Statement of Ethics and Editorial Practices

Sincronía, biannual electronic magazine of Philosophy, Letters and Humanities of the University of Guadalajara, publishes approximately 18 articles per year, the result of scientific research by national and foreign authors, as well as original and unpublished literary works of the literary artistic community, which have high professional recognition in the field of social sciences and humanities. Our main objective is to disseminate scientific knowledge material as well as literary works and make it available to the community in general through an integral open access system.

Therefore, the editors of Sincronía have taken as a basis the ethical criteria linked to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), assuming the ethical commitment of neutrality in relation to the contents of the articles that are sent to the editors of the magazine, without prejudices of religious, political, ethnic, gender or any other ideologies that generate controversy or controversy.

The articles and literary works that are sent to the editorial office of Sincronía to be considered in a future publication go through different review processes: technical, methodological and content aspects; An average of three reviews are carried out per article before publication and each reviewer (editors and reviewers) is responsible for the corresponding process, so each member of the editorial team, including the reviewers, must objectively adhere to the ethical criteria established by the magazine and assume the commitment to act objectively, professionally and ethically, at all stages of the editorial process.

1.- ETHICAL PRINCIPLES.
1.1.- It is the responsibility of the Editorial Assistant:

  • Proceed at all times in an objective and professional manner in the performance of their duties, without any discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious, political, ethnic or any other ideologies that generate controversy or controversy.
  • To process the articles that are accepted equally, without making any distinction or giving preference to authors of high prestige, or by academic merit, whether national or foreign, avoiding at all times commercial, personal or other influences.
  • To be the first instance in the resolution of complaints and controversies.
  • Receive written complaints from authors when these are of an ethical nature or are motivated by a procedural problem of the article and refer them to the journal's management for their due process.
  • Give timely follow-up to the complaints presented by the authors, following the corresponding procedures, giving the author the right to reply and considering the arguments that originate the complaint.
  • Investigate the origin of the complaints and present in writing to the author the resolutions issued by the journal's management.
  • To keep in an organized manner, all documentation and archives of the journal.

1.2.- It is the responsibility of the Appraiser:

  • To adhere objectively to the evaluation criteria established in the basic review form.
  • Conduct themselves in an objective and professional manner in the review of articles without being influenced by their academic or personal perspective on the subject.
  • To objectively review the articles submitted by the Editorial Assistant, propose improvements in the quality of the papers and submit them to the journal's editorial staff for follow-up.
  • Maintain the confidentiality of the authors or any information provided by the Editorial Assistant.
  • Avoid preserving the revised work, do not copy it or process it for any work of their own authorship.
  • Give timely notice to the Editorial Assistant if the work under review is similar to another that is already published or in the process of review by another journal.
  • Inform the Editorial Assistant in a timely manner if the work under review presents a conflict of interest.
  • Request in due time and form to the Editorial Assistant, the change of the article to be reviewed if it is considered to be outside their thematic specialty.
  • Point out the relevant published work that has not yet been cited.

1.3.- It is the author's responsibility:

  • To send his/her contribution within the deadlines mentioned in the corresponding call for papers, complying with the requirements mentioned therein.
  • Attend in due time and form, the observations made by the Editorial Assistant and Reviewer.
  • Provide the Editorial Assistant with the necessary information to identify the author, including those related to the article.
  • Sign the declaration of authorship to confirm that the submitted paper is not simultaneously in the process of revision or publication application with another journal.
  • Confirm that the article is original and unpublished when applying for publication in Sincronía.
  • To have the necessary permissions if their work includes graphic sources (photographs, pictures or any other type that may be required) and to provide the Editorial Assistant with the permissions granted.
  • Cite all sources used in their work.
  • Declare any type of conflict of interest and avoid any type of influence during the editorial process.
  • To notify the Editorial Assistant in a timely manner if any significant errors are identified in the publication and to cooperate with the Editorial Assistant in correcting them when required.

2.- UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR.
2.1.- It is considered unethical behavior:

