Ethical principles

Ethical publishing policies

Declaration of Originality and Ethical Principles

1. Originality of the work
The submitted work must be original, meaning it has not been previously published nor is it simultaneously under review by another journal. It must not include original material copied from other authors without their consent. If the article contains material from other publications, the corresponding permission for reproduction must be attached.

2. Citations and bibliography
All information included in the manuscript derived from previous studies has been correctly cited and referenced according to the Editorial Policies and Standards of Revista EstuDAv.

3. Suggested reviewers
Suggested professionals to review the manuscript must not have any relationship—whether professional, academic, or personal—with the authors.

Ethical principles of publication

Authors must have read the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and declare compliance with these principles. Any work that does not comply with these recommendations and for which ethical violations are proven will be removed or retracted.

If the manuscript does not meet these criteria, any author may notify Revista EstuDAv to request the withdrawal of the publication.

  • Mandatory institutional authorization: Approval from the Ethics Committee of the sponsoring institution is required for articles involving:
    • Research conducted on human subjects, or
    • Research that directly uses human biological material or identifiable human data.
  • Informed consent: In research involving human participants (including experiments and interviews), authors must have signed Informed Consent from all participants (including patients). If requested by the editor or reviewers, the authors must provide this documentation.
  • Incentives for participation: Researchers must make every effort to avoid offering excessive or inappropriate incentives to research participants. However, economic incentives for participants’ time may be provided depending on the case.
  • Deception in research: Researchers must avoid any techniques or information that deliberately mislead or deceive participants.
  • Closure of research: Upon completion of the study, researchers should offer participants the results and conclusions, taking the necessary steps to prevent misunderstandings.

Integrity of research

Ethical Guidelines of EstuDAv:

  • Misconduct: This refers to actions or omissions related to designing, organizing, conducting, evaluating, or requesting research projects that deliberately or negligently distort research results, provide misleading information about personal contributions, and/or violate other professional standards of researchers. If misconduct is suspected, an investigation will be conducted.
  • Reports of Irregularities: All members of the EstuDAv editorial team can receive reports of irregularities in research observed and reported by identified individuals or anonymously. When such reports are accompanied by supporting evidence, a formal investigation will be initiated.
  • Proper Use of Images: It is recommended that articles present results through an optimal combination of text, tables, images, and graphs to facilitate understanding. However, inappropriate manipulation of images is unacceptable, as it leads to misleading interpretations. EstuDAv does not tolerate fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of images.
  • Plagiarism: EstuDAv uses the Turnitin platform, provided by the University of Santiago de Chile, to detect possible plagiarism. Authors submitting plagiarized texts will be severely reprimanded.
    For the journal, plagiarism is not only the complete copying of an article. It can also occur through careless or improper handling of information. Therefore, special attention must be paid during the final editing of the article, following the citation standards required by the journal (see Policies and Editorial Guidelines).
    For example, when directly quoting a text, it must be clearly distinguished with quotation marks, explicitly citing the author(s), publication year, and page number (see APA 7th edition). Paraphrasing scientific literature is permitted but must always credit the original authors. Using tables or data without credit to the original author is also plagiarism. Additionally, publishing images or figures without proper authorization constitutes plagiarism.
  • Redundancy of Data: Researchers must not publish previously published data as original. Authors may not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal. If EstuDAv’s Editorial Team detects such cases, the manuscript will be rejected. Translations of previously published manuscripts should not be presented as original articles. However, if the article is of high interest, it may be published as a translation with appropriate disclosure.

