Ethical considerations

 

1. Introduction

The Estudios de Derecho (Law Studies) journal, ISSN-L 0120-1867, is a biannual publication edited by the University of Antioquia’s Faculty of Law and Political Sciences. Since it was founded in 1912, it has contributed to debates of ideas around law, politics and the development of dialog with other disciplines.

Estudios de Derecho is governed by the following ethical guidelines that make its editorial and decision-making process not affect any of the parties involved in the process.

The code of ethics of the Estudios de Derecho journal is based on the guidelines of the Publications Ethics Committee (COPE).  

The journal has no article processing charges (APC).

2. Editorial Team

Estudios de Derecho is made up of a director/editor, an editorial committee, a scientific committee, an editorial assistant and a support group (proofreaders, layout designers, assistants) who ensure that the journal’s content is high-quality and relevant. The committee members are selected based on their recognition in the area. The team is obliged to examine each publication proposal that the journal receives and to check that it meets the requirements established in the norms for submitting articles. Likewise, the team is committed to ensuring that the reviewers have sufficient and updated information on these requirements. 

2.1. Director / editor

In accordance with article 9 of the Rectoral Resolution 22863-2006, the director/editor’s role is to: a) ensure compliance with all editorial and administrative policies outlined by the editorial committee and the respective academic body; b) represent the academic journal in the aspects established by law and by University regulations; c) maintain contact with the different academic and administrative bodies that are related to the journal’s activity; d) chair and convene the editorial committee; e) oversee the journal's editing, production, marketing and exchange; f) supervise the budget; and g) oversee other matters established by regulation, or by the Editorial Committee.   

The director/editor is committed to the journal’s constant improvement, to providing mechanisms that ensure publications’ quality, to defending freedom of expression, to maintaining each publication’s independence and academic and ethical integrity, to publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary (COPE, 2011b). They also coordinate the editorial process and the indexing processes. 

2.2. Editorial assistant

Supports the director/editor in the performance of their duties. By extension, their ethical commitment to the publication and its contents are the same as those of the director/editor.
Their functions include: reviewing compliance with editorial criteria; coordinating editorial processes (style correction, layout, proofreading of layout and publication); communicating and providing guidance to authors and reviewers; reviewing compliance with the criteria of the national and international indexing and summary systems, and updating databases; managing the Open Journal System platform and helping its users. 

2.3. Editorial Committee

The members of the Editorial Committee are the advisors of the editorial quality that characterizes serial publications in the field of science and technology.

The Editorial Committee's functions include the periodic evaluation of the processes applied to the reception, evaluation and acceptance of articles. 

2.4. Scientific Committee

The members of the Scientific Committee are advisors on the scientific quality of the journal. The Scientific Committee is an advisory and expert body that is made up of people from the national and international academic community with a recognized track record thanks to their training, professional or academic experience and for their publications (Rectoral Resolution 22863 of 9 August, 2006). This committee is in charge of ensuring that the publication complies with the international scientific community’s criteria (Colciencias, 2010, pp. 5-6; SciELO Colombia, nd). 

3. Editorial process

Through the Open Journal System (OJS) and its email, Estudios de Derecho guarantees the confidentiality of the review process. The identification of the reviewers and the authors, the content evaluated, the opinion of the reviewers and any other communication issued by the editorial and scientific committees will be confidential.

Those in charge of the journal will, in all cases, give immediate and sufficient attention to the clarifications, claims or complaints that an author wishes to communicate to the journal's committees or the article’s reviewers.

Although the editorial team approves articles based on criteria of quality, rigorous research and taking into account the peer review, the authors are responsible for the ideas expressed in their own texts (Rectoral Resolution 21231-2005, article 6), as well as the research processes on which they are based.

Finally, in assessing articles the journal will make every effort to avoid conflicts of interest, defined as links or activities that may distort the judgment or modify the selection criteria of the articles by any participant in the process. In any case, those in charge of the journal demand that those involved in the process of reviewing and publishing articles make these conflicts explicit. When relevant to readers, this information will be made public (See below: 3.1. Conflict of interest for authors and 4.1 Conflict of interest for reviewers).

The Editorial Committee will be in charge of undertaking the final article’s final review and deciding whether it complies with the reviewers’ recommendations. Once the author sends all the requested documents within the indicated period, they will establish the edition in which the article will be published. The journal reserves the right to make minor style corrections (orthographic, typographic, layout, citation and other corrections) 

4. Responsibilities of the author(s)

Author(s) must submit their articles following the instructions established by the journal in its calls for submission. Any questions can be sent to revistaestudiosdederecho@udea.edu.co. The journal has public access rules for authors, guidelines for the presentation of articles and reviews, which can be consulted on the platform.

All articles submitted for review and publication must be original, in other words, of the author’s own intellectual production. Each author is responsible for the article's contents and must certify that it is of their complete authorship. Data and texts taken from other authors’ published and unpublished documents must be cited and indicated in bibliographic references, according to the instructions for those who wish to publish in the journal.

