Policy
Open access policy
The Conrado Journal provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle that providing the public with free access to research helps to increase the global exchange of knowledge.
It operates on the basis of the Budapest Open Access Declaration - BOAI 2002. According to this Open Access policy users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full text of articles, or use them for any lawful purpose, without any financial, legal or technical barriers, other than those that are inseparable from Internet access itself(http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/translations/spanish-translation).
In accordance with this Open Access policy, at no step of the publication process do we charge for subscribing, submitting, processing, publishing, or reading articles in our journal.
Copyright policies
The publishing house “Universo Sur”, of the University of Cienfuegos, publishes the content of the “Conrado Journal” under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License.
The contents of this publication may be reproduced and shared, in part or in whole, for non-commercial purposes, provided that it is reproduced verbatim and the source is acknowledged.
Privacy statement
The entire content of the Conrado Journal is copyrighted and protected by intellectual property protection laws. The intellectual property rights of each article are assigned by their authors to the journal. By submitting the manuscript, and only if it is accepted for publication, the authors accept that the copyright of their article is transferred to the journal. However, all requests for permission from authors to reproduce their articles will be considered.
Names and e-mail addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated in this journal and will not be provided to third parties or used for other purposes.
Digital preservation policies
Conrado Journal adheres to the preservation and computer security policies established for the University of Cienfuegos "Carlos Rafael Rodríguez" (UCf), described in the Computer Security Plan.
Archival Preservation Policy
The journal uses its own file preservation system supported by the Open Journal System platform service provider system on the servers of the University of Cienfuegos UCf (UCf network). In turn, the UCf servers have their own preservation mechanism for archives based on their own policies and procedures.
The policies implemented by the UCf Network involve the daily backup of all its servers, including Editorial Universo Sur and the platforms of all its magazines containing Conrado Journal. The daily backups are discontinued after one month, preserving a copy, which is kept for one calendar year.
This journal uses the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archive among participating libraries, allowing these libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for preservation and restoration purposes.
Once the articles are made public, they will be deposited in the University's institutional repository, which is attached to the Learning and Research Resources Center (CRAI). The Editorial Universo Sur, publisher of the Journal, is part of the CRAI, thus extending the conditions for the preservation of the articles. (The installation and configuration of D-Space, as an institutional repository, is currently under development).
Policy on the application of publication charges
Conrado Journal does not charge processing or publication fees (NO APC).
Anti-plagiarism Policy
Plagiarism is the copying or misuse of another person's intellectual property. Researchers should not submit as their own parts of other papers or data. Manuscripts will be screened for plagiarism.
This journal uses an electronic match detection system as part of its editorial management to ensure the quality of the publication, which contributes to the prevention of possible plagiarism. Articles with a match level above 35% will be rejected.
All articles received by the journal are verified by the editors before and during the publication process using specific tools such as Turnitin, for the detection of coincidences in the texts.
The editorial committee will analyze each particular case in relation to the ethical violation and will take the appropriate measures on a case-by-case basis. See policy on ethical violations.
Policy on magazine sections
Conrado Journal predominantly publishes original research articles. Review articles and editorials are also considered for publication.
Policy on the editorial process
This journal uses an electronic system for editorial management (Open Journals Systems - OJS). All processes that include the activity will be carried out through the platform. Personal submissions and communications using other media are not allowed.
- About submitted manuscripts
As part of the adoption of the universal principles of Open Science in favor of credibility and transparency of research results, the Conrado Journal accepts manuscripts deposited in Preprints servers (see Preprints policy). It is the authors' duty to declare the permanence of their manuscripts in these repositories. Manuscripts submitted will be subjected to an initial evaluation to determine their relevance to the thematic coverage of the journal and compliance with the established regulations. Documents that do not meet these initial requirements will be returned or rejected.
Manuscript evaluation policy
The Conrado Journal performs scientific evaluation of all manuscripts submitted using the Open Peer Review method.
Manuscripts that are accepted after the first evaluation will be submitted for open evaluation.
The journal will preferably use the OJS system for the peer review process. Peers will be external to the Editorial Committee and may be selected from the users registered in the platform after consultation and verification of their qualities in their ORCID profile and CV.
During the review process, authors and reviewers will know each other's identities and contact information, in order to be transparent and establish a constructive and cooperative working relationship.
