Code of Ethics
«La Granja» as an international journal of excellence is inspired by the ethical code of publications prepared by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and aimed to editors, referees and authors.
Duties for Autors
Originality and plagiarism: The authors of the manuscripts sent to «The Life Science Journal, La Granja» guarantee that the submitted work is original and that the manuscripts them selves neither contain extracts from other authors, nor contain other fragments from written works that were previously published (by the same authors). Furthermore, the authors confirm the veracity of the data, namely that the empirical data have not been altered to verify hypotheses.
Publications multiple and /or repetitive: The author should not publish articles that repeat the same search results in more than a scientific journal. The simultaneous proposal of the same contribution to multiple scientific journals is to be considered ethically improper and reprehensible.
List of sources: The author should always provide the correct indication of the sources and contributions mentioned in the article.
Authorship: In terms of the authorship of the work, the authors guarantee that there is the inclusion of those individuals who have made a scientifically significant and intellectual contribution to the conceptualization and experimental design of the work, and have also made a contribution to the interpretation of the results and the actual writing of the article. At the same time, the authors have been hierarchically organized in accordance to their level of responsibility and their respective roles.
Access and Retention: If the editors deem it appropriate, the authors of the articles should make available also the sources or the data on which research is based, so that they can be kept for a reasonable period of time after the publication and possibly be made accessible.
Conflict of interest and disclosure: All authors are required to declare explicitly that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results obtained or the interpretations proposed. Authors must also indicate any research funding agencies and / or the project from which arise the article.
Errors in published articles: When an author in her/his article identifies a significant error or inaccuracy, it shall promptly inform the magazine editors and provide them with all the information required to list the relevant corrections on the bottom of the article itself.
Responsibility: All the authors accept responsibility for what they have written. The authors pledge that they have revised the most up to date and relevant materials about the subject matter, thereby taking into account the dual nature of different currents of thought.
Duties of Referees
Contribution to the editorial decision: Peer review is a procedure that helps editors to make decisions on the proposed articles and also allows the author to improve the contribution submitted for publication. The reviewers are committed to performing a critical, honest, constructive, and unbiased review of both the scientific and the literary quality of the written work, i.e. based on their individual skills and knowledge.
Respect of time: The referee who does not feel adequate to the task proposed or who are not able to finish the evaluation of the proposed contribution in the scheduled time is required to promptly notify the coordinators. The reviewers are committed to evaluating the works in the minimum possible time so as to respect the stated deadlines, i.e. given that «The Life Science Journal, La Granja´s» policy for holding pending documents is limited and restricted for the purpose of respecting authors and their works.
Confidentiality: Each assigned reading should be considered as confidential. Therefore, these texts should not be discussed with other people without the explicit permission of the editors.
Objectivity: The peer-review must be conducted in an objective manner. Any personal judgment about the authors of contributions is considered inappropriate. The referees are required to give adequate reasons for their judgments. The reviewers will submit a complete and critical report with adequate references according to «The Life Science Journal, La Granja´s review protocol and the established public norms for reviewers, especially if it should be recommended that the work be rejected. They are obliged, moreover, to advise the editors whether substantial sections of the work have been previously published, or if they are being revised by another publication.
Text display: The referees undertake to accurately indicate the bibliographical references of fundamental works possibly neglected by the author. The referee must also report to the editors any similarities or overlaps between the text received and other works known to her/him.
Conflict of interest and disclosure: Confidential information or information obtained during the process of peer-review must be considered confidential and may not be used for personal purposes. The referee shall not accept in reading articles for which there is a conflict of interest due to previous collaboration or competition with the author and /or her/his institution.
Anonymity: To ensure that the review process is as objective, unbiased and transparent as possible, the identity of the authors is deleted before the papers are submitted for peer review. If the identity of the authors, their institutional affiliations or any other information that compromise the anonymity of the document, the reviewer must notify the publishers immediately.
Duties of editors
Decisions on publication: The editors ensure the selection of the most qualified reviewers and scientifically specialists to issue an expert and critical appreciation of the manuscript, with the least possible level of bias. «The Life Science Journal, La Granja» opts to select between 2 and 3 reviewers for each manuscript so as to ensure a greater objectivity in the revision process.
Honesty: The editors evaluate the articles submitted for publication only on the basis of the scientific merit of the content, without discrimination of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, political opinion of the authors.
Confidentiality: The editors and members of the working group undertake not to disclose information relating to the articles submitted for publication to other persons other than the author, the referees and the editor. Editors and the Editorial Committee are committed to maintaining the confidentiality of the manuscripts, their authors and their reviewers, in such a way that anonymity preserves the intellectual integrity of the whole process.
Conflict of interest and disclosure: The editors undertake not to use in their research content of articles submitted for publication without the written consent of the author.
Respect of time: The editors are responsible for compliance with the time limits for reviews and publication of accepted papers, to ensure rapid dissemination of its results. They reliably undertake
to comply with the published deadlines (up to 60 days in accepting/rejecting from the receipt of the manuscript in the review platform) and maximum of 150 days from the beginning of the process of scientific review by experts. Also, manuscripts will not remain accepted in endless waiting lists without being published in the following issue. This will prevent «The Life Science Journal, La Granja» from having a bank of manuscripts on a waiting list.
Bioethics
Before researching living beings, all investigation must have the permits and authorizations, according to the legislation of the country where the study will carried out (Environmental Permits, Institutional Ethics Committees Approvals, copies of the test subjects consent, etc.). And these documents should be indicated in detail in the manuscript submitted, including the registration number, permission or approval. The editors may request the authors, if necessary, to prove that these permits have been carried out. Papers may be rejected on ethical grounds even if the research had ethics committee approval.
Consent (to take part in research) If research is done in humans, editors should ensure that a statement on the consent procedure is included in the paper. In most cases, written informed consent is the required norm. If there is any concern about the consent procedure, if the research is done in vulnerable groups, or if there are doubts about the ethical conduct, editors should ask to see the consent form and enquire further from authors, exactly how consent was obtained
Consent (for publication) For all case reports, small case series, and images of people, editors should require the authors to have obtained explicit consent for publication (which is different from consent to take part in research). This consent should inform participants which kind of journal the work will be published in, make it clear that, although all efforts will be made to remove unnecessary identifiers, complete anonymity is not possible, and ideally state that the person described has seen and agreed with the submitted paper.
Data protection and confidentiality Editors should critically assess any potential breaches of data protection and patient confidentiality. This includes requiring properly informed consent for the actual research presented, consent for publication where applicable (see paragraph 6.3), and having editorial policies that comply with guidelines on patient confidentiality.
Adherence to relevant laws and best practice guidelines for ethical conduct Editors should require authors to adhere to relevant national and international laws and best practice guidelines where applicable, for example when undertaking animal research. Editors should encourage registration of clinical trials.
«La Granja» adheres to the ethical norms of the COPE Committee on Publication Ethics
http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct
