Declaration of Ethics and Best Practices for Publication

Declaration of Ethics and Best Practices for Publication

Cerrados is a scientifically refereed journal, aiming to ensure the highest ethical standards in its publication. The editors, members of the editorial and scientific boards, ad hoc referees and the authors agree to adhere to relevant and necessary standards of ethical behavior. Taking as a reference the Code of Conduct and Standards of Good Practice for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the following principles are considered for publication.

Editors and members of the Editorial Board are responsible for:

  • Analyzing the articles submitted and approve those that meet Cerrados standards which take into account the thematic focus of the journal, the guidelines for publication and legal aspects regarding defamation, copyright violations and plagiarism;
  • Inform Guest Editors, Authors and Evaluators about the editorial standards and the peer review process, which involves meeting all Cerrados guidelines, submission, evaluation and referrals;
  • Ensure an anonymous, fair and impartial, double-blind peer review process for all articles that ensures that information remains confidential;
  • Ensure the protection of the identity of authors and reviewers involved in the evaluation process;
  • Create an appropriate selection of evaluators;
  • Organize a list of evaluators and keep related data updated;
  • Ensure that materials not published in an article are not used in research and publications carried out by the editors or members of the editorial board without the consent of the authors;
  • Respond to questions related to a published article, regarding the possibility of editorial misconduct, following all COPE guidelines;
  • Publish, any necessary corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies;
  • Ensure the autonomy of editorial decisions;
  • Protect intellectual property and authors' rights;
  • Ensure the maintenance of good editorial practices.

Editorial duties, Guest Editors are responsible for:

  • The clear definition of the theme, topic and scope of the dossier, as well as the schedule for submission and editorial flow;
  • Guide the authors in relation to the design of the dossier and its editorial flow;
  • Analyze submitted articles and approve those that are in the scope of the dossier to be processed by the Cerradoseditorial process (outlined above);
  • Ensure, in collaboration with Cerradoseditors, an appropriate choice of reviewers for the articles;
  • Prepare the presentation of the dossier.

Reviewers who are members of the Scientific Council or of the ad hoc body of Advisers are responsible for:

  • Notify the Editors of their availability to evaluate an article;
  • Refuse the invitation whenever they do not feel qualified to carry out the evaluation according to the topic addressed; the identification of aspects that lead to recognizing authorship; and / or if there is a conflict of interest;
  • Treat manuscripts as confidential documents, protecting intellectual property and authors' rights, keeping information confidential and committing themselves not to use privileged information for their own benefit, including in their research and / or publications;
  • Communicate to the Editors about the identification of violation of rights by the authors and / or plagiarism practices;
  • To prepare an opinion based on good editorial practices with regard to ethics, impartiality, reasonableness and respect for human rights.

Authors are responsible for:

  • Understand Cerrados's focus, scope and design, as well as all submission guidelines;
  • Prepare the article based on research and / or systematic study carried out, addressing and problematizing the data coherently and presenting contributions to the field of Geography;
  • Ensure that the submitted article is original and when it comes to expanding the work published in annals of a scientific event, ensure a consistent approach and significant analysis;
  • Do not submit the article simultaneously to another journal;
  • Pay attention to the rules of the Research Ethics Committee of the institution to which the research portrayed in the article is linked, when dealing with the involvement of human beings;
  • Ensure that there are no expressions or insertions that make up plagiarism, as well credit is given by citing sources of excerpts from other productions;
  • Ensure that the article has not been published in another journal and when it comes to translating an international publication, this information must appear on the first page of it;
  • Assign authorship to those who contributed significantly to the design and development of the article, limited to three authors;
  • Maintain communication with the Editors, including informing the need to correct some information in the published article.