Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

The Revista NERA is a peer-reviewed scientific journal committed to the highest standards of publishing ethics. All parties involved in the editorial process (editors, authors, reviewers, and the publisher, in this case, the university) must adhere to ethical standards of conduct. This publication ethics and malpractice statement follows the principles established in the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Responsibilities of the Editors and Editorial Board of Revista NERA

The editors and editorial board of Revista NERA are responsible for:

• Deciding which submitted manuscripts should be sent for peer review and published, following the journal’s author guidelines and editorial policies, as well as legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and unreferenced similarity.
• Providing clear guidelines to authors and scientific board members regarding the peer review process and their respective responsibilities.
• Ensuring that new editorial board members receive instructions on their roles and keeping current members informed about new policies and developments.
• Evaluating manuscripts solely based on their academic and intellectual merit, without discrimination based on race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, religious belief, nationality, political orientation, or social class of the authors.
• Ensuring that the peer review process is fair, impartial, and free from conflicts of interest, maintaining the confidentiality of all information related to manuscripts, and adhering to the peer review policy established by Revista NERA.
• Selecting appropriate reviewers for each manuscript.
• Ensuring that unpublished materials contained in submitted manuscripts are not used for personal research by editors, editorial board members, or scientific board members without the express consent of the authors.
• Taking appropriate action in response to ethical complaints related to submitted or published manuscripts, following the COPE flowcharts available at COPE Flowcharts.
• Publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies whenever necessary.

Responsibilities of Authors

• Authors must provide an accurate description of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance, ensuring the accuracy of the data presented.
• They must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one publication—a practice known as duplicate publication. A declaration of originality must be attached at the time of submission.
• Authors must ensure their work is original and that any use of words or ideas from other authors is properly cited and referenced.
• Manuscripts submitted as original articles must exclusively reflect the intellectual contribution of the authors, without undue reproduction of pre-existing content. A declaration of originality is required upon submission.
• Plagiarism, whether in the form of direct copying, patchwriting, or self-plagiarism, is considered an unethical and unacceptable editorial practice.
• Authors must ensure that their manuscript has not been previously published.
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the conception, execution, and interpretation of the study. For multi-author articles, an individual contribution statement must be submitted, specifying each author’s role according to the CRediT Taxonomy, accompanied by the required signatures.
• The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all co-authors who significantly contributed to the research are included in the authorship list and that all authors agree to the manuscript submission. Authorship definition and ordering occur during the metadata stage of submission, and no modifications, including the addition of new authors or reordering of names, will be allowed afterward.
• Authors must disclose any financial or other conflicts of interest that could influence the results or interpretations of their manuscript, as well as indicate all sources of funding at the time of submission.
• Authors are required to declare, both in the abstract and in the methods section (or its equivalent), the use of artificial intelligence tools in research and writing, specifying the data sources and the nature of the AI contribution. Authors must verify the accuracy of AI-generated references, ensuring the existence of the sources and the relevance of citations.
• If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in their published work, they must promptly notify the journal’s editors for retraction or correction.

Responsibilities of the Scientific Board

• Peer review assists editors and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and improving submitted manuscripts. All manuscripts submitted to Revista NERA are evaluated by the scientific board members identified on the journal’s official website; they are not sent to ad hoc reviewers.
• Any scientific board member who feels unqualified to review a manuscript or cannot complete the review within the required timeframe must notify the editors immediately so that another reviewer can be assigned.
• Manuscripts under peer review are considered confidential documents and must not be disclosed. This includes uploading manuscripts, in whole or in part, to artificial intelligence platforms.
• Privileged information obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal benefit.
• Scientific board members must notify editors of any evidence of intellectual misappropriation or copyright violations in submitted manuscripts.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, with comments clearly presented and supported by arguments to help authors improve their articles.
• Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts based on academic content, without discrimination based on race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, nationality, political orientation, or social class of the authors.
• Reviewers must not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships with the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the manuscript.
• The use of artificial intelligence applications and AI-generated content in the peer review process requires scientific board members to adopt ethical and transparent practices. AI use must be explicitly mentioned and justified in the review report.

Responsibilities of the Publisher

As the publisher of Revista NERA, the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) is responsible for:

• Providing practical support to the editor and editorial board to ensure compliance with COPE’s Code of Conduct.
• Ensuring the autonomy of editorial decisions.
• Protecting the intellectual property and copyright of publications.
• Maintaining editorial best practices in accordance with the ethical standards established in this statement.