Policy

Open Access Policy

The Conrado Journal is an open access journal. All its content is published free of charge and immediately under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), the full terms of which are detailed in the 'Copyright' of the journal.

It operates based on the Budapest Open Access Initiative Declaration - BOAI 2002. According to this Open Access policy, users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without any financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/translations/spanish-translation).

In accordance with this Open Access policy, at no stage in the publication process—submission, processing, publication, or access—are any charges of any kind, such as subscription, submission, processing, publication, or article reading fees, applied by our journal.

Copyright Policy and Publication License

Authors who publish in the Conrado Journal accept the following terms:

1. Rights Retention: Authors retain all their copyrights to the work, without restrictions.

2. Publication License to the Journal: By submitting their work and accepting its publication, authors grant the Conrado Journal a non-exclusive, irrevocable, and free license to:

• Publish the work for the first time under the journal's editorial process.

• Reproduce, distribute, and publicly communicate the work in digital and print formats.

• Deposit and archive the work in institutional repositories, databases, and digital preservation systems.

• Carry out all these activities under the terms of the Creative Commons license specified below.

3. Public License - Creative Commons: The work will be published under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows third parties to:

• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.

Under the following conditions:

• Attribution — Give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes have been made.

• NonCommercial — Do not use the material for commercial purposes.

• NoDerivatives — Do not distribute modified material.

The full terms of this license are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

4. Self-Archiving and Distribution by Authors: Authors have the right to:

• Distribute the published version of their work (final PDF) through institutional repositories, personal or academic websites, scientific social networks, and other means.

• Reuse portions of their work in future publications, with due attribution to its original publication in the Conrado Journal.

These activities may be carried out immediately after the publication of the corresponding issue.

5. Required Attribution: In any use or distribution of the work, the following full attribution must be provided:

• Authors, article title, Conrado Journal, volume, issue, pages, year of publication, article DOI or URL.

• Explicit mention: "Published under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license".

• Link to the license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

6. Institutional Role: The University of Cienfuegos "Carlos Rafael Rodríguez", through its publishing house "Universo Sur", acts as the publishing entity that guarantees the preservation, open access, and correct application of the Creative Commons license under which the works are distributed.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the stated purposes (editorial management, communication with authors and reviewers) and will not be made available to third parties or used for other purposes.

Digital preservation policies

Conrado Journal guarantees the permanent preservation of its digital content through the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), which uses LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) technology. This service ensures that articles remain accessible even in the event of technical failures or interruptions to the journal. Additionally, all published issues are deposited in institutional repositories and national and international databases for long-term preservation.

Furthermore, Conrado Journal adheres to the preservation and computer security policies established for the University of Cienfuegos 'Carlos Rafael Rodríguez' (UCf), as described in the Computer Security Plan.

The policies implemented by the UCf Network involve daily backups of all its servers, including Editorial Universo Sur and the platforms of all its journals, including Conrado Journal. Daily security backups are maintained for one month, with one copy preserved and kept for one calendar year.

Once articles are published, they will be deposited in the University's institutional repository, which is attached to the Center for Learning and Research Resources (CRAI). Editorial Universo Sur, the publishing entity of the journal, is part of the CRAI, thereby expanding the conditions for article preservation. (The installation and configuration of D-Space as an institutional repository is currently underway.)

Policy on the application of publication charges

The journal Conrado does not levy, and will not levy, article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, page charges, or any other fees associated with the editorial processing, review, or publication of manuscripts.

Plagiarism and Similarity Policy

Conrado Journal is committed to academic integrity and the originality of the works it publishes. All submitted manuscripts undergo a semantic similarity review process using specialized tools (Turnitin in its iThenticate version) to detect similarities between the evaluated texts and those previously published in other sources, including publications by the same author (self‑plagiarism).

To guarantee authenticity and correct use of information, the following similarity parameters are applied, always complemented by a qualitative assessment by the editorial team:

Similarity percentage	Level	Action
≤ 10 %	Low similarity	Not considered intentional plagiarism. The manuscript proceeds to the next review phases, provided that no single continuous block of text from the same source exceeds 25 words without quotation marks.
11 – 20 %	Moderate similarity	The editor generates the report and requests the author to correct or properly reference the information within 15 days. The author must reduce similarity below 11 % or justify the overlaps.
21 – 35 %	High similarity	The editor generates the report and notifies the Journal Director and the authors. An exceptional period of 20 days is granted for deep revision. If after that period similarity does not fall below 20 %, the manuscript is rejected.
> 35 %	Possible plagiarism	The text is analyzed in detail. Unless conclusive evidence of tool error is provided (e.g., matching with standardized metadata of the journal itself), the manuscript is automatically rejected without right to correction.

Additional rules:

1. Qualitative assessment: In all cases, editors will examine the source of the similarities. Special attention will be paid to long continuous text blocks (≥ 25 words) from a single source, even if the overall percentage is low.
2. Self‑plagiarism: Reusing text from the author’s own previous publications without explicit citation and without using quotation marks is considered a serious offense. Self‑plagiarism is treated the same as plagiarism from third parties and may lead to immediate rejection.
3. Justified exceptions: For review articles or works requiring long verbatim quotations (e.g., regulatory definitions), authors may request a special evaluation. The final decision rests with the Editorial Committee.
4. Consistency: An anonymous record of decisions will be kept to ensure uniform criteria among different editors.

This policy adheres to the good practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Policy on Journal 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

Authors must declare any conflict of interest that may have influenced the submitted work. A conflict of interest is understood to be any financial, personal, academic, or institutional situation that could bias or compromise the objectivity of the study. If there is no conflict of interest, authors must explicitly state: 'The authors declare no conflicts of interest.' This statement should be included in the manuscript, preferably in the final section before the references.

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: Eugenia del Carmen Mora Quintana. Email: ecmora@ucf.edu.cu

Senior Editor: Elvis Chapis Cabrera. Email:  conrado@ucf.edu.cu

Editor in Chief Editorial Universo Sur: PhD. Denis Fernández Álvarez. Email: 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.

Ethics and Good practices Policy

General Principles

The Conrado Journal adheres to the most demanding international initiatives on good practices in scientific publication and follows the guidelines and algorithms of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to prevent, detect, and resolve cases of academic misconduct. This policy applies to editors, authors, reviewers, and any person involved in the editorial process.

Action in Case of Ethical Violations

Upon complaint or detection of plagiarism, fraud, ethical violation, or any other malpractice in a published article or one under evaluation, the Editorial Committee will appoint an independent panel of experts to investigate and rule on the facts. If the irregularity is confirmed, the following measures will be taken:

• Include an explicit retraction or correction note in the published or in-process article;

• Notify the situation to the author’s affiliated institution, employer, sponsor, or the competent national body, as applicable;

• Apply the recommendations set forth in COPE protocols.

All these procedures will be carried out in strict adherence to the guidelines and workflows recommended by COPE (available at: https://publicationethics.org/).

Author Responsibilities

• Originality and plagiarism
  Authors guarantee that the manuscript is original, does not contain (in whole or in part) content from other authors without proper attribution, and that the empirical data have not been manipulated.

• Multiple or repetitive publications
  Simultaneous submissions to other journals or the presentation of previously published results are not accepted. This is considered a serious ethical breach.

• Sources and citation
  All sources and contributions used must be correctly cited, respecting copyright.

• Authorship and contribution
  Only those who have made a substantial contribution to the work should be listed. Authors are encouraged to rank themselves according to their level of responsibility and involvement, and to use the CRediT taxonomy.

• Data access and retention
  Authors must make available to the editors, if requested, the sources or primary data of the research, and retain them for a reasonable period. (See our Research Data Availability Policy).

• Conflict of interest and funding
  All authors must explicitly declare any conflict of interest that could have influenced the results, as well as the sources of funding received. (See our Conflict of Interest Disclosure Policy).

• Errors in published articles
  If an author detects an error or inaccuracy in their own published article, they must immediately notify the editors and cooperate in timely correction.

• General responsibility
  Each author assumes responsibility for the written content and declares that they have conducted a thorough review of the most relevant and up‑to‑date literature on the topic.

Reviewer Responsibilities

• Contribution to editorial decisions
  Reviewers must provide a critical, objective, and constructive analysis of scientific quality, helping editors make informed decisions and authors improve their work.

• Timeliness
  If a reviewer does not feel competent in the subject area or cannot complete the review within the agreed time, they must immediately notify the editors.

• Confidentiality
  The assigned manuscript is confidential and may not be discussed with third parties without the editors’ permission. Open peer review will only be visible to reviewers, editors, and authors.

• Objectivity
  Evaluations must be impartial, based on reasoned arguments, and free from personal judgments about the authors. Reviewers must follow the journal’s established review protocol.

• Identification of uncited sources
  They must point out important works not cited by the author and inform editors of substantial similarities with other published works.

• Conflict of interest
  Information obtained during the review is confidential and may not be used for personal purposes. A reviewer will accept to evaluate a manuscript only if no conflict of interest exists.

Editor Responsibilities

• Publication decisions
  Editors select the most qualified reviewers for each work (2 to 3 per manuscript) and apply the Open Peer Review method, in line with the principles of Open Science. (See our External Review Policy).

• Honesty and non‑discrimination
  Evaluations are based solely on scientific merit, without discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, nationality, or the authors’ political opinions.

• Confidentiality
  Editors and editorial team members will not disclose information about manuscripts to persons outside the process (authors, reviewers, and editors).

• Conflict of interest
  Editors will not use manuscript content without the express consent of the authors.

• Timeliness
  Editors ensure compliance with review and publication timelines, guaranteeing rapid dissemination of results. Accepted works will not be left pending publication longer than reasonable.

