Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society is committed to promoting ethical conduct as a scientific publication and takes as a reference the principles published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in its Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

The journal therefore assumes an ethical commitment to neutrality regarding the contents of the articles submitted to the journal, without prejudice based on religious, political, ethnic, gender-based or any other ideology that may generate controversy or debate.

Our editorial process is governed by good faith. The Editorial Committee of Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society trusts what authors state and the good academic practice and impartiality of reviewers. Authors, in turn, must trust the integrity of editors and reviewers. The Editorial Committee will ensure that editors, peer reviewers and authors respect ethical principles during all stages of the editorial process. In this regard, we set out our standards for the entire community.

 

For authors

• Articles submitted to Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society must be original and unpublished. Authors who wish to publish with us are required to declare that the document proposed for publication is original and has not been previously or simultaneously submitted to another journal for evaluation and publication. This declaration will be required before the document enters the peer-review process.
• Similarity verification and anti-plagiarism policy. Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society uses Turnitin as anti-plagiarism software to generate similarity reports, identify textual matches, detect possible improper use of sources and support editorial review before peer review. The similarity report will not be considered, by itself, automatic proof of plagiarism, but rather an input for the editorial assessment of the manuscript.
• Copyright and access. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (CC BY 4.0). Publishing in the journal has no cost, and all individual articles and complete issues are available in open access.
• Authors must refrain from multiple or repetitive submission of articles to different publications or publishers. This is considered reprehensible conduct in the dissemination of academic research.
• The journal will seek to avoid the concentration of authorship in consecutive issues, in order to favour the academic, institutional and thematic diversity of its contents.
• Respect for the original sources consulted in the article is required. Bibliographic references must be indicated correctly, clearly and completely.
• Errors in published articles. If authors identify an error or inaccuracy in their work, they must inform the Editorial Committee and provide the necessary information for corrections or for the publication of the corresponding erratum.
• Authors commit themselves to reviewing the most current and relevant academic literature on the topic they research.
• Authors must sign the authorship declaration according to their level of responsibility and involvement in the article. Co-authors must decide the order in which their names will appear and notify it clearly. Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society does not accept simulated co-authorship, but recognises the support work of research assistants and collaborators. Authors guarantee the inclusion of all persons who have made a significant scientific and intellectual contribution to the conceptualisation and planning of the work, as well as to the interpretation of results and its writing. If necessary, the Associate Editor or Editor-in-Chief may request the identifying information of the authors, including those related to the article. Furthermore, any change in co-authorship after the peer-review process has concluded will be grounds for disqualification from publication.
• Authors must refrain from submitting works with ghost authors or pseudonyms.
• Conflict of interest and disclosure. All authors are required to declare explicitly that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results obtained or the interpretations proposed. Authors must also indicate any funding from research projects, universities, public institutions, private organisations or civil society.
• Authors must respond in a timely and proper manner to the observations made by the Editor-in-Chief and reviewers.

 

For reviewers

• Contribution to editorial decision-making. Reviewers undertake to conduct a critical and constructive review within the standards of scientific quality.
• Blind peer review shall be carried out impartially, and the review report must not contain any personal judgement. Reviewers also have the obligation to inform editors if substantial parts of the work have already been published or are under review by another journal. They also undertake to indicate accurately the bibliographic references of fundamental works possibly omitted by the author.
• Reviewers must promptly notify the Associate Editor or the Editor-in-Chief if they identify that the work under review is similar to another work already published or under review by another journal.
• Reviewers must report any conflicts of interest. When a reviewer has any personal, academic, institutional, employment-related or financial opinion or interest that may affect objectivity in the evaluation, they must abstain from participating in the editorial process.
• Anonymity. Reviewers will never know the identity of the authors, except through the coded information in the OJS platform, and will not know the identity of the other blind peer reviewer.
• Once the evaluation process has concluded, the reviewer shall refrain from disclosing what was read to agents external to Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society. The reviewer shall avoid retaining the reviewed work or using it in any way.
• Respect for the deadlines agreed with the journal. Reviewers are responsible for notifying editors if there are difficulties in delivering the evaluation on time.

 

For the Editorial Team

• Honesty. The Editorial Committee guarantees transparency in the evaluation, editing and publication processes of each issue.
• Confidentiality. The editorial team will preserve anonymity between reviewers and authors throughout the process.
• Responding to enquiries by email. Questions and clarifications requested by authors, reviewers or any person interested in Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society will be answered promptly.
• Facilitating corrections. The corresponding corrections or clarifications will be published through the journal’s website.
• Dissemination. The published issue will be disseminated through repositories, databases and academic and social networks.
• Publication process. Editors will select the most capable reviewers with critical judgement.
• Before assigning reviewers, all submissions may be checked with Turnitin to review textual similarity, possible undeclared matches, improper use of sources or signs of plagiarism.
• Institutional diversity. No more than 20% of the articles published in each issue of Esfera Pública. Journal on Governance and Society may be authored by scholars affiliated with El Colegio de Jalisco A. C.
• Conflict of interest and disclosure. Editors undertake not to use, in their own research, contents from articles submitted for publication without the written consent of the author.
• Respect for deadlines. Editors are responsible for complying with the time limits for reviews and publication of accepted works, in order to ensure the rapid dissemination of their scientific results.

The editors undertake to observe the published timeframes: a maximum of 4 weeks for estimating or declining whether a manuscript should be sent for peer review from the date of reception in the review platform, and a maximum of 12 weeks from the beginning of the double-blind review process.

