Ethical standars

Ethics Statement

Assuming the need to specify the criteria and procedures that must safeguard the relations between this medium and its authors, as well as to objectify the rights and responsibilities of each party in the process of participation in the communicational public space, Palimpsesto accounts for and promotes an adequate framework of dissemination practices detailed below. These are based on the guidelines proposed in this regard by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in its Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

General duties and responsibilities of the Editors of Palimpsesto:

• Seek to satisfy the needs of readers and authors.
• Constantly improve the journal.
• Ensure the quality of the material published.
• Defend freedom of expression.
• Safeguard the integrity and confidentiality of academic records.
• Prevent commercial needs from compromising free access and use of content, intellectual and editorial standards.
• Always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary.

Specific duties to readers:

Whether by direct mention or through specific requests, the editors will always provide all information regarding the origin of the publication, sources of funding; the role of any funders or sponsors; origin and/or financial support of published articles.

Likewise, they will make publicly available information on editorial policy, editing criteria, and indexing efforts.

Relationship with authors:

The editors will take all necessary steps to ensure the quality of the material they publish, specifying, where appropriate, the purposes and standards of requirements for the different sections in which the content is organized.

The editor's decisions concerning acceptance or rejection of a manuscript for publication will be based solely on the importance, originality and clarity of the manuscript, and on the relevance of the study to the declared contents of the journal.

Through publication in the journal of manuscript preparation requirements, the editor will inform the author of these requirements.

Through respective publication on the journal's homepage, the editor will inform authors of the evaluation modality, review guidelines, response times, appeal mechanisms, copyright treatment, and resolution of conflicts of interest.

Any change in the persons and criteria of the journal's editorial direction shall not affect authors (and their works) accepted for publication prior to the changes.

Relations with reviewers:

The direction of Palimpsesto will publish evaluation guidelines or rubrics so that authors know what reviewers will be assessing.

Palimpsesto will take measures to ensure and safeguard the privacy of peer reviewer identities. Any changes in this regard will be promptly communicated to authors.

The Editorial Team of the journal will have a documented mechanism for receiving and handling complaints and claims; its response and appeal instances at different levels, up to a final unappealable verdict by editors and authors materialized in the designation of an impartial arbitrator named on a case-by-case basis by the parties involved.

Promotion of debate:

The Editorial Team will publish all substantiated criticisms or oppositions received regarding the publication of an article or opinion. Only the presence of bad terms or offenses will prevent this reproduction. The authors of the criticized materials will, in turn, have the opportunity to respond in accordance with the norms of respect and cordiality.

Promotion of ethical-academic integrity:

The Editorial Team will ensure that the content to be published complies with internationally accepted ethical criteria. If necessary, they will request from authors the pertinent ethical proofs (Ethics Committees, Review Boards, etc.). Obtaining these safeguards will not, however, imply that the materials proposed by authors have an ethical guarantee per se. The Editorial Board reserves the right to final sanction.

Editors will promote ethical safeguards in both published and unpublished works. To this end, they will prioritize addressing concerns with the authors or those directly concerned. If necessary, due to the magnitude or implications of ethical breaches, they may bring the case(s) to other persons and institutions.

If significant inaccuracies, misleading or deceptive statements, or distorted information are found to have been published in the journal, Palimpsesto will resort to the authors for immediate correction in the online version of the journal. Such procedure must be clearly explained in the same publication. If for any reason such correction is not achieved, the editors reserve the right to remove the disputed content.

Conflict of interest:

Palimpsesto has mechanisms and formulas to address and resolve various conflicts of interest that may arise among its managers; between them and authors; between authors and reviewers; between its contents and its readers.

For conflicts within its Editorial Committee, the meetings of this team, bilateral consultations among its members, and the final determination by the Publication Director are the mechanisms for handling and resolving inconveniences and problems.

Regarding the journal and its editorial environment (authors, reviewers, readers), it provides for the receipt of complaints, claims, appeals, rebuttals and responses transmitted to the editor, who will determine the steps to follow and the persons and instances to turn to.

If complaints are directed against the editor, the communication must, in the first instance, be addressed to the editor. If the complaint is not attended to or resolved satisfactorily, the complainant may address the Journal Director, who may, if necessary, with the complainant's agreement, resort to the determination of a final arbitrator whose ruling is binding on the parties.

Plagiarism and Self-plagiarism:

Undoubtedly, the misuse of third-party or one's own resources constitutes one of the most serious breaches of ethics and probity in scientific research and publication. There is extensive literature on this point characterizing the problem in its multiple dimensions (for reference only, see Editorial Ethics: how to detect plagiarism by automated means).

This journal addresses concern about the phenomenon through the following actions:

Electronic detection: titles of works, author names and content are checked in web search engines (Google; DDG).

Open-source specialized tools are also used, such as: plagiarism detect and Turnitin, in addition to keeping abreast of advice and guidance from HTW, the main undertaking in this field (see HTW site): by cross-checking paragraphs identified as suspicious, a task entrusted to our executive editorial team.

Style detection: by cross-checking paragraphs identified as suspicious, a task entrusted to our executive editorial team.

Furthermore, presumptions or judgments of (self)plagiarism and other forms of deceptive use of prior productions are subjected to the following steps:

• Classification of the suspicion or breach by the Executive Editorial Committee of the journal.
• Communication of the doubt or proven fact of fraud (with data and evidence) to the author(s).
• Indication of a deadline for rebuttal and/or clarification. The deadline, except for reasons of force majeure, is peremptory and will not extend beyond 30 calendar days from the time of communication to those affected.
• Consideration, where appropriate, of clarifications and assurances from the questioned authors.
• Resolution and final verdict by the Executive Committee on the final fate of the work in question within a period not exceeding 60 days. The verdict will be unappealable.

The entire procedure will be in writing and duly backed up in the journal's management files. If necessary, the Executive Committee may request advice or opinion from experts outside the editorial body in order to have elements for the best resolution.

The sole sanction to which authors who have effectively committed plagiarism or self-plagiarism (who have not provided a clear and conclusive response to doubts and objections) will be the inability to submit new texts and communications to the journal for a period of three years. The journal reserves the right, depending on the nature and effects of the problem to be addressed, to communicate results publicly and/or forward the background information to other administrative and jurisdictional bodies relevant to the matter.

Note: for purposes of definitions of concepts and classification of potential detection of this breach, this journal will abide by those stipulated by COPE and Plagiat-HT.