ETHICAL AND BIOETHICAL POLICIES

ETHICAL STANDARS FOR PUBLICATION

Innovaciencia promotes good practices based on ethical publication standards between all collaborators, following the recommendations of the Research Ethics Committee Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the guidelines of the Publication Ethical Guidelines of Academy Publisher and Elsevier. Therefore, we promote the utmost rigor throughout the evaluation and publication process, we follow the foundations of exemplary ethical behavior of all participants involved in the publication process: author, journal editor, reviewer and publisher. All submitted articles are evaluated and published based on their merits and scientific contribution. Ensuring that the most appropriate practices are carried out at each step of the publication process. The Innovaciencia Journal reviews the manuscripts to detect plagiarism using the iThenticate tool: Plagiarism Detection Software. The submitted manuscripts must meet the following requirements:

• Consent: All authors give their consent for the submission and publication of the manuscript submitted for evaluation.
• Authors' contribution: All authors contributed to the manuscript without inadvertence of any author, indicating the contribution of each author.
• Originality of the work: The manuscript sent for review is original, has not been previously published and has not been sent simultaneously for evaluation in another journal.
• Consent to reproduce a work: The manuscript does not include original material copied from other authors without their consent. If the article contains material from other authors, their consent for its printed and electronic reproduction must be clearly indicated.
• Previous research: All the information included in the manuscript submitted for review, which comes from previous studies, has been referred to. In case the manuscript submitted is an analysis of a previously published article, it must always be cited.
• Journal archives: The manuscript submitted for review will be kept in the archives of the InnovacienciaJournal and will be considered a valid publication as long as it meets each of the above criteria.
• Reviewing Committee: The members of the Reviewing Committee have no relationship or relationship of any work, academic, or personal nature with the authors

1. BIOETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Institutional authorization: In studies where institutional authorization is required, researchers must provide information on the approval of their research proposals, with the corresponding authorization from the institution before to start the study. The investigation must be ruled by the protocol authorized by the institution.

Consent form: Researchers must explicitly report whether or not they have the written consent form of the participants involved in the research.

For the research: The consent form must notify the participant about the following: (1) the objective of the research, the procedures, as well as the expected duration; (2) your right to decline your participation in the research and to be able to withdraw even after the application has started; (3) the possible consequences of declining to participate or withdrawing from the research; (4) probable factors that may affect your willingness to participate, such as potential risks, discomfort, or adverse effects; (5) the possible benefits and incentives for your participation in the research; (6) the limits of confidentiality; and (7) the contact information for those responsible for the study who can answer questions about the research and about the rights of the study participants. Participants should have the opportunity to ask questions before providing consent. When running studies involving the use of experimental treatments, researchers must inform participants at the beginning of the research about: (1) the experimental nature of the treatment; (2) the services that will or will not be available to participants assigned to the control group, if any; (3) the means from which the designations of the interventions will be made to both groups (control and experimental); (4) alternative treatments available if a participant does not agree to participate in the study or wishes to withdraw once the application has started; and (5) compensation for participation.

For the capture of voices and images in the research: Researchers must obtain the consent form signed  by the participants before recording their voices or images for the collection of their data unless: (1) the research consists solely of naturalistic observations in public spaces, and the recording cannot be used in a way that could harm or identify individuals; or (2) that the study design implies deception as a methodological strategy and that, therefore, consent for the use of the recordings is obtained during the closing or debriefing session (See section 1.5: Deception in the research)

When consent form can be waived for research: Researchers can waive consent form only when: It would not reasonably be feasible for the research to cause discomfort or harm, and involves: the study of current educational practices, curriculum, or teaching methods supervision within the classroom applied in educational setting, Also could be waive the consent form  it the research use only anonymous questionnaires, field observations, or archival studies for which the importance of the answers would not put the participants at risk of civil or criminal liability or any other type of harm; the study of the factors related to the work or effectiveness of the organization conducted in an organizational setting, where there is no risk that the employment ability of the participants will be affected.  When the study was legally authorized or by institutional or normative regulations.

Client / patient, students, and subordinate research participants: When researchers conduct studies with clients / patients, students, or subordinates like participants, they should take provisions to defend potential participants from the consequences of declining or withdrawing their involvement. Likewise, when participation in an investigation is a requirement of a course or leads to the possibility of obtaining additional credits, the participant must be given the possibility to choose between equivalent alternatives.

