Editorial best practices

Editorial best practices policy

Editorial ethics

Lengua y Sociedad assumes and promotes the best practices of editorial ethics. Provides guidelines on conflict of interest, ethical commitment, similarity detection.

Commitment to ethics

Lengua y Sociedad adheres to international standards and codes of ethics established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (Code of Conduct and Best Practices Guidelines for Journals Editors, COPE) and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) to ensure the authenticity of publications and the quality of the editorial process.. In addition, it is inspired by the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association (OASPA) principles of transparency and best practices. It also subscribes to the ethical commitment of all the actors involved in the management and publication of articles. To this end, the journal relies on the Publication Ethics Resource Kit (PERK), which suggests appropriate protocols to meet the performance and needs of authors, readers, reviewers and members of the editorial team involved in the editorial process.

On unethical conduct

Any person may report unethical conduct to the editor. The journal should pay attention to any complaint, regardless of the time of publication of the original. Allegations must be supported by evidence in order to initiate an investigation. All complaints and allegations of unethical conduct or misconduct will be taken with the utmost seriousness.

The journal is opposed to any kind of manipulation leading to fraud such as the purchase of authorship or manuscript, sale of authorship or manuscripts or the substitution of authors and manuscripts. In case of manipulations, the Editorial Committee will contact the rector's office or vice-rectorate of the institution concerned.

Similarity detection

The journal uses Turnitin for plagiarism detection. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited and manuscripts with plagiarism will be removed or not published. Authors warrant that their work and linked materials are original and do not infringe anyone's copyright. Authors also state that the manuscript has not been previously submitted or published and justify that the manuscript was agreed upon by all authors. If plagiarism is detected in the text or any other ethical fault in the manuscript, it will be returned to the authors, who will be warned and notified of the fault committed. The editorial committee will send a communication. The journal Lengua y Sociedad considers plagiarism to be the appropriation of ideas, methodologies, results, conclusions, fragments or texts of other people or researchers without giving the respective credit, and considers plagiarism to be any act of dishonesty and fraud in publication. In addition, it considers as misconduct the invention of results and data, the manipulation of information, and any kind of procedure that alters data or results, as well as the omission and modification of these.

In case the journal receives any notification of plagiarism or detects it, it will act in detail as follows: 1) The Editorial Committee will proceed to investigate and check if there is perception or notification of similarities with the Turnitin software; 2) The Editorial Committee will contact the authors and notify them of the similarity report, as well as compliance with the code of ethics and originality; 3) The authors have a maximum of fifteen (15) days to resolve the scope or observations and send their appeal to the Editorial Committee; 4) The Editorial Committee has a maximum of fifteen (15) days to evaluate the appeal; then, it will contact the authors to inform them of the decision taken. If the appeal is accepted, the publication process continues. If the appeal is rejected, the publication process stops. The Editorial Committee has the duty to withdraw the manuscript that has been previously published, even in another language.

Conflict of interest

The Editorial Board, authors and reviewers declare to respect the ethical principles of research and to be free of any conflict of interest. Authors will provide the indication of funding related to their research work if applicable. The authors indicate the contribution of each author (full names) in the submitted work.

Exemption from liability

The content of the papers is the responsibility of the authors and does not express the position or opinion of the Editorial Team. Unaccepted originals will be returned to their authors. Illustrations that do not belong to the author must indicate their origin. The journal understands that it has requested and received the pertinent reproduction permissions and is not responsible for the unauthorized use of the illustrations and the legal consequences for infringement of intellectual property rights.

Guidelines on publication guidelines and previous research records

The journal is linked to open science practices. It informs authors about the publication of data to various repositories. 

Archived

This journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archive among participating libraries, allowing these libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes.

Publication Policies and Ethics

The responsibilities and rights of editors, reviewers, and authors of Language and Society correspond to the COPE Statement.

