Ethical code
STATEMENT OF THE JOURNAL ON THE ETHICS OF THE REVIEW AND PUBLICATION PROCESS OF RECEIVED WORKS
A. Editor Responsibilities
1. Regarding publication decisions
The editorial team is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal will be published. The editorial team will evaluate manuscripts regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political stance of the authors. The decision will be based on the importance of the work presented, its originality and clarity, the validity of the work, and its relevance to the scope of interest of the journal. Additionally, the editorial team takes into account the current legal considerations regarding libel, defamation, fraudulent use of copyright, and plagiarism.
2. Confidentiality
The editorial team will maintain proper confidentiality regarding the information contained in the submitted manuscripts to anyone outside the parties involved in the evaluation process of the submitted work. These include the corresponding author responsible for correspondence with the journal, the reviewers tasked with submitting evaluation reports, potential reviewers who may be added to the process as needed, other advisors of the journal's advisory team, and the responsible individuals of the administrative and editorial teams.
3. Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure of Information
Information submitted about the materials used in a submitted article will not be used by the editor or anyone on the editorial team for their own research purposes without the express written permission of the authors.
B. Responsibilities of Reviewers
1. Contribution to Editorial Decision
The peer review process assists the editorial team in making publication decisions and is also helpful for authors in improving the initially submitted manuscript.
2. Promptness
Any selected reviewer who feels inadequately qualified to evaluate the received works or knows that their report will not be submitted promptly enough should notify the editor and withdraw from the review process.
3. Confidentiality
Manuscripts received for review will be treated as confidential documents. The information contained therein should not be disclosed or discussed with others, except those authorized by the editor.
4. Objectivity
Reviewers should carry out their task with objectivity. Personal criticism of the authors is considered inappropriate, and a report should never be issued on this premise. Reviewers should express their views clearly, relying on academic and scientific arguments.
5. Recognition of Sources
Reviewers should identify cases where relevant scientific works previously published and referenced in the text have not been cited in the bibliography section. Additionally, they should note if observations and arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by their respective sources.
Reviewers will notify the editor of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and another published article of which the reviewer is aware.
6. Information Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through the peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviewers should not accept the review of manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors, companies, or organizations related to the documents under review.
C. Author Obligations
1. Submission Standards
Authors of original research papers must submit them in a form that allows for an assessment of the work as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The data supporting the work should be adequately represented in the submitted document. The submitted work should contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to replicate it. Fraudulent or knowingly inappropriate use of data constitutes unethical behavior.
2. Access to Data
Authors may be asked to provide the basic data of their study for editorial review and should be prepared to have them publicly available if requested. In any case, authors should ensure the accessibility of such data to other competent professionals in the field for at least 10 years after publication (preferably through their institution or via a data repository), ensuring the confidentiality of participants and protecting their legal rights, thereby preventing their disposal.
3. Originality, Plagiarism, and Source Recognition
Authors will submit for review only works that are entirely original and will appropriately cite the work and/or words of others. Publications that have influenced the authors' work should be cited in the same manner.
4. Multiple or Redundant Publication
Articles describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same work to more than one journal is considered unethical behavior.
Manuscripts that have been published as copyrighted material cannot be resubmitted for further publication. Additionally, works under review by the journal should not be submitted to other copyrighted publications. However, authors retain the copyright of the material published. Upon publication, the use of the work under a CC-BY license [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en] is permitted, allowing others to copy, distribute, and transmit the work, as well as adapt the work and use it commercially, provided the work is properly cited.
5. Authorship of the Article
Authorship is limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All those who have made any of these contributions should be listed as co-authors.
The corresponding author must ensure that all co-authors are included and that there are no individuals included who have not been involved in the work accepted for publication. The corresponding author must also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the article and agree to its submission for evaluation.
6. Conflicts of Interest and Data Disclosure
All authors must include a disclosure statement of any funding that has contributed to the completion of the work and declare that there is no conflict of interest that may have influenced the results or interpretation of the manuscript.
7. Fundamental Errors in Published Works
When an author becomes aware of significant errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they have an obligation to immediately notify the journal editor or publishing entity and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the article in the form of an Erratum.
Reference
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2011, March 7). Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Accesible desde http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_Mar11.pdf
