Code of Ethics

RYD journal pays special attention to avoiding three forms of unethical behavior, Falsification of Data, Piracy and Plagiarism.

Data falsification
Perhaps the most blatant and easiest to define (although not always easy to detect) form of research misconduct. Falsification refers to the alteration of materials, protocols, data or research results. Falsification is a serious form of misconduct because it results in a scientific record that does not accurately reflect the observed truth.

Piracy and plagiarism
Piracy is defined as the unauthorized reproduction or use of the ideas, data, or methods of others without proper permission or acknowledgment. Once again, fraud plays a central role in this form of misconduct. The intent of the perpetrator is to appropriate the ideas or methods as their own.
Plagiarism is a form of piracy that involves the unauthorized use or imitation of the language and thoughts of others, as well as the representation as your own original work, without permission or acknowledgment by the author of the source of these materials. Plagiarism generally involves the use of others' materials, but can apply to the duplication of previously published results by researchers (this is sometimes called self-plagiarism or duplicate publication).

República y Derecho journal adheres to the Code of conduct and good practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In accordance with the COPE principles, RYD journal responds to each situation with the different procedures recommended in the linked document.

1) República y Derecho Journal is responsible for:

  • ensuring the integrity of the academic literature in its publications.
  • ensuring policies and procedures to handle issues when they arise, such as plagiarism, citation manipulation, and falsification/fabrication of data, among others.
  • not encouraging bad behavior or knowingly allow it to occur.
  • following COPE guidelines (https://cope.onl/guidance) when becoming aware of any allegations of research misconduct related to an article submitted or published in República y Derecho journal.

2) The Editors are responsible for all content published in their magazine and therefore undertake to:

  • Refrain from publishing articles when faced with conflicts of personal interest and controversial loyalty, which may influence or bias the quality of scientific information and the prestige of the journal.
  • Maintain strict confidentiality of all documents received.
  • Accept or reject a document for publication based on the relevance, originality, clarity and pertinence of the study to the journal's field of competence.
  • Correct quickly and effectively every serious error detected in an already published document.
  • Inform the authors when an inappropriate behavior occurs and, if necessary, contact the RYD Ethics Committee.

3) The authors, by submitting their article to the journal República y Derecho, undertake to:

  • Publicly accept responsibility for the content of the document.
  • Assume that they have read and accepted the “rules for authors”.
  • Refrain from including in co-authorship authors who have not participated in the work.

4) Evaluators/reviewers, by agreeing to evaluate an article, undertake to:

  • Make an objective, informed, critical, constructive and impartial review of the article.
  • Accept or reject, based solely on the relevance of the work, its originality, interest and compliance with the style and content standards indicated in the editorial criteria.
  • Respect the established deadlines (if this is not possible, they must notify the journal's management well in advance).
  • Do not share, disseminate or use the information from the articles submitted for review without the corresponding permission of the director and/or authors.

5) Conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest arise when authors, reviewers or editors have interests that affect the results of the research and its publication. Interests can be personal, financial, political and academic.

Taking into account the above-mentioned:

  • The authors and reviewers will inform the editors if any conflicts of interest may arise.
  • The editors make their readers aware of any conflict of interest that may arise.

6) Misconduct

Inappropriate behaviors will be considered those that violate the responsibilities and/or commitments assumed, as described in the previous sections. The journal, editors and reviewers must reject contributions that raise this situation, or interrupt the editorial process and act according to the procedural models defined by COPE, or appeal to the RYD Ethics Committee, depending on the seriousness of the case.

7) Claims and complaints

Any person, who detects an unethical conduct, may report the fact to the RYD Ethics Committee or to the Dean when it affects the Director of the Journal or a member of the Editorial Team; whether this conduct was committed before, during or after publication.

Once accepted the reported conduct, as sufficiently justified, the Ethics Committee -or the Dean, if applicable- will carry out a summary investigation aimed at corroborating or ruling out the existence of the unethical conduct. During this investigation, the Ethics Committee will be able to require any background information or the advice of an external expert, if applicable. During the investigation, the editorial process of the article will be suspended.

The investigation must be expeditious, reserved and must always contemplate the defenses of the person reported, whose prestige must be protected until the conclusion of the procedure.

Once the investigation is concluded, one or more of the following measures may be applied, according to the severity of the infraction:

  • Inform to the person/s about the existence of a possible misunderstanding or incorrect application of the publication's ethical standards.
  • Inform to the person/s that their behavior is ethically reprehensible and that they should refrain from repeating it in the future.
  • Publish in the magazine a note that reports the commission of an infraction of the publication's ethical standards.
  • Delete the article from the journal and publish the respective retraction note instead. If the conduct corresponds to a criminal offense, report it to the corresponding authorities.

The procedural models that will be followed regarding the different causes that could give rise to a claim will be those prepared by COPE (available at http://publicationethics.org/files/Spanish%20%281%29.pdf).