Compliance and Monitoring

The Conrado Journal reserves the right to request clarifications, retractions, or corrections when necessary. Any violation of this policy will be treated with the utmost rigor, following the procedures established by COPE. For more information, interested parties may consult:

• https://publicationethics.org/

• See the journal’s Originality and Plagiarism Detection Policy

• See the journal’s Conflict of Interest Policy

Policy on frequency of publication

The journal maintains a bimonthly frequency under the continuous publication modality. As part of the SciELO-Cuba Collection, it adheres to the Guide for the Implementation of the Continuous Publication Modality in Scientific Journals. Conrado adopts variant 2 (open issue, which indicates that documents are published in successive issues, where the next issue is opened after the closure of the previous one) for better volume organization.

Policy on publication languages

The journal predominantly publishes articles in Spanish, but it may publish in English and Portuguese. It favors publication in English provided that the author(s) are native English speakers. English versions of articles originally written in Spanish by Spanish-speaking authors must have a 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 generative artificial intelligence (AI)

Introduction

Recent advances in large language models (generative artificial intelligence) have led to widely available tools, such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek, among others, capable of analyzing text and generating new content in response to user prompts. This technology has important implications for academics and scientific journals.

These tools may be used to generate ideas, outlines, or parts of manuscripts, provided that their use is declared transparently. Due to their ability to mimic human speech and writing styles, their outputs can convey an impression of accuracy and authority that requires clear regulation.

Below are specific policies for authors, editors, and reviewers, based on the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the OECD guidelines on artificial intelligence, and the COPE Approach on AI.

1. Policy for authors

1.1. Mandatory declaration

Conrado Journal requires authors to declare any use of AI‑assisted technologies in any aspect of the creation of the submitted work. The declaration must be included in a specific section entitled "AI Use Declaration" (at the end of the manuscript, before the references), indicating the tool used, the purpose, and the scope of its application.

1.2. Prohibition of authorship

Artificial intelligence and AI‑assisted technologies must not be listed as an author or co‑author of a manuscript.

1.3. Prohibition of citation as a primary source

Artificial intelligence and AI‑assisted technologies must not be cited as a reference, primary source, or as an author of a reference.

1.4. Responsibility of human authors

Human authors are solely responsible for the submitted material that includes the use of AI‑assisted technologies, including its correction, integrity, accuracy, and absence of biases.

1.5. Plagiarism and attribution

Authors must ensure 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, with full citations where appropriate.

1.6. Levels of AI use and editorial actions

When there is suspicion of undeclared use of generative artificial intelligence, the journal will analyze manuscripts using AI content detection tools, available from the semantic matching application Turnitin and the complementary tool ZeroGPT. The following probability thresholds for synthetic content will be applied combined with a qualitative assessment by the editorial team:

Note: In all cases, the editors will perform a qualitative assessment of the detection report, examining the length of suspicious blocks and their location in the manuscript. A continuous block of more than 50 words generated by undeclared AI constitutes a serious violation.

1.7. Model AI use declaration (suggested wording)

"The authors declare that no generative artificial intelligence has been used in the preparation of this manuscript."

Or, if it has been used:

"The authors declare that generative artificial intelligence (specify tool, version, and purpose) has been used for: [drafting of initial version / style correction / translation / idea generation / generating the abstract / etc.]. The authors have reviewed and assume full responsibility for the final content."

2. Policy for editors and reviewers

Conrado Journal establishes the following policy regarding the use of generative AI and automated tools in its editorial processes:

2.1. External reviewers and editors

They must not use generative AI to prepare their evaluations due to risks such as:

• Breach of confidentiality (when uploading the manuscript to external servers)

• Superficial or generic feedback

• Introduction of uncontrolled biases

• Hidden instructions in prompts

• Generation of false information, including fictitious references

2.2. Assisted editing and rewriting

The use of AI for style editing or language correction (grammar, punctuation, fluency) is acceptable only if:

• It is disclosed transparently to the editorial team.

• It does not replace human judgment in substantive decisions about the content.

2.3. Institutional automated tools

Any routine use of automated tools (similarity detection, AI detection, figure manipulation, etc.) will be disclosed in the journal's policies and previously tested to ensure reliability.

2.4. Human oversight

All automated tools will be supervised by the editorial committee. An editor or team member will personally verify alerts related to academic integrity (plagiarism, undeclared AI use, image manipulation) before making a final decision.

2.5. Confidentiality

Editors and reviewers must not upload full or partial manuscripts into public generative AI tools (ChatGPT, DeepSeek, etc.) for any task, as this implies loss of control over data confidentiality.

2.6. Transparency

The journal commits to act transparently in the use of automated technologies and AI, ensuring that human judgment, confidentiality, and academic quality prevail.

2.7. Verification and sanction

The journal reserves the right to verify undeclared AI use at any stage of the process. Non‑compliance with this policy (failure to declare by authors, or misuse by reviewers/editors) will be considered a serious ethical violation and may lead to rejection of the manuscript, temporary disqualification of authors, or removal of the reviewer from the journal's panel.

3. Policy update

This policy will be updated periodically as AI technologies and international recommendations (COPE, ICMJE, OECD) evolve. Changes will be notified through the journal's website.

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.