Ethics statement

All parties involved in the publication of scholarly journal articles: authors, journal editors, and reviewers should contemplate the expected standards of ethical behavior.

This statement is based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Good Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. COPE provides resources for journal editors, reviewers, and authors on professional publishing standards at publicationethics.org. In addition to COPE, other organizations collaborate to identify best practices for scholarly publishing, such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).

The Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública is committed to high standards of critical scholarly review and professional publishing judgment. The journals published by Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública are under the editorial direction of independent editors. It is the editors of the journals who make all decisions regarding the content published in each issue; they ensure the accuracy, integrity, and originality of each published article. Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública supports editors in their efforts to manage their journals in an ethical and transparent manner, while adhering to established editorial principles and practices in their disciplines.

Additional information on the author guidelines for each journal can be accessed by going to the "Author Guidelines" section from the top menu of each journal.

The editors of each journal are responsible for selecting which articles will be accepted for publication. Each journal editor, with the assistance from their editorial board, create the policies and guidelines for their journal while abiding by legal requirements regarding plagiarism, libel, and copyright infringement. The editors may request assistance from other journal editors or reviewers when making their decisions.

The editors evaluate the content of each manuscript to determine whether it is appropriate for the journal. They also evaluate its intellectual content without regard to the author's sex, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or political philosophy.

During the evaluation and revision of the article, the editor will respect the integrity of the original work, refraining from making interventions to the text with unpublished material without the express consent of the author of the original manuscript.

Each journal has a Peer Review Process that assists the editor in making editorial decisions about the quality and suitability of a manuscript for publication. The journal editor can provide manuscript authors with feedback from each reviewer, which can help authors improve their manuscript.

Reviewers will consider the following criteria for acceptance or rejection of manuscript evaluation work:

• Be knowledgeable and experienced. They will only perform their function if they are considered competent in the subject they are proposed to evaluate.
• They will have time availability. Committing to respect the time limits and to follow the guidelines of the journal in their work. In case of acceptance, it is essential to meet the deadlines established for the completion of the review. In case of rejection, the journal's secretariat must be notified as soon as possible.
• They will assume a commitment of confidentiality so that they will not be able, during the whole process, to disclose the content of the article to a third party. Consultations with another expert may not entail any risk of breaching the confidentiality of the manuscript and must be previously consulted with the editor. The only authorized interlocutors for any question related to the evaluation process are the director and editors of the journal.

Reviewers who do not feel qualified to review a manuscript, or who believe that they will not be able to provide a prompt response, should notify the editor as soon as possible. The reviewer must be an impartial party with respect to the author(s) of the manuscript.

The journal uses the peer review system ("double-blind"), so that neither authors nor reviewers know the identity of the other party.

In the event that the author is identified, reviewers must declare any conflict of interest and decline the editor's invitation to evaluate a manuscript. A conflict of interest may occur as a result of:

• Animosity toward authors.
• Academic or family closeness: Belonging to the same university, department, research group, professional network, research project, etc. Having published articles with the author.
• Any other type of connection or conflict, including professional proximity.

It is important that reviewers inform the editor if they suspect or become aware of a conflict of interest for any of the above or any other reasons.

All submissions received for review should be treated as confidential documents. They should not be shared or discussed with others, except as permitted by the journal editor, who may require analogous commitment to confidentiality by the person with whom the manuscript is shared or discussed.

Manuscript reviews should be conducted objectively and without personal criticism of the author. Each reviewer should express his or her views clearly and provide supporting arguments.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Reviewers should also bring to the editor's attention if they recognize a significant resemblance between the manuscript under review and any other published work.

The academic peer review process applies only to original research articles. All other scholarly content, such as book reviews, editorials or others, are not subject to the peer review process.

Additional information on the Ethical Guidelines for Peer-Reviewers is available on the COPE website.

Authorship stated in the manuscript should be limited to those authors who have made a significant contribution to the concept, design, execution, or interpretation of the research or study. Each person who has made a significant contribution to the work should be listed as a co-author. If there are other persons who have participated significantly in the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as collaborators. The corresponding author should review and confirm that the co-authors are included in the paper, and that all co-authors have seen, approved and accepted the final version of the paper.

