Code of Ethics
PUBLICATION ETHICS AND BEST PRACTICES
The journal follows the rules and the Code of good research practices of the University of Cantabria and the Protocol of action in cases of malpractice in research. Similary, and more specifically, the Editors and the Editorial Team abide by and follow the following guidelines:
1. The journal and its Editorial Team:
Santander. Heritage Studies is a annual scientific journal published by the University of Cantabria. The schedule for the submission of originals is published in a notice at the top of the journal's home page. The deadline for the submission of manuscripts ends every year in the month of September.
The members of the Editorial Team are part from different research institutes - which are listed on the Editorial Team page - and are recognized experts in the various fields of heritage.
Interested persons may contact the journal at the address that appears at the bottom of all pages and in the contact section.
The Editors uphold the same high standards as the University of Cantabria and adhere to the UC's transparency policy. We expect and seek that the research published by Santander. Heritage Studies complies with the principles of university research, which is to be honest in all aspects of research; careful, thorough and excellent in research practice; transparent and open in communication; and respectful towards the participants and subjects of research. Anyone who believes that some research published in the journal Santander. Heritage Studies has not been carried out in line with these Ethics Guildelines should contact the Editor -sanespat@unican.es- and/or, if it is necessary, refer to the Research Ethics Commission of the University of Cantabria: etica.investigacion@unican.es.
The Editors are committed to editorial independence, and strive to avoid conflicts of interest or any other corporate, business, social, sexual, political or religious influence. The Editors do not discriminate against authors, editors or peer reviewers based on personal characteristics or identity.
Editorial decisions on articles submitted to Santander. Heritage Studies are based on independent reports from blind peer reviewers.
The Editors, together with the Editorial Team, are responsible and ensure that the published contents are of proven scientific quality. They will avoid bad practices in the publication of research. In addition, they undertake to manage the review, editing and publication of the works received with impartiality, confidentiality and in a reasonable time (in a journal that publishes annually). The editors, Editorial Team and reviewers will abstain and avoid any conflict of interest that may arise. In any case, the editors are willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when necessary.
2. About the Authors and their responsibilities:
The journal is open to all types of external collaboration and the participation of heritage researchers in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French or Italian.
The journal does not charge any amount to the authors for sending, processing, or publishing their articles. It is free and open.
Authors must ensure that the data and results reported in the manuscript are original and their own, and have not been copied, fabricated, falsified or manipulated. Plagiarism in all forms, self-plagiarism, multiple or redundant publication, and data fabrication or manipulation constitute serious ethical misconduct and are considered scientific fraud.
Manuscripts submitted for publication must be based on original, unpublished research. All authors must appropriately reference the sources of all ideas or phrases taken verbatim from previously published articles, in the manner indicated in Submissions (English language).
All publications that have influenced the research should be acknowledged in the manuscript; accordingly, all original sources upon which information in the manuscript is based should be identified and cited in the reference list and bibliography.
The published work must indicate, clearly and concisely, all sources of funding awarded for the study, and must note the public or private entity that provided the funding, and the code number assigned to each source of funding, if appropriate. This information shall be included in the published work.
In multi-authored papers, we consider the first author to be the person who handles the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process. The first author must have the authority to act on behalf of all co-authors in all matters related to the publication of the manuscript including supplementary material. This author is responsible for informing the co-authors of the manuscript’s status throughout the submission, review, and publication process. In addition, this first author also acts as the primary contact for any inquiries (including those relating to the integrity of the work) after the paper is published.
We encourage authors to list anyone who does not meet the criteria for authorship in an Acknowledgments section in their publication, for example to recognise the contributions and collaborations of anyone who provided research or writing assistance.
The author(s) declare that all the signatories have contributed significantly to the research, so that all have the ability and responsibility to publicly defend that paper.
The author(s) are obliged to participate in the peer review and to modify and correct any errors that are observed. In addition, the author(s) are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
In order to increase transparency in the authorship of the texts, it is necessary that all authors include their ORCID number, which will appear in the header of published articles.
Authors must not submit to the journal any manuscript that is simultaneously under consideration by another publisher and must not submit their manuscript to another publisher until they are notified that it has been rejected or have voluntarily withdrawn it from consideration.
The texts sent will be reviewed by the system of double blind pairs and both the editors and peer reviewers will verify that the authors do not commit plagiarism by personal, computer and technical procedures. Before sending the texts to the reviewers, the editors use the anti-plagiarism system of the University of Cantabria -iThenticate-. In addition, we have this plugin activated in the journal’s OJS/PKP software, with the participation of the University of Cantabria Library services.
The report generated by iThenticate is given to the reviewers to assist them in preparing their report.
The journal Santander. Heritage Studies adheres to the University of Cantabria definition of plagiarism and pursues the use, without recognition, of ideas, words, data and other materials produced by third parties. The editors do not tolerate plagiarism or duplicate and redundant publication -self-plagiarism-. We verify submissions with the indicated computer tools. Texts that contain suspected plagiarism, in whole or in part, or self-plagiarism will be rejected.
Deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive, if they do not have ISBN or ISSN registration or their preservation ensured, shall not be viewed as prior or duplicate publication.
If plagiarism is discovered post-publication, we will follow our guideline nº 4 in the Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern section. We expect our members of the Editorial Team, reviewers and readers to raise any suspicion of plagiarism, either by contacting the Editor -sanespat@unican.es- or by sending an email to etica.investigacion@unican.es.
The Editorial Team may reject a submitted manuscript without resorting to an external consultation process if the members believe it to be unsuitable for the journal because it does not reach an acceptable level of quality, is outside the scientific aims and scope of the journal, or contains evidence of scientific fraud.
We do not admit the manipulation, falsification and fabrication of images. Where research data is presented as images, modifying these images can sometimes misrepresent the results obtained or their significance. However, we recognise that there can be legitimate reasons for modifying images, but we expect authors to avoid modifying images where this leads to the falsification, fabrication, or misrepresentation of their results.
The authors must comply with the present ethics code. In their writing they are committed to independence of thought and strive to avoid conflicts of interest or any other corporate, business, social, sexual, political or religious influence. In addition, in the writings sent to the journal they do not discriminate against other people based on personal characteristics or identity.
The texts of the editors and members of the Scientific Committee are sent to external blind reviewers. In addition, they will refrain from participating in the approval of their work.
As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines:
- The submission hasn't been previously published, nor has it been sent to another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided to the Editor in the Comments).
- The file submitted has been written in Microsoft Word -preferably with the corresponding template- or the file is in OpenOffice, Microsoft Word or RTF format.
- Whenever possible, URLs for the references will be provided.
- The text submitted is written in Microsoft Word using the appropiate template or it has simple line spacing; 12 points font size; italics are used instead of underlining (except for URL addresses); and all the illustrations, figures and tables that have been done with the editing program are placed in the appropriate places in the text, rather than at the end of the file. Photographs, maps and graphics must be in jpg format and must fulfil the Author Guidelines.
- The text fulfils the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
- The text of the paper quotes the bibliography as indicated in the Author Guidelines.
- The illustrations and photographs added belong to the author(s) and, therefore, he/she has all the rights over them. In addition, the author gives the journal the rights for its publication. If the author doesn't own the illustrations, he/she will be in charge of requesting the reproduction permits.
- The author(s) of the paper have read and agree with the Publication ethics and good practices of the journal. The author(s) strive to avoid conflicts of interest or any other corporate, business, social, sexual, political or religious influence. In addition, in the writings sent to the journal they do not discriminate against other people based on personal characteristics or identity.
- The author(s) declare that the text is their own and that all the signatories have contributed significantly to the research, so that all authors have the ability and responsibility to publicly defend that paper.
- The text is not part of a whole or part of a scholarly work to be uploaded to an institutional repository in the near future.
- The author(s) are obliged to participate in the peer review and to modify and correct any errors that are observed. In addition, the author(s) are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
3. Peer-Review process and prevention of plagiarism and other malpractices:
The originals received will be examined by the members of the Editorial Team who will forward them to specialists of recognized prestige after checking its originality and compliance with the rules indicated in Submissions. All the texts sent will be reviewed by blind peers. After the reception of the paper, the secretary office will take care of sending an anonymous copy without mentioning the name nor the institution of the author/s, in order to guarantee the anonymity of the process of peer review, which will be carried out by external evaluators. The editors will not send the articles of authors of an institution to reviewers belonging to the same institution.
Peer reviewers must consider all manuscripts as confidential documents both during and after the peer review process, until after publication. Reviewers must not have conflicting interests of a personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political, or religious nature.
Experts who evaluate manuscripts must objectively judge the quality of the complete work, i.e., they must consider the background information used to formulate the hypothesis of the study, the theoretical and comparative data and their interpretation. Attention must also be given to the presentation and writing/reporting of the text. They must be specific with their criticisms and provide their comments in an objective and constructive manner. They must adequately argue their judgments, avoid hostility and respect the authors’ intellectual independence. Reviewers should point out relevant published work which is not yet cited. The review must be rigorous, fair and effective. Peer reviewers must notify to the Editors of any substantial similarities between the manuscript under review and any other published work or manuscript they are aware of and that is undergoing review for another publication. Likewise, reviewers must draw attention to any text or data that have been plagiarized from different authors or self-plagiarized or duplicated from other works by the authors of the manuscript under review. Reviewers must also alert the person who requested the review if they suspect or are aware of any text or data that have been falsified, fabricated or manipulated. We refer peer reviewers to review and adhere to the Ethics Guidelines for Peer Reviewers published by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).
As indicated in the previous section, the articles are analyzed using the software that the University of Cantabria provides to its professors and researchers, iThenticate. The report generated by this last program is sent to the reviewers.
For transparency, but to protect the name of the reviewers, every three years the list of those who have intervened in the review of manuscripts will be published through the blind peer review process.
The authors will be notified of any evaluations and observations that may occur. If the texts sent must be modified, the authors must incorporate the changes. In case of disagreement between authors and editors, an external evaluator will re-evaluate the text. The editors will communicate the final acceptance or not of the writings.
As a last resort, author(s) may appeal to the President of the Research Ethics Commission of the University of Cantabria. In the event that the recurring author(s) were linked to UC, they may also request mediation and arbitration from the UC university defender.
The selection of the papers will depend on a criterion of quality (scientific accuracy, clear and specific methodology, the relevance of the contributions, etc.), as well as their adequacy to the objectives of the journal and the instructions of the publication criteria.
Before final publication, the galley proofs will be sent to the author for their correction. The authors will have to revise the galley proofs within a period not exceeding than ten days, and will send them to the secretary's office of the journal. Significant or additional changes in the text that could imply additional composition or printing expenses will not be accepted during the correction phase of the galley proofs.
4. Freedom of Expression, Libel and Defamation. Retractions, Corrections and Expressions of Concern:
Editors defend Freedom of speech and expression, a critical and fundamental right in academic publications. But we do not support publishing false statements that damage the reputation of individuals, groups, or organisations.
Editors will consider retractions, corrections or expressions of concern in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines. If an author is found to have made an error, the journal will issue a corrigendum. If the journal is found to have made an error, they will issue an erratum. Retractions are reserved for articles that are so seriously flawed that their findings or conclusions should not be relied upon. Journal Editors may make minor changes to accepted manuscript, such as during typesetting or proofreading, but any substantive corrections will be carried out in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines. Elsevier's instructions for articles withdrawal, retraction and removal will also be followed; as well as general guidelines for handling allegations and their templates. Editors will be guided by the Elsevier templates for retraction and expression of concern notices.
Allegations of possible research misconduct will be presented to the Editor -sanespat@unican.es- y/or the President of the Committee on Research Ethics of University of Cantabria by mail sent to the address etica.investigacion@unican.es (Art. 5 of the Protocol for action in cases of malpractice in research at the University of Cantabria).
5. Transparency, repository and preservation:
The Editors adhere to the principles of transparency of the University of Cantabria.
The journal uses OJS / PKP software. Submissions and reviews are done through the plugins of this software. In addition, we have enabled OAI (Open Archives Initiative) and other services that allow access and verification of content and metadata. Export modules are also enabled: CrossRef, DOAJ, ORCID, DataCite ...; as well as indexing, use and metrics: COUNTER, Google Analytics, Dublin Core, Google Scholar...
The complete volumes of the journal and their papers are permanently stored in the archives of the University of Cantabria Web Services and in UCrea. The issues of the journal are preserved in the Public Knowledge Project - Preservation Network (PKP/PLN) LOCKSS; also in the Proyect JASPER (CLOCKSS). Apart from the guarantees of the OJS journals, the content is also stored in Dialnet, because Santander. Heritage Studies is an e-Dialnet journal with its complete texts stored in Dialnet.
In order to properly and unequivocally identify the texts, each article has a DOI –Digital Object Identifier– number assigned, which is managed by Crossref through Ediciones Universidad de Cantabria.
The journal is part of the University of Cantabria, one of the first nine Spanish universities that have been awarded as “International Excellence Campus”. As a research and teaching institution, is fully committed to the principle and promotion of freedom of speech and expression. Our goal is to disseminate knowledge to the widest possible audience, and to serve the academic community in all countries around the world.
We publish the authors' emails and we encourage the texts to be shared on social networks. Readers can comment and annotate published articles using the Hypothes.is software which is also useful for researchers (see the software's tutorials page).
6. Copyright and access:
The journal does not charge any amount to the authors for sending, processing, or publishing their articles. The journal is free and open access, and offers its texts in pdf, pub and html. ISSN: 2605-4450 (print); DL SA 622-2018; ISSN: 2605-5317 (online).
Readers have free and open access to the complete issues of each journal, as well as individual articles.
The journal Santander. Estudios de Patrimonio retains the copyright of the published texts, but it promotes and allows the reutilization of them under the Creative Commons licence Attribution + Noncommercial + NoDerivatives 4.0, as it is explained in the section Licence and in this link.
All the texts of this journal are published in the electronic edition of the journal under the indicated licence that allows to copy, use, spread, transmit and expose them publicly, as long as the author, the URL and the journal are mentioned, and the texts are not used for commercial purposes.
The authors agree with the licence of use of this journal, with the autoarchive conditions and with the open access policy.
In case of reutilization of the works published in this journal, the editorial source must be mentioned. Thus, the following statement established by the editor must be included:
- Originally published in Santander. Estudios de Patrimonio in the [number] of the year [year in digit], University of Cantabria (Spain). Furthermore, a link to the editor's version must be provided, including this sentence: The original publication is available in Santander. Estudios de Patrimonio (including the link).
See also the Submissions section (English language).
Sources:
Código de Buenas Prácticas de Investigación, Universidad de Cantabria.
Ethics Guidelines for Peer Reviewers, Committee on Publication Ethics(COPE).
Guidelines, Commitee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Guidelines on Good Publication Practice, Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Publishing Ethics: Academic Research, Cambridge University Press.
Publishing Ethics Resource Kit for editors, Elsevier.