If the document is accepted with modifications, the authors will have up to 15 calendar days to return it with the corrections; otherwise, a new submission must be made and the process will begin again. The editorial team is committed to give a verdict on the evaluation process within 90 days.
When in the evaluation process an opinion is not satisfactory, the Editorial Board may select a new reviewer. If the result is favorable, the process will continue, otherwise the manuscript will be rejected. The author/authors will be notified of the decision stating the results and the reason for rejection.
The journal will acknowledge, by means of written certification, the participation of the reviewers in the review process.
Approved manuscripts will be published within 6 to 9 months from the date of submission.
Finally, the final approval of the publication of the manuscript is the responsibility of the Journal's management, after consultation with the editor in charge of the process and under the criteria issued by the external evaluators.
For detailed information on the evaluation process, please see About the Journal.
Technical process policy
The technical process includes the correction, design and layout of the manuscript, at which time the authors will receive the corrected and layout versions for approval. To review and approve the versions, the authors will notify their approval within 72 hours from the date of submission. After this time limit, the article will remain pending.
Authorship policy
The journal recognizes individuals who sign as authors as long as they meet the universally established criteria for authors of scientific articles.
The journal will acknowledge up to 5 authors of the manuscript as long as it is an original article and it is justified given the length and complexity of the study.
Authors of original articles will be regularly asked to send a signed declaration of authorship, explaining their role in the research. The editorial committee reserves the right to accept certain authors in relation to their declared role and the scope of the research. The CRediT taxonomy is used for the authorship declaration.
Policy on pre-publications and presentations at events
Conrado Journal will not consider any original research paper or component of a research paper that has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. Theses or dissertations are not considered prior publications. Publication of research articles on not-for-profit preprint servers such as SciELO Preprints, arXiv.org, bioRxiv.org, ChemRxiv.org, medRxiv.org and the like is acknowledged. Distribution on the Internet in other ways may be considered prior publication and may compromise the originality of the article as a submission to a scientific journal. While manuscripts are under the peer review process they should not be published in any instance. If any press coverage should be made regarding the content of the manuscript, it is recommended that this be done after the paper has been published.
Preprints Policy
Conrado Journal suggests and approves that the authors of the articles publish in Preprints Servers as long as they notify the journal about this publication. It is recommended to use the SciELO Preprints server for these purposes. https://preprints.scielo.org/index.php/scielo/index
Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy
The authors will declare in their research whether there are conflicts of interest in relation to the research results presented and will be responsible for the information provided.
Policy on complaints and appeals.
All users of Conrado journal may submit complaints and appeals to the editor of the magazine by e-mail to the following addresses:
Director of the Journal: ecmora@ucf.edu.cu
Senior Editor: conrado@ucf.edu.cu
Editor in Chief Editorial Universo Sur: dfernandez@ucf.edu.cu
Once the request is received, it will be included in the weekly work topics of the editorial team, which will be analyzed under the precepts of the Journal and in accordance with the initiatives of good practices in scientific publication at the international level, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
The magazine is committed to respond within a period of one week to one month, always maintaining communication with the applicants in order to keep them informed.
Policy on ethical violations
This journal adheres to all international best practice initiatives in scientific publication and uses the algorithms of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to resolve all cases of misconduct in scientific publication.
When plagiarism or ethical violations are reported or detected in a published article, the Editorial Committee will form a commission of experts to investigate and rule on the violation and, if proven, a note will be made in the published article and the institution that supports the work, the employer, sponsor, or the competent national agency will be informed. All under the precepts of the COPE.
Policy on frequency of publication
The magazine changes its publication philosophy, moving to the continuous mode, although it maintains its issues for a better organization of its publication. Each issue opens at the beginning of the bimonthly period and closes at the end of it. The volume concludes in December of the current year.
Policy on publication languages
The journal predominantly publishes articles in Spanish, English and Portuguese, but favors publication in English as long as the author(s) are native English speakers. English versions of Spanish articles written by Spanish speakers must have professional translation certification.
Document referencing system policy
The journal uses the style of the American Psychological Association (APA) in its 7th edition (to cite and reference documents used in the article).
It will be limited to the works cited in the text, which will be presented at the end of the article. The maximum number of references allowed is 25.
