Ethical Policies

Ethical standards

Research ethics

Desde el Sur adheres to the Code of Conduct for Journal Editors (COPE). The Editorial Board is responsible for preventing the publication of research that fails to comply with the ethical standards set out below.

Any research involving human subjects must contain an express statement that its procedures conformed to ethical standards consistent with the Declaration of Helsinki. It must explicitly state the ethical guidelines followed, including (i) the informed consent of the individuals involved in the research, by which each agreed to the use of their data in the study and in the publication; ii) the handling of these individuals’ confidential data; and (iii) any other ethical practices contained in the aforementioned document.

For research involving animals, the journal recommends the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

All research must state if an ethics committee provided approval. Without such approval, the author(s) must adequately demonstrate that the relevant ethical guidelines were followed.

 

Publication ethics

Consistent with COPE recommendations, the Desde el Sur Editorial Committee considers the following requirements mandatory:

  • The research was conducted ethically and responsibly.
  • The research is presented clearly, and honestly, without fabrication, falsification or data manipulation.
  • The methodology is presented clearly, unambiguously, and in a way that allows others to confirm the findings (in the case of research studies).
  • The research must be original, plagiarism-free, unpublished, and not submitted for publication in multiple journals.
  • The author(s) assumes collective responsibility for the entire contents of the publication and to provide retractions or corrections of errors if required.
  • All authors have contributed significantly to the research. The authorship reflects the contribution of each of the co-authors to the work, and there has been no ethical misconduct, such as honorary, gift or ghost authorship.
  • The author(s) promptly provide transparent funding source information and clearly describe potential conflicts of interest.
  • The reference list is provided.

Authors’ contribution

The choice to name authors for an article should accurately reflect the contribution that each made to the research and to the writing. Desde el Sur adheres to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations. Authorship of a text should consider the following:

  1. The author has made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work.
  2. The author has participated in drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. The author has provided final approval of the version to be published.
  4. The author has agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work can be appropriately investigated and resolved.

The journal endorses the above criteria but will never participate in authorship disputes; the authors must decide.

Desde el Sur defines honorary authorship as including an individual for his or her reputation, influence or seniority who does not meet the criteria for authorship. Gift authorship means, as a favor or in return for payment, including an individual who does not meet the authorship criteria. Ghost authorship means excluding from the list of authors an individual who meets the authorship criteria.

Responsibilities of the Advisory Council

- To supervise the journal’s content and development in coordination with the Editorial Committee.

- To provide suggestions that improve the journal and advise its editor on how to optimize the editorial process.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Committee, the Editor, and the associate editors

- The Editorial Committee makes publicly available the descriptions of the peer review process and characteristics an article must exhibit to be published. It is also available to resolve any controversy.

- The Editorial Committee uses objective criteria—without distinction for race, gender, sexual orientation, and religious, political or ideological beliefs—to accept or reject an article.

- Before sending out an article for peer review, the Editorial Committee performs a similarity analysis (pursuant to the Antiplagiarism Policy of the journal’s policies and standards) to ensure no research misconduct has occurred. In no case will the Director or editors encourage or allow misconduct to occur.

- The Editorial Committee will not disclose information contained in manuscripts to any person other than the article author.

- The Editorial Committee will not use unpublished material in manuscripts for private research.

- Should the Editorial Committee receive an allegation of research misconduct, the Director or the editors will undertake an appropriate and thorough investigation. Where fault is found, the Director or editors will publish a correction or retraction in the journal and indicate the author(s) involved in the misconduct.

- The Director and the Editorial Committee are responsible for the journal’s published contents. Where warranted, they may publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies.

- The Director guarantees that the processes are confidential and undertaken pursuant to COPE ethical standards.

Guidelines for retracting or correcting articles with ethical failings

Where complaints are received, or practice in contravention of the journal’s ethical standards is suspected or discovered, the following procedure applies:

  1. The journal Director designates a journal editor to conduct an internal investigation by gathering as much evidence as possible to corroborate the allegations. This process lasts for a maximum of two weeks.
  2. Where malpractice is found, the journal will send a message to the author(s) within one week, attaching the evidence and requiring, consistent with editorial standards, that they issue a statement of retraction, correction, and apology. The author(s) must reply within one week. The Editor will simultaneously issue the necessary retractions, corrections, clarifications, and apologies on the journal’s website.
  3. Where malpractice is not corroborated, the Editor will publish a clarification to finalize the matter.