Ethics and Good Publication Practices

La Gran Colombia University and the Editorial Committee of the journal Sophia establish the following ethical principles with the purpose of maintaining the scientific and academic quality of the publications. These are based on postulates promulgated by the Committee on Publications Ethics-COPE, as well as the ethical and legal standards of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) 6th edition. These good practices must be carried out by the authors, the Editorial Committee and the Institution.

 Responsibilities of the Authors

If necessary, authors must include in the article the pertinent information (funding agency, institutional affiliation, participants, etc.) that authorizes its publication in repositories or other forms of storage.

Authors must declare the originality of the manuscript and make use of the information as required by copyright. If necessary, they must guarantee that the studies performed in humans or other species comply with national and international regulations. To this end, proof of informed consent must be submitted. They must declare any possible conflict of interest. Authors must warn the Editorial Committee of any significant error in the published article so that it can be corrected by means of an erratum, addendum, letter to the editor or withdrawal of the publication. In the case of plagiarism, information supplanting or omission of information, the author is obliged to publicly retract and depending on the severity of the fault, the withdrawal or correction of the publication will be considered.

 Responsibility of the Editorial Committee

The Editorial Committee of the journal Sophia acts objectively in the performance of its work, avoiding any type of discrimination based on gender, sex, religion, ethnic condition or geographical location of the authors. It establishes clear and transparent processes for cases of ethical complaints or conflicts of interest.

All complaints will be studied and the authors will be allowed to respond to them within a reasonable period of time. The Committee ensures the confidentiality of information and editorial processes. Likewise, it avoids publishing articles that present the following irregularities: 

Conflict of interest.

Not original.

False or adulterated information.

Fragmented publication.

Plagiarism or self-plagiarism.

Excess of self-citations and uncited references.

 Responsibility of the Publishing Institution

La Gran Colombia University, Armenia headquarters, will ensure the execution of good ethical and editorial practices in all its publications.

Identification of Unethical Behavior

If ethical misconduct is detected, the report must be supported by sufficient evidence to initiate the investigation process. Due process must be followed, as well as maintaining the criteria of confidentiality of the information. The Editorial Committee of the journal Sophia will finalize the process with a decision that will be informed to the author(s) involved and the pertinent measures will be taken for the resolution of the case.

Infractions

Minor: Minor infractions will be dealt with directly with the perpetrator so that he/she may respond to the accusations within a set period of time.

Severe: Severe misconduct may require some of the following actions:

Reporting the misconduct and taking action to avoid future mistakes.

Publication of formal notice detailing the misconduct.

Editorial publication detailing the unethical behavior.

Formal letter to author and funding institution.

Formal retraction or withdrawal of the article, after informing the author, indexing services and readers of the reasons for the decision.

Report the case and outcome to a professional organization or higher authority for further investigation and action.

Intellectual Property Rights

The author(s), by submitting his/her article to the journal Sophia, certifies that his/her manuscript has not been, nor will be submitted or published in any other scientific journal. By submitting the article, he/she also accepts that he/she will transfer the rights to the journal for its publication, which may publish it in printed or electronic version.

For this purpose, the format for transfer of rights is available, which must be sent signed by all the authors and in PDF format.

 Copyrights

The content of the articles published in Sophia is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily express the thoughts of the Editorial and/or Scientific Committee of the journal. Manuscripts may be reproduced by readers in whole or in part, citing the source recorded in the bibliographic headings of each article.