Ethical Code

Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research is a scientific peer-reviewed journal which follows the publications’ ethical code developed by COPE Committee on Publication Ethics: Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

It is necessary that all parties involved – authors, director, editors and referees – know and share the following ethical requirements. The fact of sending a paper to the journal implies the transfer to the same of all copyright, and the acceptance of the following clauses.

Directors and Editors’ duties

Decisions on the publication

Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research adopts the scientific evaluation system of the submitted articles internationally known as peer-reviewing. Every paper is forwarded in anonymous form to two referees for evaluation. The Journal’s Directors, together with the Editors’ Coordinator are accountable for the referee processing. Referees are chosen according to a high standard of competence and best scholarship in the field. Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research’s Directors and Editors are accountable for the final decision on the submitted papers’ publication. Such decision shall take place within 90 days from the reception of the submitted paper.

Correctness

The Journal’s Directors and the Editors shall assess the papers proposed for publication upon their contents, without being affected by the origins of the manuscript, including the nationality, ethnicity, political belief, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or academic situation of the authors. Decisions to edit and publish should not be determined by the policies of governments or other agencies outside of the journal itself.

Confidentiality and data storage

The Directors the Editors engage themselves not to reveal information on the submitted papers to other parties apart from the author, the referees and the publisher.

The Editors shall store in a confidential database the results of the referee processing of all papers submitted, whether or not accepted for publication.

Competing interests and transparency

The Directors and the Editors engage themselves not to employ in their own researches the contents of a paper submitted for publication without the author’s written consent.

Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research submits to the same evaluation process, anonymous and objective, the papers submitted for publication by the Directors and the Editors.

Quality

The Directors and the Board of Editors check periodically the peer-review processes in order to introduce possible improvements. They reserve moreover the choice of using a third referee in case of conflict between the two evaluations and when the decision on the paper’s publication cannot be taken within the Journal. The relationship with a referee shall be definitely terminated when, in one or more instances, the scheduled evaluation process’ times and ways are not complied with.

Referees’ duties

Contributing to the editors’ decision

Peer-reviewing is a process which assists editors in deciding upon proposed texts and that may help authors in bettering their contribution.

Respecting times schedule

The referee who should judge himself not suitable to the proposed task or who should know himself not able to evaluate the text in the requested lapse of 30 days must inform in time the Editors’ Coordinator.

Confidentiality

Every paper anonymously given to the referees for assessing must be considered confidential. Therefore these papers must not be discussed with third parties without express permission from the Editors.

Objectiveness

Peer-reviewing must be implemented in an objective way. Every personal judgement on the author is inappropriate. The referees must justify appropriately their judgements following a standard form supplied by the Editors

Competing interests and disclosure

Confidential information or clues obtained in the peer-review procedure must be considered confidential and cannot be used for personal purposes. If the referee should recognise the authorship of the paper submitted to his evaluation and whether there were competing interests due to previous cooperation relationships he is bound not to accept the assignment. The same applies in case of competition.

In case the referee should ask changes to the text as a condition for publication, and the Editors should judge them suitable, he should have the opportunity of checking the author’s compliance – in the extent of the author’s acceptance – before giving his final assent to publication.

Authors’ duties

Genuineness and plagiarism

Authors are bound to submit to publication’s evaluation papers completely genuine and unpublished in every part and to quote every employed source. The Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas - Journal of High Andean Research maintains an anti-plagiarism policy that ensures that all published works are unpublished, through the professional application of Urkund.

Multiple publication, repetitious and/or competing

Authors pledge themselves not to publish papers describing the same research in more than one journal. Proposing simultaneously the same text to more than one journal implies an unethical conduct.

Sources’ quotation

Authors must always give the exact and complete reference of sources and contributions quoted in their papers.

Work’s authorship

Authors submitting a paper for evaluation must guarantee that all parties who have significantly contributed to the invention, realization and revision of the research on which is based a paper should appear as co-authors, and that they have given their approval to the paper’s final version publication on Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research.

If other parties have significantly participated to some stages of the research their contribution must be explicitly stated.

Conflict of interest

In sending their paper to Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas – Journal of High Andean Research, authors implicitly admit that there are not conflicts of interest that could have conditioned the results obtained or the proposed interpretations. Authors must also indicate any financial source of the research and/or of the project that made possible the paper’s realization.

Mistakes in published papers

When an author finds in a paper of his a mistake or a significant inaccuracy, he is bound to timely inform the Editors’ Coordinator, giving all necessary information for indicating proper corrections.

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.