Authors
All who submit an article they have authored must avoid making the following offences. Any offence that is not hereby directly stated will follow from the breaching of the general duties.
Possible actions against authors who commit any misconduct are indicated here.
- Multiple Submissions
Authors who submit an article to Lexis must not have pledged this same article to another media, nor can this be done until it has been actually published, or until the board has sent a notice stating that it will not be published. This infraction is incurred not just in regard to identical drafts, but also in the case of expanded or partial drafts of the article, either through the use of identical or paraphrased passages, or when a translation is meant to be submitted as an original article.
- Arbitrary Withdrawal of an Article
Authors commit this infraction when they arbitrarily withdraw an article from the journal once the editorial process has begun.
- Disavowal of the Right to First Publication
This infraction is committed whenever the author of an article that was first published in Lexis does not recognise the right of first publication in subsequent republications. This acknowledgment must be both clear and in full, and likewise concerns the sections of the article published in Lexis.
- Improper Use of the Journal’s Name
This infraction is committed whenever an article submitted to the journal Lexis is presented as if it has actually been published, as if it is “in press”, or if it is in general stated that it will definitely be published by the journal prior to having received a notification of acceptance. The name of the journal Lexis can only be used in the case of those articles whose publication has been explicitly approved.
- Inventing Data Regarding the Author of the Article
This infraction is committed by whoever submits an article that includes false data, such as financing, institutional affiliation, academic degrees and such.
- Insults
Insults are incompatible with the impartial and respectful forms of address expected of authors. This also applies to all communications authors maintain with other people connected with the journal.
- Affecting of the Rights of Third Parties
This ethical infraction takes place whenever an article, or parts of same, was prepared affecting the rights of an author, or whenever the rights of third parties are in general affected.
- Infractions Regarding the Authorship of an Article
The journal recognises as authors all individuals who made a substantial contribution to the making an article, either during its conception or during the writing process. The following cases are therefore deemed to constitute infractions:
8.1. Omitting the Consent of all Co-Authors
This ethical infraction happens whenever a submission does not include the consent of any of its co-authors. Said consent must be given not just in regard to the first draft submitted to the journal, but also in regard to the successive changes the article may experience throughout the editorial process.
8.1.1. Disputed Authorship
Individuals who believe they should be included as authors in an article submitted to or published by the journal, must demand said acknowledgement from whoever holds the authorship. Should no reply or reasonable justification be forthcoming from the latter, it must be reported to the journal’s members in order to have the issue solved. The journal will likewise act in accordance with the relevant flowcharts of the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE), should an author be changed or withdrawn in order to solve this issue, regardless of whether the article has already been published or not (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/flowchart/authorship-and-contributorship-unpublished-data-dealing-concerns, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/flowchart/authorship-and-contributorship-published-data-dealing-concerns).
Should the dispute on the other hand follow State channels, Lexis will comply with the decision reached by the competent authority in regard to the author’s copyright without prejudice to the measures previously taken by the journal in regard to this dispute, which will be reconciled with the State’s judgement once it has been passed.
8.1.2. Disputed Authorship in Regard to the Order in which Authors Appear
Disputes regarding the order in which authors appear should be settled by the individuals who appear as such, in accordance with the extent of the contribution each author made when preparing the article. In this regard, giving a preeminent place to authors who made a lesser contribution when preparing the article will be considered an ethical infraction.
8.1.3. Changes in Authorship
Should the people responsible for a submitted article desire to make any change to its authorship, said changes must be meticulously justified in accordance with the journal’s definition of authorship. This is so because requesting a change in authorship in a submitted article provides sufficient evidence for an inquest to be held regarding the commission of some infraction in regard to authorship. In these cases, the editorial team will act in compliance with the relevant COPE flowcharts.
(https://publicationethics.org/guidance/flowchart/authorship-and-contributorship-unpublished-data-dealing-concerns, https://publicationethics.org/guidance/flowchart/authorship-and-contributorship-published-data-dealing-concerns)
- Duplicity of a Publication
An author commits duplicity of a publication whenever an article submitted to Lexis reuses content from the author’s previous publications, be they already published or in press, in whatever media, without properly citing them. This ethical infraction can take place in the following ways:
9.1. Literal Duplicity of a Publication
This happens when literal sections from an author’s previous publications are reused in a new article without making the corresponding citation.
9.2. Duplicity by Paraphrasing a Publication
This happens when an author paraphrases parts of his/her previous publications and reuses them in a new article, but without providing an adequate citation.
9.3. Duplicity by Translating a Publication
The duplicity in publication infraction, in both of the above-mentioned modes, also arises when parts of previous works that have been translated are reused without properly citing them.
9.4. Duplicity in a Co-Authored Publication
In the case of co-authored articles, duplicity in publication can arise with works signed by all or part of all of the people responsible for its authorship. This infraction may take place in the various modes described in the previous sections.
- Plagiarism
Authors commit plagiarism whenever they pass as their own the ideas or expressions found in any other intellectual work produced by another individual, group of people or institution, whether identified or not, and in any media whatsoever. It is essential that authors properly cite all types of works in the in the body of the text, as well as listing them in the bibliography. Plagiarism can take place in the following modes:
10.1. Textual Plagiarism
This happens when plagiarism involves copying—wholly or in part—a work that cannot be attributed to the author and without properly citing it in the article submitted with quotation marks or by indentation, as the case requires.
10.2. Plagiarism by Paraphrasing
This happens when a work that cannot be attributed to the author is paraphrased without properly citing it in the article submitted.
10.3. Plagiarism by Improper Paraphrasing
This happens—amongst other elusive modes—even if the author of the original source is cited, when what is stated in another author’s work is paraphrased; when just a few words or the order in which the ideas are presented are changed; or when the structure of the arguments is followed. These assumptions set up an ethical infraction because the paraphrase pretends that it has been created by the article’s author, when in fact it corresponds in full to a literal quotation that requires the use of quotation marks or indentation, as applicable.
10.4. Plagiarism of Citations
This happens when an author copies the textual citations or the paraphrases made in another work.
10.5. Plagiarism of Structure
This happens when the article submitted is very similar, in its structure and wording, to the work of a third party.
10.6. Plagiarism of Illustrations, Tables or Graphs
All illustrations, tables or graphs must properly include their source; this will otherwise be considered plagiarism.
10.7. Plagiarism of Unpublished or Similar Works
The duty of citing properly includes non-published works, emails and communications received through other media. Not listing said sources is considered plagiarism. Besides, their use requires the consent of their authors.
10.8. Plagiarism by Translation
The above-mentioned modes of plagiarism can likewise be committed when somebody else’s works are translated in order to use them in the article without properly citing them.
- Fabricating Data or Sources
An ethical infraction is committed whenever studies, data or other similar sources are concocted in order to use them in an article. This same infraction is also committed when information is provided that does not appear in an existing work.
- Obstructing Collaboration
Authors are pledged to provide all the information required to establish whether an ethical infraction has or has not been committed. Obstructing the inquest or taking reprisals against the complainants will thus be considered an infraction against these guidelines. Evading or eluding responsibilities, for instance the improper withdrawal of the article amidst a plausible suspicion of an ethical infraction, is likewise considered an act of obstruction.
