ángel Domínguez Pérez, director of the Teaching and Institutional Assessment Division. 
• Ana Isabel Bonilla, Head of the Quality Recognition Programme.

Signs of quality 
Since its first call in 2017, the CEA-APQ seal has been recognised as an indication of the quality of publications for the evaluation of the merits of research activity, a recognition that is expressed in the evaluation criteria of the six-year periods of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Research Activity and in the evaluation criteria of ANECA for the accreditation of civil servant teaching staff (ACADEMIA programme).