Historia
On the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 1994, the Pontifical Major Seminary of San Rafael, from the Diocese of Valparaíso, founded the journal Veritas. The aim was to disseminate among academics and students of the seminary, ecclesiastical, and university institutions, both national and foreign, the results of research in the areas of philosophy and theology.
From its Catholic stance, it sought to make a contribution of timeliness and scientific rigor that would promote reflection and open debate in academic life.
The founders were father Jaime Fernández Sanfuentes, at that time rector of the seminary, and then father Santiago Silva Retamales, currently bishop of Valdivia and president of the Episcopal Conference of Chile between 2016 and 2021.
Internationalization of the Journal
When Mauricio Correa Casanova, now a scholar at the UC Institute of Philosophy in a joint position with the Institute of Applied Ethics, took the position as editor of the journal in 2005, the work was oriented towards achieving two goals: its inclusion in the indexing catalogs of scientific journals and its internationalization. In this context, starting in 2006, the editorial line was changed, and two issues a year began to be published, in addition to incorporating an editorial committee with prominent national and international members from both philosophy and theology.
“Until the moment I was appointed editor of the journal, it was an unindexed publication, so the first major challenge was to change the editorial line to achieve its indexing in Scielo-Chile. This goal involved renewing the design, developing a website, establishing guidelines for authors, setting up an international editorial committee of philosophy and theology, publishing two issues a year, introducing the double-blind arbitration process for received articles, and adjusting a variety of other details. In this process, I received valuable help from many teachers who generously collaborated with the journal, either by being part of the editorial committee or by conducting arbitrations that helped improve the quality of the publications,” Professor Correa recounts.
In 2010, Veritas was indexed in SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), a public body that gathers the most prestigious academic journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal. With this achievement, Veritas positioned itself as a benchmark in the national field of theological and philosophical work, alongside the Revista de Filosofía (founded in 1949 by the Chilean Society of Philosophy and the University of Chile) and Teología y Vida (created in 1960 by the UC Faculty of Theology).
Since its incorporation into SciELO, new indexations have followed: Latindex, Redalyc, Dialnet, and Scopus. Once indexed in Scopus, Veritas positioned itself among the most prestigious publications in the areas of philosophy and theology in Latin America, according to the Scimago Journal & Country Rank.
“What I highlight most, after 17 years as editor, is that the objectives of improving the quality of the contents, as well as the objectives of indexing, were achieved. In this sense, I believe that Veritas is an extraordinary testimony of vocation and commitment,” Correa emphasizes.
Its Editors and Publications
The first editor of Veritas was Monsignor Santiago Silva, one of its founders, who left the position in 1998. He was succeeded by the academic from the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV), Gonzalo Ulloa Rübke, who then gave way to Professor Mauricio Correa Casanova.
In 1994, the journal was born as an internal publication of the Pontifical Major Seminary of San Rafael, which over the years opened up to new audiences and new authors. Therefore, in 2017, it began to publish three issues a year (April, August, and December), a frequency it currently maintains. To date, Veritas has published nearly 500 articles from representatives of contemporary philosophy such as Adela Cortina, Alfonso López Quintás, Victoria Camps, Carlos Díaz, Mauricio Beuchot, and Gustavo Pereira; as well as from theology, including José Román Flecha, Olegario González de Cardedal, Ángel Galindo, Gustavo Irrazábal, and Anneliese Meis. These authors are joined by many others from different countries, such as Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Italy, and the United States.