Statement of ethics and best practices

 

 

ARTxt is committed to ensuring the ethics of the articles it publishes, taking as reference the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors defined by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE - http://publicationethics.org/). It is essential that all parties involved in the editing process—editors, reviewers, and authors—be familiar with and adhere to the principles of this code.

Editorial Team

  • Publication Decision: Editors will ensure the selection of the most qualified and scientifically specialized reviewers to provide a critical and expert assessment of the work, with minimal possible bias.

  • Honesty: Editors will evaluate articles submitted for publication solely on the basis of their scientific merit, in line with the journal's editorial policy.

  • Confidentiality: Editors and members of the various boards and staff commit not to disclose information regarding articles submitted for publication to anyone other than authors, reviewers, and editors. Anonymity is a formula used to preserve the intellectual integrity of the entire process.

  • Conflict of Interest and Disclosure: Editors commit not to use content from articles submitted for publication in their research without the written consent of the author.

  • Editorial Process Timelines: The editorial team commits to communicating the receipt, evaluation, decision, and estimation, correction, or rejection of submitted works in a timely manner, with a total process time not exceeding 180 days.

Authors

  • Originality and Plagiarism: All works submitted for publication must be original. Authors of manuscripts submitted to "ARTxt" ensure that the work is original, does not contain parts from other authors or from other fragments of works already published by the authors. They also confirm the veracity of the data and results presented in the work, ensuring that they are original and there is no plagiarism, distortion, or manipulation of empirical data when used, or of the sources used to corroborate hypotheses or conjectures.

  • Exclusive Commitment: Works submitted to ARTxt cannot have been simultaneously submitted to another journal for consideration. Likewise, they cannot contain, even partially, results already published in other articles.

  • Source List: The author must always provide the correct indication of the sources and contributions mentioned in the article.

  • Authorship: In articles where more than one person has contributed, authorship must be prioritized based on the responsibility and involvement in its preparation. Likewise, the inclusion of all persons who have made significant scientific and intellectual contributions to the research and the writing of the article must be guaranteed.

  • Access and Retention: The editorial team may require authors to provide the data or sources on which the research is based, and may retain them for a reasonable time after publication, with the possibility of making them accessible to the editor. In any case, for this purpose, all data must be meticulously anonymized.

Reviewers

  • Contribution to Editorial Decision: Individuals who undertake to evaluate submitted works must conduct a critical, constructive, and unbiased review, in order to ensure scientific and literary quality in their area of expertise.

  • Time Management: Reviewers commit to evaluating works as quickly as possible to meet deadlines, as works in ARTxt must be evaluated as quickly as possible to optimize editorial management. Reviewers who do not feel competent in the subject matter to be reviewed or who cannot complete the evaluation within the scheduled time will immediately notify the editors.

  • Objectivity: The review will be as objective as possible, without involving personal judgments about the authors. All assessments must be justified in a report. This report must be as comprehensive as possible, allowing the authors to clearly understand the modifications or corrections suggested, or, in case the work is rejected, understand the reasons for that decision. Likewise, in the event of any conflict of interest, the review of the work must be declined.

  • Confidentiality: Manuscripts are distributed anonymously. However, each assigned manuscript must be considered confidential. Therefore, these texts should not be discussed with other people without the express consent of the authors or editors.

  • Text Visualization or Bibliographic References: Reviewers commit to accurately indicate the bibliographic references of fundamental works possibly overlooked by the author. The reviewer must also inform the editors of any similarity or overlap between the manuscript and other published works.

  • Conflict of Interest and Disclosure: Confidential information or information obtained during the peer review process must be considered confidential and cannot be used for personal purposes. Reviewers only review a manuscript if there are no conflicts of interest.

Identification and Guidance on Misconduct

Regarding good practices to strengthen ethics in scientific publication, after complying with the required formal aspects, the editorial process ensures that all authors review and demonstrably accept responsibility for the content and record the contribution of each at the end of the manuscript. Verification can be by signature or digital confirmation, including whether there is a conflict of interest, which must be explicitly stated in the publication.

In case of questions regarding authorship, contact will be made first with the corresponding author and, if necessary, with all authors. In case of an impasse, contact will be made with the authors' affiliated institutions or funding institutions involved in the research.

With regard to the subjects involved in the research, the editorial process requires that authors submit background information, such as the opinion of the corresponding ethics committee, authorization from the individuals involved, clinical trial records, among others. When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief will contact the corresponding author and, if necessary, all authors, requesting completeness of the data.

To promote the predominance of the originality of the texts, the journal adopts duplication verification programs with texts already published. The journal informs authors of the program used in the article submission process.

When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief will contact the corresponding author and, if necessary, all authors, and if duplication is proven, contact will be made with the authors' affiliated institutions or funding institutions involved in the research.

When there is doubt about the inclusion of citations and their references, the cited document will be verified or requested. When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief must contact the corresponding author and, if necessary, all authors.

During the evaluation process, editors or reviewers identify excessive self-citation by authors and/or the journal, the corresponding author will be contacted, and if necessary, all authors will be asked for clarification to support the decision-making process.

Editors and reviewers must prioritize impartiality, integrity, and confidentiality in their evaluation, prioritizing constructive criticism and the agreed-upon deadline with the journal. When there is doubt or questioning, the editor-in-chief must contact the corresponding editor and/or the reviewers.

Data and image fabrication or falsification are serious misconduct. The evaluation process is a criterion in identifying such behavior. And if there is doubt, authors will be asked for evidence of the methodology and results. In case of misconduct, the affiliated institutions or funding institutions involved in the research will be informed.

The journal will inform authors in the instructions how suspicions of misconduct are received.

In cases of doubt or questioning considered above, the journal will follow COPE flowcharts for identification and guidance on misconduct. If there is a challenge to the journal's decision, a committee of members of the editorial board and external to the journal will be constituted.

For more details, please visit:

Code of Conduct for Journal Editors

Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers