ETHICAL GUIDELINES
The Universidad Ciencia y Tecnologia Journal subscribes to the publication ethics guidelines defined by COPE to support and promote good publishing practices. This section follows the standards established in the Guidelines on Good Publishing Practices.
The Universidad Ciencia y Tecnología journal enforces rigorous peer review, strict policies, and ethical standards to ensure that high-quality scientific research and academic papers are published. The Universidad Ciencia y Tecnología journal takes plagiarism, data falsification, authorship issues, and other editorial ethical issues very seriously. Our editors are trained to handle such cases with a zero-tolerance policy. To verify the originality of content submitted to our journals, we use iThenticate to compare submissions to previous publications.
ETHICAL PUBLICATION
General references
The Universidad, Ciencia y Tecnología journal will use various software such as Grammarly, Plagium, Copionic, WriteCheck, PaperRater, Plagarisma.net, Viper Plagiarism Scanner or CrossCheck to check for originality, plagiarism, and duplication when detecting plagiarism. The research papers submitted must comply with technical, scientific, and ethical characteristics for their development. The authors commit to offering supporting documents that validate the ethical conduct of the research if requested. When required, the work must be endorsed by the respective ethics committee of academic institutions, properly constituted, and certified by the institutions that support it.
About the scientific paper
The research papers submitted must comply with the technical, scientific, and ethical characteristics for their development. In addition, the authors agree to submit supporting documents that validate the ethical conduct of the research if requested. When required, the work must be endorsed by the respective ethics committee of the academic institutions duly constituted and certified by the institutions that support it.
Literary Paternity
Authors must respect ethical considerations in the development of all research, adding their contributions in the process of elaborating the manuscript responsibly and ethically. The honest approach to the study includes the fine selection of authors; therefore, authors who have not participated in the research should not be included. The editorial board will not allow changes in the team of authors during the process of acceptance and publication of the academic work submitted by the authors.
Conflicts of interest
Authors should provide the article and include a Declaration of Originality and Declaration of Conflict of Interest letter. In addition, in the last paragraph of the article, these declarations should be specified after the conclusions. In the presence of conflicts of interest, the committee will suggest the non-publication of the work presented by the authors.
Peer review
Peer review must respect the confidentiality of all involved and will be required by all those selected as evaluators or reviewers of the manuscript. Reviewers and editors will be prohibited from disclosing information about the authors, whether affiliation data, e-mails, or similar, and unpublished scientific knowledge, that the authors have not expressly authorized. In addition, editors and reviewers must inform adequately and with due discretion regarding the ethical doubts that may have the manuscripts, maintaining objectivity, clarity of content, and standards of courtesy in writing opinions and comments.
Plagiarism and duplication
All manuscripts submitted must comply with the ethical standards of scientific research and writing, so all works used as sources of information must be appropriately cited, respecting the statements of the original authors. The editorial board will not allow the duplication of material, nor the submission of the same article to other journals, events, or any other type of publication.
Editorial Responsibility
The persons involved in the editorial and publication process of the journal commit themselves to maintain at all times ethical conduct and good intentions, evidencing good professional, scientific, and technical practice. Likewise, they will ensure compliance with appropriate conduct in the work presented.
In malpractice
The persons involved in the editorial and publication process undertake to maintain ethical conduct and good intentions at all times, evidencing good professional, scientific, and technical practice. Likewise, they will ensure compliance with appropriate behavior in the work presented.
Citation policy
The submitted papers should include the respective citations of all those works that have been considered as sources of information for the manuscript, even if these are the authors' works, however:
- Authors should not engage in excessive self-citation of their work.
- Authors should only copy references from other publications if they have read the cited work.
- Authors should not preferentially cite their publications or those of their friends, peers, or institutions.
- Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.
According to COPE guidelines, citations are considered verbatim quotations when taken the same as they appear in other publications by other researchers. It includes works by the same authors. It is recommended to read the COPE guidelines for best practices.
Research involving human subjects
When the submitted work includes human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data, the authors must declare that the research was conducted following the rules of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as revised in 2017. Considering literal 23 of this ethical declaration: "All subjects gave informed consent for inclusion before participating in the study. The study was conducted following the Declaration of Helsinki and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX (Project identification code) ."
In studies where human intervention is not required, such as surveys, questionnaires, and consultations on social networks, it is crucial to ensure that all participants are fully informed and have given their consent, with anonymity guaranteed. The research objectives, type of data processing, and potential risks should also be communicated. Additionally, ethical approval from an ethics committee should be obtained. If an exception is made and ethical approval is not necessary, the citation of the legislation allowing the study should be included. If the study requires the use of photos or names of individuals, written informed consent from the participants must be obtained. In cases where it is necessary to publish images of individuals, names or initials should not be included. All efforts should be made to maintain the anonymity of patients, participants, or study subjects.
Documents related to publication or release permissions should be broad and unrestricted, for publication in all formats (including print, electronic, and online), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including translations and derivative works), and in other professions and products under open access licenses. To respect the privacy of patients and anyone else, please do not submit signed forms. However, the journal reserves the right to request authors to provide signed documents if necessary.
If the study reports research involving vulnerable groups or categorization of race, ethnicity, disability, and disease, additional verification may be performed. The editorial office will analyze the submitted manuscript. Documentary evidence must be provided upon request, and the explanation of why such categorization is needed must be indicated in the article.