  1. Editor's Responsibility

    • The editor has the authorization for the selection and publication of manuscripts submitted to the journal.

    • He improves the journal and communicates with the authors frequently.

    • He is present in the rectification of corrections or errors and, if necessary, sends comments to the author to improve them.

    • When evaluating, the editor never relies on membership, the author's name, philosophy, age, professional background, gender, etc.

    • The editor selects blind peer reviewers to evaluate the manuscript. The editor guides the reviewers in the guidelines for the submission of the corresponding evaluations, and dispels any doubts that may arise.

    • In certain cases, the editor may receive guidance, help and consultation from other members of the Editorial Team and reviewers.

    • Ensures the originality of the papers. It may find some plagiarism in the manuscripts, which it previously communicates to the authors before rejection. The editor has the right to publish or reject manuscripts.

    • The editor shares the details of the manuscript with authors, authorized reviewers and other editors, considering the anonymized information.

    • Relates to the standards of legal behavior for all.

    • Ensures that peer review data is preserved and not used for individual benefits.
      Author information that has not yet been published and has been read or reviewed cannot be used by the publisher for personal purposes and research.

    Principles:
    Fairness: the editor makes evaluations of intellectual content without regard to the race, ethnicity, citizenship, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or political stance of the authors.

    Respect and conflict of interest: The editor is prohibited from using and disseminating unpublished data and materials from submitted manuscripts without the express written consent of the author for his or her own potentially conflicting research.

    Respect for time limits: The editor is ultimately responsible for compliance with the time limits for revisions and publication of accepted papers, in order to ensure the dissemination of the results. He/she is committed to comply with the published time limits. It also prevents manuscripts from remaining unpublished in infinite waiting lists beyond the time required for publication in the next issue.

    Post-publication and retraction: The editor has fair mechanisms available to authors to correct, revise, or retract articles after publication. Retraction of published articles occurs when due to errors, omission of sources or references, scientific fraud (manipulation of data, plagiarism of texts or duplicate publication; among others), lack of reliability of the results. Before publication, the editor reviews compliance with the veracity and gives the authors the opportunity to correct; in subsequent cases, the correction or separation of the work from the journal is evaluated.

    Confidentiality: The editor, and any member of the editorial team, is prevented from disclosing information about the submitted texts to anyone other than the author, the referees, the scientific committee and the publisher.



  2. Author's responsibility

    • The author assures the objectives, relevance, methods, results, conclusion and references of the work. The author is committed to providing important, impactful, innovative, or critical research that benefits the community and society.
    • The author provides the correct identification of the contributions to the manuscript, as well as the references or bibliographic sources.
    • The author submits his/her manuscript following the journal guidelines. Sends the manuscript without personal references. Send a letter of originality.
    • Assures that your work is original, clear and free of plagiarism. Can rectify any observations in a timely and responsible manner.
    • The author allows his work to be checked for any incongruent or fraudulent standard, which he acknowledges will not be accepted.
    • Assures to have the provenance of the data of the research work, since they are sometimes requested by editors and reviewers.
    • Accepts responsibility for what is written in the manuscript submitted to the journal and confirms that the data are authentic and real.
    • The author promotes the dissemination of the manuscript with ethical and responsible commitments.
    • Submitting the same article to more than one journal is unethical behavior, so the relevance of a subsequent submission is evaluated.
    • The corresponding author ensures that the final research paper is approved by his/her co-authors and indicates that they have contributed significantly.
    • The author improves and resubmits for publication the manuscript that has received observations and scopes for errors, omissions, lack of clarity or expansion of content commented by the editor or reviewer. The author requests and uses the revision form respectfully.
    • The author in case of detection of errors in the manuscript immediately notifies the Editorial Publisher, to notify an erratum or, in necessary cases, to withdraw the manuscript.
    • The author indicates the contribution he/she has made to the manuscript, the corresponding acknowledgements, the sources of financial support indicating the entity and the existing conflicts of interest. Regarding the result of any public or private funding, the author mentions the correct identification of this source.
    • The author participates in the post-publication phase with transparency and ethics without harming the institution.
    • In case of any doubt, the author has the right to consult the editor. He/she may request a proof of publication.