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other conflicts of interest that may be understood to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the research project should also be properly acknowledged.

Authors of articles reporting original research should provide an accurate description of the research/work performed and an objective discussion of its importance to the field. All supporting evidence and data should be accurately represented in the article. Each manuscript should also include references that allow others to reconstruct the argument. It is unacceptable to intentionally include inaccurate statements or fabricated data in the manuscript, which is considered unethical behavior.

Authors must ensure that their submitted work does not contain any content that could be considered as libelous or otherwise infringe on the copyrights of others. If authors have used the work and/or words of others, they must ensure that it is properly cited or quoted.

When requested by the editor, authors should provide evidence and raw data in relation to an article for editorial review and should be prepared to provide access to such evidence. They should also be prepared to retain such evidence and data for a reasonable time after publication.

Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal simultaneously constitutes unethical publication behavior that is not accepted. The journal editor will make every effort to process and evaluate submissions in a timely manner. If an author decides to submit the manuscript to another journal, he/she should request the editor to remove his/her manuscript from the assessment/review process.

Authors should properly acknowledge the work of others and should cite all publications that have been influential in determining their scholarly understanding of the subject of their paper.

Authors must sign a Transfer of Rights Agreement  for their accepted manuscript to be published in the journal. Each journal has its own Transfer of Rights Agreement that will be provided to the author at the time of acceptance of their manuscript.

Research in social sciences and humanities often involves working with human participants and specific methodological tools (surveys, questionnaires, interviews, standardized tests, direct observation, ethnography, recordings, experiments with volunteers, and sometimes physical interventions). Therefore, the ethical implications of the chosen methodologies must be clarified.

The research must comply with:

• Ethical principles.
• Applicable international, community, and national legislation.

This implies ensuring respect for individuals and human dignity, the fair distribution of the benefits and burdens of research, and the protection of the values, rights, and interests of research participants.

Additionally, the following must be obtained:

• The necessary ethical approvals (if required).
• The free and fully informed consent of the research participants.

A risk assessment must also be provided, explicitly indicating what types of harm (psychological, social, legal, economic, environmental, etc.) might occur, the likelihood of subjects actually incurring such harm, and the steps that will be taken to minimize them.

Research involving more than minimal risk typically includes:

• Potentially vulnerable groups and people unable to give informed consent.
• Personal or sensitive topics, which might induce psychological stress, anxiety, or humiliation.
• Deception.
• Risks to researcher safety.
• Seeking respondents through the internet/social media (e.g., using identifiable visual images or discussing sensitive issues).

Particular attention must be paid to vulnerable categories of individuals such as children, patients, people subject to discrimination, minorities, people unable to give consent, people of dissenting opinion, immigrant or minority communities, sex workers, etc.

If the research involves children or other individuals unable to make decisions for themselves, an active relationship with their legal guardians and/or carers must be maintained; you must not only seek their consent but also allow them to monitor the research.

Data must be kept securely, and publication (including internet publication) must not breach agreed confidentiality and anonymity.

In rare cases, it may be necessary to override agreements on confidentiality and anonymity (e.g., if maintaining confidentiality facilitates illegal behavior such as drug dealing, child abuse, etc. that has come to light during the course of the research). In such circumstances, disclosure to the appropriate authorities must be carefully considered. Participants or their guardians must also be informed of your intentions and the reasons for disclosure, unless this makes disclosure impracticable.

The technical aspects of collecting and storing research data should also be considered. Data collection using electronic encoding tools (digital recorders or cameras) should receive special attention.

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his or her own published work, it is his or her responsibility to promptly notify the journal editor and to cooperate with the editor in retracting or correcting his or her paper.

If the journal editor believes that a significant error has been published that should be corrected, and in cases where there is reason for concern about such matters as plagiarism, fabrication of research, duplicate publication, or failure to disclose conflicts of interest, the editor will review and decide on its resolution in consultation with Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública.