Editorial Ethics
Statement of ethics and good practices:
The Colombian Journal of Anthropology (RCA) adheres to the guidelines and codes of conduct of COPE.
Open Access Policy
The Colombian Journal of Anthropology has a policy of open access to all its content. It allows the total or partial reproduction of all works, which may be consulted, distributed, exhibited, and represented if the source is cited; they may not be used for commercial purposes, and no derivative works may be produced (see CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license). In addition, the website offers the possibility of downloading the contents of the journal's historical archive completely free of charge. By publishing with the RCA, authors implicitly accept this policy of free circulation of knowledge.
The journal does not charge authors for the evaluation and/or publication of their contributions. It is a publication free of article processing charges (APC).
Plagiarism and self-plagiarism policy
The journal submits articles to plagiarism detection software. If the result of the analysis indicates a similarity index of more than 30%, the manuscript will be rejected.
If self-plagiarism or “recycled publication” is detected in proportions that affect the originality and unpublished nature of the contribution, following the COPE guidelines to which the RCA adheres, the journal will reject the contribution: https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Guidelines
Authorship
The RCA considers as author or authors of a work only those individuals who participated intellectually in its conception and contributed directly to its development. Collaboration in data collection, in some methodological technique, or in any stage of the process is not sufficient criteria to be listed as an author. An author must meet the following requirements:
- Directly participate in the conception, formulation, and development of the research or work from which the article derives.
- Participate in the writing and entire editorial process of the text, including reviewing comments and recommendations from reviewers and the RCA editorial team.
- Accept public responsibility for the work, ensuring that questions related to the accuracy and integrity of the research have been properly investigated and resolved.
The Journal declines any responsibility for possible conflicts of interest arising from the authorship of the works published.
Transparency in the use of AI
Authors who have used artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the research process or in the preparation of their writings must expressly declare this to the journal at the time of submitting the manuscript. In addition, they must specify the name of the tool used and the specific purpose (e.g., whether it was used for editing or producing graphic materials, to support writing, translation, etc.).
Conflict of interest
Conflicts of interest are situations that could be perceived as undue influence on a work, its review, and publication. These can be financial, non-financial, professional, contractual, or personal in nature.
The Journal requests that authors declare any personal or professional affiliations that could constitute a conflict of interest in connection with the article under review. If the authors' situation changes before the manuscript is published and this results in a conflict of interest, they must inform the journal's editorial team. Similarly, the Journal requires reviewers to declare any potential conflicts of interest that could affect their assessment of the article.
Editorial responsibilities
The journal's editorial team is responsible for defining editorial policies aimed at complying with standards that allow RCA to position itself as a scientific publication of recognized national and international quality. This includes, in addition to complying with periodicity and adhering to criteria of editorial independence, having clear rules and procedures that ensure the quality of the editorial process and the materials published. Added to this is respectful, honest, and transparent treatment of authors and reviewers. Continuous review of these parameters leads to the constant improvement of the journal and the satisfaction of the needs and expectations of readers, authors, and the academic community in general.
The selection of the best articles for publication is the responsibility of the editorial team, based on the recommendations of the evaluation and editorial review process, which considers criteria of quality, relevance, originality, and contribution to the discipline. When an article is rejected, the explanation given to the authors is guided by these same criteria.
In the event of complaints related to rejected articles, these will be submitted to the editorial committee for consideration. This collegiate body shall examine the history of the contribution to make a prompt decision based on the journal's standards of quality and disciplinary rigor. In any case, the decision shall be communicated to the author within a maximum period of two months, through the same means by which the complaint was submitted.
The editorial team is responsible for managing and monitoring the process of articles submitted to the Journal and must develop confidentiality mechanisms during the peer review process, until publication or rejection.
Just as the Journal makes public the editorial standards and requirements for authors and reviewers, it is also willing to publish corrections, clarifications, rectifications, and offer apologies when the situation warrants it. If complaints of any kind are received, it will respond promptly in accordance with the standards established by the publication; if necessary, it must ensure that an adequate investigation is carried out to resolve the problem. When a lack of accuracy in published content is recognized, the RCA will make the relevant corrections and/or clarifications on the Journal's website.
Once an issue of the Journal is published, the RCA is responsible for assigning and activating DOI numbers, as well as for their dissemination and distribution among national and international repositories and indexing systems.