All articles must be unpublished, in other words they must NOT have been published or accepted in another publication. The articles cannot be in a simultaneous process of being evaluated in other publications; authors will be required to certify this. Each author must agree not to submit the article to another publication until they have received the final notification of acceptance or rejection from Estudios de Derecho. If the article’s originality and lack of simultaneous submission to other publications are not certified, the article cannot be evaluated.

The authors of the accepted texts will allow their text to be included in the journal (printed and electronic version) by signing the form ceding their economic rights.

The articles must recognize all those who have substantially contributed to the design, collection and analysis of the data as authors, as well as those who wrote the article. For this reason, "It is recommended that the precise roles of collaborators and partners are determined at an early stage, as well as questions of authority and publication" (COPE, sf b, p. 1). All authors are required to approve the publication of the article’s final version and to take full responsibility for the content of the article. Likewise, authors must acknowledge the contribution of research assistants and project advisers explicitly within the text (COPE, sf b, p. 2).

Authors must accept the academic peer review and take the comments of the reviewers and the Editorial Committee into account. The requested adjustments must be accepted by the author(s) within the indicated period. After the journal receives the modified article, the author will be informed of its full approval. 

4.1. Conflict of interest for authors

Authors should inform publishers about conflicts of interest that may influence the decision on what is published. These are “those conflicts that, once revealed, would make a reasonable reader feel that they have been compromised or lied to. These may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial “and include affiliation, research funding, participation in shares or ownership of a company, company payment for presentations or trips, consultancies and support" (COPE, sf b, pp 2-3). If the Editorial Committee judges that the conflict of interest is extreme, it evaluates the appropriateness of the article’s publication. 

4.2. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism

"Plagiarism varies from the absence of references to the use of others' published or unpublished ideas, including requests for research grants to the presentation of a 'new' authorship of a complete document, sometimes in another language" (COPE, sf b, pp. 3-4).

Due to its commitment to the scientific and academic community, Estudios de Derecho is strictly prohibited from plagiarism, for which, it uses CroosCheck software for its detection, on the other hand, it accepts two peers reviews who declare to know the ethical standards for publication and guarantee the confidentiality of its review. In the event of detecting plagiarism, the article will withdraw from the evaluation process or the electronic version that was published, leaving a note explaining the reason for their deletion and the publication of the decision in a subsequent printed edition.

In the event that the article is published and it is discovered that it has been subsequently published in another journal without pointing out that the first publication was made in Estudios de Derecho, the editorial team will contact the editor of the journal in question, requesting that an amendment be made notifying that the article already has an edition published in Estudios de Derecho.

5. Double blind review

Once it has been confirmed that the article complies with the criteria established in the standards for submitting articles, the Estudios de Derecho editorial team will send it to two anonymous peer reviewers. Academic peers are convened by direct communication from the Editorial Committee according to their academic level, publications, research experience, among others. Once the request for review has been accepted, the reviewers agree to submit their assessment within a period not exceeding 20 days (see review form).

Once the commitments have been designated, they promise to maintain the article review’s confidentiality and to not "make use of the data, arguments or interpretations, unless they have the authorization of the authors" (COPE, sf b, p. 3; 2013, pp. 1-2).

As the journal believes that reviewing is an exchange and collaboration that strengthens the academic community, participation in this process is encouraged by awarding the corresponding credits to reviewers who participated, providing proof of their participation as a reviewer.

5.1. Conflict of interest for reviewers

Reviewers should inform publishers about conflicts of interest that may influence the decision on what is being evaluated. These are “those conflicts that, once revealed, would make a reasonable reader feel that they have been deceived or lied to. These may be personal, commercial, political, academic or financial “and include affiliation, research funding, participation in shares or ownership of a company, company payment for presentations or trips, consultancies and support" (COPE, s.f. b, pp. 2-3; 2013, p. 1). If the Editorial Committee judges that the conflict of interest is extreme, it evaluates the appropriateness of the reviewer’s participation. 

6. Evaluation

Committed to "diligently issuing accurate, courteous, unbiased and justifiable reports" (COPE, sf b, p. 3; 2013, p. 1), the evaluation will address the relevance of the topic for publication and must answer the question of the contribution to knowledge of the topic covered, the news provided, the critical judgment developed, the appropriate form of referencing, the bibliographic references used, its correct wording and more. Recommendations will be indicated, if relevant, for the modification and improvement of the assessed text. "If the reviewers suspect any inappropriate behavior" on the part of the author, they must inform the editor” (COPE, sf b, p. 3; 2013, p. 1).

In accordance with the reviewers’ recommendations, the author(s) will be informed of the evaluation’s conclusions; as well as the reviewers’ comments and observations ("Publishable"; "Publishable with modifications"; "Rejected").

7. Publication

If the article has been accepted with modifications, the authors should draft a new version of the article, responding to the reviewers’ observations and tracking changes made with the ‘Track Changes’ tool. The editorial team evaluates compliance with the requested modifications and decides whether or not to publish the article.

