MEDIACIONES Journal promotes high standards of scientific integrity and ethics in the publication of articles. The following statement establishes the principles and practices for authors, reviewers and editors, ensuring a shared commitment to ethics and transparency in scientific communication. By following these guidelines, MEDIACIONES reinforces its commitment to the generation of responsible and impactful knowledge in the academic community.

 

• Define Editorial Standards: Authors must meet ethical and professional requirements to publish in MEDIACIONES.
• Promote Good Practices: Avoid unacceptable editorial practices such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, and research fraud.
• Foster Ethics in Scientific Communication: Ethics is fundamental to creating and sharing truthful and high-quality knowledge.

 

• Duplicate or Multiple Publication: Articles sharing hypotheses, data, or conclusions without mutual references are considered duplicates, either literal, partial, or paraphrased. Each study must be unique and should not be published in parts without clear scientific justification.

• Research Fragmentation: Splitting a full study into multiple publications is unacceptable. Known as “salami slicing,” this practice fragments data and methodologies across articles without valid scientific reasons.

• Research Fraud: Presenting fabricated or manipulated data constitutes fraud. There are two main types:

  • Data Fabrication: Inventing results and presenting them as actual findings.
  • Data Falsification: Altering or omitting data to fit predefined outcomes.

• Plagiarism and Paraphrasing: Copying or paraphrasing others' ideas, data, or texts without proper acknowledgment is unacceptable, covering anything from phrases to full sections.

• Citation Manipulation: Unjustified inclusion or exchange of citations to artificially boost impact metrics.

• Editorial Spam: Self-publishing or using vanity press services compromises academic credibility.

• Ambiguous Metrics: The journal does not accept the use of unofficial or misleading metrics, designed to confuse researchers.

• Lack of Ethical Authorization: All studies must have institutional ethics committee approval, especially those involving humans or animals.

• Biased Publications: Omitting negative or undesired data undermines publication validity and ethics.

 

 

Author

• Originality and Source Acknowledgment: Articles must be original, with third-party ideas and data properly cited.
• Responsible Data Management: Authors must ensure data availability and veracity.
• Quality and Accuracy: Studies must accurately represent the research process and results.
• Single Version: Simultaneous submissions or multiple publications of the same study are not allowed.
• Informed Consent: Studies should declare whether participant consent or ethics committee approval was obtained.
• Conflict of Interest: Authors must disclose any relationships that could influence research results.

 

Reviewer

• Confidentiality: Reviewers must keep all information and material reviewed private.
• Scientific Integrity: Identify any ethical misconduct, such as plagiarism or data manipulation.
• Impartiality: Reviews must be based on objective criteria and not the author’s identity.
• Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should inform the editor of any ties affecting their objective judgment.

 

Editor

• Integrity in Publication: Ensure all articles meet ethical and quality standards.
• Fair Evaluation: Guarantee an impartial and confidential evaluation process.
• Fair Metrics: Avoid manipulating impact metrics.
• Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest: Editors should avoid decision-making on articles where they have possible personal or professional conflicts.

 

Important

Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios, to which MEDIACIONES Journal belongs, is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and, as such, adopts the principles established by this international organization. The journal considers as unacceptable practices the provision of false information about authors (ghost, guest or honorary author), plagiarism or self-plagiarism, fabrication of data, citations without references, disrespectful treatment, manipulation of citations, concealment of conflicts of interest, fragmented publication of research results and the submission of already published or purposely similar texts.

When one of these practices is identified, the editor will withdraw the article and sanction the offenders, preventing them from publishing in the journal again, after consulting the editorial committee. In the event of complaints, the editorial committee will analyze the case and take a final decision.