The journal Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe establishes general provisions to regulate the scientific and editorial practices of this publication. The use of the Publication Ethics Committee is recommended (Committee on Publication Ethics-COPE).
Code of Ethics and Editorial Practices
1. General Provisions
The journal Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe establishes general provisions to regulate the scientific and editorial practices of this publication. In this way, it details the processes of article submission, peer review, publication and dissemination of the postulated intellectual production, as well as the rights and duties of all those who are involved in these processes.
These provisions were elaborated based on the guidelines on good practices for publications corresponding to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, 2009) and the Ethics Committee of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, n. d.). Likewise, Law No. 6683 on Copyright and Related Rights (2010) -and its reforms in Law No. 7979 (2000), of the Republic of Costa Rica- were taken into account, as well as the Research Regulations of the University of Costa Rica (2016).
In this sense, authors, editors, reviewers and members of the Editorial Board of Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe, must accept and respect the following in order to ensure good ethical compliance within the publication process and guarantee the rejection of misconduct in this area.
2. Regulatory principles
2.1 Principle of transparency
It is established in relation to the openness and willingness to provide the necessary information on the quality of the processes and articles of Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe.
2.2 Principle of mutual respect
Refers to the establishment of a common framework of equality and consideration for others, in terms of dignity, tolerance and assertive communication.
2.3 Quality principle
It is related to the constant and committed search for improvement and excellence in the processes and products carried out by Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe.
2.4 Principle of recognition and authorship
It is linked to the proper and careful attribution of the creative works of others and their ethical and responsible use in the publication of articles.
2.5 Manuscript standards: originality and acknowledgement of sources
Each manuscript should present accurate information on the research conducted, an objective discussion of its significance, as well as clarity and transparency in the research methodology and results. Both the research presented in the manuscript and the text itself must be original. It is considered unacceptable to submit a manuscript that has already been published, partially or in full, in any medium and by any entity.
The manuscript must respect all citation and reference standards specified by this journal and avoid any possible fraudulent use of data.
3. Responsibilities of the authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the Editorial Board
3.1 Authors
According to COPE, authors are those persons involved in the creation of a written work and who meet the four requirements stipulated by the International Committee Of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, 2015): (1) substantial and significant contribution in the design of the work, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; (2) design and review of the draft of the study; (3) final approval of the draft; and (4) compliance with accountability for all aspects of the study.
3.2 Arbitration: the reviewers
In accordance with the stipulations of Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe, the referee will be the person who has received the request to evaluate one or more articles directly from the editorial team.
The persons who collaborate as reviewers must commit themselves to:
1) Maintain absolute confidentiality of all information assigned before, during and after this process and of the article to be evaluated.
2) Not to use the information provided for any purpose other than the evaluation as such.
3) Declare any conflict of interest with the evaluation, as soon as it is detected.
4) Be objective and make a professional evaluation, avoiding any use of hostile or disrespectful language.
5) Comply with the deadline requested for the evaluation.
3.3 Editor
The editor, who is in charge of the editorial process, is responsible for preparing the text for its evaluation and eventual publication, following the criteria of Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe. The editor undertakes to:
1) Upon receiving the articles, evaluate their importance, originality, clarity and relevance to the research scope of the journal, before submitting them to the editorial process.
2) With the support of the Editorial Board and the Editorial Board, seek and suggest suitable reviewers for the article evaluation process.
3) Return the opinions of the articles submitted in the shortest possible time.
4) To ensure that the author complies with the observations of the opinions on the article.
5) To keep the evaluation process confidential.
6) To guarantee that the information published on the journal's website is up to date.
3.4 Editorial Board
The members of the Editorial Board are professionals in the field who actively collaborate academically and politically with Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe and accompany the management and editorial staff in the production of the journal on a regular basis. The members of the Editorial Board are appointed by CIICLA, and commit themselves to:
1) Attend the meetings of the Editorial Board.
2) Promote the journal in its academic and institutional spheres.
3) To recommend the submission of articles to Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe.
4) To recommend reviewers for the evaluation process of articles.
3.5 Scientific Council
The members of the Scientific Council are all those professionals in the field and affiliated to institutions of higher education abroad who give their academic and political support and backing to Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe. The members of the Scientific Council commit themselves to:
1) Promote the journal in their academic and institutional spheres.
2) Evaluate articles submitted and collaborate with refereeing situations.
3) Suggest persons to review articles.
4) To collaborate with the calls for papers of the journal.
4. Unacceptable practices and measures for violating the Code of Ethics
If the authors do not respect the Code of Ethics described herein, the documents submitted will not be considered for publication in this journal.
4.1 Citation manipulation: citing sources without having consulted them.
4.2 Citation exchange: alliance between researchers to mention each other's research even though there is no relationship.