    Principles:
    Originality and veracity: The authors assure that they have prepared totally original manuscripts and that they have adequately cited and referenced the sources they have used.

    Respect and conflict of interest: Authors register their data considering that they have contributed significantly in the conception, elaboration, writing and critical revision of the work. The authors are obliged to declare explicitly that there are no conflicts of interest that may have had an impact on the results obtained or the interpretations proposed. And indicate any funding from agencies or projects from which the work arises.

    Cooperation and revision: If the author finds an error or inaccuracy that affects his/her own research before or after publication, he/she cooperates in correcting it, and notifies the journal editor as soon as possible.

    Integrity: The author is obliged not to publish in other journals works in which he/she develops the same research, as well as to send the same manuscript at the same time to more than one journal. In this way, multiple, concurrent or redundant publication is avoided.



  3. Responsibility of the reviewer

    • The reviewer is responsible for reviewing the content of the manuscript and compliance with the format following the review form of the journal. And makes a decision on publication.
    • The reviewer collaborates in the decision-making process and contributes to improving the quality of the work through his or her objective, balanced and fair review.
    • Reviews in an objective manner. He/she does not express personal criticism. And provides clear comments for the author to modify and improve the article.
    • Ensures that the information provided is clear and non-discriminatory. Uses appropriate language in its feedback. Does not delay or cause prejudice to the author.
    • Is selected by the editor and is not entitled to know the name of the author of the manuscript. Anonymously reviews the manuscript. Returns your feedback also anonymously.
    • If he/she is not qualified to evaluate the article, he/she informs the editor immediately.
    • Reviewers who have a conflict of interest should inform the team of editors.
    • Guarantees confidentiality during the review session so they do not disclose information to any person or stakeholder.
    • Upon finding a copied manuscript, informs the editor immediately. It also alerts if it finds published content substantially similar to the work it evaluates.
    • Author information that has not yet been published and has been read or reviewed cannot be used by the reviewer for personal research purposes.
    • The reviewer communicates to the editor the withdrawal of his or her collaboration as a reviewer in cases of conflicts.

      Principles:
      Collaboration and contribution: Peer reviewers assist the editor and editorial board in making editorial decisions and contribute to the author's improvement of the work.

      Objectivity: Peer reviewers conduct themselves with standards of objectivity supported by supporting arguments; therefore, their personal and direct criticism of the author is inappropriate and, in the required cases, unsubstantiated.

      Respect for time and promptness: The reviewer who does not consider himself/herself capable of carrying out the evaluation of the designated manuscript or immediately recognizes that he/she does not have the necessary time, notifies the editor to abstain from the review process. Reviewers are committed to evaluate the papers in the shortest possible time in order to respect the deadlines, since the limits of custody of waiting texts are limited and inflexible out of respect for the authors and their manuscripts.

      Confidentiality: Reviewers evaluate and treat every text received as a confidential document and are prohibited from presenting it to others or discussing it.

      Respect and conflict of interest: Reviewers do not use or take advantage of the information and ideas obtained in their review. In addition, they refrain from reviewing work with which they have a conflict of interest.

      Visualization and corroboration: Reviewers identify sources that have not been cited by the authors, inform the editorial team of source overlaps or coincidences, indicate bibliographic references of fundamental works possibly forgotten by the author. and accompany their manifestation with the corresponding citation or evidence.

       

       

      Errata, corrections and retractions policy

      Manuscripts that have been published remain accurate, current, unaltered as far as possible in the journal. However, there are exceptional circumstances in which a work must be corrected, retracted or even deleted. Such actions will be carried out after careful consideration by the editorial team, according to the standards suggested by COPE.

