Ethics Policies

Ethics Policy

Orange Journal is committed to adhering to high standards of ethical behavior and taking all possible measures against any professional misconduct occurring at all stages of the journal's publication process. It follows the guidelines and best practices established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (Committee on Publication Ethics), which is an organization providing advice and resources on all aspects of publication ethics and research misconduct.

Orange Journal adheres to the Core Practice (Core Practices). It also follows the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing (Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing). Both are published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The following describes each of the aspects related to the ethics and best practices statement of Orange Journal.

Misconduct Monitoring. The Editor is committed to maintaining high ethical standards and taking all possible measures against any professional misconduct in the publication. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Authors submitting a manuscript declare that it is original and unpublished, and also that it has not been submitted to other journals or copied or plagiarized, in whole or in part, from other publications, for which they must submit a signed commitment letter agreeing to transfer the rights of publication and distribution.

Manuscripts submitted by authors are preliminarily reviewed by the publication editor in light of the journal’s editorial policy and the requirements set out in the author guidelines. If any manuscript does not meet this initial review, it will be returned to the authors for adjustment and resubmission.

To address a case of plagiarism, Orange Journal follows the Flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The journal's plagiarism detection process is as follows: 1) All manuscripts will be checked with anti-plagiarism software using Turnitin. If the document shows a high similarity percentage: The author of the plagiarized article will be notified, documentary evidence (software report) will be sent, and a response will be requested. If the authors are found guilty of plagiarism: a) The editor of the journal where the original plagiarized article was published and the authors of the plagiarized article will be informed; b) Orange Journal will issue an official retraction of the article; c) Orange Journal will not publish any other articles from the involved authors for a period of 5 years.

Any ethical violations related to the document will be resolved using the protocols established in the Flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Authorship and Contribution. Authorship belongs to those individuals who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the article. All individuals who contributed significantly to the article should be listed as co-authors. Others who contributed to other substantive parts of the research should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author has the responsibility to include all co-authors and collaborators in the paper and ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the document for publication.

When authorship of an article is shared, it must be formally declared that: a) All authors have contributed intellectually to its development; b) They agree with the content of the manuscript; and c) The work has not been previously published in any other journal or format.

Authors must ensure that the data presented in the article are accurate and have not been altered to verify or respond to the formulated hypotheses or assumptions. In Orange Journal, in order to comply with research transparency and ensure the association of their work with their authorship, we request authors' ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) codes.

Complaints and Appeals. The Editor will respond as soon as possible to any complaint arising during the editorial process. Communication will be handled confidentially via email at orangejournaloficial@gmail.com. If the situation cannot be resolved, it will be addressed by the Editorial Committee in full.

Conflicts of Interest. Authors submitting a manuscript to Orange Journal, as well as the editors and reviewers of the journal’s publications, must declare in writing any relationship between the authors of the article and any public or private entity that could create a potential conflict of interest that might interfere with the objectivity or integrity of a publication.

Conflicts of interest are situations that could be perceived as exerting undue influence on the presentation, review, and publication of a work. These can be financial, non-financial, professional, employment, contractual, or personal in nature. We expect anyone who suspects an undisclosed conflict of interest regarding a published or under-consideration work by Orange Journal to inform the editor or email orangejournaloficial@gmail.com.

Data Analysis. Orange Journal supports transparency and openness regarding data, code, and other materials associated with research. Authors should maintain accurate backup records to allow others to understand, verify, and replicate new findings. Additionally, authors should provide access to these data and store them in an appropriate repository so that others can share and use them.

Ethical Oversight and Privacy Statement. Names and email addresses entered on the Orange Journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be available for any other purpose or to any other party. Data collected from registered and non-registered users of this journal are within the scope of the standard operation of peer-reviewed journals. The journal's editorial team collects such information only to the extent necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor's interaction with the journal. This includes information that makes communication for the editorial process possible; which is used to inform readers about authorship and content editing and to gather aggregated data on reader behaviors.