Offer of incentives for participation in the study. Researchers should make every effort to avoid offering excessive or inappropriate incentives, financial or otherwise, to achieve participation in studies when such incentives could influence their participation. When offering professional services as an incentive for participation, researchers should clarify the nature of the services, as well as the risks, limitations, and obligations.

Deception in the Research. Researchers may only use deception when it is justified by expected scientific, educational or practical value, and the use of non-deceptive techniques is not possible. Researchers should not use misleading slogans in case investigations could cause physical pain or severe emotional distress. As an integral part of the design, researchers should make deceptive techniques known to participants as soon as possible, preferably after their participation has concluded and never before the completion of data collection. Furthermore, participants should be allowed to decline their participation in the research if they deem it necessary.

Investigation Closure (Debriefing). Researchers should offer participants the opportunity to obtain sufficient information about the nature, results and conclusions of the study, taking the necessary measures to avoid misunderstandings. If the scientific or humanitarian value of the research justifies the delay or withholding of the information, researchers should seek to reduce the risk of harm. When Researchers realize that the procedures used in the investigation have harmed a participant, they must implement the required measures to reduce the damage.

 

2. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES

 

• Human rights, privacy and confidentiality: When necessary, authors should specify that they adhere to accepted standards, in order to minimize possible harm to participants, avoiding the use of coercion or exploitation and protecting confidentiality according to the Declaration of Helsinki, the Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice of the International Conference on Harmonization and the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research in Human Beings, which was able by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Likewise, the author (authors) is recommended to review the Scientific and Administrative Standards for health research of Resolution 008430 of October 04, 1993 of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Colombia. Similarly, when appropriate, researchers should openly communicate any information that may influence the will of the participant, such as: sponsorship, the purpose of the study, the expected results and the possible consequences of the publication of the research.
• Cultures and heritages: Authors should not include any images of objects that could have cultural significance or that could be interpreted as offensive, such as religious texts or historical events. Also, researchers should be careful not to include names or photographs of deceased persons when this is culturally contraindicated.
• Clinical trial registration: Clinical trials must be registered in a openly accessible database before participants registration, according by the World Health Organization and the Declaration of Helsinki. Clinical trial registration numbers should be provided at the end of the abstract http://clinicaltrials.gov/. Whether the clinical trial has not been registered, or was registered retrospectively, an explanation must be provided.
• Research with animals: Research involving animals must adhere to the following standards: Replacement of the use of alternative methods to the involvement of animals-, Reduction -methods that reduce the number of animals to be used-, and Refinement -methods that improve the welfare of animals. The authors must report the study design, the statistical analyzes, the experimental procedures applied and the experimental animals used, the tracked in the experimentation with the animals, the characteristics of the animal housing, as well as the mating techniques used. Additionally, researchers should report how discomfort and pain were avoided and minimized, as well as confirm that the animals did not experience any unnecessary suffering during the study. The evidence of the ethical and legal approval obtained by the institution that endorses the research should be included in the manuscript. The authors must declare if the experiments were developed in accordance with the institutional and national ethical norms and regulations. Researchers from US institutions must adhere to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the US National Research Council, the Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the US Public Health Service. Researchers from British institutions must adhere to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations (S1 2012/3039). European authors should cite Directive 2010/63 / EU.
• Biosecurity: Authors should indicate whether the study is considered a dual-use investigation, which would imply that the results of such research have a potential for application that can be benevolent or malicious. In this way, researchers must adhere to the guidelines for Dual Use Life Sciences Research set out by the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity / NSABB.
• Reporting Format: Researchers should follow the latest edition of the APA editorial format to accurately report study results, allowing readers to rate, replicate, and use them.

2.1. REPORTING OF RESEARCH RESULTS: Investigators should not fabricate data. If investigators discover significant errors in published data, steps should be taken to publicly correct such errors.

