Ética y buenas prácticas editoriales

Publication Ethics and Editorial Best Practices

The Revista de Privacidad, Innovación y Tecnología (Revista PIT), a scientific journal published by the Laboratory of the Spanish Data Protection Agency (AEPD), is committed to the principles of integrity, transparency and scientific rigour in the conduct of its editorial activities.

Revista PIT applies standards of ethics and scientific integrity in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). In particular, it follows COPE’s Core Practices as a reference (https://publicationethics.org/core-practices).

1. General Principles

Revista PIT conducts its editorial activities in accordance with the principles of scientific integrity, transparency, originality and academic rigour, and promotes the proper identification and management of potential conflicts of interest.

Editorial decisions shall be based on the scientific and academic quality of submissions, their originality, methodological and argumentative rigour, relevance and suitability for the journal’s thematic scope, taking peer-review reports into account where appropriate.

2. Authors’ Responsibilities

Authors must submit original and unpublished works that have not previously been published and are not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

They must properly identify the sources used and comply with Revista PIT’s editorial and bibliographic guidelines.

Authors must expressly disclose sources of funding, institutional support and any potential conflicts of interest.

Where artificial intelligence tools have been used in preparing the manuscript, such use must be disclosed in accordance with Revista PIT’s Guidelines for Authors.

3. Authorship and Contributions

Authorship must be attributed to individuals who have made a relevant intellectual contribution to the preparation of the work and who assume responsibility for its content.

Individuals who have not made a contribution sufficient to justify authorship must not be listed as authors, nor should individuals whose contribution does justify authorship be excluded.

Contributions that do not justify authorship may, where appropriate, be acknowledged by means of an appropriate mention or acknowledgement.

Disputes concerning authorship must be resolved in accordance with international best practices on authorship and contributions. Where the journal is unable to determine authorship appropriately, it may request the necessary information from the persons concerned and, where appropriate, refer the matter to their affiliated institutions.

4. Originality and Prevention of Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that manuscripts submitted to Revista PIT are original and unpublished and are not simultaneously under consideration by another journal.

All submissions will be checked using similarity-detection tools in order to prevent plagiarism.

The use of ideas, texts, data or materials from other works must be accompanied by appropriate identification and citation of the source. Reuse of the authors’ own previously published content must likewise be properly identified.

The journal may reject a manuscript where plagiarism, duplicate publication or any other use of content incompatible with the requirements of originality and scientific integrity is detected.

5. Peer Review Process and Reviewers’ Responsibilities

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial review will be subject to external evaluation through a double-blind peer-review system, under which authors do not know the identity of reviewers and reviewers do not know the identity of authors.

Each manuscript will be evaluated by two specialist reviewers selected on the basis of their knowledge and experience in the subject matter of the submission.

Reviewers must act objectively, rigorously and respectfully and must base their reports on academic and scientific criteria. Their comments should, as far as possible, contribute to improving the manuscript.

All material received for review must be treated as confidential. Reviewers may not share manuscripts or use the information contained in them for personal, academic or commercial purposes prior to publication.

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest and refrain from participating in the evaluation where circumstances arise that may affect their objectivity.

Where reviewers identify possible breaches of scientific integrity, they must bring them to the attention of the journal for assessment.

6. Editorial Responsibilities

The editorial bodies of Revista PIT shall safeguard the integrity, transparency and proper conduct of the editorial process.

Manuscripts will undergo an initial editorial review to verify their suitability for the journal’s scope and compliance with the requirements established for submission. Works that pass this stage will be subject to the journal’s external review procedure.

Editorial decisions will be taken having regard to the review reports and may consist of acceptance of the manuscript, a request for revisions or rejection.

Any person involved in an editorial decision must recuse themselves where a conflict of interest arises that may compromise their impartiality.

Where a member of the journal’s editorial bodies submits a manuscript to the journal, that person will not participate in its evaluation or in the corresponding editorial decision, and the manuscript will be subject to the same external review procedure applicable to all other submissions.

7. Conflicts of Interest

Authors, reviewers and persons involved in editorial decisions must disclose any personal, professional, academic, institutional or financial relationship or circumstance that may affect, or may reasonably be perceived as capable of affecting, their objectivity.

Authors must disclose potential conflicts of interest in accordance with the Guidelines for Authors.

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict before accepting a review assignment and must refrain from acting where they consider that they cannot carry out the review with the necessary objectivity.

