Code of Ethics

Estudios de Filosofía is the journal published by the Institute of Philosophy of the Universidad
de Antioquia. It is an international peer-reviewed, open-access, electronic journal and adheres
to the policy of double-blind peer review. Since its foundation in 1990, Estudios de Filosofía
has been devoted to fostering research in all fields of philosophy. The journal publishes
papers in Spanish and English.
The purpose of publishing this code of ethics is to indicate the expectations of the journal and the Institute of Philosophy regarding publishing ethics, having as a reference the theme, focus, and scope of the journal. This code presents basic ethical standards for authors and reviewers and also points out schematically the functions and responsibilities of the editor.

Estudios de Filosofía has one managing editor, who at the same time coordinates the (general or guest) editor, the editorial assistant, the designer, and the editorial team. The director is appointed by the director of the Institute of Philosophy. The director is the main responsible for the journal. The editor determines the theme of each issue and evaluates the thematic relevance and quality of each article submitted to the journal before sending it to review. The editorial assistant and the editorial committee support the editor by reviewing potentially publishable material, as well as by suggesting external reviewers. The designer is responsible for the style and format of the journal. Finally, the editor is in charge of the final version of each published issue of Estudios de Filosofía.

The Managing Editor is responsible for:

• Working to satisfy the necessities of both readers and authors.
• Trying constantly to improve the journal.
• Put in place processes to ensure the quality of the published material.
• Defending free speech.
• The integrity of the academic archive.
• Opposing mercantile tendencies that may compromise the intellectual and ethical standards of the journal.
• Being always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.
• Relations with the readers. 

Readers will be:

• Informed about the financial sources of the research, whether the financers had any role in the research and its publication, and, if so, which one.
• Guaranteed to have all the published reports and research revisions checked by qualified reviewers.
• Assured that the non-reviewed sections of the journal are clearly identified.
• Informed about the measures adopted to guarantee that the manuscripts by the members of the editorial committee receive an objective and unbiased evaluation.

• The editor’s decision concerning the acceptance or rejection of an article for its publication will be based on the quality of the manuscript, its originality, and clarity, as well as its relevance to the journal.
• The editor will not revoke the former editor’s decision to accept manuscripts for their publication unless serious problems are identified.
• Estudios de Filosofía makes a detailed description of the peer-review processes, and the editor will justify any important deviation from the described processes.
• Estudios de Filosofía has a mechanism for authors to appeal the editorial decisions, through communication with the editorial committee.
• Estudios de Filosofía published guidelines for the authors where they can check what is expected from their manuscripts. These guidelines are regularly updated.

The General Editor commits to:

• Guiding the review process to guarantee the quality and integrity of it. For this purpose, the editor designed guidelines and a review format which will be periodically updated.
• Requiring the reviewers to declare the possible conflicts of interest before agreeing to review a manuscript.
• Having adequate systems to ensure the protection of the reviewer’s identities.
• Encouraging the reviewers to comment on ethical and research issues, as well as possible misconduct.
• Prompting the reviewers to comment on the originality of the manuscripts and to be vigilant about redundancies or plagiarism in the publication.
• Sending to the authors the totality of the reviewer's comments, unless they are injurious or defamatory.
• Acknowledging the reviewer’s contribution to the journal.
• Monitoring the reviewer’s performance to guarantee the quality of the review.
• Developing and keeping a suitable reviewer database and updating it based on the reviewer’s performance.
• Avoiding the reviewers who regularly make poor, unkind, or low-quality reviews.
• Using a wide range of sources (not only personal contacts) to identify possible new reviewers (e.g. bibliographical databases).

The Main Editor of Estudios de Filosofía provides the new members of the editorial committee with guidelines on everything expected from them and shares updates about new policies and developments with the existing members. In addition, the Main Editor:

• Has established policies for managing the manuscripts of the editorial committee members in order to ensure an unbiased review.
• Identifies qualified members for the editorial committee who can actively contribute to the development and good management of the journal.
• Regularly examines the confirmation of the editorial committee.
• Offers the members of the editorial committee a clear orientation about their expected duties and functions, including: (1) acting as ambassadors for the journal, (2) supporting and promoting the journal, (3) searching for the best authors and works, and actively encourage the submission of manuscripts, (4) to accept being commissioned to write editorials, critiques and commentaries on articles in their areas of expertise, (5) to assist and contribute to the editorial committee meetings.
• Consults periodically the members of the editorial committee to know their opinions on the performance of the journal. The editor also informs them about any change in its policies and identifies challenges for the future.