2.2. RESEARCH INTEGRITY. a) Misconduct: Research misconduct refers to fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism when proposing, conducting, or reviewing research, or when reporting research results. If the editorial committee suspects misconduct, it will request an investigation from the institution supporting the research, the employer, sponsor, or the appropriate national agency. b) Whistleblowing: Allegations of research misconduct made by identified individuals or anonymously will be investigated only if accompanied by evidence. c) Image fabrication/falsification and manipulation: Sometimes it is necessary to edit images to reveal certain characteristics; however, inappropriate manipulation of images creates misleading results. Investigators should report when editing images. They should also follow the following recommendations: Specific characteristics should not be altered, original unpublished images should also be submitted when any modification is made to the image intended for publication. Adjustments to brightness or contrast may only be used when they are applied equally to the entire image and do not distort the meaning of the image, excessive editing to emphasize one size of the image is not appropriate, if any part of a recording or non-linear adjustments are deleted, it should be indicated in the figure legend, figures should not be constructed from different components; however, if the author considers it necessary, then it should be clearly indicated by dividing lines in the figure and in the legend. d) Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the copying or misuse of another person's intellectual property. Researchers should not present as their own parts of other papers or data. Innovaciencia Journal reviews manuscripts to detect plagiarism. e) Duplicate and redundant publication of data: Researchers should avoid publishing data that have been previously published as original. This does not preclude republishing or republishing data as long as they are accompanied by proper acknowledgement. The following prior publications are not considered duplicate publications: abstracts and posters presented at conferences, results presented at scientific meetings, results in databases and clinical trial registries that have not been interpreted, as well as dissertations and theses in university archives. f) Text recycling: Partial results of a previous publication that address a different audience are allowed when the discussion and conclusion are different. g) Double submission: Authors may not submit a manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously. If the Editorial Board becomes aware of such a situation, the manuscript will not be considered for publication. h) Duplicating information published in other languages: Translations of already published manuscripts will not be considered for publication. i) Sanctions: Sanctions are applied consistently after careful consideration. In the first instance, a retraction will be issued. In the most serious circumstances, the institution from which the author(s) originates will be notified, and the Journal will decline to consider further work by the author(s) involved. 

