Ethic code

Ethical Code

The Revista Latina de Comunicación Social (RLCS) is committed to ensuring the highest standards of ethics and best practices in scientific publishing. To this end, it adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), following its Code of Conduct and the Best Practices Guidelines for Journals Editors, as well as the best editorial practices recommended by Elsevier through the Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK).

Our ethical policy is based on the following principles:

1. Responsibilities of the Editorial Team

  • Ensure confidentiality in the peer review process.
  • Apply clear and objective criteria in the selection and evaluation of manuscripts.
  • Act independently and avoid conflicts of interest.
  • Maintain a retraction protocol for articles in cases of fraud or misconduct detection, adhering to COPE’s Retraction Guidelines.

2. Responsibilities of Authors

  • Originality: Ensure that submitted works have not been previously published or are under evaluation elsewhere.
  • Research Ethics: When applicable, provide evidence of ethical approval and informed consent.
  • Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): If AI has been used at any stage of the process, authors must explicitly declare it, specifying in the Methodology section the software used, its purpose, and the extent of its intervention. Additionally, AI cannot be listed as an author under any circumstances.

3. Responsibilities of Reviewers

  • Evaluate manuscripts impartially and confidentially.
  • Disclose any conflict of interest before accepting a review assignment.
  • Verify originality and report any potential cases of plagiarism or fraud.

4. Plagiarism and Scientific Fraud Policies

RLCS is committed to detecting and preventing plagiarism, data manipulation, and coercive citation. To achieve this:

  • All manuscripts are subjected to plagiarism detection software before review.
  • The COPE retraction protocol will be applied if fraud is detected after publication.

5. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The journal establishes the following guidelines on AI usage, fully endorsing COPE’s Position Statement on AI in Publishing:

  • Authors must explicitly declare if AI has been used at any stage of the research and writing process. Journals must require authors to specify how and to what extent AI was used, whether for data analysis, text generation, or reference processing.
  • AI cannot be listed as an author because it cannot assume ethical responsibility or address issues related to scientific integrity. Editors must ensure that all contributions are human, even if AI has been used as a supporting tool.
  • AI must not be used to generate scientific content.
  • Authors must disclose AI usage in the methodology section and specify its applications.
  • AI is prohibited in manuscript evaluation and editorial decision-making processes.