Code of Ethic

  1. Introduction: Subject matter and Scope of Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología (Inter-American Librarianship Journal)

 

Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología is a peer-reviewed scientific publication and a publication of unpublished papers written in Spanish, English or Portuguese, resulting from research aimed at librarians, archivists, and information science specialists.  It constitutes a reliable channel to publish original articles, theoretical studies, review works and original reflections, that reflect the development of librarianship and related disciplines, especially in Latin America, which are also welcome. The journal is a quarterly publication, and the printed version can be obtained via subscription, or via a free access to contents on the journal's website.

 

 

  1. Publishing Structure

 

Our Journal, Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología has a director/editor, who coordinates the executive editor, administrative assistants, a graphic designer, a proofreader, a layout designer, a translator and printer of the editorial team. The academic unit’s director appoints the editor, in our case the director of Escuela Interamericana de Bibliotecología (or the Inter-American School of Library Science). The editor is the main person in charge of the journal, and everything it entails. The assistant and the assistant's editorial team have the support of an editorial - scientific committee to review potentially publishable material, and to assist in appointing external reviewers. The layout designer, the translator and the printer are in charge of the design and the format of the journal, and the editor and the editor's assistant are in charge of the final version of each issue published in the RIB - Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología. All the positions mentioned above are filled using each one of the members' free-will principle.

 

 

  1. An editor's obligations and general duties

 

An editor is in charge of:

 

  • Working to fulfill readers and authors' needs.

 

  • Constantly trying to improve the journal.

 

  • Having processes to assure the quality of published material.

 

  • Defending freedom of speech.

 

  • Preserving academic record integrity.

 

  • Opposing corporate needs that compromise the journal’s intellectual and ethical standards.

 

  • Always being available to publish corrections, explanations, retractions and apologies when due.

 

 

 

  1. Relationships with readers

 

Readers:

 

  • Will be informed about research funding sources, and if sponsors have any role in research and publishing. If so, which was it?

 

  • Will have the guarantee that suitably qualified evaluators have reviewed all research reports and reviews.

 

  • Will receive an assurance that the sections of the journal that are not peer-reviewed will be clearly identified.

 

  • Will be informed about the measures taken to guarantee that the manuscripts of members of the journal or the editorial and scientific committee receive objective and unbiased evaluations.

 

 

 

  1. Relationship with authors

 

  • An editor’s decisions to accept or reject an article to be published will be based on manuscript importance, originality and clarity, as well as on the validity of the study and its relevance for the journal.

 

  • The editor will not revoke any of the previous editor's decisions to accept manuscripts for publishing unless they find they had serious problems.

 

  • The editor will not revoke any of the previous editor's decisions to publish manuscripts unless they find they had serious problems.

 

  • Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal gives a detailed description of peer review processes, and the editor will justify any important deviation from the described process.

 

  • Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal has a mechanism for authors to appeal editorial decisions by community editorial and scientific committee.

 

  • Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología has published guidelines for authors in which it points out what the journal expects from their manuscripts. These guidelines are updated periodically and points out a link to access this section.

 

 

 

  1. Relationships with editors

 

The editors of Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología (Inter-American librarianship journal agree):

 

  • Guide evaluators during their evaluation process including the need to handle evaluated material confidentially. These guidelines are periodically updated and they are linked to this code.

 

  • Demand evaluators to declare possible conflicts of interest before accepting to evaluate a manuscript.

 

  • Have suitable systems to assure that evaluators’ identities are protected.

 

  • Promote reviewers to comment regarding ethical and research matters, as well as possible publishing misconduct proposed in the manuscripts.

 

  • Promote reviewers to comment regarding the originality of the manuscripts and to be alert in case the publication is redundant or constitutes plagiarism.

 

  • Send all of the evaluators’ comments to authors, except when they contain offensive or defamatory words.

 

  • Acknowledge evaluators’ contribution to the journal.

 

  • Monitor evaluators' Performance and take the necessary measures to guarantee they are top-level.

 

  • Develop and maintain a suitable evaluators’ database, and updated based on evaluators' performance.

 

  • Stop contacting evaluators who recurrently provide deficient, rude or low quality evaluations.

 

  • Use a wide range of sources (which are not personal contacts) to identify possible new evaluators (for instance, bibliographical databases).

 

  1. Relationships with the editorial and scientific committee

 

The editor of Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal provides guidelines for new members of the editorial and scientific committee regarding everything that is expected of them, and keeps them updated regarding new policies and developments. In addition to this, the editor:

 

  • Has established policies for the editorial and scientific committee to handle manuscripts to assure them unbiased reviews.

 

  • Identifies members for the editorial and scientific committee who are duly qualified, and can contribute actively to the development and the good management of the journal.

 

  • Examines periodically the makeup of the editorial and scientific committee.

 

  • Provides clear guidance to members of the editorial and scientific committee regarding their duties and obligations that include: (1) acting as ambassadors of the journal, (2) supporting and promoting the journal, (3) seeking out the best authors and works, and actively promoting the delivery of manuscripts, (4) reviewing deliveries made to the journal, (5) accepting to be commissioned to write editorials, critiques and comments of articles in the editor’s field of expertise, (6) attending and contributing to editorial and scientific committee meetings.

 

  • Periodically consulting the members of the editorial and scientific committee to get their opinions regarding the progress of the journal, reporting to them any change of policies and identifying future challenges.

 

  1. Editorial and peer-evaluation processes

 

The editor of Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal is in charge of:

 

  • Making an effort to guarantee that peer review in the journal is fair, unbiased and prompt.

 

  • Having systems to assure that the material delivered for publication is confidential during the evaluation process.

 

  • Taking all the reasonable measures to assure the quality of the published material acknowledging that journals and sections within the journals have different objectives and norms.

 

 

  1. Handling possible cases of misconduct

 

  • The editor of Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal must act when there is a suspicion of misconduct, or when there is a claimed misconduct. This duty extends to publish the non-published articles.

 

  • The editor will not simply reject documents that proposed doubts regarding possible misconduct. The editor is obligated to investigate those doubts.

 

  • The editor follows the flowcharts that COPE suggests for these cases.

 

  • First, the editor will request a reply from people being suspected of misconduct. If the editor is not satisfied with the reply, the editor must ask the corresponding employers, institution or any suitable body like the National Integrity Investigation Organization to conduct the corresponding investigation.

 

  • The editor must make all the reasonable efforts to assure a suitable investigation if a supposed misconduct is conducted. If this does not happen, the editor must make all the reasonable efforts to persist on resolving the problem. At Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal, we are aware that this is a time consuming job, but that it is important.

 

  1. Promoting academic debate

 

  • The editor promotes and is willing to consider to publish academic critiques of the works published in the journal.

 

  • The authors of the works that are critiqued have the chance to reply.

 

  • The editor is open to an investigation that questions an article previously published in the journal.

 

 

  1. Conflicts of interests

 

  • The editor has ways to manage the editor's conflicts of interest, as well as those of authors, reviewers and the members of the editorial council.

 

  • Revista Interamericana de Bibliotecología Journal has a specific process to handle manuscripts submitted by editors, professors of Escuela Interamericana de Bibliotecología (or the Inter-American School of Library Science) or members of the editorial and scientific committee to assure an unbiased review.

 

 

This code was drawn up using the guidelines the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE) provided.