2.3 EDITORIAL STANDARDS AND PROCESSES.

a) Authorship: the list of authors and the sequential order of authors should appropriately reflect the scientific or professional contributions of the investigators involved. All authors of the manuscript should sign an authorization form, indicating their level of participation in the study. Additional contributions that do not meet the authorship criteria should be listed in an acknowledgement section with the permission of the authors. All required administrative requirements must be completed (Institutional Ethics Committee approval and clinical documentation record). All correspondence should be copied to all authors contributing to the article. Who is an author? * Whoever contributes substantially to the design of the article or to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data, * Whoever has participated in the design of the research paper or in the critical review of its intellectual content. * Who has been involved in the approval of the final version to be published. * Who has the criteria to respond to and support each of the scientific aspects of the article and the research. It is the responsibility of the authors to determine that all persons listed as authors meet the four criteria. In case of a request to remove or add an author after submission or publication of the manuscript, the journal editors should request an explanation and a signed statement of agreement for the requested change from all the authors already mentioned, including the one to be removed or added. In the case of collaborators who are not authors, they must authorize in writing that their names appear in the publication. Their contributions must be specified (e.g., as scientific advisors, critical reviewers of the study proposal, data collection, having contributed to providing participants or having cared for patients included in the study, having participated in the writing of the article or in its technical editing). b) Authorship disputes: If the Editorial Committee suspects authorship problems, it will contact the corresponding author for further information. If further information is needed, other authors will be contacted. c) Funding: All sources of funding, as well as their specific roles, should be listed in the acknowledgements section. If there is no source of funding, this should be explicitly stated. Other sources of funding, such as editorial assistance, should also be specified. d) Peer Review: The Journal uses double-blind peer review of articles. Only the editorial section does not undergo peer review. All submitted articles are treated with appropriate confidentiality. Thus, peer reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest when responding to an invitation to review a manuscript, as well as when submitting the results of their review. In cases where there is a conflict of interest, such as when the reviewer has recently collaborated with the author at the same institution, or when he/she is in direct competition with the author, reviewers may not review the author's manuscript. e) Timing of publication: Innovaciencia Journal strives to ensure timely peer review, avoiding unnecessary delays in the publication process. f) Editors and Journal staff as authors: The editor and members of the Editorial Board and Advisory Board are not involved in any decisions about their own articles submitted to the Journal. Accordingly, a brief statement will be provided detailing the process that will be used to make the editorial decision in cases where the editor or members of the Editorial or Advisory Boards are authors of a publication.  g) Conflict of interest: Editors, authors, and reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that could affect their ability to submit or review a manuscript objectively. Conflicts of interest include, but are not limited to, financial, personal, political, or religious interests. Authors should describe relevant funding, including the purposes of such funding, as well as any corresponding patents, stocks and shares held. h) Libel and Slander: The Advisory Committee monitors manuscripts and peer review reports to identify language that may be considered defamatory or negligently made misrepresentations, which may lead to legal action. Such language should not be used, and the author of such expressions will assume full responsibility. i) Editorial independence and commercial issues: The University of Santander - UDES is in charge of the financing and edition of Innovaciencia; however, this does not imply that this institution influences in any way the editorial decisions. j) Academic debate: Innovaciencia encourages correspondence and constructive criticism of published works. When a correspondence discusses a specific article, the author will be invited to respond before the correspondence is published. When possible, the correspondence and the author's response will be published together. Authors may indicate whether they consider a correspondence to be constructive, but are not entitled to veto comments. k) Appeals: Authors who disagree with the editorial feedback may file an appeal against the decision made by the Editorial Board. Appeals will overturn previous decisions only when new information becomes available, so reversals of decisions will not be made without new evidence. The Editorial Committee may seek comments from additional reviewers in order to make a decision. l) Corrections: Readers and authors should notify Innovaciencia Journal if there are errors in a publication, especially those that could affect the interpretation of the data. Corrections will be published and, when major errors are found that could invalidate the work, a retraction will be considered for publication. All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of errors, in case of detection. m) Retractions and expressions of concern: Retractions are published when the reported errors may affect the interpretation of the data, as well as when the information presented in the paper is fraudulent, or in cases of serious ethical misconduct. Expressions will be published readers. n) Removal of articles: The removal, deletion or concealment of an article is only permitted when there is a case involving legal infringements, defamation, or other limitations of a legal nature, as well as when there is false or inaccurate data. In such cases, a statement of withdrawal will be published. o) Data protection legislation: Innovaciencia Magazine complies with data protection legislation.

2.4. COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. a) The author must sign a copyright agreement prior to publication. b) Intellectual property protection. Exclusive License Agreement: The original author retains the copyright on his/her article, but Innovaciencia Magazine reserves the commercial rights of publication, as well as the rights for the publication of compilations.

2.5. SOCIALIZATION OF DATA FOR VERIFICATION. Researchers should share their database with other competent professionals who seek to verify their results after publication. The data provided will maintain the confidentiality of the participants and will protect the legal rights of authorship with respect to the study. Authors may request coverage of the costs of providing the information. When investigators are asked to share their data for reanalysis, the use of this data will be exclusively for the stated purpose. Researchers must receive written agreement from the authors for use of the data for any other purpose.

2.6. PEER REVIEWERS. Researchers who review material submitted for presentations, publications, research proposals or grants must respect the confidentiality and property rights of those who submitted the information.

2.7. DATA STORAGE AND DOCUMENTATION. Innovaciencia Journal encourages authors to share data and other artifacts that support the results of the work by archiving them in an appropriate public repository. Authors should include a data accessibility statement, including a link to the repository they have used, so that this statement can be published along with their work. Authors can consult the global registry of research data repositories at re3data.org to help them identify registered and certified repositories relevant to their subject areas. Data Citation in recognition of the importance of data as a product of a research effort, Innovaciencia Journal has endorsed the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles and is implementing a data citation policy. Journal policies should require that data be cited in the same manner as article, book, and web citations and authors should include data citations as part of their reference list. Data citation should be appropriate for data found within institutional, subject-focused, or more general data repositories. It is not intended to replace community standards, such as the online citation of GenBank Access Codes. When citing or making claims based on data, authors should refer to the data in the relevant place in the text of the manuscript and, in addition, provide a formal citation in the reference list. We recommend the format proposed by the Joint Declaration of Data Citation Principles Authors. Title of the dataset. Year; Repository or data archive: Version (if any). Persistent identifier (e.g. DOI)