Publication Ethics

We are committed to ensuring that advertising, reprint, or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.

2.1 Publication Decisions

The editor of the PENAMAS is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editors may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The editors may discuss with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

2.2 Fair Play

An editor evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

2.3 Confidentiality

The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

2.4 Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Editors must declare any conflict of interest, whether financial, institutional, personal, collaborative, or competitive, with the authors, their institutions, or the subject of a manuscript, and must withdraw from handling that manuscript. An editor with a conflict does not see the reviewers’ identities and takes no part in the decision.

Editors do not handle or decide on their own manuscripts, or those of close colleagues or collaborators. These are assigned to an editor with no conflict, and the editor concerned has no access to the review process or the decision.

Members of the editorial team may publish in Penamas only on these conditions: the manuscript is processed like any regular manuscript, the editor and reviewers are not the author, and no more than one article per year is published by the same member. Peer reviewers are independent of the editorial team.

Unpublished material disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the author’s written consent. Editorial decisions are not influenced by advertising, funding, institutional, or other commercial interests.

3.1 Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions, and the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

3.2 Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

3.3 Confidentiality

Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

3.4 Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

3.5 Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that the authors have not cited. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper they have personal knowledge of.

3.6 Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Before accepting an invitation, reviewers must consider whether they have a conflict of interest and, if so, decline the review. Conflicts include recent collaboration or co-authorship with an author (within the last [three] years), working in the same institution, a close personal relationship or rivalry, a financial interest in the work, or any involvement in the research. If a conflict becomes apparent during the review, the reviewer informs the editor immediately. Editors check for conflicts before assigning a manuscript.

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review are confidential and must not be used for personal advantage. Reviewers must not try to identify the authors of a manuscript under double-blind review.

4.1 Reporting standards

Authors of reports of original research should present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. A paper should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.

4.2 Originality and Plagiarism

The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works and if the authors have used the work and words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.

4.3 Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

An author should not generally publish manuscripts describing the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

4.4 Acknowledgment of Sources

Proper acknowledgment of the work of others is optional, but authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

4.5 Authorship of the Paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have contributed significantly to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

4.6 Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Every manuscript must include a Conflict of Interest statement that either discloses the conflicts or states that the authors declare none. Conflicts to disclose include financial interests (funding, employment, consultancy, honoraria, or ownership), institutional or personal relationships that could influence the work, and any relationship with an editor or reviewer of the journal. Authors who are members of the Penamas editorial team must say so in the statement. All sources of funding, with grant numbers where available, are given in a separate Funding statement. Both statements are published with the article.

4.7 Fundamental errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published work, the author must promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.