Authorship and contribution

Editorial Policies and Procedures

  • Authorship: The status of author or co-author of an article is governed by ethical and professional guidelines. To qualify as an author or co-author of an article, one must have participated in at least two of the four project phases, which include: planning, data collection, interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation. All authors of a scientific article must have made a significant contribution to the research development. If the work was carried out by more than one person, the order of authorship should reflect the level of contribution, arranged from highest to lowest.
  • Authorship Disputes: If the Editorial Team suspects or receives complaints regarding authorship issues, they will request documentation from the author(s) to make a decision.
  • Funding: The sources of project funding must be disclosed. It is particularly important to indicate the name of the research project under which the article was produced, along with its corresponding details.
  • Peer Review: All original manuscripts are initially evaluated according to EstuDAv’s criteria, as described in the Evaluation Process section. A preliminary assessment is conducted by the EstuDAv Team to determine the relevance of the text to EstuDAv’s editorial line. Once approved at this stage, manuscripts proceed to peer review (double-blind). Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the manuscript’s subject area.
  • Publication Timeline: From the date the article is submitted to EstuDAv until a first decision is made (acceptance, rejection, or acceptance with revisions), the Editorial Team has up to 120 days to notify the author(s) of the evaluation results.
    The process begins with a preliminary evaluation by the Editorial Team to assess the article’s fit with the journal’s editorial line. If the manuscript meets this criterion, it is sent for evaluation by a peer reviewer under double-blind conditions. In case of disagreement between reviewers, a third external reviewer will be consulted, who will have an additional 90 days to decide on acceptance or rejection. The final decision, including this extended review period, will be made by the journal editor within a maximum of 210 days.
    If the article is accepted with revisions, the deadline for final submission may be extended up to an additional 120 days, considering the time needed by the author(s) to prepare the final version and the Editorial Team to review it again.
  • Editorial Board Articles: The Editorial Team (Director, Editorial Committee, Chief Editors, and Section Editors) are not involved in decisions regarding their own manuscripts submitted to the journal. EstuDAv has a large editorial board, enabling it to rely on numerous committed academics and professionals to evaluate, manage, and edit received articles without conflicts of interest. Furthermore, since March 2021, the editorial process management system via the OJS platform has been adopted to enhance transparency.
  • Conflict of Interest: Editors, authors, and reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that may affect their ability to present or review a manuscript objectively. Conflicts of interest include financial, familial, personal, political, and/or religious interests.
  • Corrections: When errors are detected in a published EstuDAv article that affect result interpretation, readers, authors, and editors have the duty to notify the EstuDAv editorial team through a letter to the Editor. The Editorial Team is obligated to verify the information and cross-check it with the author(s) and relevant evidence. If the claim is confirmed, corrections will be published. If the errors are significant enough to invalidate the work, manuscript retraction will be considered.
  • Manuscript Retraction: Retraction is one of the most serious sanctions the EstuDAv Editorial Team can impose on a published article. This measure is taken when reported errors could affect data interpretation. The severity increases if the information is fraudulent or falsified, such as fictitious data, irreproducible studies, or severe ethical breaches.
  • Manuscript Withdrawal: Removal, suppression, or concealment of an article is only permitted in cases involving legal infringements, defamation, or other legal restrictions, as well as when false or inaccurate data are involved. In such cases, a withdrawal statement will be published. Another special case occurs when ethical violations are proven but the article has not yet been published; in this situation, only the authors are notified of the withdrawal from the review process.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Authors must sign a document transferring economic rights to EstuDAv, which must be submitted along with the manuscript. If the manuscript is not accepted for publication, this transfer is voided and the manuscript is free for publication elsewhere, should the author so choose. Authors always retain moral rights over their manuscripts without restriction. Once published in EstuDAv, the article may be republished in whole or in part, provided that the original publication in EstuDAv is acknowledged.

Peer Reviewers

Original manuscripts are initially assessed by the EstuDAv Editorial Team according to the Policies and Editorial Norms. Subsequently, manuscripts are evaluated by two or more reviewers (double-blind review), selected based on their expertise in the manuscript’s subject. Reviewers’ participation is always anonymous and voluntary. Editorials and letters to the Editor are reviewed by a single editor unless external review is required.

