ISSN0718-5693
Ethical Standards
Ethical Standards and Good Editorial Practices
The journal People and Technology Management, based on the guidelines proposed by the Committee on Publication Ethics, COPE, in its Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (1), has established the following ethical standards and good editorial practices.
1. General duties and responsibilities of editors
- Work on meeting the needs and expectations of their readers and authors.
- Constantly improve the journal as far as quality, indexing, and visibility of its articles are concerned.
- Promote and foster freedom of expression.
- Give priority to the academic and intellectual quality of the journal over business needs or others.
- Be always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
2. Delivery of information regarding a publication
Either as a direct reference in an article published in the journal or through particular requests, the main editor (henceforth the editor), will deliver all available information concerning the source of a publication. Additionally, the Journal will publish in its website, information on publication policies, ethical standards and best publication practices, instructions to authors and other related issues.
3. Relations with authors
The editor and the Editorial Committee will protect the quality of the material they accept for publication. For this purpose, they have created the “Instructions to the Authors”, which specifies the requirements that every article or book review being appraised should meet in order to be published. Editor’s’ decisions to accept or reject a manuscript, should be based on the report from the relevant blind peer-reviewers, based on pre-established guide. This guide should only take into account elements such as importance of the contents, originality, clarity, and relevance with the contents covered by the journal.
4. Relations with reviewers
The journal People and Technology Management will provide the peer-review guideline, so that the author(s) can know what aspects are observed by reviewers in the manuscript. The journal should protect the privacy of the peer reviewers’ identity. The editor should have an informed procedure regarding of reception and treatment of complaints, instances of response and appeal at different levels, to a possible final verdict unappealable by reviewers and authors, which results in the appointment of an impartial arbitrator by the parties involved.
5. Regarding criticism to published articles
The Executive Management of the journal will receive the readers’ well-grounded criticism about published articles, which will be derived to their authors, who will have the right to reply directly to the people involved or through the journal management.
6. Ethical-academic integrity
The editor should ensure that the articles to be published conform to internationally accepted ethical standards. If necessary, he/she should ask the authors for relevant ethical proof or evidence (ethics committees, review boards, or other similar). Obtaining this protection will not imply, however, the per se ethical guarantee of the material proposed by the authors. The journal Editorial Committee reserves the right to the final sanction.
The editor should also promote ethical protection of both published and unpublished articles. In this sense, priority will be given to addressing objections with the authors or people directly involved. If necessary, due to the scope and implications of ethical misconduct, they may take the case or cases to other people or institutions. If it is noted that significant inaccuracies, wrong or misleading statements or distorted information have been published in the journal, the journal will resort to the authors for immediate correction in the online version. This procedure should be clearly explained in the publication itself. In the event that the correction is not obtained for any reason, the editor reserves the right to cancel or delete the articles from the web page(s) where the journal is published.
7. Commercial Considerations
The journal People and Technology Management provides open access and it is free of cost. It does not charge any author or authors for their publications, and it has established that its use for commercial purposes by third parties is strictly prohibited, except for the recovery of direct costs of reproduction.
8. Conflict of interests
The journal People and Technology Management has developed procedures to receive and solve the various conflicts of interests that may arise among the members of the Editorial Committee, between these and the authors, between the authors and the reviewers, and between the published contents and their readers. When conflicts within the Editorial Committee arise, the procedure to address and solve any issues and inconveniences starts with meetings of the staff, followed by bilateral consultation among their members and the final decision by the Journal Executive Management. With regard to the Journal and its editorial environment (authors, reviewers, and readers), the possibility of receiving complaints, appeals, rebates, and replies notified to the editor is considered, and he/she should determine the steps to be taken and the people and procedures to resort to.
In the event the complaints are directed against the editor, the notification should be first sent to him/her. If the complaint cannot be dealt with or satisfactorily solved, the complainant may try the Journal Management or the Editorial Committee, and these may –along with the complainant– resort to a final arbitrator whose decision will be mandatory for the parties.
9. Plagiarism and self-plagiarism
Undoubtedly, the misuse of third-party resources or self-resources is one of the most serious misconducts in scientific research and publication. There is extensive bibliography where the problem is explained in its multiple dimensions (only as a reference, you can check “Editorial ethics: how to detect plagiarism using automated media (2)”).
This journal takes care of this phenomenon through the following actions:
- Detection using electronic media: titles of articles, authors’ names and contents are checked using Web search engines (Google, DDG). Other open source specialized tools are also used, such as Plagiarism Detect and Turnitin, in addition to being aware of advice and guidance from HTW, which is the main undertaking in this matter (please see HTW website), by cross-checking suspect paragraphs. This task is entrusted to our editorial staff.
- Detection of style: By cross-checking suspect paragraphs. This task is entrusted to our editorial staff.
- In addition, presumptions or judgment of plagiarism or self-plagiarism or other forms of misleading use of previous publications are subject to the following action:
A) Categorization of the suspicion or fault by the Journal Editorial Committee.
B) Disclosing the suspicion or irrefutable fact regarding plagiarism (with evidence and proofs) to the author or authors.
C) Setting of a time limit for discharges and/or clarifications. This time limit, except for reasons of force majeure, is fixed and should not extend beyond 30 calendar days from the moment the affected people are notified.
D) Consideration, if appropriate, of clarifications and assurance support from questioned authors.
E) Resolution and final verdict by the Editorial Committee on the final destination 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 will be duly supported by the management files of the journal. If necessary, the Journal Executive Committee may require the advice or opinion of experts outside the publishing body in order to have more and better elements to reach the best resolution.
The only sanction to be applied to authors who have actually committed plagiarism and self-plagiarism (if they have not given a clear and conclusive reply to doubts and objections), will be the impossibility of sending new manuscripts and communications to the Journal for 3 years. The Journal reserves the right, depending on the nature and effects of the issue to be addressed, to communicate results publicly and/or pass the records to other relevant administrative and jurisdictional bodies.
For purposes of defining concepts and categorizing the possible fault, this Journal will comply with those stipulated by COPE and Plagiat-HTW.
Nota 1: En http://publicationethics.org
Updated, May 15th, 2019.
