Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos is an open access academic journal of the University of Costa Rica established in 1974. The journal’s long history makes it a pioneer publication regarding Social Sciences in Central America that has contributed to the knowledge, spreading, update, and renewal of the most important topics in the region.

This is a guideline of the Best Ethical Practices followed throughout the editorial process of the texts (submission, evaluation, revision, publication, spreading.) These guidelines are based on regulations such as laws and codes of the Republic of Costa Rica, Research Regulations of the University of Costa Rica, the Editorial Regulations for Journals of the University of Costa Rica, codes established by the Publications Ethics Committee, among others.

Consequently, everyone who decides to submit, evaluate, and edit articles for Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos accepts the following ethical principles and good practices:

1. Editorial Autonomy

Anuario has a Director and an Editorial Board composed of an interdisciplinary team of scholars from multiple areas and specialties of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Costa Rica. The Board accepts or rejects all submitted articles, and it also dictates the journal’s existing editorial standards.

In addition, Anuario has an International Editorial Board with prestigious academic peers from renowned international institutions. They are in charge of providing guidance, evaluating, and suggesting texts and documents related to the topics of interest to Anuario. They will be impartial and objective in either process their skills are needed.

2. Best Practices for Journal’s Directors

In accordance with the Editorial Regulations for Journals of the University of Costa Rica, the journal’s Director must fulfill the following obligations:

• To build and keep long lasting relations with the authors
• To inform the Editorial Board of the articles and collaborations to be published by the journal
• To select, along with the Editorial Board, the articles that will be published
• To let authors know about the basic rules for technical writing and article submission
• To present an annual report to Vicerrectoría de Investigación
• To ensure absolute compliance of the Editorial Regulations for Journals of the University of Costa Rica 

3. Best Practices for Editors

• To apply all editorial regulations established by the Editorial Board
• To manage the edition and graphic design processes of the texts
• To guarantee confidentiality of the documents received and the authors’ identities; editors will not share any information with people other than the authors, reviewers, or members of the Editorial Board

4. Best Practices for Evaluators

Evaluators of articles accept to follow these rules:

• To guarantee that the text to be evaluated meets the academic quality required by the journal. These criteria must favor originality, validity, relevance, theoretical and methodological foundations, and quality of documentation
• To evaluate documents responsibly and objectively, always keeping in mind the ethical rules of reliability throughout the revision, publication, and post-publication process
• To resign evaluating a document when there is a conflict of interest. They must immediately inform the situation to the Director
• To evaluate the documents within the time limit specified for submission (30 days) 

5. Evaluation Criteria

• Articles submitted will be assessed by at least two adjudicators who will not know the author’s name. Names of people involved in the process will not be revealed. Authors have a two-week period to make corrections, shall there be any suggestions. When necessary, there will be additional expert opinions following the previous criteria. The final decision on publication or rejection is on the Editorial Board, which might take into consideration the adjudicators’ opinions.

6. Best Practices for Authors

Authors generate knowledge through the process of planning a topic or a research problem, as well as collecting, analyzing, writing, reviewing, and publishing or presenting the results of the study.

For publication purposes in this journal, authors must comply with the following steps:

• Present articles, documents, or original, unpublished reviews; documents cannot be sent simultaneously to other journals or books
• By signing the declaration of originality and transfer of rights, the author guarantees that the text is original and has not been previously published
• Publications resulting from research projects, thesis or dissertation projects, or as a continuation of previous articles must clearly state it in the text
• Commit to improving the editorial management of documents submitted for publication
• Accept the journal’s rules regarding publication, citation, and edition
• Accept the journal’s regulations regarding intellectual property
• Must explain themselves with valid arguments when there is a conflict of interest
• Reveal all published works and the sources they took the information from to reach the results shown in the article sent to Anuario
• Cite the authorship, origin, and rights of all images, figures, tables, graphics, maps, and illustrations. Authors have to manage permissions to reproduce all materials
• Deliver the documents in the format specified in the authors’ guideline. https://www.dropbox.com/s/2j1p15usnaxdmq4/Normas%20para%20publicar%20en%20el%20Anuario%20de%20Estudios%20Cetroamericanos.pdf?dl=0
• In case articles need adjustments, authors will have two weeks to make the corrections. They must send the corrected version with a detailed explanation of the changes in the new version.

7. Conflicts of interest

Authors and evaluators must inform Anuario of any situation that may affect the objectivity of the work, as soon as possible.

1. Competitive reasons
2. Collaborations or links with authors and knowledge about the research

8. Editorial Control

Whenever complications with an article occur, for example concerning its content or inaccurate exposition of its sources, the journal will implement all required actions such as opening an investigation, removing a publication, among others.

9. Gender-Inclusive Language and Diversity

Anuario follows all language policies of gender-inclusive language of the gender policies of the University of Costa Rica. Consequently, we emphasize the need for all submitted articles to use inclusive, respectful language. More information on this topic is available in Guía breve para el uso no sexista del lenguaje: cómo usar lenguaje no discriminatorio en textos varios, written by Centro de Investigación en Estudios de la Mujer (Women’s Studies Research Center) of the University of Costa Rica. Click the following link for more information about Guía de uso del lenguaje inclusivo de género en el marco del habla culta costarricense by Instituto de Estudios de la Mujer (Institute for Women’s Studies) of the National University.

10. About Plagiarism and Self-Plagiarism

Anuario ensures compliance with the ethical rules for publication. In case of presumptive plagiarism, the situation will be presented before the Editorial Board. If plagiarism is confirmed after the investigation, the article will be rejected and considered a major offense.

Definition of plagiarism: when a work or idea is presented as one’s work (total or partial). According to RAE: “Substantially copying someone else’s work as one’s own.” This includes texts, images, videos, sounds, and others.

11. Consequences of Inappropriate Conduct

Failure to abide the aforementioned rules and principles may result in an accusation by any of the members of the Editorial Team of the journal or by any other person.

The journal’s Director will be in charge of opening the screening process with the legal advice of Vicerrectoría de Investigación of the University of Costa Rica.

In case of minor offense, the situation may be solved without further intervention.

In case of major offense, the author and all members of the Editorial Committee will be notified through a letter specifying the inappropriate conduct that violates the Código de ética y buenas prácticas editoriales del Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos.

In case of major offense, the journal may:

1. Publish an editorial exposing in detail the inappropriate conduct that violates the Código de ética y buenas prácticas editoriales del Anuario de Estudios Centroamericanos.
2. Remove the publication.