Ethics and Best Practices Guidelines

Foro Internacional adheres to the precepts established in the Ethical Principles, the Guidelines on Publishing Ethics, and the Principles for Ethical Research of El Colegio de México. The journal's editorial team, authors, and reviewers are obliged to comply with the norms and principles contained therein, as well as those detailed in these guidelines.

The journal rejects any type of intellectual dishonesty or violation of ethical principles in research and publication. The Editorial Board and the Editor-in-Chief expect readers and reviewers who suspect violations of integrity or misconduct in the contents of the journal or in manuscripts under consideration to promptly contact them.

 

A.  On plagiarism, duplicate publication, and self-plagiarism

Foro Internacional has a strict policy against academic fraud and editorial misconduct, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, recycling of text or self-plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data fabrication. As a policy for the prevention and combating of dishonest practices, the journal reserves the right to check manuscripts using specialized software and other conventional detection tools.

For the journals published by El Colegio de México, plagiarism consists of using ideas, text, illustrations, data, or any other type of material produced by others without proper attribution, in whole or in part. Any work submitted for publication that generates well-founded suspicion of plagiarism will be discarded. The journal will not accept future manuscripts from those who have committed this offense.

In the event of plagiarism or any other violation of academic integrity and research ethics in an already published work, it will be retracted, and a visible note explaining the reasons for the retraction will be published in both the print and electronic versions of the journal.

Foro Internacional also rejects as dishonest practices attempts at duplicate publication and self-plagiarism, including cases where the material in question appeared first in another language. Duplicate publication occurs when authors submit work for consideration by another journal simultaneously, or when they submit, as if it were unpublished material, work that has been previously published in its entirety or in substantial parts. A manuscript submission may be considered as an attempt at duplicate publication even if there are modifications in wording relative to the original.

Self-plagiarism occurs when authors reuse, without proper citation, text or any type of content of their authorship from previous publications. The use of material previously published by the authors without appropriate attribution will be grounds for rejection of the manuscript due to editorial misconduct. Even when cited, excessive reuse of material or ideas included in other own works will be grounds for rejection of the manuscripts.

By submitting a manuscript for consideration to the journal, authors declare that they are aware of and comply with these provisions. Prior to publication, they will sign a letter restating that their work is original, proprietary, and has not been published previously.

 

B.  On conflict of interest

Conflict of interest refers to situations in which the impartiality and objectivity of a person involved in the processes of review and publication of a manuscript may be affected for professional, personal, financial, or other reasons.

For example, there may be a conflict of interest when a reviewer recognizes or suspects the identity of the author(s) of the assigned manuscript and this may affect their ability to evaluate the text impartially, or influence their recommendation in any way. When a reviewer finds themselves in this situation, they should inform the journal editors as soon as possible, so that they can evaluate the situation and, if necessary, select another reviewer.

There is also a conflict of interest when the authors of a manuscript are part of the journal’s editorial team, in which case, uninvolved members of the Editorial Board will assume responsibility for leading the peer-review process under the double-blind principle, and if the text is published, the situation will be declared on the first page.

Editors, authors, reviewers, and other individuals involved in the journal’s processes should immediately inform the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board of any circumstances that could be considered a conflict of interest, so that they take appropriate mitigation and prevention measures to preserve the integrity of the peer-review and publication processes. When the Editor-in-Chief or members of the Editorial Board are themselves in a possible conflict of interest, the remaining uninvolved members or, if necessary, other editorial instances of El Colegio de México will resolve the situation. The Editor-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board will abstain from making decisions in situations where they have conflicting interests.

 

C.  Ethical obligations of authors

Authors of manuscripts submitted to Foro Internacional commit to following the Guidelines for Authors established by the journal. Manuscripts that do not meet all the requirements specified therein will not be sent out for review. Authors are also responsible for the truthfulness of the information they provide regarding their academic degrees, institutional affiliation, authorship or co-authorship, research support, or others.

Authors are obliged to strictly adhere to ethical principles in the research submitted for consideration by the journal. Among these principles are academic integrity and respect for the dignity and privacy of the individuals involved in the research, in any modality.

It is the authors’ obligation to present only original and unpublished manuscripts, i.e., those produced by them and not previously published in whole or in part. Under no circumstances should manuscripts submitted to Foro Internacional be under consideration by another journal simultaneously, until a decision has been made regarding publication.

Authors are obligated to avoid editorial malpractice and any form of academic fraud, such as data fabrication, plagiarism and self-plagiarism, citation manipulation, and the use of others’ work without proper attribution and citation, among others. Authors will reference the sources used for their research in citations, footnotes, and the bibliography, in accordance with the journal’s Style Manual. The Ethical Principles for Research at El Colegio de México, to which the journal adheres, state: “Authorial attribution will always be given, that is, individuals whose ideas, works, contributions, and research have been relevant to the investigation will be properly recognized and cited.”

