Statement of ethics and best practices

Revista Universidad de Guayaquil is committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethics and good practices in scientific publication, following the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This statement clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in this journal, including the author, the editor-in-chief, the Editorial Committee, the reviewer and the publishing entity (Universidad de Guayaquil). This statement is based on COPE's previous Code of Conduct and Best Practices Guidelines for Journal Editors and COPE's current Basic Practices.

Ethical Guidelines for Journal Publication

The publication of a peer-reviewed article in Revista Universidad de Guayaquil is an essential component in the development of a coherent and respected knowledge network. It is a direct reflection of the quality of the work of the authors and the institutions that support them. Peer-reviewed articles support and incorporate scientific method. Therefore, it is important to agree on standards of ethical behavior for all parties involved in the act of publication: the author, the journal editor, the reviewer, the publisher, and the society.

The Publisher and the Editor

The publisher of Revista Universidad de Guayaquil takes very seriously its custodial duties at all stages of publication and recognizes its ethical and other responsibilities. It is committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint or other commercial revenues have no impact or influence on editorial decisions. In addition, Revista Universidad de Guayaquil and its Editorial Committee will assist in communications with other journals and/or publishers when useful and necessary.

  • Publication Decisions: The editor of Revista Universidad de Guayaquil is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers should always drive such decisions. Editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and be constrained by the legal requirements that will apply regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. Editors may consult with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.
  • Fair Play: The editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for intellectual content without regard to the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
  • Confidentiality: The editor and editorial staff should not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisors, and the publisher, as appropriate.
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript should not be used in an editor's research without the express written consent of the author.

Reviewers

  • Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with the author, may also assist the author in improving the paper.
  • Promptness: Any selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or who knows that prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself or herself from the review process.
  • Confidentiality: Any manuscript received for review should be treated as a confidential document. They should not be shown or discussed with others, except as authorized by the editor.
  • Standards of objectivity: Reviews should be conducted in an objective manner. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
  • Acknowledgement of sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument has been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also bring to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which he or she has personal knowledge.
  • Disclosure and conflict of interest: Privileged information or insights gained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest as a result of competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions related to the papers.

Authors

  • Presentation standards: Authors of original research papers should present an accurate description of the work performed, as well as an objective discussion of its significance. The underlying data should be accurately represented in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to reproduce the work. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
  • Data Access and Retention: Authors are requested to provide raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (in accordance with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Databases and Data), if possible, and, in any case, should be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
  • Originality and plagiarism: Authors should ensure that they have written completely original work, and if authors have used the work and/or words of others, these should be properly cited or referenced.
  • Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: An author should not, in general, publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time constitutes unethical publication behavior and is unacceptable.
  • Acknowledgment of sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others should always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported.
  • Authorship of the article: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study presented. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. When there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors and not inappropriate coauthors are included in the paper and that all coauthors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
  • Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors must disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that could be interpreted to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.
  • Fundamental errors in published work: When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her own published work, it is the author's obligation to notify the journal editor immediately and to cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Revista Universidad de Guayaquil, following the COPE guidelines on good ethics and best practices, defends academic non-endogamy, therefore it will limit:

  1. The publication of approved manuscripts to 40% per issue for authors coming from the publishing entity (Universidad de Guayaquil);
  2. To one (1) per volume, when the editor is an author or co-author;
  3. At one (1) per volume, when one of the members of the editorial committee is an author or co-author; and
  4. One (1) per issue for the same author, that is, a maximum of two (2) publications per volume.