Guidelines on Publication Ethics

Ethical Policy

 

Paranoá journal’s Ethical Policy follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and The Code of Best Scientific Practices of the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). The editorial staff considers crucial promoting integrity in research and in this scientific journal. Thus, the Ethical Policy specifies the responsibilities of editors, authors and reviewers of the editorial process.

 

Editors responsibilities:

 

  • Ensuring impartiality, deadlines compliance, and effectiveness of the editorial process in order to ensure quality content and in accordance with the ethical principles of the scientific community.
  • Observing the isonomy of conditions to all authors, without adverse distinction of any kind and without privileging any individual.
  • Maintaining the confidentiality of all manuscripts submitted for publication, as well as the identity of authors and reviewers.
  • Receiving and verifying all allegations of research misconduct related to articles published or submitted to the journal for publication, as well as complaints about the conduct of members of the editorial staff and reviewers.
  • Deciding which manuscripts submitted to the journal will be published.
  • Communicating all editorial policies in a clear and updated way.

 

Authors responsabilities:

 

  • Authors must follow the journal submission rules, besides being responsible for the content of their manuscripts in terms of originality and unpublished, honesty in the use of sources and the absence of plagiarism or undue attributions.
  • In the cases in which there were indications for the more than one author in a single submission, all the authors must have actively participated in the elaboration of the manuscript and their respective contributions must be explained on the “authors identification sheet” to be submitted along with the manuscript. Authorship can be defined as participation in the elaboration of theoretical/conceptual foundation and problematization of the research, data collection, historical documentation and/or statistical analysis, writing and/or translation of the manuscript.
  • The participation of other researchers who do not comply the above criteria should be registered in the “Acknowledgements” section of the manuscript, in which the names of collaborators, institutions or supporting agencies that contributed to the study may also be mentioned.
  • All authors indicated in the same submission must be aware of the article content. For this purpose, all authors must sign and submit the individual authorship declaration, according to the model provided by the Paranoá journal.
  • When requested by the reviewers, authors must present the databases consulted for the elaboration of the manuscript.
  • The figures included in the manuscript must comply with the current legal determinations in the country regarding copyright. Authors are responsible for obtaining authorization to publish figures from the copyright holders of each one of them.
  • Authors must provide a formal declaration on research conducted with human beings, involving, for example, interviews or observations in situ, which proves its approval by an Ethics Committee.
  • Authors must immediately notify editors of any errors, inconsistencies, inaccuracies or flaws in their articles published in Paranoá in order to this journal provide all necessary erratas or retractions.

 

Reviewers responsabilities:

 

  • Reviewers are an essential part of the editorial process and must declare any conflicts of interest for the evaluation, whether they be personal, financial, intellectual, professional or politic.
  • Reviewers must maintain the confidentiality of the peer review process and may not use any data or information obtained in the manuscript for other purposes. Reviewers also may not be writing or having submitted articles with the same scope as the one being evaluated.
  • Reviewers must comply with the deadlines set by the editors, quickly communicating changes in the conditions for finalizing the report and, if possible, proposing a new deadline for completion. If it is not possible to continue the evaluation, the reviewer can indicate another qualified researcher to carry it out.
  • Reviewers cannot communicate directly with authors and will keep editors informed of their demands or questions.
  • Reviewers should notify the editors if the identity of the authors of the manuscript under peer review was recognized, especially if this generates conflicts of interest of any kind.
  • Reviewers are not allowed to indicate references of personal work or of collaborating researchers that are not pertinent and necessary.
  • Reviewers must immediately communicate to the editors any breach of research ethical principles and publication during the evaluation of the manuscript.

 

About the reports:

  • Reports should contain objective, clear, and constructive criticism, always with the objective of helping authors to improve their studies and contribute to the construction of scientific knowledge.
  • Comments and questions should be pertinent to the scope of the manuscript, without requiring unnecessary research extensions.

 

On research misconduct in scientific publications:

  • The editorial staff of Paranoá journal will be attentive to possible research misconduct in this scientific publication. Allegations of this nature received by this journal will be submitted to a formal investigation process, within the capabilities and possibilities of the editorial staff, and its results brought to the public. The allegations may be of various orders, including mistreatment of research subjects; data falsification, fabrication or plagiarism; piracy; authorship disputes; misconduct of the editorial staff and reviewers.

 

If the journal receives allegations or there are any suspect of research misconduct, the following measures will be taken:

 

  • All allegations or suspect of research misconduct will be received and analyzed by the Editorial Board;
  • There should be consistent evidence for a fact-finding process to be carried out;
  • All parties involved will have a wide right of argumentation and defense;
  • All parties involved will be communicated on the progress and investigation results;
  • All allegations or suspect of research misconduct will be discussed with absolute confidentiality by all members of the Editorial Board;
  • If the research misconduct is confirmed, Paranoá journal undertakes to work towards reestablish conduct and ethical practices in the published content, including, depending on the seriousness of the situation: publication of errata and retraction; removal of the article from the Paranoá journal website; communication of the fact to institutions related to the published article.
  • Paranoá journal undertakes to publish all the necessary errata and retraction about the articles published on its website.