      For such cases, rectification procedures are presented according to the type, seriousness and effects of the inaccuracy detected, such as a correction or erratum notice, a retraction or deletion of the article. The purpose of this procedure is to display the changes transparently while ensuring the integrity of the academic record.

       

      Errata

      An erratum notice is issued when necessary to correct an omission or error made by the journal after publication that may have consequences on the publication record or on the reputation of the authors, without affecting the academic integrity of the manuscripts. Errors are accompanied by a separate notice, providing clear details of the error and the modifications that have been made. In these cases, 1) The manuscript is corrected; 2) An endnote is added to the manuscript referring to the erratum notice; 3) A separate erratum or correction notice associated with the corrected version is published; 4) The erratum or correction document is paginated and the DOI is placed.

       

      Corrections

      A correction notice is generated in cases where it is pertinent to correct an error or omission made by the authors that may have consequences on the publication record or on the reputation of the authors, without affecting the academic integrity of the manuscript. In these cases, 1) The manuscript is corrected; 2) A note is added at the end of the manuscript referring to the correction notice; 3) A separate erratum or correction notice associated with the corrected version is published; 4) The erratum or correction document is paginated and the DOI is placed.

       

      Retractions

      A retraction notice is published in the event that a significant error invalidates the conclusions of the article, or in the event of misconduct in publication or when there has been misconduct in the research. Authors request retraction of their manuscripts when their reasons meet the criteria for retraction. Retraction operates 1) when the inquiry constitutes plagiarism; 2) when there is evidence of compromised peer review; 3) when there is evidence of fraudulent authorship; 4) when there is clear evidence that the results are unreliable, because of misconduct, such as data fabrication or even image manipulation; or an error, such as experimental error; 3) when the results have been previously published elsewhere without cross-referencing, requesting proper permission or justification; in this sense, cases of duplicate publication or redundant publication are prohibited; 5) when there is evidence of unethical research and violations of professional ethical codes.

      In the event that a decision has been made to retract a manuscript: 1) A watermark 'article retracted' is added to the published version of the article record; 2) "Article retracted: [article title]" is placed above the article title; 3) A retraction statement is published separately entitled "Retraction: [article title]", which is associated with the retracted article, and signed by the editors; 4) the retraction statement is paginated and DOI is placed.

       

      Deletion of articles

      A manuscript is deleted in exceptional cases in which the drawbacks are serious and cannot be addressed through a notice of retraction or correction. This circumstance occurs 1) 2) When a manuscript is subject to a court order; 2) When the manuscript is notoriously defamatory or infringes other legal rights; 3) When the manuscript, if not acted upon, could pose a serious health risk. If a manuscript is removed, the metadata (authorship and title) are retained and the text is replaced by a document indicating that the manuscript has been removed for legal reasons.

      Adherence to international conventions


      The journal adheres to and has signed the DORA San Francisco Declaration, which recommends an evaluation of research based on the quality of the research and emphasizes that the scientific content of an article is more relevant than the metrics of the publication. Like the subscribers, it promotes a qualitative assessment of research based on the social impact of its results. And invites its researchers to subscribe to the DORA Declaration https://sfdora.org/sign/. 

      It also subscribes to the Declaration of Helsinki, which, while developing ethical principles for medical research on human subjects, extends to linguistic and humanistic research with individuals and social groups. Since articles may include research with human communities, the journal respects the rights of persons and life.

      In this regard, the journal respects ethical research with indigenous peoples and therefore subscribes to the principles recommended in the Ethical Conduct of Research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and Communities. It also subscribes to treaties that respect research with sign language and Afro communities.

      Informed consent

      Authors should indicate in the methodological section of the article that they obtained the consent of the interviewees. If necessary, the Editorial Committee may request evidence of informed consent. For the publication of photographs and images, where the identification of the individual is avoided, informed consent or that of his/her legal representative is also required. Images that do not comply with these requirements will not be published.