Authors are responsible for acknowledging and documenting the contributions of their collaborators and other authors who participated in the preparation of the manuscripts. In the case of manuscripts prepared by more than one person, the one registered as the corresponding author is responsible for communicating with their co-authors about all aspects related to the review process and possible publication in the journal.

Authors are obliged to inform in their article if they received funding for their research, declare the entity that has done so, and the role they played in the different phases of the research process. They must also follow principles of transparency, reproducibility, verifiability, and good research practices in the collection, presentation, and discussion of evidence. This includes discussing criteria for the selection of sources and cases, clearly reporting the methodology used, and making the information and data used in the preparation of their articles available. Authors will enable open access to these materials whenever possible.

Authors should take measures within their reach to preserve the integrity of the peer-review process under the principle of double-blind review. This includes avoiding revealing their identity in the manuscripts indirectly through the presentation of citations or excessive self-citation.

 

D.  Ethical obligations of peer reviewers

Peer reviewers should evaluate manuscripts solely based on their academic and scientific merits, adhering to the principle of objectivity. It is their responsibility to take all measures within their reach to avoid introducing conscious or unconscious biases in the review process. Peer reviewers who consider themselves unqualified to judge a work based strictly on academic and scientific criteria must inform the journal Editor-in-Chief within a period of no more than ten days.

Peer reviewers are obliged to treat manuscripts they receive for review as confidential documents. The manuscripts should not be shared or discussed with third parties without explicit permission from the journal’s editorial team. Peer reviewers should take measures within their reach to preserve the integrity of the peer-review process under the principle of double-blind review. This includes avoiding revealing their identity in reviews.

If during the review process, peer reviewers have suspicion or concerns related to academic fraud or editorial malpractices in the manuscripts under their consideration, they must readily inform the Editor-in-Chief.

Peer reviewers also have the responsibility to report to the Editor-in-Chief any possible conflict of interest they may encounter in reviewing manuscripts, in order to preserve the integrity of the peer-review process. This includes having a professional or personal relationship with the authors of the manuscripts or a particular interest in the results of the review process, for example, when the work contradicts or corroborates findings or arguments associated with the reviewer’s work in a way that could bias their evaluation.

Peer reviewers will have a period of thirty days from the invitation to review the manuscripts. When they are not able to review the manuscript within that period or delays occur, they will inform the journal in a timely manner.

The evaluations written by peer reviewers should be properly detailed and constructive. Reviewers are responsible for ensuring that their evaluations always respect the dignity of the authors and other persons. Within these parameters, the journal expects reviewers to evaluate the quality of the arguments, methodology, evidence, and other contents of the manuscripts in a deep and rigorous manner. Reviewers’ recommendations to the journal's editorial team regarding publication should be based on such evaluation.

In their evaluations, reviewers should explain their comments and observations so that the journal’s editorial team and authors understand their analytical foundation. In no case should peer reviewers use information, arguments, or interpretations learned during the peer-review process without the author's consent and due attribution.

 

E.  Ethical Obligations of the Editorial Board and the Editor-in-Chief of Foro Internacional

The Editorial Board and the Editor-in-Chief will consider manuscripts submitted to the journal solely based on their academic and scientific merits. It is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and the Board to accept or reject manuscripts. To make decisions about the publication of manuscripts, they will rely on the corresponding anonymous reviews and the obligations established in these Guidelines.

The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board are responsible for the strict, consistent, and impartial application of the journal’s Peer-Review Policy. According to this Policy, all manuscripts will be subject to academic evaluation by independent peers, under the principle of double-blind review. Under no circumstances should the identity of the reviewers of a manuscript, nor that of the authors, be disclosed during the review process. Only with the publication of the article, if applicable, will the names of the authors be known.

As per the Peer-Review Policy, the Board and the Editor-in-Chief may reject manuscripts at a pre-review stage (desk rejection), provided that, after considering them following the double-blind principle, there is agreement of at least two editors. Desk rejection will proceed only when manuscripts deal with topics outside the areas of expertise of the journal, are not fundamentally based on academic research, do not meet minimum quality standards, or involve violations of editorial and research ethics principles.

When the recommendations of reviewers regarding the publication of a manuscript do not coincide, the Editor-in-Chief of the journal, with the support of the Board, will decide on publication. To do so, additional evaluations may be requested.

It is the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board to resolve cases related to academic fraud, conflicts of interest, and editorial misconduct in manuscripts received in the journal. In doing so, they must act in accordance with the ethical norms and principles of El Colegio de México, referenced at the beginning of these Guidelines. The Editor-in-Chief and members of the Editorial Board are obligated to declare any conflicts of interest they may have due to their position in the journal or in the evaluation of any manuscript and excuse themselves when appropriate.

The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board are committed to upholding freedom of thought and expression, as well as ensuring that the research published in the journal adheres to ethical principles in the collection and use of evidence, such as informed consent; ethical use of documentary sources; and respect for the dignity and privacy of all persons involved, in any modality. This includes rejection of the use of sexist terms or any denigrating language in the manuscripts.