Ethical guidelines for the use of animals in research
The Universidad Ciencia y Tecnología journal is governed by the guidelines of the National Research Ethics Committees.
Consideration will be given to those studies where harm to animals is involved and where readers are not exposed to offenses. The research presented in this sense should, as far as possible:
- Substitute animals for other study alternatives
- Minimize the number of animals to be used
- Minimize harm to animals by improving and refining the techniques used.
The manuscript should contain details of housing, farming, pain management, and treatment of the animals. For further guidance, authors should consult the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures, the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, or the European Association for Animal Research.
The processes and approvals of the ethics committee related to the study should be clearly outlined, including any permissions and authorizations obtained from the owners of animals, if applicable. In addition, a statement on animal welfare should be included, as well as details on veterinary care and guidelines following the American Veterinary Medical Association. The authors are responsible for ensuring compliance with ethical conduct guidelines for using animals in the study and submitting all necessary documentation.
If national laws do not require ethics approval, authors must provide an ethics committee waiver; if one is available where a study has been granted a release, the name of the ethics committee that provided this should be indicated in the 'Institutional Review Board Statement' Section with a full explanation of why ethical approval was not required.
If no animal ethics committee is available to review applications, authors should be aware that reviewers and editors will evaluate the ethics of their research. Therefore, the authors should provide a statement justifying the work from an ethical perspective, using the same practical framework used by ethics committees. Authors may be asked to provide this even if they have received ethical approval.
The Universidad Ciencia y Tecnología endorses the ARRIVE guidelines (arriveguidelines.org/) for reporting live animal experiments. Authors and reviewers should use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist, which can be found at ARRIVE guidelines
The editorial board reserves the right to request the ARRIVE guidelines checklist, reject manuscripts that do not comply with them, and deny papers that raise ethical concerns about animal welfare in the procedures performed and animal housing.
Authors can review the following links:
- NSW Department of Primary Industries and Animal Research Review Panel. Three Rs. Available online: Animal ethic info link.
- Home Office. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Code of practice for the housing and care of animals bred, supplied, or used for scientific purposes. Available online: Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (legislation.gov.uk)
- American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. The scientific basis for the regulation of animal care and use. Available online: AALAS
- European Association for Animal Research. EU regulation of animal experimentation. Available online: European Commission.
Research involving cell lines
In the works where methodological strategies involving cell lines are mentioned, these should be duly reported and approved by an institutional review committee or an ethics committee, providing the information regarding informed consent in writing if the cell line is of human origin. Furthermore, if the methodology comes from another published work, the respective citation should also indicate the preceding document's ethical aspects.
An example of ethical statements:
Cell line ABC123 was obtained from XXXX. The HJK678 cell line was provided by the company XXXXX. The HIJ555 cell line was obtained from Dr. XXXX. The RST and MNO indicators were obtained from Dr. XXX, and the YHG expression vector was obtained from Dr. XXXX.
Research involving plants
For research involving experiments with plants, whether cultivated or wild, it is recommended to comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines following the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
For manuscripts that include new species of plants or plants not popularly known, information from herbaria or museums where they are accessible for knowledge should be provided. The editorial committee may request entry coupons for future researchers to access and verify the identity of the proposals indicated in the document. GPS locations of the plants described should be included, as well as dates of collection and documentation supporting the information told.
An example of ethical statements:
XXXX plants were used in this study. The XXXX red-flowered, and XXX yellow-flowered cultivars selected from XXXXX were kindly provided by Dr. XXX (or by the XXXXX institute).
Dr. XXX, XXXX University, XXX country, XXXX city, XXXX kindly provided mutant lines of X.
Registration of Clinical Trials
The Universidad, Ciencia y Tecnología journal follows the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) that require and recommend registration of clinical trials in a public trials registry at or before the time of enrollment of the first patient as a condition for consideration for publication.
Clinical trials refer to studies involving pharmaceutical use, randomization of participants, and classification based on the evaluated intervention. This includes tests conducted in a hospital setting as well as other locations. Authors of clinical trials are strongly encouraged to register their studies in an international registry, such as Clinicaltrials.gov, the EU Clinical Trials Registry, or those listed by the World Health Organization's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. It applies to all types of clinical trials, including purely observational ones. Registration in these databases is essential for promoting research transparency and accountability and preventing duplication of studies. It is not mandatory to register observational studies, but it is highly recommended. It is to promote transparency and accountability and helps avoid duplication of research. Additionally, authors should cite relevant previous works in their study and reference them appropriately.
The Universidad, Ciencia y Tecnología Journal reserves the right to reject papers submitted without registrations. However, if the study protocol has been published before registration, registration may be waived with the correct citation of the published protocol.
Sex and gender in research
Authors are encouraged to govern writing by following the rules of the Royal Spanish Academy. However, it is advisable to follow SAGER's guidelines for gender and sex equity in research and to include sex and gender considerations when relevant. Authors must use the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) appropriately to avoid confusing the two terms. When relevant, the distinctions between "sex" and "gender" should be clearly outlined in the study. The authors should explain how these terms were considered in their research and provide data that aid in understanding the distinctions between them. Careful attention should be paid to the use and treatment of sex or gender in the research to ensure accuracy and inclusivity.