Policy on errors after publication
Conrado Journal requires authors to thoroughly review the final version of the manuscript before publication. Authors assume responsibility for any errors not noticed before publication. Errors found after publication will be evaluated by the Editorial Committee, which decides whether it is necessary to replace the current version or publish an erratum.
Policy on the publication of special issues or supplements
Special issues or supplements respond to the need to communicate specifically on a specific topic or event, although there are already special issues or supplements called proceeding.
The publication of a special issue of Conrado Journal is conditioned to the above situations. Its structure and length will be determined by the Editorial Committee, together with the editorial processing unit or Publisher (Editorial Universo Sur). An ad hoc team may be selected to carry out the activity (Assistant Editors).
The Journal's Editorial Committee will demand and will be responsible for the performance and quality of the special issues according to the requirements set forth by Latindex, DOAJ and SciElo regarding these types of publications and will guarantee that:
- The editor is responsible for the content of the entire magazine, including all special issues, which must be within the scope of the magazine.
- Special issue articles have the same editorial oversight as regular articles, including external peer review, and will be clearly labeled.
- The guest or associate editors selected will be under the supervision of the journal's editorial board and will be guaranteed to have the competencies and integrity for the activity.
- The editor of the journal and the Editorial Board guarantee the activities of the guest editors.
- Articles submitted to a special issue by the editor or guest editors will be handled under an independent review process and may not represent more than 25% of the total issue.
- A special issue will never supplant or interrupt continuous publication.
Policy on the publication of advertisements or commercial promotions
Conrado Journal does not promote advertisements of commercial products that function as sponsors. However, in the environment of scientific activity, the pages of the magazine can be clear vehicles for dissemination. The courses, workshops and events related to the central theme of the publication can have a moderate space in the magazine to be displayed.
Policy on Openness of Research Data
Conrado Journal promotes the openness of research data, as long as the level of confidentiality allows it. As part of the compliance with the principles of Open Science, the author may submit his research data in any of the servers available internationally for this purpose, which ensures compliance with the FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) principles.
The following are recommended:
DataCite, The Dataverse Network , Zenodo , SciELO Data
Interoperability policy between information systems
Conrado journal uses the metadata schema: Dublin Core and the OAI-PMH interchange protocol that allows access and transmission of metadata between the data provider and harvesters, enabling retrieval, filtering, reporting on conditions of use, authentication and evaluation, preservation and interoperability.
OAI-PMH URL: https://conrado.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/index/oai
Policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence
Significant recent advances in large language models (sophisticated generative artificial intelligence - AI - algorithms trained on massive amounts of language data) have resulted in widely available writing tools, such as OpenAI's popular chatbot, ChatGPT, DeepSeek that can parse text and produce new content in response to user prompts. This technology has important and immediate implications for academics writing articles and for the journals that publish them.
Large language models have a powerful ability to search and repackage information from their training data set into a wide variety of formats and styles that users can specify. They can be used to generate ideas, outlines for academic manuscripts, or even part of the manuscript, as long as it is declared by the authors (see requirements for reporting usage). Because contemporary AI tools can be remarkably well trained to mimic human speech and writing styles, their results can closely resemble those of a human author and can convey the impression of accuracy and authority, as well as an emotional connection.
Requirements for reporting the use of AI-assisted technologies for manuscripts submitted to the Conrado Journal (based on recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the Artificial Intelligence Recommendations of the Council for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)).
- Conrado Journal requires authors to declare any use of AI-assisted technologies in any aspect of the creation of the submitted work.
- Artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author of a manuscript.
- Artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies should not be cited as a reference or other primary source or as the author of a reference.
- Human authors are responsible for any material submitted that includes the use of AI-assisted technologies, including its correctness, completeness and accuracy.
- Authors must be able to claim that there is no plagiarism in the article, including text and images produced by AI-assisted technologies, and must ensure proper attribution of all material, including full citations where appropriate.
- Peer reviewers should not load manuscripts into software or other artificial intelligence technologies where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.
- Even if AI-assisted technologies are used in a manner that can ensure the confidentiality of the manuscript, reviewers who choose to use such technologies to facilitate their review must declare their use and nature and are responsible for ensuring that any AI-generated information the content incorporated in reviews is correct, complete, and unbiased.
Policy on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (IDEIA)
The Conrado Journal publishes scientific articles selected under an open peer review process without any type of discrimination. It promotes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in research and communication of scientific results.