Reviewers perform evaluations objectively, offering constructive and consistent criticism to improve the manuscript. Their recommendations may be:

  • Publication without modifications
  • Publication with major or minor corrections
  • Rejection, with justified reasons

Based on reviewers’ feedback, the editor will decide whether to publish, reject, or request revisions.

Reviewers may:

  • Notify the editor of suspected falsification or manipulation of results and malpractice
  • Inform the editor if substantial parts of the work have been previously published or are under review elsewhere to prevent overlap

Reviewers must:

  • Meet agreed deadlines for review completion
  • Decline manuscripts outside their expertise, or if conflicts of interest exist or review time is insufficient
  • Maintain confidentiality of manuscripts and authorship, avoiding discussion of manuscript content with others

Claims and Appeals

If authors or any other individuals associated with the EstuDAv Journal have a claim and/or appeal to submit, they must follow these steps:

  • Send an email to revistaidea@usach.cl, clearly stating in the subject line whether the message concerns a claim or an appeal.
  • In the body of the email, describe the points of disagreement, providing evidence if applicable. The claim or appeal must be clear, specific, and include sufficient information to demonstrate a potential violation of the journal’s editorial ethics statement.
  • Attach a formal letter addressed to EstuDAv outlining the reasons for the claim or appeal.

It is important to note that claims or appeals falling outside the scope of the journal—such as personal complaints against authors, editors, reviewers, or members of the Editorial Team—will receive a response explaining why the complaint does not fall under the journal’s jurisdiction. Additionally, the journal will refrain from conducting investigations in cases where complaints or claims are submitted in an offensive, threatening, or defamatory manner.

In such situations, the Journal will convene a Claims and Appeals Resolution Committee, composed of the Section Editorial Board. If no agreement is reached, the Journal will call upon: the Editor, a representative from the Advisory Board, a representative from the Scientific Committee, and a representative from the Journals Unit of the Scientific and Technological Research Directorate at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, to examine the case. If the case involves legal matters, it will be forwarded to the University’s Legal Department.

Decisions will be made in accordance with the recommendations established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Privacy statement

If authors or any other individuals associated with the EstuDAv Journal have a claim and/or appeal to submit, they must follow these steps:

  • Send an email to revistaidea@usach.cl, clearly stating in the subject line whether the message concerns a claim or an appeal.
  • In the body of the email, describe the points of disagreement, providing evidence if applicable. The claim or appeal must be clear, specific, and include sufficient information to demonstrate a potential violation of the journal’s editorial ethics statement.
  • Attach a formal letter addressed to EstuDAv outlining the reasons for the claim or appeal.

It is important to note that claims or appeals falling outside the scope of the journal—such as personal complaints against authors, editors, reviewers, or members of the Editorial Team—will receive a response explaining why the complaint does not fall under the journal’s jurisdiction. Additionally, the journal will refrain from conducting investigations in cases where complaints or claims are submitted in an offensive, threatening, or defamatory manner.

In such situations, the Journal will convene a Claims and Appeals Resolution Committee, composed of the Section Editorial Board. If no agreement is reached, the Journal will call upon: the Editor, a representative from the Advisory Board, a representative from the Scientific Committee, and a representative from the Journals Unit of the Scientific and Technological Research Directorate at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, to examine the case. If the case involves legal matters, it will be forwarded to the University’s Legal Department.

Decisions will be made in accordance with the recommendations established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Privacy statement

EstuDAv Journal provides immediate and open access to its contents as part of its institutional commitment to the principles of Open Science. Users are free to read, download, store, print, search, index, and link to the full texts of the journal. Distribution is permitted without the need for authorization from the author or editor, provided that the source and authorship of the work are properly cited.

Journal's conflict of interest policy

Editors, authors, and reviewers must disclose any conflict of interest that could compromise their ability to submit or review a manuscript objectively. Conflicts of interest include financial, familial, personal, political, and/or religious interests.

