Editorial policies

OPEN ACCESS POLICY

The journal operates under an open access policy, making its content freely available to the global academic community under the Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. Under this policy, authors retain all copyrights to their work, with no restrictions on its use in institutional repositories, academic networks, or future publications.

However, by submitting their work to CIENCIA KAWSAY, authors grant the journal the right of first publication and agree to acknowledge CIENCIA KAWSAY as the original source if the work is subsequently disseminated or republished. This policy balances the interests of the authors with the journal’s commitment to providing high-quality scientific content with the greatest possible impact and visibility.

DIGITAL PRESERVATION POLICIES

The journal CIENCIA KAWSAY ensures the long-term preservation of its academic content through the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) system, a distributed archiving infrastructure that enables the secure storage, permanent preservation, and restoration of all published documents. This system, integrated with our Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, ensures the continuous availability of scientific material even in the event of technological or institutional disruptions.

Our participation in the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) LOCKSS Private Network reinforces this commitment by maintaining redundant copies on multiple geographically distributed servers.

For more information on our digital preservation protocols, see:

·       PKP Private LOCKSS Network (PLN)

·       Updates on PKP-LOCKSS

·       Technical document on the PLN network

Complementary Backup Protocols

To further enhance the security of our archives, we have implemented a strict backup protocol that includes: (1) bimonthly backups to cloud services using distributed storage technology, and (2) quarterly backups to physical hard drives stored in secure locations. This multi-tiered preservation system—which combines LOCKSS and periodic backups—ensures that researchers today and in the future can confidently access all of our academic content, thereby meeting the highest standards of digital preservation in scientific communication.

AUTHORSHIP AND CONTRIBUTION POLICIES

In accordance with best practices in scientific publishing, the journal Ciencia Kawsay considers an author to be anyone who has made significant intellectual contributions to the work; the order of authorship must reflect the authors’ level of responsibility and involvement in the research. Each article must designate a corresponding author, who is responsible for editorial communication and for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript. To ensure transparency, we require each author to detail their specific contribution using the CRediT Taxonomy, thereby aligning ourselves with the highest international standards of ethics and editorial quality.

CRediT Taxonomy for Specifying Contributions

The journal Ciencia Kawsay requires the use of the CRediT Taxonomy (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) as the standard for declaring academic contributions. This system classifies 14 specific roles in scientific production:

1.    Design and Initial Planning

Funding Acquisition: Securing financial support for the project that led to this publication.

Conceptualization: Development of ideas, formulation, or evolution of general research goals and objectives.

Methodology: Development or design of the methodology.

2.    Execution and Data Collection

Data curation: Management activities involving annotation (production metadata), data cleaning, and maintenance of research data (including software code, when necessary to interpret the data itself) for initial use and subsequent reuse.

Research: Conducting a research process, experiments, or the collection of data/evidence.

Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, participants, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, equipment, computing resources, or other analytical tools.

Software: Programming, software development; computer program design; implementation of computer code and supporting algorithms; testing of existing code components.

3.    Analysis and Validation

Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyze or synthesize study data.

Validation: Verification—either as part of the activity or separately—of the general replicability/reproducibility of results/assays and other research findings.

4.    Communication and Dissemination

Original Drafting: Preparation, creation, and/or submission of the published work, specifically writing the initial draft (including substantive translation).

Writing—Review and Editing: Preparation, creation, and/or submission of the published work by members of the original research group, specifically critical review, commentary, or revision.

Visualization: Preparation, creation, and/or presentation of the published work, specifically the visualization or presentation of data.

5.    General Management and Supervision

Project administration: Management and coordination of the planning and execution of research activities.

Supervision: Supervision and management of the planning and execution of research activities, including providing external guidance to the core team.

Changes to Authorship

Changes to authorship (additions, deletions, or reordering) are not accepted after the manuscript has been submitted.

COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS POLICIES

All complaints and appeals must be submitted in writing to the editor via the email addresses listed in the Contact section. The editor will receive and handle each request, ensuring the confidentiality of the process and providing a response as soon as possible, depending on the complexity of the case; for situations that require it, the editor will consult the Editorial Committee.

RESEARCH MISCONDUCT POLICIES

The journal Ciencia Kawsay guarantees academic integrity and will address all allegations of research or editorial misconduct in accordance with COPE, guidelines, through a process that includes:

  1. Receipt and evaluation, during which the Editorial Team identifies the documents and requests a response from the authors;
  2. Investigation, which in complex cases may involve consulting COPE or affiliated institutions (while respecting confidentiality); and
  3. Resolution, distinguishing between unintentional errors and deliberate misconduct (plagiarism, falsification, or fabrication of data).

Depending on the severity, proportionate measures will be applied: corrections (verified errors), editorial notes (insufficient evidence), retraction (cases that compromise scientific validity), or rejection (unpublished manuscripts), ensuring transparency and alignment with international ethical standards.

The journal Ciencia Kawsay considers the following to constitute scientific misconduct:

  1. Data falsification or fabrication, including the manipulation of results, alteration of images, or intentional omission of data; and
  2. Ethical violations, referring to research conducted without approval from ethics committees or outside established regulatory frameworks.

In response to these situations, the journal will apply progressive measures, including: formally requesting the original data when the integrity of the results is questioned; notifying the authors’ affiliated institutions in serious cases; and imposing editorial sanctions commensurate with the severity of the offense, always in accordance with COPE guidelines. These actions aim to preserve scientific credibility and protect ethical standards in research.