The Main Editor of Estudios de Filosofía watches over:

• Making an effort to guarantee a fair, unbiased, and timely peer review.
• Having systems to ensure that the submitted material for publication is confidential during the review process.
• Taking reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the published material, recognizing that the sections within the journals have different goals and norms.

• The Main Editor of Estudios de Filosofía has the duty to act whenever there is suspicion or report of misconduct. This applies to both published and unpublished articles.
• The Main Editor will not simply reject the documents that raise questions about possible misconduct, s/he is ethically obligated to investigate them.
• The Main Editor will follow the COPE guidelines for these cases.
• The Main Editor will first request an answer from those under suspicion of misconduct. If the answer is not satisfactory, an investigation must be solicited by the employers, institution, or research agency.
• The editor shall make all reasonable efforts to ensure that a proper investigation of alleged misconduct is carried out. If this does not happen, the editor must make all reasonable efforts to persist in obtaining a solution to the problem. In Estudios de Filosofía we are aware of the difficulty of this duty, but also of its importance.

• The Main Editor promotes and is willing to consider for publication of academic critiques of the works published in this journal.
• The authors of the critiqued works will have the opportunity to reply.
• The journal accepts papers that criticize previous publications of the journal.

• The Main Editor has ways to manage his/her own conflicts of interest, as well as those of the authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial committee.
• Estudios de Filosofía has a specific process for managing the manuscripts by the editors, members of the Institute of Philosophy (UdeA), or members of the editorial committee, to ensure an unbiased review.

Estudios de Filosofía is a publication focused on the dissemination of research. For this reason, authors who wish to present their contributions to our journal must strictly adhere to the ethical guidelines in scientific research and good practices in publication. Our commitment to publishing high-quality works, ensuring double-blind peer evaluation, and respecting intellectual property prompts us to request, on behalf of the authors, absolute compliance with the following guidelines:

1. The author declares to be the author of the text sent and undertakes to prove its authorship if, in the process of initial verification of the text or in its evaluation, doubts arise regarding the ownership of the text
2. The author undertakes to properly and rigorously cite research, works, literature, data, graphs, and any other material subject to intellectual property rights that is used in his work. If the author does not do so, the text will be rejected, and the request for explanations will proceed according to COPE guidelines
3. When the article uses data, the author may be asked to provide the original data of their work in a timely manner, so they must be willing to offer access to it or to the repository where they are stored, even after the article has been published
4. The text submitted for consideration to Estudios de Filosofía must be completely original and unpublished, and not be in the process of evaluation in another journal. We will not process, for any reason, texts that are published in whole or in part in other journals or repositories. Likewise, and in order to preserve impartiality in the double-blind peer evaluation, we will not accept texts in which the similarity with works by the same author exceeds 30% of the manuscript
5. The author may not submit as his own a text that has been produced by means of artificial intelligence. The author must assume responsibility for improper or false use of intellectual property made by artificial intelligence
6. If there is more than one author, the main contact undertakes to attest to the effective participation of the other authors in the text. The journal Estudios de Filosofía will not accept the publication of texts that present "ghost" authors or that include in the authorship people who do not participate as authors in the production of the manuscript
7. The author undertakes to make explicit the sources of financing for his text and the veracity of his current academic affiliation. Likewise, the author may not report academic affiliations that do not have a direct relationship with the research product submitted for consideration by the journal
8. The author undertakes to correct his articles in time, content, and form according to the instructions of the evaluators, the Director, and the Editor of the journal. In the event that the author ignores the recommendations, the Journal may reconsider publishing the article
9. When an author discovers a serious error in his or her own work, it is his or her responsibility to notify the director and editor, as well as to cooperate with them for the public rectification of the error made in the original article