Potential conflicts affecting persons involved in editorial decisions must be managed by excluding those persons from the evaluation or decision concerning the affected manuscript.

8. Scientific Integrity and Potential Misconduct

Revista PIT will consider any substantiated communication concerning possible conduct contrary to scientific integrity, whether during the editorial process or after publication of a work.

Potential breaches of scientific integrity may include, among others, plagiarism, duplicate publication, falsification or fabrication of information or results, improper attribution of authorship, concealment of conflicts of interest, or manipulation of the peer-review process.

Detected situations will be examined in a manner proportionate to their nature and seriousness. The journal may request additional information or documentation from the persons involved and will provide them with an opportunity to submit any relevant explanations.

Where there are substantiated indications of possible misconduct, the journal will act with reference to the applicable COPE guidelines and procedures.

9. Complaints and Appeals

Authors, reviewers and other interested persons may contact Revista PIT to submit complaints relating to compliance with its editorial policies, the peer-review procedure, or possible breaches of the journal’s rules on ethics and scientific integrity.

Complaints must be reasoned and will be examined with a view to ensuring independence from the decision or action being challenged.

Where a complaint directly concerns a person involved in the editorial process, that person will not participate in its resolution.

Complaints relating exclusively to the scientific or academic assessment of a manuscript will not, in themselves, result in a new evaluation unless there are indications of error, irregularity, conflict of interest or failure to comply with the established procedure.

10. Corrections, Retractions and Post-Publication Actions

Revista PIT may take measures aimed at preserving the integrity of published works where significant errors or possible breaches of scientific integrity are identified after publication.

Where an error does not substantially affect the validity of the work, the journal may publish an appropriate correction or erratum linked to the original article.

Where there are substantiated grounds for considering that a published work contains serious errors or involves a breach of scientific integrity that substantially affects its content, the journal may retract the work in accordance with editorial best practices and with reference to COPE guidelines.

Corrections and retractions will be carried out transparently and will be clearly linked to the affected work.

The journal may likewise consider substantiated observations or communications received concerning already published works and, where appropriate, adopt the necessary editorial measures.

11. Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Revista PIT permits the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools to support the preparation of manuscripts, in accordance with its Guidelines for Authors.

Any substantial use of artificial intelligence tools must be expressly disclosed by the authors, identifying the tool used and the purpose for which it was used where required by the journal’s Guidelines.

Artificial intelligence tools may not be listed as authors. Authors are responsible for the review, accuracy, originality and integrity of the content submitted.

Reviewers and persons involved in the editorial process must preserve the confidentiality of manuscripts at all times. They must not upload manuscripts or confidential information contained in them to artificial intelligence tools where such confidentiality cannot be adequately guaranteed.

12. Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted for evaluation and information relating to the editorial procedure shall be treated as confidential.

Reviewers and persons involved in the editorial process may not disclose or use for their own benefit or that of third parties any unpublished information contained in works submitted for evaluation.

Information concerning the identity of authors and reviewers will be handled in a manner consistent with the double-blind peer-review system established by Revista PIT.

Any processing of personal data carried out in connection with the journal’s activities will comply with the applicable legislation and with its privacy policy.

13. Intellectual Property and Open Access

Revista PIT respects the intellectual property rights of authors and third parties.

Copyright remains with the authors at all times. Publication in Revista PIT does not entail the transfer of rights to third parties.

Revista PIT publishes its content on an open-access basis under the Creative Commons licence specified on its website. The terms of the licence, together with the journal’s policies concerning copyright and reuse of content, must be publicly and readily accessible.

Publication in Revista PIT does not involve any charges for authors or readers.

14. Ethical Oversight of Research

Authors are responsible for ensuring that the research on which their works are based has been conducted in compliance with all applicable ethical and legal requirements.

Where required by the nature of the research, authors must have obtained the relevant authorisations, consents or approvals and must provide information concerning them where this is relevant to the assessment of the manuscript.

The journal will pay particular attention to the protection of personal data, the confidentiality of information and respect for the rights of persons who may be affected by the research forming the subject matter of publication.

15. Updating and Interpretation of These Rules

This policy shall be interpreted in conjunction with the Guidelines for Authors, the instructions for reviewers and the other editorial policies published by Revista PIT.

In the event of doubt concerning matters relating to publication ethics or integrity, Revista PIT will refer to the guidelines and resources of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, where applicable, the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

This policy may be updated in order to adapt to developments in international best practices in scientific publishing.