JOURNAL POLICIES ON CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The journal Ciencia Kawsay requires all participants in the editorial process (authors, editors, and reviewers) to disclose any conflict of interest—whether personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial—that could affect the impartiality of the evaluation or publication of manuscripts. Authors must disclose these conflicts in writing at the time of submission, while reviewers are required to recuse themselves if they identify situations that compromise their objectivity. The journal guarantees the assignment of reviewers with proven subject-matter expertise and a verified absence of conflicts of interest.

Should any irregularities be detected, strict protocols based on COPE guidelines will be applied, ranging from formal corrections to full retractions, depending on the severity of the offense. The Editorial Board maintains an unwavering commitment to scientific integrity, promoting the proactive reporting of any anomalies and enforcing a zero-tolerance policy toward misconduct such as plagiarism, data fabrication, or biased peer review. These measures aim to preserve the credibility of published knowledge and uphold the highest ethical standards in academic communication.

JOURNAL POLICIES ON DATA SHARING AND REPRODUCIBILITY

For third-party data, it is mandatory to specify the terms of access and use. We promote fundamental best practices such as:

  1. Authentic, relevant, and properly cited data;
  2. Bidirectional linking between articles and datasets; and
  3. Verified ownership of the rights for publication.

Scientific Integrity and Sanctions

We consider the following to be serious ethical violations:

  1. The reuse of data without contributing significant new findings;
  2. Plagiarism or unauthorized use of materials; and
  3. The manipulation or misrepresentation of information.

In response to these practices, we will apply proportionate sanctions that may include corrections, retractions, or editorial exclusion, strictly following the protocols of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This policy reinforces our commitment to transparency, reproducibility, and integrity in scientific communication, ensuring the reliability of our publications for the global academic community.

JOURNAL POLICY ON ETHICAL OVERSIGHT

The journal Ciencia Kawsay strictly adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), guaranteeing scientific integrity in all its publications. We categorically reject any form of academic misconduct, including: plagiarism, fabrication or manipulation of data, improper citation, copyright infringement, duplicate publication, and self-plagiarism. Our editorial system implements multiple safeguards:

  1. Double-blind peer review to ensure impartiality,
  2. Analysis using anti-plagiarism software (maximum similarity threshold of 10%), and
  3. Verification of conflicts of interest through signed declarations.

Oversight and Continuous Improvement

The Editorial Board continuously monitors all processes to maintain the highest ethical standards. In the event of verified irregularities, we apply a tiered protocol that includes: corrections (for unintentional errors), editorial notes (when evidence is limited), or retractions (in serious cases), notifying the relevant institutions when necessary. We complement this approach with a policy of continuous improvement that involves:

  1. Annual training for the team on editorial ethics,
  2. Random post-publication audits to verify data consistency.

 This comprehensive system ensures that every publication complies with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) criteria for open science.

JOURNAL POLICY ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

The journal Ciencia Kawsay adopts an innovative intellectual property model in line with global advances in scientific communication. In contrast to traditional content restriction systems, we implement Creative Commons licenses (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) that allow for:

  1. Legal reuse of knowledge for academic purposes,
  2. Mandatory attribution of authorship and original source,
  3. Protection against unauthorized commercial use,
  4. Preservation of the integrity of the works (no derivatives).

This approach balances the rights of authors, publishers, and readers, accelerating the dissemination of knowledge while protecting intellectual output. Authors retain their moral rights and the ability to self-archive their works in institutional repositories, reinforcing our commitment to open and collaborative science.

JOURNAL POLICIES ON CORRECTIONS AND RETRACTIONS

The journal Ciencia Kawsay ensures the highest level of scientific integrity through a transparent protocol for managing errata, corrections, and retractions, in accordance with COPE guidelines.

1.Errata

Errata will be published exclusively when typographical or formal errors (author names, titles, keywords, or bibliographic data) are introduced by the editorial team during the typesetting process. Authors have 7 calendar days to review the final proof; failure to respond will be considered tacit approval.

2. Corrections

For substantial errors detected after publication that affect:

·       Interpretation of results,

·       Methodological validity,

·       Key conclusions.

A correction note will be issued and electronically linked to the original article, with both versions remaining visible to preserve academic traceability.

3. Retractions

These will be applied in cases of:

ü  Data falsification/fabrication (to be verified using forensic software),

ü  Undeclared conflicts of interest that compromise objectivity.

The process includes:

1.       Documented investigation,

2.       Formal notification to the authors,

3.       Publication of a retraction statement including:

a.       Specific reason,

b.       Date of resolution,

Retracted articles will remain accessible with a “RETRACTED” watermark, in accordance with COPE and Crossref standards.

POLICIES FOR POST-PUBLICATION DISCUSSIONS

The journal Ciencia Kawsay is founded on the belief that genuine scientific progress arises from rigorous intellectual exchange and the collective construction of knowledge. Beyond publishing outstanding research, we have developed a digital ecosystem for academic debate that includes:

·       Specialized platforms (ResearchGate, Academia.edu) for peer discussion and preprint archiving,

·       Academic social networks (LinkedIn) for critical dissemination.

This model goes beyond traditional one-way publishing, transforming each article into a starting point for future collaborations. We systematically document these interactions through:

·       Identification of post-publication co-authorship networks,

·       Mapping of research spin-offs (projects, conferences),

·       Alternative metrics (Altmetric) that assess social impact.

We invite you to follow and participate in the digital spaces of the journal Ciencia Kawsay to stay up to date and be part of the scientific debate:

·       Academia.edu

·       ResearchGate

·       LinkedIn

·       Instagram

·       Facebook

Follow us, share our content, and become an active part of the scientific conversation!