4.3 Excessive self-citation: self-citation made by the authors themselves to previous works in order to increase the impact factor.
4.4 Plagiarism: the act of using information of any kind from another source without due acknowledgment of the respective authorship. It is considered plagiarism either by literal copying (word by word) or by paraphrased copying (reproduction of the other's ideas with different words). To detect plagiarism, Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe conducts Google searches and implements Turnitin software, the results of which are used as a basis for identifying bibliographic coincidences and inconsistencies in the documents submitted.
During the first review phase, the editorial team carefully examines each submitted document. In particular, those with more than 5% overlap. Subsequently, each duplicated part is reviewed. If the situation is considered correctable, the authors are asked to make the necessary corrections. If the corrections are made correctly, the document can continue the editorial process.
If there is conclusive evidence of plagiarism and research misconduct, the document is rejected and the author is informed. In cases such as these, Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe follows the procedure established by the international standards of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
4.5 Self-plagiarism: action of using information that is the author's own but has been previously published, without due indication of this publication status.
4.6 Duplicate publication: a duplicate or multiple publication occurs when two or more articles, without making references to each other, essentially share the same hypotheses, data, discussion points and/or conclusions. This can occur in different degrees: literal duplication, partial but substantial duplication, or even duplication by paraphrasing.
4.7 Simultaneous submission of an article to two or more journals: occurs when a person submits an article to different journals at the same time, with the possibility that more than one journal may publish the article.
4.8 Fabrication and manipulation of data: consists of the alteration of information, either by the artificial elaboration of data without an explained method, or by the modification of data obtained to simulate an arbitrary confirmation of the hypothesis.
5. On inclusive language
According to the Guide for the use of gender-inclusive language in the framework of Costa Rican cultured speech (Rojas Blanco and Rojas Porras, 2015) and the Brief Guide for the non-sexist use of language (CIEM, n. d.), since the approval, at the University of Costa Rica, of the Policies for Gender Equality and Equity, in 2010, the promotion of an academic culture free of gender inequalities and inequities, through the adoption of inclusive language is urged.
It is for this reason that Cuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe, in view of the institutional commitment to equal opportunities for men and women, establishes the use of inclusive language in its published articles.
In this sense, the authors who collaborate with CCuadernos Inter.c.a.mbio sobre Centroamérica y el Caribe commit themselves to:
1) Avoid the use of masculine generics, when inclusive expressions and words can be used.
2) If sexist quotations or quotations containing discriminatory biases of any nature are used, the following should be done: a) use a footnote to clarify their content and make clear the critical position in this regard; b) comment on their content and implications within the text; and c) use the text as a means to educate and raise awareness.
References
Centro de Investigación en Estudios de la Mujer CIEM-UCR. (s. f.). Guía breve para el uso no sexista del lenguaje. Cómo usar el lenguaje no discriminatorio en textos varios, presentaciones e ilustraciones. Recuperado de http://repositorio.ciem.ucr.ac.cr/bitstream/123456789/18/1/RCIEM009.pdf
Comité de Ética del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. (s. f.). Código de buenas prácticas del CSIC. Recuperado de https://www.ehu.eus/documents/2458096/2699121/VIIe_csic_cbp.pdf
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). (2009). Retraction Guidelines. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines_0.pdf
Elsevier. (2014). Ethics in Research & Publication. Recuperado de https://www.publishingcampus.elsevier.com/websites/elsevier_publishingcampus/files/Guides/Brochure_Ethics_2_web.pdf
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. (2015). Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals. Recuperado de http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf
Ley N° 6683 sobre Derechos de Autor y Derechos Conexos. (2010). Recuperado de http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/es/text.jsp?file_id=247913
Ley N° 7979 que Reforma de la Ley N° 6683 de Derechos de Autor y Derechos Conexos y sus Reformas, Ley de Patentes de Invención, Dibujos y Modelos Industriales y Modelos de Utilidad, N° 6867 y sus Reformas y del Código Procesal Civil y sus Reformas. (2000). Recuperado de http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/es/text.jsp?file_id=126070
Rojas Blanco, Lilliam y Rojas Porras, Marta Eugenia. (2015). Guía de uso del lenguaje inclusivo de género en el marco del habla culta costarricense. Recuperado de http://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/descargas/educare/pdfs/REE-LENGUAJE-INCLUSIVO.pdf
Universidad de Costa Rica. (2016). Reglamento de la Investigación. Recuperado de http://www.cu.ucr.ac.cr/uploads/tx_ucruniversitycouncildatabases/normative/investigacion_ucr.pdf
Vázquez Moctezuma, Salvador Enrique. (septiembre-diciembre, 2016). Ética en la publicación de revistas académicas: percepción de los editores en ciencias sociales. Innovación Educativa, 16(72), 53-74.
To download the Ethics and Good Editorial Practices Policy, click here.