Ethics and Editorial Policy

Introductory note. 

This document has been drafted based on the Code of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, 2008) and the good editorial practices promoted by the scientific journals of the University of Costa Rica (UCR).

  1. General principles
  2. a) The Journal of Philosophy of the University of Costa Rica [hereinafter, RF] is governed by the principles of open access, transparency, mutual respect, quality, and integrity. It promotes free access to its content, provides clear information about its editorial processes, and is committed to the quality of academic record and the development of philosophical thought.
  3. b) The RF fosters respectful relationships among all those involved in the editorial process, ensures academic excellence, and acts in accordance with ethical and legal standards, protecting the data and rights of those who participate in the publication.
  4. c) The RF is committed to serving the academic community with integrity, rigor, and transparency. 
  5. d) The RF prioritizes intellectual interest over any commercial, institutional, or political pressure that could compromise its editorial decisions.
  6. e) The RF requires that all proposals comply with international ethical standards. In case reports involving human subjects, written informed consent must be obtained.
  7. f) The RF is committed to disseminating publications.

2. Responsibilities and rights of the individuals involved

a. Editorial committee

  • Responsibilities: ensuring the quality, originality, and relevance of publications; guaranteeing objective and transparent processes; maintaining confidentiality; resolving conflicts of interest and ethical complaints.
  • Rights: deciding on the acceptance, review, and publication of articles; publishing corrections or retractions; licensing the dissemination of content under Open Access terms.

b. Editors

  • Responsibilities: the editorial team is responsible for ensuring the academic quality, originality, and thematic relevance of the published content. This involves making decisions based on academic merit; declaring conflicts of interest; supervising ethical compliance; and ensuring the publication of corrections when necessary.
  • Rights: access to manuscripts for evaluation; participate in editorial decisions; request revisions or modifications to manuscripts.

c. Authors

  • Responsibilities: ensure that submissions are original and unpublished; cite sources correctly; obtain permissions for third-party materials; declare specific contributions; respond to editorial feedback. Accordingly, the legal and intellectual responsibility for the content of each contribution rests with the authors, who must sign the authorization form provided by the RF and commit to following the Manuscript Submission Guidelines. This mandatory form is part of the editorial process and aims to guarantee transparency, compliance with national legislation, and ethics in academic publishing. In this document, authors declare:
    • that they hold the copyright of the work;
    • that the work is original and unpublished;
    • that it has not been submitted to another publishing house or journal;
    • that all sources are duly cited;
    • that they have the corresponding permissions to publish third-party materials, such as images, text boxes, or conversations;
    • that they authorize the RF to reproduce and disseminate the work free of charge, in accordance with current legislation in Costa Rica.
  • Rights: retain copyright over their work; receive appropriate attribution; access their published articles.
  • License granted to the journal: the author authorizes the RF to reproduce, disseminate, archive, and distribute their work under the Open Access license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Costa Rica), without affecting ownership of the rights.

d. Reviewers

  • Responsibilities: evaluate manuscripts objectively; maintain confidentiality; declare conflicts of interest; detect ethical or academic issues; provide well-founded feedback.
  • Rights: access manuscripts under confidentiality; participate in the process of improving articles; upon request and while respecting confidentiality, receive institutional recognition for their reviewing work.

e. Readers

  • Responsibilities: cite consulted articles correctly; report errors, inconsistencies, or possible ethical breaches; disseminate content academically in an ethical manner.
  • Rights: free and immediate access to published articles; reproduce, share, or link content under the terms of the Open Access license.

3. Evaluation and Publication Process

a. The RF manages double-blind peer review, preserving the confidentiality of authors and reviewers.
b. Evaluation criteria include academic quality, originality, clarity, philosophical contribution, and thematic relevance.
c. In case of suspected misconduct (plagiarism, data manipulation, hidden conflicts of interest, inappropriate authorship), the authors will be contacted for clarification, and if the response is insufficient, the competent academic authorities will be notified.
d. The journal will publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, or apologies when significant errors are detected.
e. Articles that discuss, correct, or question previously published research will be considered openly.

4. Open Access Policy

As this is a publication financed with public funds from the people of Costa Rica, the Journal promotes free and immediate access to its content within the “Open Access” framework. FROM ISSUE 150 ONWARDS, THE JOURNAL WILL FOLLOW THE Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Costa Rica LICENSE FOR ARTICLE DISTRIBUTION.

  • Authors retain all copyright.
  • The journal has the license to reproduce, disseminate, archive, and distribute submissions.
  • Readers may access, share, and cite content, provided attribution is respected and it is not for commercial purposes.