1. General Requirements

General provisions are established for the regulation of the scientific and editorial work of Población y Salud en Mesoamérica, the processes of application, evaluation, publication and dissemination of each article submitted to the journal, and the rights and duties of those involved in these aspects. These provisions are based on the following guidelines and documents:

International:

• Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, de Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, 2015).
• COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, de Committee on Publication Ethics (2013).
• Retraction Guidelines, de Committee on Publication Ethics (2009).
• Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, de International Committee Of Medical Journal Editors (2015).
• Ethics in Research & Publication, Elsevier (2014).
• Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, COPE (2011).
• Ética en revistas científicas, Baiget (2010).

Nationals:

• Ley N° 6683 sobre Derechos de Autor y Derechos Conexos y sus reformas en la Ley N° 7979, de la República de Costa Rica.
• Reglamento de la Investigación, Universidad de Costa Rica (2016).

This policy responds to the need of science to ensure the integrity of scientific promotion and guarantee freedom of expression under the good development of society.

2. Purpose

The objectives of the policy are (1) to guarantee the quality of the editorial processes of the Población y Salud en Mesoamérica and (2) to serve as a guide for the resolution of conflicts between the actors involved in the editorial process.

3. Definitions

For the purposes of this policy, the term work is understood as any document submitted to Población y Salud en Mesoamérica, under any of the sections established by said entity: scientific article, theoretical article, technical report, bibliographic review, essay.

The editorial process is understood as the set of stages or operations that an article goes through for its publication in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica. This process begins with its submission and ends with its official publication or rejection. 

4. Regulatory principles

4.1. Principle of transparency

Refers to the openness and willingness to provide the necessary information on the quality of Población y Salud en Mesoamérica processes and items.

 

4.2.  Principle of mutual respect

It refers to the establishment of a common framework of equality and consideration with the other, in terms of dignity, tolerance and assertive communication.

4.3. Quality principle

It refers to the constant and committed search for improvement and excellence in the processes and products carried out by Población y Salud en Mesoamérica.

4.5. Principle of recognition and authorship

It refers to the proper and careful attribution of other people's creative works and their ethical and responsible use in the publication of articles.

5. Roles and Responsibilities of Authors, Reviewers, Editors and Editorial Board Members

5.1. Authors

Refers to those persons involved in the production of a new written work and who comply with the four requirements stipulated by the International Committee Of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE): (1) substantial and significant contribution in the design of the work, collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; (2) design and review of the study draft; (3) final approval of the draft; and (4) compliance with accountability for all aspects of the study[1]. Individuals contributing as authors to Población y Salud en Mesoamérica agree to:

• Guarantee the originality and non-simultaneous submission of your article.
• Commit to each step of the editorial process of your article.
• Be familiar with all information related to the focus, scope, policies and guidelines for authors.
• Be aware of and approve the intellectual property conditions that your article submits if it is published.
• Guarantee the veracity of the information presented in the article, properly attributing that taken from other sources.
• To account for any conflict of interest in the article.

5.2. Evaluators

Refers to those persons who have received the request to evaluate one or more articles, directly from the people in charge of the editorial process of Población y Salud en Mesoamérica. The people who collaborate as evaluators in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica commit themselves to the following:

• Accept the evaluation of only those articles whose subject matter is within their expertise.
• Maintain in absolute confidentiality all information assigned before, during and after this process and the article to be evaluated.
• Not to use the information provided for any purpose beyond the evaluation as such.
• Declare any conflict of interest with the evaluation as soon as it is detected.
• Be objective and make a professional evaluation, avoiding any use of hostile or disrespectful language.
• Comply with the deadline requested for the evaluation.

In addition, a certificate of participation will be given to those evaluators who comply with the commitments described above. The Editorial Board reserves the right to issue a certificate of participation to those evaluators who do not comply with these commitments. Likewise, the opinion given by each evaluator will be taken into account by the Editorial Board; however, such opinion will not constitute the final decision on the evaluated document.

5.3. Editors

Refers to the people in charge of the editorial process, who guide the preparation of the text for its evaluation and eventual publication, following scientific and ethical criteria. The people who collaborate as editors in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica are committed to:

• Guarantee the quality of the articles published in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica.
• Guarantee the relevance of the reviewers chosen for the article evaluation process.
• Return the opinion of a postulated article in the shortest possible time.
• Ensure compliance with the reviewers' comments on the article.
• Maintain confidentiality of the necessary data of reviewers and authors in the evaluation process.
• To guarantee that the information published on the web site is up to date.

5.4. Members of the Editorial Board

It refers to those professionals in the area who give their academic and political support and backing to Población y Salud en Mesoamérica, in their representation as members of said editorial body. The people who collaborate as members of the Editorial Board of Población y Salud en Mesoamérica commit themselves to the following:

• Promote the journal in its academic and institutional spheres.
• Recommend articles for submission to Población y Salud en Mesoamérica.
• Recommend evaluators for the evaluation process of an article.
• Conduct evaluations of articles submitted to Población y Salud en Mesoamérica.
• Accept the writing of editorials and other miscellaneous writings.
• Participate in and contribute to the convening of Editorial Board meetings.

6. Editorial conflicts and infringements

The following actions are established as undesirable conduct and violations of the editorial process. Persons who perform one or more of these actions are subject to an investigation process and the Editorial Board has the right to make the decision and take the disciplinary actions it deems appropriate for each case.

6.1. False authorship

This refers to the recognition of one or more persons as authors of an article, but who did not make a significant or weighty contribution for such recognition; or the lack of recognition of a person who did participate actively and was not recognized as such. There are three types of false authorship:

6.1.1. Ghost author: person who substantially participated in the study and meets the ICMJE author criteria but was not credited with authorship.

6.1.2. Guest author: person who did not make a significant contribution to the study but is included in the list of authors to increase the visibility of the article (e.g., the case of a renowned researcher).

6.1.3. Gift author: person who did not participate but is included in the authorship because of his or her institutional position or link to the other authors (e.g., the head of a department).

6.2. Plagiarism

Refers to the action of using information of any kind from another source without due acknowledgment of the respective authorship. It includes: literal copying (word for word) and paraphrased copying (reproduction of another's ideas with different words).

To detect plagiarism, Población y Salud en Mesoamérica makes use of the Turnitin software, which it uses as a basis for identifying bibliographic inconsistencies in articles.

6.3. Self-plagiarism

Refers to the action of using information that is the author's own but has been previously published, without due indication of this publication status.

6.4. Conflicts of interest not indicated

This refers to the lack of mention of financial or institutional relationships with entities linked to an investigation, and where a personal or economic interest may have been involved in order to modify the results of the study in favor of those interests.

6.5. Scientific fraud

Refers to the manipulation of data, or creation of false data, for personal interests. It also includes the manipulation of images.

6.6. Segmented publication

Or salami slicing, refers to the split publication of the results of a research, in such a way that this splitting responds to interests of increasing the number of published articles and not to the healthy dissemination of science. This includes the publication of more than one article with the same hypothesis, population and methods.

6.7. Simultaneous/duplicate publication

This refers to the submission of the same article to two or more journals at the same time, or of two or more articles that share very similar information, without the knowledge of the editors.

7. Disciplinary actions in case of violation

Población y Salud en Mesoamérica grants itself the right to apply the following actions in the case of finding any of these editorial infringements or any other:

In case the article is published:

Retraction: It refers to the action of removing the article from the website and other means of dissemination available on the web, and the publication of an official communication to the general public on the reasons for such decision.

Correction: Refers to the publication of a new version with an indication of the change made.

In case the article is not yet published:

Rejection: The article will be rejected from publication in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica.

In any of these cases, the decision will be communicated to the author. If it is proven that the infraction was made in bad faith, the disciplinary procedure established by the Universidad de Costa Rica will be followed. In the event that the institutional affiliation is different from the Universidad de Costa Rica, the authorities of the respective institution will be notified.

8. Final Statements

These guidelines are considered general for the regulation of processes in Población y Salud en Mesoamérica. For the analysis of specific cases, the international standards of ethics in scientific publication will be used, through the use of the flow charts recommended by COPE (n.d.) and other reference materials.

9. References

Baiget, T. (2010). Ética en revistas científicas. IBERSID, 4, 59-65. Recuperado de http://ibersid.eu/ojs/index.php/ibersid/article/view/3873

Committee on Publication Ethics. (2009). Retraction Guidelines. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines_0.pdf

Committee on Publication Ethics. (2011). Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20Conduct_2.pdf

Committee on Publication Ethics. (2013). COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_guidelines_for_peer_reviewers_0.pdf

Committee on Publication Ethics. (2015). Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/files/Principles_of_Transparency_and_Best_Practice_in_Scholarly_Publishingv2.pdf

Committee on Publication Ethics. (s.f.). Flowcharts. Recuperado de http://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts

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

Universidad de Costa Rica. (2016). Reglamento de la Investigación. Recuperado de http://www.cu.ucr.ac.cr/uploads/tx_ucruniversitycouncildatabases/normative/investigacion_ucr.pdf

 

[1] Persons who do not meet the 4 requirements may be included in the work as contributors in the acknowledgements section. Likewise, we recommend reviewing the Copyright Notice section displayed on our website: http://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/psm/about/submissions#copyrightNotice, as well as reviewing the Letter of Acceptance of Conditions in the appendix of this document (page 10).