Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics

The Pensar Journal adheres to the ethical principles applicable to the editing of scientific journals and the publication of scientific articles, principles essential for the journal to fulfill its role as a guardian of scientific knowledge in the area of Socio-environmental, Scientific, and Cultural Development, with a focus on Law and Organizations and Society. Editors, authors, and reviewers must follow these principles ensuring ethics and integrity in the publishing process. Below we detail the ethical standards that must be followed by the actors involved in the editorial process.

Authorship

Authorship of the publication should include only individuals who have made significant contributions to the conception of the presented work. All authors must meet the following criteria: (i) must have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; (ii) must have participated in drafting the work or critically revising the intellectual content; (iii) must have approved the final version to be published; (iv) must take responsibility for all aspects of the work, ensuring that issues related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are adequately investigated and resolved (According to guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors - ICMJE: access here).

The submitting author must ensure that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the article and agreed to its submission for publication in the Pensar Journal. If the journal editors identify authorship issues (editors use the COPE guide - access here - to identify this type of problem), the authors will be contacted for clarification. If an issue is indeed identified, the article will be removed from the evaluation process. Regarding authorship, the inclusion (or exclusion) of authors from the article during or after the editorial process will be subject to case-by-case evaluation by the editor and must have the consent of all article authors. The addition and removal of authors after submission for evaluation in the journal are not allowed (exceptional cases will be evaluated by the Editorial Board of the journal).

Duplicate Publication

Submitting the same manuscript (or a manuscript with high similarity) previously published in another scientific journal constitutes unethical publication behavior. If duplicity is identified during the editorial process, the authors will be notified and the article will be removed from the process. If duplicity is identified after publication, the article will be subject to removal from the edition in which it was published, and the journal's readers will be duly informed about the case. Note: results of studies previously published in proceedings of scientific events are not considered duplicate publication, and the authorship of the research group must be respected. In addition, authors must inform in the submission the prior presentation at a scientific event. Articles derived from theses and dissertations are accepted, and authors must add this information in the "notes to the editor" field in the submission system.

Plagiarism

All articles submitted to the Pensar Journal undergo a plagiarism check at the peer review stage using the Turnitin tool. If passages with similarity (except direct quotation) are identified, and the reproduction was total and/or without citation, the authors will be contacted to provide clarifications. In the absence of clarifications by the authors, the editors will archive the submission. During the peer review process, reviewers may also find evidence of plagiarism. If this occurs, the reviewers will communicate the fact to the editors (presenting the appropriate evidence), and the editors will investigate the suspicion of plagiarism using the following COPE flowchart: access here. If the suspicion of plagiarism is confirmed, the editors will archive the submission.

Citations and References

Articles must cite appropriate and relevant literature to support the claims made. Excessive self-citation, unnecessary citations not consistent with the content of the presented article, and any other form of citation manipulation are considered unethical procedures. If citation manipulation is identified, it will result in the archiving of the submission.

Conflict of Interest

Authors must declare any potential conflicts of interest - whether professional or financial - that they may have in relation to the article. Authors must also disclose all funding sources that the reported research in the article relied on. If evidence of undisclosed conflict of interest is found, the editors will use the following COPE flowchart to proceed with the necessary measures: access here. Editors and invited reviewers evaluating articles also need to disclose conflicts of interest that could bias the editorial process, such as personal, academic, or financial relationships. Reviewers should not evaluate manuscripts if they believe they are involved in any conflict of interest. If there is potential bias, editors should pass the leadership of the article process to another editor.

Process Transparency

The Pensar Journal seeks to provide a transparent review process. All authors are required to comply with the specified submission procedures, and all communications between authors, reviewers, and editors should be clear, professional, and conducted through the journal's official channels. Any form of informal pressure from authors towards the editorial board or attempts to influence the decision-making process will be considered unethical and may lead to the rejection of the manuscript.

Data Fabrication

Data fabrication is the unethical practice of inventing data or research results and recording or reporting them in the article. The Journal of Legal Thought is strictly against data fabrication, as this practice undermines the integrity of scientific literature and its credibility, potentially leading to erroneous conclusions. In this regard, if suspicion of data fabrication in submitted articles is found, the editors commit to using the COPE flowchart (access here) to proceed with the necessary actions. If data fabrication is confirmed, the editors will archive the submission.

Confidentiality

The Journal of Legal Thought maintains all details of a submitted manuscript confidential and does not discuss or publish about manuscripts while they are under consideration or when they are rejected. The editors and reviewers of the Journal of Legal Thought are committed to not revealing any manuscript data (or supplementary materials) before its publication, nor using the knowledge they have gained from an unpublished article to further their own interests. If reviewers are accused of improperly appropriating ideas from a work under review, the editors of the Journal of Legal Thought commit to using the following COPE flowchart to assist in handling the situation: access here.

Errors in Published Works

When a significant error or inaccuracy is discovered in a published work, it is the author's obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

Research Involving Human Beings

All research involving human beings (individuals, samples, or data) must have been conducted in accordance with the current resolutions of the National Health Council (CNS) (Resolution No. 466 of December 12, 2012: access here).

Research Involving Animals

When animals are used in research, they are expected to be treated humanely and in accordance with the national guidelines on the subject, presented in Law 11.794 of October 8, 2008, known as the Arouca Law: access here.

Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences that involve the use of data directly obtained from participants or identifiable information must follow the guidelines of Resolution No. 510, of April 7, 2016 (access here) and present approval from an Ethics Committee where applicable.

Ethics Committee Approval and Informed Consent

Before beginning the study, authors must have obtained ethical approval for all protocols from their institution's ethics committee to confirm that the study adheres to national and international guidelines for research on humans or animals. A document confirming ethics committee approval should be included as a supplementary attachment to the submission, including the name of the ethics committee and reference numbers (Certificate of Ethical Appreciation Presentation and approval protocol). Authors should not include this information in the body of the article, as it could facilitate identification of the authors and compromise the double-blind review process. Where approval is not necessary, according to the exceptions provided for in current legislation, authors do not need to present ethics committee approval.

Authors of the article must have obtained informed consent from the study participants. A statement to confirm this should be included in the manuscript. Authors should be prepared to provide dated and signed copies by the participants to the journal editorial team, if requested.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools

The Pensar Journal of Legal Sciences understands that only human individuals can receive authorship credit for manuscripts, and it is mandatory for authors to acknowledge sources. The use of AI tools for writing any part of the manuscript, for generating or publishing images, is not permitted. It is the responsibility of the authors to publicly acknowledge and recognize the sources of their materials. In the event of using AI tools for the development or enhancement of any part of the manuscript, this information must be explicitly stated in the Abstract and Method sections, in the segment regarding ethical aspects, including replication and identification. The editorial team of the Pensar Journal of Legal Sciences reserves the right to utilize AI usage detection tools such as GPTZero, AI Text Classifier, AI Content Detector, Open AI Detector, among others.