Responsibilities of the Editorial Team

The editorial team must ensure that each submission is handled according to consistent criteria, reasonable timeframes, confidentiality, traceability, and respect for due process. Its decisions must be based on the scholarly quality of the manuscript, its relevance to the journal, and compliance with the current editorial policies.

The editorial team is responsible for verifying the manuscript’s initial compliance with the journal’s guidelines, reviewing possible conflicts of interest, activating the established evaluation mechanisms, safeguarding the confidentiality of the process, and properly documenting each decision.

Likewise, the editorial team must act with intellectual independence in the face of external institutional, political, economic, or personal pressures, and must refrain from intervening in cases where a conflict of interest exists.

Responsibilities of Authors

Authors must submit original, methodologically honest, and properly supported works. They must declare that the manuscript has not been submitted simultaneously to another scholarly journal or any other type of publication, that it does not constitute duplicate or redundant publication, and that it sufficiently and verifiably acknowledges the sources used. 

They must also ensure that the attributed authorship reflects real contributions to the work, that there are no fictitious, honorary, gifted, or omitted authors, and that all relevant information on funding, conflicts of interest, permissions, consent, or ethical approvals is clearly declared when applicable.

Authors also have the obligation to cooperate with the journal if supplementary information, methodological clarifications, supporting data, rectifications, or corrections are requested after evaluation or publication.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers must issue scholarly reports that are well-founded, respectful, relevant, and confidential. They must refrain from using the information contained in the manuscripts they review for their own benefit and must promptly disclose any conflict of interest, limitation of expertise, or ethical impediment to accepting the review.

COPE maintains specific guidance for reviewers, emphasizing principles of confidentiality, objectivity, recognition of the limits of competence, and disclosure of conflicts of interest.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

The publisher must support the material and procedural conditions necessary for the journal to operate with transparency, continuity, and scholarly seriousness. This support includes the availability of reasonable editorial control mechanisms, technical support, preservation of the published record, and respect for the autonomy of editorial decisions.