  1. When any member of the Editorial Board, Editorial Committee or Reviewer, receives from any person or author, any gift (financial or in kind) for any article under review to be approved.
  2. When the Editorial Assistant, Reviewer, author or any member of the journal does not fulfill his/her responsibilities professionally, affecting the interests of the journal or the authors.
  3. When the Editorial Assistant does not accept a proposal for publication without presenting the necessary and convincing arguments or because of personal or political conflicts with the author.
  4. When the Editorial Assistant, the Management, Reviewer, author or any member of the journal does not behave with due respect to the counterpart in cases of conflict or complaint.
  5. When the Management, Editorial Committee or Reviewer do not take care of the ethical principle of confidentiality of the authors.
  6. When the Management, Editorial Committee or Reviewer provides third parties with information of the journal, authors, documents or any other text, without the corresponding permissions and this represents an economic, material or any other kind of damage to the journal, its members or authors.
  7. When the Editorial Assistant does not give adequate follow-up to the complaints procedure sent by the authors.
  8. When the Editorial Board or Committee does not carry out the appropriate procedure, does so partially or does not proceed in the resolution of a conflict or complaint presented in a timely manner by the author.
  9. When the author intends to give any gift (financial or in kind) to any member of the Editorial Board or Editorial Committee so that the resolution of a conflict is in his favor.
  10. When the author does not comply with the observations made by the Editorial Assistant or Reviewer, which will result in the suspension of the article in the editorial process.
  11. When the author does not sign the declaration of authorship or the corresponding license and insists on the publication of the article.
  12. When the author does not adequately cite parts of the text whose source is another author and are not part of those mentioned in number 16 of this code.
  13. When the author does not present the authorizations requested by the Editorial Assistant.
  14. When the author intends to publish more than one article in the same edition without malice.
  15. When the author includes more bibliographical references than are cited in his work and it is not typified as indirect plagiarism.
  16. When the author commits plagiarism in any of the following modalities:
    1. Direct plagiarism: When a text or work is transcribed, copied, or literally reproduced without authorization of the original author or without specifying the original source; when the original author is not credited; when minimal changes are made to the quotation without mentioning that it is one; and, using synonyms in a quotation and presenting it as one's own text.
    2. Indirect plagiarism: When the citation system is not used correctly; when in a direct quotation, quotation marks are opened and it is not specified where they close, when opening and closing quotation marks the quotation continues; when paraphrases are used almost identically to the quotation; when credit is not given to the author when using paraphrases; when in the final list of references there is a bibliography not cited; when the quotation is cited and the reference is not included in the final list.
    3. Plagiarism of references: When the reference is cited and does not correspond to the author; when data are omitted from the reference; when only the author is mentioned in the citation but not the reference work or vice versa.
    4. Self-plagiarism or text recycling: When re-using own material that has already been published, without indicating the reference to the previous work; when pretending to publish a previously published article and presenting it as a new one; when citing own previously published works in a recurrent manner in the same text.

3.- PROCEDURE FOR THE RESOLUTION OF CONFLICTS, INFRACTIONS AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
3.1.- Identification of unethical behavior:

  • Any person, whether reader, author, Editorial Assistant or member of the journal, may detect unethical behavior and bring it to the Editor's attention at any time as necessary. Such behaviors are not limited to those set forth in the preceding paragraph.
  • The person who informs the Editorial Assistant of the conduct reported must provide the necessary evidence to prove such behavior, in order to be able to initiate the investigation process on the case. All accusations are important and will be taken with the respect and seriousness they deserve, following up until the end of the process and resolution of the case.

3.2.- Procedure and investigation:

  • The Editorial Assistant is the first instance that will have the function of resolving the conflict in cases of some minor infraction, after consultation with the Director's Office.
  • When the infraction is of greater consideration or serious, the case shall be referred to the Management, who shall have the power to resolve the merits of the matter.
  • The Editorial Assistant shall compile a file with the necessary evidence on the case and submit it to the Directorate for review. Only the information revealed in the evidence shall be taken into account.
  • The Management shall attend to the arguments of the affected party, either in person or in writing by any means of communication.
  • The Management shall attend to the parties in conflict, giving each of them the right to express their grounds and arguments, maintaining at all times the required objectivity and impartiality.
  • The Directorate shall set a specific period of time to analyze the case and issue a final resolution.
    All resolutions shall be made in writing, sending a copy to the parties involved and to the magazine's archives.

3.3.- Hierarchy for conflict resolution:

  • If the infraction is minor; it is resolved by the Editorial Assistant.
  • If the infraction is major, serious or committed by the Editorial Assistant, it is resolved by the Management.
  • If the infraction is committed by a member of the Management, it is resolved by the Heads of the Departments to which the magazine is attached.
  • If the infraction is committed by a member of the Editorial Committee, it shall be resolved by the Management.
  • In all cases, the procedure described in section 3.2 shall be followed.

3.4.- It is considered a minor infraction:

  • Minor misconduct that does not jeopardize the integrity of the journal, its contents, the authors or any other member of the magazine, and whose origin is due to omissions or oversight by the offending party, which shall have the right to express its arguments to the Editorial Assistant, in writing, clarifying the points for which said misconduct was committed.
  • Numerals 10 to 15 of numeral 2, corresponding to unethical behavior, of the present code.

3.5.- The following are considered serious infractions:

  • Those that lack decorum and respect for people, expressing offenses or violating the rights of any member of the community or that violate the interests of the magazine or the University of Guadalajara.
  • Numerals 1 to 9 of point 2, corresponding to unethical behavior, of this code.
  • Plagiarism in any of its forms mentioned in section 16 of Unethical Behavior.
  • Negative publicity towards the magazine or coercion so that collaborators do not participate in it.
    Verbal or physical aggression against the members of the magazine or against any collaborator of the magazine.
  • Those that comply with criminal offenses.

4.- RESOLUTIONS ISSUED FOR THE SOLUTION OF DISPUTES:

  • Written notice to the offending person about the act committed, clarifying the omission or misunderstanding that allows the necessary corrections to be made.
  • Letter addressed to the offending person, in which he or she is warned about bad practices and alerted to the consequences of unethical behavior in the future.
  • Written notice published in the magazine, detailing editorial misconduct.
  • Letter addressed to the head of the department where the offending person is assigned, detailing the misconduct and requesting that they proceed in accordance with the institution's rules.
  • Formal cancellation of the contributions of the offending person for a certain period of time.
    If necessary, notify the university authorities so that the corresponding measures can be taken for the events arising from the misconduct.

 

(Document prepared by: Lic. Nicolás Medina García)