Ethics policy

Ethical principles in research

The current economic insignificance of the humanities in the social scene makes the appearance of ethical conflicts between the objectivity of researchers and economic interests of its sponsors less likely than in other areas, as sponsors are usually public, non-profit institutions. However, the editorial board states its requirement of the authors’ academic independence from the interests (economic, political or other) of their sponsors.

Ethical principles in publication

- Academic fraud :

There is academic fraud when a publication is not true in whole or in part, and is the product of deception. Ways of academic fraud: making up results out of fabricated data; falsifying data; deliberately omitting facts or data, and plagiarism. There is plagiarism when an author introduces results, ideas, or data created by others as his/her own. Also, when a text is copied without appearing within quotation marks or without indication of source. Also when this preexistent text appears as the author’s own with a few words changed, or in paraphrase, and lacks acknowledgement of the significant assistance of others.

Measures to be taken :

Magnificat CLM warns that this practice will not be tolerated. If detected in the editorial process, publication will be immediately rejected, and the journal will reprimand the author, reminding him/her that this is a very serious criminal practice. If the way of academic fraud is plagiarism, the paper will be sent immediately to the real author, so that the latter can undertake appropriate legal action.

If the journal detects academic fraud once the work has been published, it will add within the article a statement in which the author’s fraud will be denounced in full. This statement will also appear on the journal’s website under ‘Announcements’; and also, following the ICMJE recommendations, in a statement visible at the bottom of the following issue’s table of contents (including the bibliographical reference to the said article), in which the statement text added to the article will be reproduced, containing the following sections:

A title beginning with the word “Statement” and including the reason. For example: “Statement: falsifying of data”. Then the fraud committed will be specified in full.

In the event of a severe fraud, Magnificat CLM holds the right to denounce it to the academic and the judicial authorities.

- Duplicate Publication

Redundant (or duplicate) publication is publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published. In this, Magnificat CLM follows the ICMJE rules, and therefore does not accept manuscripts that would result in duplicate publication. The author, therefore, has the duty to warn in the journal, when s/he submits her/his work, of any factor that could represent conflict in this area. If there is any overlap with prior publications by the author, this also should be made explicit in the text of the paper submitted to Magnificat CLM.

The following are not considered duplicate publications, and therefore may be published in Magnificat CLM without conflict: (a) a work developed out of an oral conference paper (but not if the paper has already been published); (b) the translation or adaptation of an article first published in another language (but in this case the editor of the first version’s written agreement must be produced). However, in both cases the author must declare the circumstance when submitting his/her work to Magnificat CLM, and this fact must also appear within the text, for example in a footnote.

To prevent duplicate publication, the journal requires the author’s declaration of originality, as well as a statement that it is not being sent simultaneously elsewhere, when s/he submits her/his work. An attempt at redundant publication without notification will be looked upon severely by the journal, which will take measures identical to those set out in the case of academic fraud, whether the case is discovered in the editorial process, or when the article is already published. In the latter case, the journal will make a statement of redundant publication in its pages (identical in all respects to that indicated for cases of academic fraud, and appearing in all the same places, but with the title “Statement: duplicate publication”) with or without the author’s consent.

- Authorship

In the event of multiple signatures of an article, it must be specified who can be considered the author or co-author of a work: s/he must be able to publicly take responsibility for the content of an article; able to point out how and why remarks have been made, and how conclusions have been drawn from results; able to defend her/his work against possible criticism. S/he can only do so if s/he has participated in the study’s design, observation, and interpretation of findings, and in the article’s writing. In cases of multiple signatures, Magnificat CLM may ask authors to specify what has been each one’s contribution. In authorship issues, Magnificat CLM follows the ICMJE guidelines.

Limit to the number of co-authors:

As multiple co-authorship is not common in most areas of the humanities, the journal considers this limit will only need apply very occasionally. Therefore, a limit to the number of co-authors is not established, always bearing in mind the previous section’s guidelines for justified authorship.

However, the Table of Contents will only show the first four at most.

Order of authors :

In cases of joint authorship, the journal will respect the order of signature decided by the authors, whether alphabetical, hierarchical, etc. In this respect, the journal will reproduce authorship order as it appears on the first page of the submitted paper.

--Peer Reviewer responsibilities and functions

Reviewers should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited.

- Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to Magnificat CLM should be treated with absolute confidentiality, as is required of a serious academic journal at all phases of the publishing process, both in the reviewing and in the publishing stages. For this reason, too, our choice is a double-blind peer-review system.