Data that will assist in the development of this publishing platform may be shared with its developer, Public Knowledge Project, in an anonymous and aggregated manner, with appropriate exceptions such as article metrics. Data will not be sold by this journal or PKP nor used for purposes other than those stated here.

Authors published in this journal are responsible for data concerning human subjects included in the research reported here. Those involved in the editing of this journal strive to meet industry standards for data privacy, including the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union for the “data subject rights” which include (a) notification of a breach; (b) right of access; (c) right to be forgotten; (d) data portability; and (e) privacy by design. GDPR also allows for the recognition of "public interest in data availability," which is of particular relevance to those involved in maintaining, with the highest possible integrity, the public record of academic publications.

Intellectual Property. Documents submitted by authors will be understood as original and unpublished. It will also be understood that they are not currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. Therefore, by submitting the article, the author explicitly states that: a) The submitted article has not been published or is under evaluation for publication in another journal; b) It has not been reported as a prior version as a working paper (or “grey literature”) or on a website; c) All authors are aware of and agree with its content; and d) The author transfers publication rights to the journal.

Orange Journal is open access, free, and open. The content of the articles published in the Journal is the sole responsibility of the authors, and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the journal's Editorial Committee.

Authors who contribute to Orange Journal agree to publish their articles under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license, allowing others to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and it is indicated if changes were made. This can be done in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Authors retain copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to Orange Journal.

Journal Management. Orange Journal is dedicated to publishing articles under the highest standards of quality and ethics. It also adheres to the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

At Orange Journal, we uphold these ethical behavior standards at all stages of publication and with all members of our journal, including: the author, the journal editor, the reviewer, and the publisher.

a) General Obligations and Responsibilities of the Editor. The Editor is the person responsible, when necessary, for everything related to: articles published in the journal and their quality; decisions in the editorial process, maintenance of records associated with articles, authors, and reviewers; confidentiality of individual data, continuous improvement of the journal; response to needs, criticisms, complaints, and suggestions from readers, authors, and reviewers. Additionally, the Editor will act in defense of freedom of expression.

b) Relations with Authors. The Editor will accept or reject a manuscript based on its relevance to the journal's subject coverage, originality, its unpublished status, and adherence to publication standards. The Editor will only retract a decision if there are compelling arguments.

c) Relation with Journal Editors. The Editor will promote academic relationships with editors of other journals.

d) Relations with the Editorial Team. The Editor will set guidelines about the responsibilities of the editorial committee, maintaining continuous communication with its members.

e) Relations with Readers. When appropriate, the Editor will inform about the source or sources of funding for the published research and their role in such research. Similarly, the author(s) should explicitly state this.

Editorial Process and Peer Review. The Editor will protect the identity of reviewers and establish what is expected of them; additionally, the Editor will ensure that the review process is confidential, fair, impartial, and aligned with reviewers’ disposition.

The Orange Journal, being a peer-reviewed journal, subjects all received manuscripts to a rigorous evaluation process by external academic peers, both national and international, experts in the field, under a double-blind modality; which occurs in several stages and takes between two and three months, depending on the number of manuscripts received. If any reviewer identifies conflicts of interest, they must declare them to be excluded from consideration. The Editor will resolve conflicts of interest within a deadline.

Regarding the evaluation process, the Editorial Committee reviews the articles that meet the conditions established for authors. If the article does not meet this initial review, it will be returned to the authors for adjustment and resubmission.

Subsequently, the article is sent to referees who belong to the area of knowledge of the topic. The material is sent to the reviewers without the author's or authors' names. Likewise, the author or authors will not know the names of the reviewers.

Upon receiving favorable or unfavorable feedback from the referees, the editorial team decides on the publication of the article. The evaluators’ feedback will be communicated to the authors, who must address the observations and suggestions for publication of the article within the time indicated by the editorial committee.

Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections. Discussions of published works by readers will be accepted through letters to the editor. When appropriate, the Editor will disclose criticisms of any work published in the journal, allowing authors to present their arguments. This will be done through authors’ letters addressed to the Editor.

A correction to a published article will only be considered if the authorship/contributors list is incorrect; i.e., a deserving author has been omitted or someone who does not meet authorship criteria has been included.