Producing and disseminating peer-reviewed scientific journals requires compliance with high ethical standards by all parties involved in the publication process: the publishing institution, the editor, the peer reviewers and the author.

• Originality and acknowledgement of sources: The text must be entirely prepared by the author and therefore considered as original. In case of using materials, texts, works or ideas from others, these must be scrupulously referenced. It is the moral duty of the author to recognize those who have influenced his ideas. Making textual quotations without attribution or extensively paraphrasing other sources is considered plagiarism.

• Data management: The author must have the data that support his publication and agrees to provide more information if necessary. Manipulation of data or false information is considered reprehensible conduct.

• Quality: Research articles should give an accurate account of the work carried out and explain the relevance of the results. The text should provide sufficient information regarding materials used, processes and methodologies, this will allow other researchers to replicate the exercise and validate the results.

• Multiple versions: The author should not simultaneously submit his/her manuscript to different journals, nor publish multiple versions of the same research in them.

• Authorship: The author is the person who writes and gives the text its expressive and perceptible form, as well as anyone who collaborates in an essential way in the conception, design, execution and interpretation of the research or problem addressed. Other persons who participate in the editorial process or collaborated in an aspect of the research should be mentioned and acknowledged.

• Informed consent and assent: If the research have required approvals from any ethics committee or request for informed consent or assent, either for experimenting with animals or for taking information on human beings, this must be explicitly stated. All sensitive use of data must comply with the current legislation in Colombia on data handling. Regarding the use of images, due consent must be provided to allow their use and publication.

• Conflict of Interest: It is the author's duty to disclose any type of relationship with companies, financial entities, civil, political, or public organizations that may benefit from the results. Likewise, the entities that financed the project, contractual relationships, shareholdings, if any, or any other aspect that may give rise to bias or influence must be declared.

• Confidentiality: The peer reviewer will refrain from sharing with others the information provided, such as judgments or suggestions made by him/her, as well as from contacting the author directly. No peer reviewer is authorized to use unpublished material, either in his/her own research or in documents of his/her authorship without the author's written authorization.

• Scientific integrity: The reviewer will be attentive to any potential lack of good editorial practices in which the author may incur, such as: omission of citations, plagiarism, similarity of texts or manipulation of data. Any type of anomaly of this nature should be reported to the editor.

• Impartiality: All observations must be supported with evidence and reasonable arguments. It will also refrain from making judgments directed at the author's person.

• Conflict of interest: The reviewer should consult the editor in case of any perceived conflict of interest. Conflict of interest means friendly, family, commercial, competitive, rival, or subordinate relationships.

• Integrity of the publication: The editor must ensure that published papers respect copyrights, do not incur in plagiarism or libel, and that the information they expose can be validated by readers.

• Paper evaluation: Ensures that the evaluation process is fair, impartial, and carried out within a reasonable period.

• Impartiality: The editor ensures that papers are evaluated for their strictly academic content without considerations of race, gender, religious beliefs, political inclinations, or other criteria. The transparency of the process must be always guaranteed and to this end, all official communication must be archived and tracked within the platform. It is the editor's task to adequately inform reviewers of their duties, to treat authors fairly and considerately, and to ensure disciplinary rigor in the content of articles. The editor determines the most objective course of action in the case of appeals against decisions made by peers or directly by the editor.

• Fair metrics: Under no circumstances will the editor try to alter or artificially influence the different mechanisms for measuring rankings or citations, nor request authors to include references for reasons other than academic ones.

• Confidentiality: Manuscripts submitted for review must be handled with strict confidentiality, as well as the data and identities of authors and reviewers. Under no circumstances may the editor use materials from unpublished manuscripts without prior consent of the authors, nor will he/she take advantage of his/her functions to obtain personal advantage or gain.

• Conflict of interest: The editor must inform the Institution or the authority that represents it of any conflict of interest involved in his or her appointment or practice. He/she shall also refrain from participating in decisions on texts written by him/herself, family members, friends, or individuals with whom he/she has any kind of commercial or interdependent relationship.

Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios is a member of COPE and, consequently, subscribes to its principles “Committe on Publication Ethics ”

The journal considers as bad practices to provide false information about the authors (ghost, guest or honorary author), plagiarism or self-plagiarism, fabrication of data, citations without references, disrespectful treatment, manipulation of citations, concealment of conflict of interest, segmented publication of research results, presentation of a text already published or intentionally similar. Once the editor identifies that one of these faults has been committed, he/she will proceed to withdraw the article and sanction the offenders by not allowing them to publish in the journal in the future, after consulting the editorial committee. In case of complaints, the editorial committee will study the case and make the final decision.