Ethical Guidelines

These commitments are based on Elsevier’s performance policies and on the guidelines and good practices recommended by the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).

1. General obligations of the Management Board and the Editorial Board of the Journal

- Watching for the continuous improvement of the Journal;

- Ensuring the quality of the articles published;

- Maintaining the academic integrity of the content of the Journal;

- Respecting the freedom of expression;

- Reviewing the Editorial Board’s composition periodically;

- Promoting the continuous improvement of the Journal;

- Selecting the best authors and contributions;

- Reviewing the manuscripts submitted for publication to the Journal;

- Preserving the anonimity of the evaluators designated for the evaluation of the articles;

- In no event shall commercial interests be put before intellectual and ethical commitments that the Journal assumes;

- Be willing to publish corrections, and do so when mistakes are detected, as well as to publish retractions and apologies whenever deemed necessary. Recommendations published by the COPE on these matters shall be followed thereon;

- Reviewing continuously and ensuring the compliance with the ethical commitments assumed by the Journal together with the Editorial Board.


2. Relationship with the readers

- The Management Board of the Journal and its Editorial Board shall adopt rules and guidelines that encourage good practices on the part of authors and collaborators, preventing inappropriate conducts;

- The Journal editors shall guarantee that all studies published have been duly evaluated by independent experts;

- Sections of the Journal that are not subject to external evaluation shall appear clearly identified;

- Readers shall be informed about the sponsors who, eventually, have financed the investigation or study published in the Journal.

 
3. Relationship with the authors

- Periodically, reviewing the instructions for the authors, providing a link to the corresponding sources of information;

- Indicating in all articles submitted the date of receipt and of acceptance;

- Guaranteeing the adequate selection of reviewers according to the subject matter of the contributions;

- The Management Board of the Journal shall ensure the adoption of the appropriate measures in order to ensure the quality of the material published and to prevent the publication of plagiarised and or non-original work;

-  The Management Board of the Journal shall publish the measures to be applied to deal with this kind of misconducts, according to the COPE guidelines.


4. Peer review process

- Adequate peer review of submitted manuscripts is considered an essential element of the Journal. The reviewers assist the Editorial Staff of the Journal in the decisions on the publication of the articles and, through their communication with the authors; they also contribute to the refinement of the manuscripts;

- The articles shall be reviewed by two evaluators, using the opinion of a third one in case of discrepancies in order to decide whether the reviewed article is to be published;

- The Editorial Staff of the Journal shall supervise the work of the reviewers, in order to ensure a high level of scientific quality;

- The reviewers shall act objectively and make clear and precise judgements and evaluations, sufficiently argued and impartial. Besides, conflicts of interest of any kind shall be avoided (personal, academic, commercial, etc.). In particular, reviewers must point out relevant publications that were not cited by the author of the manuscript, just as possible similarities with, or partial or complete duplication of, other articles already published, which the reviewer has personal knowledge about;

- If a reviewer is not considered to be sufficiently capable of evaluating a particular manuscript or if he/she considers that he/she would not be able to do so within a reasonable period of time, he/she shall immediately communicate it to the Editorial Staff of the Journal;

- The Editorial Staff of the Journal shall apply the recommendations by the COPE in case of detecting any inadequate behaviour from any reviewer.