Ethics and Best Practices 

Alternancia - Journal of Education and Research will ensure that the editorial team, reviewers, and authors adhere to the required ethical guidelines throughout the publication process. To achieve this, it relies on the following international standards: the Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and the International Standards for Editors and Authors, established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The guidelines are directed at authors, reviewers, and editors:

Authors' Commitment

• Multiple Publications: Authors must not duplicate their research findings across various scientific journals or any other type of publication, regardless of whether these are academic or not. Simultaneous submission of the same contribution to multiple scientific journals is considered ethically improper conduct.
• Information Veracity and Accuracy: Authors submitting their work to Alternancia guarantee their contributions originality and confirm that they have not been previously published in any other source. They also certify that they have not incorporated excerpts from other authors' works or altered empirical data for the purpose of supporting their hypotheses.
• Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure: Authors must explicitly declare if they have no conflicts of interest that could impact the results or their work interpretations. Furthermore, they must disclose any funding provided by agencies or projects that supported the research.
• Attribution, Citation, and References: Authors must always ensure appropriate referencing of the sources and contributions mentioned in their article.
• Participation in Authorship: Authors commit to listing individuals who have made substantial scientific and intellectual contributions to the conception, planning, interpretation of results, and writing of the work. Additionally, they must determine the order of authors based on their degree of responsibility and contribution.
• Availability and Preservation: If the Editorial Board deems it appropriate, authors must provide access to source materials or data used in their research. These data must remain available for a reasonable period post-publication and be readily accessible.
• Errors Correction in Published Articles: If an author identifies a substantial error or inaccuracy in their published article, they must immediately notify the journal editors and provide all necessary information to correct the error via footnote, without altering the original article version.
• Responsibility: Authors are solely responsible for the content of articles published in Alternancia. Furthermore, authors are expected to conduct a comprehensive review of the most recent and pertinent scientific literature related to the addressed topic, considering diverse perspectives and schools of thought.

Reviewers´ Commitment 

• Participation in Editorial Decision-Making: Peer review plays a crucial role in supporting editors in making decisions regarding submitted manuscripts. It also provides authors with the opportunity to improve their work quality prior to potential publication. Reviewers commit to conducting a critical, honest, and constructive evaluation, free from bias, both in terms of scientific merit and writing quality, based on their expertise and competence.
• Adherence to Review Deadlines: If a reviewer feels they lack the necessary expertise to evaluate the subject matter or cannot meet the established review period, they must notify the editors immediately. Reviewers commit to completing reviews as promptly as possible, ensuring deadlines are met. At Alternancia, strict policies are enforced regarding the retention of pending manuscripts, out of respect for authors and their work.
• Confidentiality: Each assigned manuscript must be treated with complete confidentiality. Consequently, reviewers must not share the content with unauthorized individuals without the explicit permission of the editors.
• Impartiality and Objectivity: Reviewers must assess manuscripts impartially and objectively, based solely on scientific and academic merit. Personal biases or preconceived notions must not influence their evaluation.
• Recognition of Missing References: Reviewers commit to accurately identifying relevant bibliographic citations that the author may have omitted. Additionally, they must inform the editors if they detect similarities or overlaps between the manuscript under review and previously published works.
• Anonymity: To ensure fairness, objectivity, and transparency in the review process, authors anonymity is preserved before their manuscripts are sent for peer review. If at any point a reviewer becomes aware of the authors’ identities, institutional affiliations, or any information that could reveal their identity and compromise the manuscript confidentiality, the reviewer is obligated to report it immediately to the editors.
• Plagiarism: If a reviewer has concerns regarding substantial content reproduction in relation to prior works, they must inform the editors and provide detailed references to the earlier work whenever possible. The journal mandates the use of plagiarism and self-plagiarism detection systems, such as Turnitin, by both reviewers and editors.
• Fraud: If any doubts arise—whether significant or minor—regarding the results authenticity or accuracy presented in a manuscript, it is essential to report these concerns to the editors.

Editors´ Commitment    

• Transparency: Editors must provide clear and comprehensive information about the journal’s editorial policies, including the peer review processes, selection criteria, and ethical guidelines to be followed by authors and reviewers.
• Selection of Qualified Reviewers: Editors ensure the selection of highly skilled and expert reviewers in the relevant scientific field to provide a critical and expert evaluation of the work, minimizing any potential bias. At Alternancia, the practice is to assign two reviewers per manuscript, which ensures greater objectivity in the review process.
• Impartiality and Fairness: Editors must make editorial decisions impartially and fairly, based on the academic and scientific merit of the manuscripts, without discrimination on the basis of race, gender, ethnic origin, institutional affiliation, or other factors unrelated to the research quality.
• Confidentiality: Editors and the editorial team commit to not disclosing information related to manuscripts submitted to the journal to anyone other than the authors, reviewers, and editors. The confidentiality of manuscripts, authors, and reviewers is guaranteed, thereby preserving the entire process intellectual integrity.
• Conflicts of Interest Avoidance: Editors must disclose and manage any conflicts of interest that could influence their editorial decisions, such as personal or professional relationships with authors, reviewers, or institutions related to the submitted work.
• Adherence to Deadlines: Editors bear ultimate responsibility for ensuring that established deadlines for reviews and the publication of accepted articles are met. This is aimed at facilitating the timely dissemination of research findings. Published deadlines include a maximum of 75 days for evaluation or rejection from the manuscript receipt on the Review Platform, and a maximum of 120 days from the start of the scientific peer review process.