Code of ethics
The names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated herein and will not be provided to third parties or used for any other purpose.
The content of the work is the exclusive responsibility of the authors, and the opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Research and Training in Public Administration (CICAP) or the University of Costa Rica (UCR).
Any unforeseen situation will be resolved by the Editorial Direction and the CICAP Advisory Council, considering national and international best practices such as those of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), and the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA).
See: Code of ethics, best practices, and transparency of the Scientific Journal "Administrar lo Público."
Corrections, Retractions, and Ethical Conduct
If an author needs to make corrections to a published article, they must contact the editorial team via email at publicaciones.cicap@ucr.ac.cr, offering proper identification. Requests will be evaluated by the ALP Journal Editorial Committee, which will determine the relevance and validity of the proposed changes. All accepted corrections will be reflected through an erratum or a correction notice clearly linked to the article.
An article may be retracted for various reasons, including:
- Involuntary errors (such as methodological or instrumental flaws).
- Data fabrication or manipulation.
- Duplicate or overlapping publication.
- Unauthorized or fraudulent use of data.
- Non-compliance with research ethics standards.
Retractions may be requested by the authors or initiated by the Editor in response to a formal investigation. The ALP Journal will publish a retraction notice specifying the reason, the party requesting it, and the link to the affected article. The article will remain visible on the website but will be clearly marked as "retracted," including within its PDF file. Content will only be removed if there are legal restrictions or court rulings. In such cases, the bibliographic information will be retained along with an explanation for the removal.
In exceptional circumstances (such as the publication of false data that poses a serious risk to public health or integrity), the original version of the article may be removed and replaced with a corrected version, properly identified as such.
Scientific or editorial misconduct
In cases of suspected scientific or editorial misconduct, the journal will follow the guidelines and workflows established by COPE: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts?classification=277.
The process begins with a communication to the involved author to request clarifications. If necessary, the affiliated institution, the corresponding ethics committee, or other academic authorities will also be contacted.
If you wish to report a case of alleged misconduct in an article published in the ALP Journal, you may write to us at publicaciones.cicap@ucr.ac.cr. A member of the editorial team will contact you within a maximum of 7 days to confirm receipt of your report and request additional information if applicable. We will make every effort to keep you informed of the process's outcomes, although certain details may be kept confidential for ethical or legal reasons.
The ALP Journal follows COPE guidelines regarding appeals and complaints: https://publicationethics.org/appeals. To appeal an editorial decision or file a formal complaint, please contact the editorial team at publicaciones.cicap@ucr.ac.cr.
Funding and Conflicts of Interest
Authors must transparently declare any source of funding, material aid, or financial support received during the research, the drafting of the article, or the publication process. Likewise, they must report any institutional, commercial, or economic ties that could constitute a potential conflict of interest related to the content of the manuscript.
Similarly, if no conflicts of interest exist, authors must declare: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this study."
When a conflict of interest exists, authors must declare it in the corresponding section of the manuscript and attach a official conflict of interest signed declaration.
Examples of potential conflicts of interest include:
- Employment: Direct or indirect employment by a third party (financial relationship).
- Consultancies: Whether paid (financial relationship) or unpaid (personal relationship).
- Stock ownership: A third party paying dividends (financial relationship).
- Honoraries: Payment for services rendered to a third party (financial relationship).
- Paid expert testimony: For services rendered to third parties (financial relationship).
- Patent applications or registrations: Including royalty payments to third parties or payments from third parties to the author (financial relationship).
- Research grants or other financial support: Support for manuscript processing charges (APCs), or coverage of event and travel fees (financial relationship).
- Non-financial support and others: Administrative support, equipment, drugs/supplies, statistical analysis, and writing assistance (personal relationship).
Example: Maria Rodriguez reports that her travel was funded by the University of Waterloo. Jose Lopez reports a relationship with Universidad Latina that includes the payment of fees for presenting at conferences and events. The remaining authors declare no potential conflicts of interest (financial interests or personal relationships) that could have influenced the study reported in the manuscript.
The Editorial Committee may request clarifications if it detects inconsistencies or potential omissions.
Advertising
The ALP scientific journal is funded by the Centro de Investigación y Capacitación en Administración Pública (CICAP) of the Universidad de Costa Rica and other relevant academic bodies of the university, such as the Vicerrectoría de Investigación (Office of the Vice-Rector for Research). Since it does not receive financial support from public or private companies, both the website and the digital versions of the journal remain free of external commercial advertising. The journal guarantees that no editorial or digital space will be used for the dissemination of advertising content that is not directly linked to academic, scientific, or institutional activities.