The director/editor of the journal will promptly communicate judgment of the article’s publication and the decision on the edition in which it will be included to the author(s).

8. Retraction

Retraction is a mechanism that seeks to correct published information and alert readers to unreliable, incorrect or incomplete information that may partially or completely affect an article’s content (COPE, 2009).

The journal Estudios de Derecho reserves the use of retraction in the following cases: unreliable findings; unintentional errors; previous publication, plagiarism or unethical conduct, and similar cases covered by the COPE retraction guide (2009).

The retraction will be published in the electronic version or in versions printed after the case has been identified.

9. Copyright and intellectual property

Estudios de Derecho is governed by the following regulation: Political Constitution of Colombia, article 61; Law 23 of 1982, articles 1 and 2; Law 44 of 1993, chapter II, article 6 and chapter IV, article 51; Law 599 of 2000 through which the Penal Code is issued, articles 270, 271 and 272. In addition, the journal is governed by the guidelines of the National Copyright Directorate and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for Colombia. Finally, it abides by Rectoral Resolution 21231 of 5 August, 2005, through which the Statute on Intellectual Property is issued.

Authors who publish in Estudios de Derecho continue to retain their rights. However, as long as the contents of the journal are under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike license, the physical or digital reproduction and distribution of the created material must expressly include acknowledgment of the authorship of the work and of its initial publication in the journal. No commercial benefit can be obtained.

10. Storage

Estudios de Derecho uses the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system that guarantees the journal a permanent and safe file. LOCKSS is an open source program developed by the Stanford University Library that enables libraries to retain selected web journals by regularly searching registered journals to collect and archive new published content. Each file is continually validated against records from other libraries, so any damaged or lost content can be restored using those records or the journal itself.

References 

1. Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades (CLASE). (sf) Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Recuperado de: http://132.248.9.1:8991/F/99HCLS2K1D9P1AGYIYFXSFFICUETMN4NXBEHQ4IHM1F286TSSP-07730?func=file&file_name=criterios_seleccion
2. Colciencias. (2010) Publindex. Recuperado de: http://201.234.78.173:8084/publindex/docs/informacionCompleta.pdf
3. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (sf a) Código de Conducta. Recuperado de: http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct
4. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (sf b). Directrices sobre buenas prácticas para publicaciones. Consejo de Población. Recuperado de: http://www.popcouncil.org/Frontiers/ScienceWriting/Spanish/PDFS_Spanish/12_4.pdf
5. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (2009) Pautas de retracción. Recuperado de: http://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20guidelines.pdf
6. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (2011a). Código de conducta para editores de revistas. Recuperado de: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code%20of%20conduct%20for%20publishers%20FINAL_1_0.pdf
7. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (2011b). Código de conducta y directrices de mejores prácticas para editores de revistas. Recuperado de: http://publicationethics.org/files/Code_of_conduct_for_journal_editors_1.pdf
8. Comité de ética para publicaciones (COPE). (2013) Pautas éticas para los revisores pares. Recuperado de: http://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_guidelines_for_peer_reviewers_0.pdf
9. Colombia. Asamblea Nacional Constituyente. Constitución Política de Colombia. (20 de julio de 1991). Gaceta Constitucional  116. Recuperado de: http://www.secretariasenado.gov.co/senado/basedoc/cp/constitucion_politica_1991_pr001.html
10. Congreso de Colombia. Ley 23. (28, enero, 1982). Recuperado de: http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas/Norma1.jsp?i=3431
11. Congreso de Colombia. Ley 44. (5, febrero, 1993). Recuperado de: http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas/Norma1.jsp?i=3429
12. Congreso de Colombia. Ley 599. (24, julio, 2000). Por la cual se expide el Código Penal. Recuperado de: http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas/Norma1.jsp?i=6388
13. Dirección Nacional de Derechos de Autor. (sf) Normatividad y jurisprudencia. Recuperado de: http://www.derechodeautor.gov.co/web/guest/decision-andina
14. Latindex (sf a). Características editoriales para revistas impresas. Recuperado de: http://www.latindex.unam.mx/documentos/revistas_imp.html
15. OMPI. (sf) Colombia. Recuperado de: http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/es/profile.jsp?code=CO
16. SciELO Colombia. (sf) Nota de revistas. Recuperado de: http://www.SciELO.org.co/avaliacao/avaliacao_es.htm
17. Universidad de Antioquia. Resolución rectoral 21231. (5, agosto, 2005). Por la cual se expide el Estatuto sobre la Propiedad Intelectual y se deroga la Resolución Rectoral 20096 del 13 de diciembre de 2004. Recuperado de: http://secretariageneral.udea.edu.co/doc/i21231-2005.rtf
18. Universidad de Antioquia. Resolución rectoral 22863. (9, agosto de 2006). Por la cual se determinan las políticas y el reglamento general para las revistas académicas de la Institución. Recuperado de: http://secretariageneral.udea.edu.co/doc/i22863-2006.rtf  

 

---