 

On malpractice

The following are considered editorial malpractice:

1. When any member of the Editorial Committee, Scientific Committee or reviewer receives from any person or author any gift, economic or in kind, so that an article under review may be approved.
2. When authors, reviewers or any member of the journal fail to fulfil their professional responsibilities, affecting the interests of the journal or of the authors.
3. When the Editor-in-Chief does not accept a publication proposal without presenting necessary and convincing arguments, or does so because of personal or political conflicts with the author.
4. When authors, reviewers or any member of the journal fail to conduct themselves with due respect towards the counterpart in cases of conflict or complaint.
5. When the Editorial Committee or reviewer does not observe the ethical principle of author confidentiality.
6. When the Editorial Committee or reviewer provides third parties with information about the journal, authors, documents or any other text, without the corresponding permissions, and this represents economic, material or any other kind of harm to the journal.
7. When the Editor-in-Chief does not adequately follow up on the complaints procedure submitted by authors. Likewise, when the Direction or Editorial Committee does not carry out the appropriate procedure, does so only partially, or fails to proceed in the resolution of a conflict or complaint submitted in due time by the author.
8. When the author attempts to give any gift, economic or in kind, to any member of the Direction or Editorial Committee so that the resolution of a conflict may be in their favour.
9. When the author does not address the observations made by the Editor-in-Chief or reviewers, which will result in suspension of the article in the editorial process.
10. When the author does not sign the authorship declaration or the corresponding licence and insists on the publication of the article.
11. When the author does not properly cite parts of the text whose source is another author and which are not included among those mentioned in number 14 of this statement.
12. When the author does not present the authorisations requested by the journal.
13. When the author includes more bibliographic references than those cited in the work and this is not classified as indirect plagiarism.
14. When the author commits plagiarism in any of the following forms:
15. Direct plagiarism: When a text or work is transcribed, copied or translated without authorisation from the original author or without specifying the original source; when credit is not given to the original author; when minimal changes are made to a quotation without mentioning that it is a quotation; and when synonyms are used in a quotation and presented as original text.
16. 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, after opening and closing quotation marks, the quotation continues; when paraphrasing is used in a way that is almost identical to the quotation; when credit is not given to the author when paraphrasing; when the final list of references includes bibliography that is not cited; when a work is cited but the reference is not included in the final list.
17. Reference plagiarism: When a citation is made and the reference does not correspond to its author; when reference data are omitted; when, in citing, only the author is mentioned but not the referenced work, or vice versa.
18. Self-plagiarism or text recycling: When previously published material by the same author is reused without indicating the reference to the earlier work; when an already published article is presented as a new one; when an author recurrently cites their own previously published works in the same text without academic justification.

 

Procedure for the resolution of conflicts and infringements

1. Identification of malpractice. Any person, whether reader, author or member of the journal, may detect unethical behaviour and bring it to the attention of the Editor-in-Chief whenever necessary. Such conduct is not limited to that established in the previous section.

The person informing the Editorial Committee about the reported conduct must provide the necessary evidence to prove such behaviour, in order to initiate the investigation process. All accusations are important and will be treated with the due respect and seriousness they deserve, with follow-up until the end of the process and resolution of the case.

2. Procedure and investigation. The Associate Editor will be the first instance responsible for addressing the conflict in cases of minor infringement, after consultation with the Editor-in-Chief and the Direction. When the infringement is of greater consideration or severity, the case will be referred to the Editor-in-Chief and the Direction. The Associate Editor must prepare a file with the necessary evidence concerning the reported case and submit it to the Editor-in-Chief and the Direction for study.

Only the information revealed in the evidence will be taken into account. The Editor-in-Chief and the Direction will hear the arguments of the affected party, whether presented in person or in writing by any means of communication. The Editor-in-Chief and the Direction will hear the parties in conflict, granting each of them the right to express their grounds and arguments, while maintaining at all times the required objectivity and impartiality.

The Direction will set a specific deadline to analyse the case and issue a final resolution. All resolutions will be made in writing, with copies sent to the parties involved and to the journal archive. If the infringement is committed by a member of the Editorial Committee, it will be investigated and resolved by the Direction.

3. Minor infringements are those listed in items 10 to 13 of the previous section. Also considered minor are those acts of misconduct that do not put at risk the integrity of the journal, its contents, the rights of authors or of any other member of the journal, and whose origin lies in omissions or oversights by the infringing party, who will have the right to present written arguments clarifying the points that led to the offence.
4. Serious infringements are those listed in items 1 to 9 of the previous section and plagiarism in any of the forms mentioned in item 14.

Also considered serious are infringements that fail to observe decorum and respect for persons, express offences or violate the rights of any member of the community, or act against the interests of the journal or of El Colegio de Jalisco A. C.; negative publicity towards the journal or coercion aimed at preventing collaborators from participating in it; verbal or physical aggression against members of the journal or any of its collaborators; and those acts that correspond to criminal offences.

 

Resolutions issued for conflict resolution

• Written notice to the infringing person regarding the act committed, clarifying the omission or misunderstanding that allows the necessary corrections to be made.
• Letter addressed to the infringing person, warning them about malpractice and alerting them to the consequences of future unethical behaviour.
• Written notice published in the journal, detailing the malpractice observed.
• Letter addressed to the head of the department or institution to which the infringing person is affiliated, detailing the malpractice and requesting that action be taken in accordance with the institution’s rules.
• Formal cancellation of the infringing person’s contributions for a specified period.
• Official retraction of an already published work.
• If necessary, informing the institutional authorities so that the corresponding measures may be taken regarding the facts derived from the malpractice.