Statement of Ethics and Good Practice

Revista Fronteiraz - ISSN 19834373

Statement of Ethics and Good Practice

Fronteiraz is committed to ethics and quality in publication. We stand for the ethical behavior observed by all parties involved in the publication of our journal: authors, peer reviewers, editors. We do not accept plagiarism or any other unethical behavior.

 

Duties of Authors

General rules: authors of manuscripts of original research should present an accurate account of the work conducted as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

Originality and plagiarism: authors are fully accountable for the content of their articles, including the ethical point of view and originality of the text, and should grant copyrights to Fronteiraz. Plagiarism or self-plagiarism implies unethical editorial behavior leading to immediate exclusion from the evaluation system.

Multiple, redundant and concurrent publication: authors should not submit articles which have been published previously in another journal or in websites. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently and publishing it in different journals constitute unethical and unacceptable behavior. After publication in Fronteiraz, in case the article is republished in the author’s work, the author should indicate that such text was previously published in Fronteiraz.

Acknowledgement of sources:   proper acknowledgement of the work of other authors either involved or cited in each paper should be given. Authors should cite publications used in the research and in the writing of the text.

Authorship:  the authorship of the paper should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in specific aspects of the research project should be acknowledged as contributors. The main author should make sure that all appropriate co-authors are included in the paper, and that they have seen and approved the final version of the document and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: in their manuscripts authors should disclose any financial conflict or any conflict of any other nature which might be deemed to influence the results or the construal of the manuscript submitted. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

Fundamental errors in published papers: in the event the authors identify any significant error or inaccuracy in their published paper, they should inform immediately the journal editor and give assistance in the correction.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions: peer review provide editorss with assistance in editorial decision-making, and through communication with the authors, may also assist the latter in improving the paper.

Promptness: in case referees feel unqualified to review the article or know that its prompt reading and assessment are impossible, the editor should be notified immediately.

Objectivity: reviews should be conducted objectively and referees should indicate positive as well as negative points in clear, well-founded and solid arguments.

Acknowledgement of sources: reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors, and call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlapping between the manuscript under consideration and any other paper published of which they cognizant.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest: privileged information or ideas developed by the reviewers through reading the manuscripts should be maintained in confidentiality and should not be used for personal benefit. Referees should not evaluate papers with which they have any conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative or other connections with any of the authors, companies or institutions associated with the manuscripts.

 

Duties of Editors

Publication decision: Fronteiraz has an Editorial Board and a team of ad hoc reviewers. The members of the Editorial Board should provide advisory support with regard to the editorial policies and act as reviewers in concrete cases when an impasse in the paper evaluations must be resolved. The manuscript selection process involves evaluation by two or three reviewers. Each paper is sent to two reviewers in a blind review process. In case one of the reviewers approves the paper and the other does not recommend its publication, the article is submitted to a third opinion. Any article, either national or foreign, is submitted  to the same evaluation system.

Quality of the publications and improvement of texts: the editors should seek the continuous improvement of the journal and value the quality of the papers published, by comitting themselves to undertaking every measure necessary to ensure the quality of the material to be published. The editors should provide reviewers with guidelines and should be open to any and every complaint or suggestion about the editorial process of the journal by encouraging constructive criticism.

Academic integrity: the editors are committed to ensuring that the research material published complies with internationally accepted ethical guidelines, by requesting, if and when relevant, other reviews so as to guarantee that the research material has been of quality. The editors reserve the right to request, if necessary, guidance from the Editorial Board of this journal. Moreover, they should prevent commercial interest from affecting the intellectual quality of the production.

Transparency and respect:  the editors should evaluate manuscripts for their content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, nationality or political philosophy of the authors. Likewise, reviews that state any bias concerning these issues will be rejected.

Confidentiality: the editors should not disclose any information to any one about a manuscript submitted other than the reviewers or the Editorial Board, ensuring also the protection of the identity of the reviewers, while guaranteeing the confidentiality of the manuscript submitted.

Ethics: the editors should take reasonable measures when ethical complaints have been presented with regard to a manuscript or article published.

Disclosure and conflicts of interest:  the editors should not use in their own research any unpublished material in a submitted manuscript without the express written consent of the author. The editors should refuse to evaluate manuscripts in cases of conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative issues or other relationships with any of the authors, companies or institutions associated with the manuscripts.

Corrections, clarifications and retractions: whenever the publication of any significant inaccuracy, error or fraud, misleading statement or altered report comes to light, the error must be corrected and highlighted. If, after the appropriate investigation, any item proves to be fraudulent, it must be excluded from the journal. Retraction must be clearly identifiable to readers and indexing systems.

 

Note: This statement is based on the recommendations given by Elsevier and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE.