Publication Ethics

Ethics in scientific publishing is essential to ensure the integrity and reliability of research. The Ingeniería e Investigación journal is committed to implementing the best ethical practices in the publication of scientific articles and expects all authors, reviewers, and editors involved in the editorial process to follow the same ethical standards. This section presents the journal's ethical policies and guidelines to ensure transparency, honesty, and accountability in the publication of research.  

In accordance with the policies for the publication of articles in Ingeniería e Investigación, it will be considered unethical for authors to submit articles for review which have been previously published, lack proper citation and referencing criteria, or have been simultaneously submitted for review in different publications. Moreover, considering that the evaluation process is double-blind, any attempt to contact the reviewers with the intention of coercing the outcome of the evaluation will be considered unethical. 

When an author or group of authors incur in serious misconduct (as listed in the journal's ethics document), such as plagiarism, duplicate publication, scientific fraud, fragmentation, improper use of sources, and uninformed consent, the Editorial Committee of the Ingeniería e Investigación journal, for legal purposes, will take the necessary actions through the Legal Office of Universidad Nacional de Colombia.  

General criteria 

  1. Articles published in I&I should contain sufficient details and references to replicate or refute the study.
  2. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior.
  3. If a study includes chemicals, procedures, or equipment representing unusual hazards inherent to their use, the author should clearly identify them.
  4. If the study involves animals or humans, the author should ensure that the article explicitly states that all procedures were performed in accordance with laws and institutional guidelines.
  5. The privacy rights of human beings must be respected.

Authorship criteria: 

An author is a person who has made a significant intellectual contribution to the article. Therefore, all persons named as authors must meet the authorship requirements, and all those who meet them must be explicitly mentioned. Three basic criteria must all be met to be recognized as an author: 

  1. Substantial contribution to the conception and design, data acquisition, and analysis and interpretation of the study.
  2. Drafting or revision of the intellectual content.
  3. Approval of the final version. 

The I&I journal requests that the authors declare their specific contributions according to the CRediT taxonomy. 

There are three types of authorship that are considered unacceptable: the ghost author, who contributes substantially but is not acknowledged; the guest author, who makes no discernible contribution, but is named to increase the chances of publication; and honorary authorships, which are based solely on a small affiliation with a study. 

The I&I journal magazine makes the following recommendations:  

  1. Any individuals who participate in a study but do not meet the authorship criteria should be listed as collaborators in the acknowledgments section. The authorship order should be a joint decision of the authors. 
  2. Before starting a research, it is recommended to document the role and the way in which the authorship of each researcher will be acknowledged.
  3. There must be no lies regarding a person's participation in the research or publication. If their contribution is deemed substantial, authorship is justified, be it as author or contributor.
  4. Authorship should not be declared without the consent of the individual.
  5. Some groups place authors in alphabetical order, sometimes with a note explaining that all authors made equal contributions to the study and publication. 

The I&I journal will consider changes in authorship. This refers to the addition, deletion, or reorganization of the names of the authors of an accepted article. 

Any requests to add or remove an author, or to rearrange the names of authors, should be sent by the corresponding author of the accepted article and should include the reason for the request. I&I requests that all authors confirm in writing (via e-mail) that they agree to the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names.  

Conflict of interest 

The Ingeniería e Investigación journal requires all authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may influence the content or review of a manuscript. A conflict of interest can be any financial, personal, professional, or institutional relationship that may influence the judgment or objectivity of the author, reviewer, or editor. 

Potential conflicts of interest may include but are not limited to the following: 

  1. Participation in an organization that may have a financial interest in the results of the work presented.
  2. Owning shares, patents, or copyright related to the subject of the manuscript.
  3. Receiving funding from an organization that may have a financial interest in the outcome of the work presented.
  4. Having personal or professional relationships with one or more of the authors of the manuscript.
  5. Having some type of institutional conflict, e., employment, fees, consulting to sponsoring organizations, ownership of investment funds, paid expert testimony.

It is the responsibility of the authors, reviewers, and editors to disclose any possible conflicts of interest. If any such conflict is identified, the journal will take steps to ensure that the manuscript is reviewed and published in a fair and objective manner. If the conflict of interest is deemed incompatible with a fair and objective review or publication, the journal reserves the right to decline the manuscript or withdraw it from publication. In this regard, I&I makes the following recommendations: 

  1. Authors, reviewers, and editors must inform if they have any real or potential conflict of interest that inappropriately influences the findings or results of the work presented. This, within three (3) years of starting the work.
  2. The role of the study's sponsor(s), if any, must be reported in any of the stages of the work.
  3. The authors should not enter into any agreements that interfere with access to all data and the ability to independently analyze them, as well as to prepare and publish the manuscripts.
  4. When submitting a document, a statement (titled Funding) should be made in a separate section of the text, which should be placed before the References
  5. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that must be disclosed include: employment, consulting, stock ownership, fees, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, grants, and other funding.
  6. All sources of financial support for the project must be disclosed.
  7. The sponsor's role in the study should be described.

Duplicate publication 

Authors are required to ensure that their article is based on original research (which has never been published). Intentional submission or resubmission of their work for duplicate publication is considered a breach of editorial ethics. One of the main reasons why the duplicate publication of original research is considered unethical is because it may result in inappropriate weighting or the unintentional double counting of the results of a single study, thus distorting the available evidence. 

Publication or distribution on the Internet may be regarded as prior publication and compromises the originality of the article. However, I&I will allow the publication of articles in non-commercial preprint repositories, subject to a prior evaluation by the Editorial Committee. 

I&I considers that duplicate or multiple publications occurs when two or more articles, without referring to each other, share essentially the same hypotheses, data, results or discussion points, and conclusions. This can occur to different extents: literal duplication, partial but substantial duplication, or even duplication by paraphrasing. In this regard, I&I states the following:  

  1. Articles submitted for publication in the Ingeniería e Investigación journal must be original and must not have been submitted to another publisher or scientific journal. 
  2. At the time of submission, authors should disclose the details of related articles (even if they are in another language), similar articles in press, and translations. This implies that, at the time of application, authors must notify I&I if their article has been previously published in a preprint repository and indicate a link to it.
  3. It is recommended to avoid submitting articles describing essentially the same research to more than one journal. Even if a submitted article is being reviewed and the authors are uncertain about the process, they should wait for I&I to inform them of its status before submitting it to another journal or publisher.
  4. It is recommended to always report any previous submissions (continuity of work) that could be a duplicate publications.
  5. It is recommended not to write about one's own research in two or more articles from different perspectives or about different aspects of the research without mentioning the original article.
  6. If an author wishes to submit an article to a journal that will be published in a different country or in a different language, they must inform I&I and the other journals involved.
  7. At the time of submission, all details regarding related articles in a different language should be indicated, as well as existing translations. 

Recognition of sources 

Authors should cite the publications that have influenced their work. Any information obtained privately should be used only with the explicit written permission of the source. The reuse of tables and figures must be authorized by their author and the editor, and this must be adequately mentioned in the corresponding legend. 

Data fabrication and falsification 

Data fabrication and falsification are practices of scientific fraud that correspond to presenting false data or conclusions that have not been generated through a rigorous research process. Both data fabrication and falsification are serious forms of misconduct, as they do not accurately reflect the results of a research work. I&I establishes the following types of fraud in the publication of research results: 

  1. Data fabrication: inventing data and results and then communicating them.
  2. Data falsification: manipulating research materials, images, data, equipment, or processes. Falsification includes the modification or omission of data or results in such a way that the research is not accurately presented.

Authors should be aware of editorial policies and their research data. Before submitting an article to the I&I journal, please read the journal's editorial and data policies carefully. Moreover: 

  1. Never modify, change, or omit data in a deliberate way. This includes research materials, processes, equipment, tables, citations, and bibliographic references.
  2. Properly manage the data supporting your research, taking special care in its collection, production, preservation, analysis, and communication.
  3. Keep a thorough record of the raw data, which should be accessible if required by the editor, even after the article has been published.

Plagiarism 

The I&I journal considers plagiarism to be a serious violation of academic and scientific integrity. Plagiarism is defined as the presentation of ideas, words, or graphic material by other authors without giving them the corresponding credit. Plagiarism includes but is not limited to directly copying a work without citing the source, using the structure and style of another work without proper attribution, inappropriate paraphrasing, and presenting previously published material as one's own.  

Plagiarism has different levels of severity, according to the amount of someone else's work that was taken (several lines, paragraphs, pages, the whole document) and the nature of the text copied (results, methods, or introduction sections). However, I&I considers plagiarism in all its forms to be unethical conduct and unacceptable. Verbatim copying is only acceptable if the source is indicated and the copied text is enclosed in quotation marks, with its corresponding page number. 

The I&I journal provides the following recommendations to prevent plagiarism: 

  1. Always remember that it is essential to acknowledge the work of others (including the work of your assistant or your own previous work) as part of the process.
  2. Do not reproduce a work word for word, in whole, or in part without permission and acknowledgment of the original source.
  3. Keep a record of the sources you use when conducting research and where you used them in your paper.
  4. Be sure to fully acknowledge and properly cite the original source in your article (if it has a DOI, use it).
  5. Refrain from using other people's work word for word, even when referencing the source, unless you do so in quotation marks (direct quotation).
  6. Remember that paraphrasing is only acceptable if the source is correctly indicated and its meaning or intent is not changed.
  7. Quote and cite all 

The I&I journal will conduct a thorough review of each manuscript to detect any form of plagiarism. If an author is found to have committed plagiarism, the journal will take appropriate action to address the unethical conduct, including the withdrawal of the article and the prohibition of any future publications. In addition, I&I will notify the author's institution and other allied journals if it is determined that plagiarism was deliberately or repeatedly committed. 

Fragmentation 

Fragmentation in scientific publishing refers to the publication of the same data in different articles, without a clear reference or mention of the other related works. This type of behavior is regarded as scientific fraud by I&I, as fragmentation can result in a distortion of the literature, misleading readers into believing that the data presented in each fragment (i.e., journal article) are derived from a different sample of subjects. This not only biases the scientific database, but also involves a repetitive process that wastes the time of editors and reviewers, who must deal with each paper separately. In addition, the number of references where the author is cited is unreasonably inflated. 

To prevent fragmentation in scientific publishing, the I&I journal establishes the following policies: 

  • Authors should clearly indicate whether their work is based on previously published data or results. If so, a complete and accurate reference to the original source must be provided.
  • Authors should make sure that the data or results presented in their article are new and original and have not been published elsewhere.
  • Authors should avoid publishing the same data or results in different articles without a clear reference or mention of the other related papers.
  • The I&I journal reserves the right to decline papers that evince fragmentation or the unjustified duplication of previously published data or results.
  • Authors should inform I&I of any other publication or submission of their work elsewhere, be it in whole or in part. 
  • Authors must follow I&I journal policies regarding authorship and the acknowledgment and citation of sources in the publication of their work.

Informed consent 

The Ingeniería e Investigación journal believes that an informed consent policy is critical to ensuring the protection of the participants and the ethical integrity of a research work. In this regard, I&I establishes the following policies: 

  1. Informed consent is mandatory for all research participants, including human and animal subjects.
  2. Informed consent should be obtained by researchers voluntarily and free of any pressure or coercion. Informed consent must be obtained in writing and signed by the participant or his/her legal representative before participating in a research work.
  3. The content of the informed consent should be clear and understandable, and it should include information on the purpose of the research, the procedures the participant will undergo, the potential risks and benefits, and the option to withdraw participation at any time.
  4. Participants should be informed of the possibility that the results of the research may be published, and their specific consent should be obtained for the publication of any information that identifies them.
  5. The main researcher is responsible for ensuring that informed consent is appropriately obtained and for maintaining appropriate records.
  6. In the case of research involving vulnerable participants, such as minors, persons with disabilities, or dependent persons, special procedures must be followed to ensure their protection and informed consent.

These policies are in line with the ethical and legal standards established in the field of science. In addition, I&I may require authors to provide evidence that informed consent has been obtained prior to the publication of an article that includes research data involving human or animal participants. 

Correcting published articles 

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the published work, it is their obligation to immediately notify the journal and cooperate in the correction process. 

When an author or group of authors commit a serious fault of scientific fraud as those listed herein, i.e., plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication and falsification, fragmentation, improper use of sources, and uninformed consent, the Editorial Committee of the Ingeniería e Investigación journal, for legal purposes, will take the necessary actions through the Legal Office of Universidad Nacional de Colombia.  

Statement on Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as authors or co-authors, nor cited as such. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by human beings. 

Authors should report the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies by adding a statement at the end of their manuscript, before the References list.  

Example: 

During the elaboration of this work, the author(s) used [NAME OF TOOL/SERVICE] with the aim to [REASON]. After using this tool/service, the author(s) reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.