When the Journal considers reproducing a previously published manuscript, it undertakes to request the corresponding authorization from the publisher where it first appeared and from the author.
Responsibilities of authors
Authors must submit articles through Open Journal Systems (send article option) on the dates established for each call for papers and in accordance with the editing and style guidelines (available in the Guidelines for the submission of manuscripts).
Authors are responsible for the content of their articles and must submit original and unpublished manuscripts to RCA. Data and texts taken from other works, whether published or unpublished, whether their own or those of other authors, must be duly referenced in highlighted citations as such and indicated in references at the end of the document.
The Journal is not responsible for the ideas and judgments expressed by the authors, who must explicitly state that the text is their own work and that they respect the intellectual property rights of third parties. Authors are also responsible for obtaining authorization to use, reproduce, and print material that is not their property or authorship (tables, graphs, maps, diagrams, photographs, etc.).
By submitting their contributions, authors agree to have them reviewed by external peer reviewers and undertake to consider their comments and suggestions, as well as those made by the editorial team when reviewing the document. Modifications must be made within the time frame indicated by the RCA editorial team.
Once the Journal receives the modified article, it informs the authors of its approval or disapproval of publication, communicating the reasons for such editorial decision. During the editing process of the approved texts, the editorial team may consult the authors to resolve any concerns. It also reserves the right to make orthographic and stylistic corrections before sending the text to the printer, following the rules of the RAE and the editorial guidelines of the ICANH publishing house.
The editorial team reserves the final say on the publication of articles and the volume in which they are included, provided that the authors submit all the requested documentation in a timely manner. If authors fail to meet the deadlines for submitting new versions, reviewing adjustments proposed by the journal, or clarifying information, the journal may cancel the publication of the contribution. In all cases, priority is given to the editorial schedule for each new issue so that it can be presented to the public on time.
Responsibilities of peer reviewers
All articles are initially evaluated by the editorial team to determine whether they meet the basic requirements of the journal: no plagiarism, format, quality (objective, theoretical framework, methodology, conclusions, and bibliography), and relevance of the document. Next, the articles that begin the peer review process are selected through blind evaluation by two external academic peers, both national and international, and the editorial team. The result is communicated to the authors within a maximum period of 6 months from receipt of the article. When the evaluation process exceeds this period, the editorial team informs the authors. Reviewers must declare in the evaluation form if they have any conflict of interest with the authors and with the topics they are going to evaluate. If there is any doubt, the reviewer will be replaced.
The journal has an evaluation form that includes questions with carefully defined criteria. Reviewers are responsible for suggesting acceptance, rejection, or approval with modification of the article under review. During the evaluation, the names of the authors and reviewers are kept anonymous.
Corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions
For all matters relating to this issue, RCA follows COPE guidelines. If authors, members of the editorial team, or readers detect errors in articles that have already been published, RCA will analyze each case and determine whether a correction or retraction is required. Minor errors that do not compromise the integrity and reliability of the publication or its conclusions will be corrected and duly announced on the journal's website. If the editorial team determines that the errors are major and result from scientific misconduct (fabrication, manipulation of data or images, plagiarism and self-plagiarism, redundant or duplicate publication, omission of references to sources consulted, etc.), it will retract the publication and inform the reading public, providing the appropriate justification.
If the integrity and reliability of an article is compromised, but the journal is unable to obtain information—or is unable to do so in the short term—to correct or retract it, a “Statement of Concern” will be published on the website to alert readers to the doubts surrounding the article.
In exceptional cases, an article may be removed from the Journal's website when there is evidence that the text is defamatory or subject to a court order. In any case, the journal will ensure that changes made to the original publications are duly reported to the academic community.
License for use
When a text is approved by the editorial team for publication, the Journal asks authors to sign the License for publication of articles in ICANH journals, in which authors give their consent for the work to be published under the Creative Commons license, Attribution - Non-Commercial - No Derivative Works 4.0.
In this same document, the authors confirm that they are the authors of the text and that they respect the intellectual property rights of third parties.
In accordance with this license, the holders of the rights to exploit the article (in Colombian law, economic rights) are its authors, who grant ICANH a free license for the publication and exploitation of the work (full text of the license).
