Publication Ethics

At CERGAS: Community Empowerment Research and Global Action Studies, we are committed to upholding the highest standards of publication ethics and integrity. We follow the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure that we foster a fair, transparent, and ethical publication process. This document outlines our key ethical principles for all parties involved in the publication process: the publisher, journal editors, authors, and reviewers.

Responsibilities of the Publisher and Editors

Fair Play: Manuscripts shall be evaluated for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

Confidentiality: Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

Decision on Publication: The editor is responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles should be published, based on validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers.

Responsibilities of Authors

Reporting Standards: Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper.

Originality and Plagiarism: Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication: An author should not publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

Authorship of the Paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.

Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest: All authors should disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

Standards of Objectivity: Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

Acknowledgment of Sources: Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest: Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

Handling of Unethical Publishing Behavior

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication, or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification, or, in the most severe cases, the retraction of the affected work.

CERGAS is dedicated to following the best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions. The editorial board is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.