Ethics Policy

Publishing Ethics and Publishing Malpractice Statement

Our journal is committed to ethics and the search for the highest quality in the articles published. Therefore, our company supports high standards of ethical behavior expected at all stages involved in the publication of the articles, which are: the authors, the journal editor, and the reviewers. We do not accept, in any hypothesis, possible plagiarism or other unethical behavior.

All the articles and papers received are reviews by pares, blindly, to make sure the scientific quality publication. Still, since 2021, we use CrossCheck (CrossRef's plagiarism software). This software is used to verify the articles since there are received before sending them to evaluation.

Also, we are always committed to ensuring that commercial revenues do not impact or influence editorial decisions, but the quality of the articles to be published.

This declaration is based on the recommendation of Elsevier and in the Good Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE (https://publicationethics.org/).

We list below, based on this recommendation, the duties of each party involved in the article’s publication:

Editors Duties:

• Publication decision: The journal’s editor-in-chief is responsible for deciding which articles are submit to the journals that should be published. The editor is guided by the Editorial Committee and limited by the legal requirement that must affect defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editor always must consult the Editorial Committee or reviewers in the decisions 

• Fair play:  The editor should analyze the articles received considering their intellectual content, regardless of the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

• Confidentiality:  The editor and any member of the editorial team can not release any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, or other editorial advisors.

• Release and conflict of interest:  The editor is not prohibited from using unpublished information in his research without the express written consent of the authors. The editor must refuse to evaluate manuscripts where exist conflicts of interest, whatever they were (connections between authors or companies, whether competitive or collaborative).

• Involvement and cooperation in investigations:  The editor needs to take relevant action when ethical complaints internal or external to the production of the article are lodged regarding a submitted or published article.

Duties of the reviewers:

• Contribution to the editorial decision: Double-blind peer review should assist the editor in making editorial decisions. Also, modification suggestions should assist the author in the overall improvement of the article.

• Celerity: If a reviewer is appointed to review an article, and feels that his knowledge will not add value to the article, or that his time availability may hinder the immediate revision of the article, he should immediately refuse this editorial task.

• Confidentiality: All received articles to review must the handle by the editor and by reviewers as strictly confidential, must not be released or discuss with people outside the editorial process.

• Objectivity: The editorial task must be performed objectively and the reviewers need to demonstrate their point of view based on scientific arguments

• Previous works:  Reviewers need to indicate relevant published work that has not been covered in the text under review. Also, if the reviewer notices any relevant overlap between the paper under evaluation and another already published paper of his/her knowledge, he/she should alert the editor and the authors.

• Disclosure of conflicts of interest:  Any information coming from the review of the paper, as well as new ideas coming from the peer review process, should be kept confidential and not be used for personal advantage. Like the editor, reviewers should also refuse to evaluate manuscripts where there is a conflict of interest relationships, whatever they may be (connections with authors or companies, whether competitive or collaborative).

Duties of the authors:

• Search report standards: Authors submitting reports of original research need to provide an account of the work done as well as an objective discussion of the gist of their account. Also, the data needs to be presented accurately. A research report, like an article, should contain enough detail and references to allow others to reproduce the work. Any fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable, and automatically rejected in the editorial process.

• Originality and plagiarism:  Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work, and if authors have used the work and/or words of others, this has been properly cited or quoted. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable as well as automatically rejected in the editorial process

• Multiple, redundant or simultaneous publication: Authors may not publish manuscripts that essentially describe the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously and/or publishing the same article in different journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable, and, if identified, will automatically be rejected in the editorial process, or after publication.

• Acknowledgment of quoted sources: Authors need to always cite the publications that influenced in determining the nature of the work reported. Information obtained privately, such as in a conversation, correspondence, or discussion with a third party, should not be used or reported without the explicit written permission of the source.

• Author of the articles: Authorship should always be limited to those authors who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the written word, so all persons who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. If other people have contributed substantive and minor aspects to the writing of the article, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author needs to declare and ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication.

• Disclosure of conflicts of interest: All authors are required to disclose in their paper any conflict of interest, whether financial or otherwise, that may influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.

• Fundamental errors in already published work:  When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her published work, it is the author's obligation to immediately notify the editor of the journal or publisher and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the discovered error.