Procedures and measures
Use of text comparison software and complementary investigations
The journal uses text comparison software Turnitin in accordance with the guidelines mentioned in the author’s standards. Complementary investigations can also be carried out to achieve the greatest level of certainty regarding the integrity of proposed manuscripts.
Complaints
Every person that is aware of or that has been affected by any ethical violation, will be able to file a complaint in good faith by submitting evidence to the journal director. Once the complaint has been received, the journal director must conduct the corresponding investigations and take the measures described below.
Measures to be taken
When a member of the editorial team becomes aware of or receives a complaint on an ethical violation, they must carry out the pertinent investigations to dismiss its occurrence. On the other hand, in case probatory elements exist, a report of preliminary observations must be issued clearly and precisely detailing the alleged performed misconducts. Based on the misconduct nature, the necessary investigations will be conducted in accordance with the pertinent COPE organization chart.
Alleged offenders will have a minimum deadline of twenty days to clarify the observations in a responsible and honest manner. Such observations must be sent to the journal director who must evaluate the clarifications presented by alleged offenders in order to finally determine whether such misconducts occurred or not.
If it is determined that an ethical violation occurred, any of the following measures will apply.
- Measures for authors
Committing an ethical violation implies the submitted manuscript will be rejected and the events will be informed to the institution to which the author is associated. Depending on the seriousness of the events related to the violation, any of the measures provided below can be taken:
- The author will be directly informed of the events, and they will receive the pertinent sanction.
- The author will not be able to be a candidate to propose a new manuscript temporarily (one to three years maximum).
- Measures for members of the editorial team
In case of misconducts committed by any member of the editorial team, the person responsible must publicly apologize or accept the sanction given based on the seriousness of the misconduct, without detriment to informing of the events to the institution promoting the journal or the institution to which they are associated.
- Measures for referees
In case of misconducts committed by referees, the events will be informed to the institution to which they are associated. In addition, the following measures can be taken based on the seriousness of the misconduct:
- The referee will be directly informed of the events, and they will receive the pertinent sanction.
- The referee will not be able to perform as a future referee temporarily (one year).
Research involving human beings or animals
In case the proposed manuscript is product of a research project involving human beings or animals, a research ethics committee must deliver a favorable decision. If the committee fails to submit such decision before the manuscript is proposed, such manuscript will be rejected in a preliminary stage.
Interpretation of ethical standards
In case of doubt the sense and scope of these standards will be determined by the journal director, in coordination with the editorial team, under the international ethical standards of the publication and the sources used for the elaboration of these standards.