Another action considered a conflict of interest is the simultaneous submission of the same article to multiple journals. If this occurs, the article will be rejected, and the author will be banned from publishing in any journal of the University of Santiago of Chile for a period of two years. Additionally, the institution sponsoring the manuscript will be notified of the situation.

Journal policy on ethical oversight

The ethical oversight policy of Revista EstuDAv is as follows:

  • Culture and Heritage: Researchers must always uphold the utmost respect for objects that hold cultural significance and form part of a country’s heritage. If a country explicitly prohibits the publication of images of such objects, researchers must strictly comply with that regulation. Revista EstuDAv will reject manuscripts that include images of culturally significant or heritage-related objects from countries where their publication is explicitly restricted. Conversely, in countries where the visibility of heritage is encouraged and supported, such images may be published.
  • Animal Research: Experiments involving animals are generally carried out in three areas: education, industry, and research. The use of animals in research is a privilege that must be exercised with great care, with the aim of alleviating human and animal suffering due to pain or illness. Ignoring the suffering of sentient beings—whether animals or humans—subjected to experimentation is irresponsible and unethical. Researchers who use laboratory animals must uphold respect for life and consider the pain or suffering that may be involved in their studies. Animal research must adhere to the principles of the 4Rs:
  • Replacement: Substitute or completely avoid the use of animals in experimentation whenever possible.
  • Reduction: Carefully design experiments to ensure the number of animals used is reduced to the minimum necessary to obtain reliable data.
  • Refinement: Improve procedures to minimize the negative effects of the experiments on the animals involved—reducing pain, distress, and suffering in ways that enhance animal welfare.
  • Responsibility: Promote animal welfare through improvements in the social life of research animals, the development of advanced scientific methods to objectively assess sensitivity, consciousness, pain perception, and intelligence in the animal kingdom, and active participation in the professionalization of public debate on animal ethics.

Authors must have obtained ethical and legal approval from their sponsoring institution before submitting a manuscript involving animal research.

  • Reporting Research Results: Researchers must not, under any circumstances, fabricate data or manipulate figures. Such conduct is considered a serious breach of professional ethics and constitutes a reprehensible and intellectually dishonest practice. Publishing a report based on manipulated data constitutes a clear case of falsifying a public document. If such actions are discovered, the necessary corrections must be made publicly. If correction is not possible, Revista EstuDAv will retract the published article.

Correction and retraction policies

The correction and retraction policies of Revista EstuDAv are as follows:

  • Corrections: When errors are found in an article published in EstuDAv that affect the interpretation of the results, it is the duty of readers, authors, and editors to notify the EstuDAv Editorial Team via a Letter to the Editor. The Editorial Team will be responsible for verifying the information and cross-checking it with the author(s) and the corresponding evidence. If the validity of the report is confirmed, the necessary corrections will be published. If the errors are significant enough to invalidate the work, the Editorial Team will consider retracting the published manuscript.
  • Retraction of a Manuscript: Retraction is one of the most serious actions the EstuDAv Editorial Board can take regarding a published article. This extreme measure is taken when the reported errors could affect the interpretation of the data. Retraction becomes even more serious when the information in the article is found to be fraudulent or falsified, when the data is fabricated, when the study cannot be replicated, or in cases of serious ethical misconduct.
  • Withdrawal of a Manuscript: The removal, deletion, or concealment of an article is permitted only in cases involving legal violations, defamation, or other legal restrictions, as well as when the article contains false or inaccurate data. In such cases, a withdrawal statement will be published. Another case of withdrawal occurs when demonstrated ethical breaches are discovered, but the article has not yet been published; in this case, only the authors will be notified of the manuscript’s withdrawal from the review process.

If the manuscript does not meet the indicated criteria, any of its authors may request the withdrawal of the article by notifying Revista EstuDAv.

Once an article has been accepted for publication, it cannot be withdrawn unless the request is duly justified and falls within the exceptions mentioned above.