The credibility and success of a scientific journal depend, to a great extent, on the prior evaluation system, contributing decisively to attracting good authors and better quality of the knowledge to be disseminated. In the case of Herança, the evaluation procedure is ensured by the process designated by scientific arbitration or peer review, to guarantee the transparency of this process and generate a relationship of trust between the editors and the authors. Herança has an exclusive commitment to knowledge, being independent of politics and economics. The editorial statute only defines the scope and field of activity of the journal, but Herança is an uncommitted publication and open to innovating in relation to established scientific paradigms.

This code defines a set of principles and guidelines for ethical conduct adopted by Herança. Best Practices are ambitious and are developed in response to problems of an ethical nature. Herança inspires this code in the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, Publications Ethics Committee, version of March 2011).

 

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

 

1. Ethical and moral values that guide the Herança – History, Heritage and Culture Journal

1.1. The Herança Journal and Ponteditora are responsible for implementing the Code of Ethics and good practices in relation to all manuscripts received and material published in the journal. This means that the Scientific Council (SC) of Herança Journal must:

• support freedom of expression;
• seek to meet the needs of readers and authors;
• adopt procedures that guarantee the quality of published material;
• be available to publish corrections, clarifications, and apologize, when justified.

The Herança Journal's Good Practices include:

1. encouraging and being aware of peer-reviewed research and publish and re-evaluate the journal's processes in the light of new guidelines;
2. actively listen to the opinions of authors, readers, reviewers and SC members on ways to improve the journal's editorial procedures;
3. supporting training initiatives in the field of conduct and ethics of research and publication;
4. evaluate the effects of the journal's policies on the behavior of authors and reviewers and review them, whenever necessary, encouraging responsible behavior and discouraging improper conduct.

 

2. Relationship of the Herança Journal with the readers

2.1. The Herança Journal must inform about the sources of funding for research for published works.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. ensure that all publications are reviewed by qualified reviewers;
2. establish processes that encourage the rigor, integrity and clarity of the investigation;
3. adopting criteria for attribution of authorship that promote good practices, that is, make it clear who did the work, discouraging misconduct (example: ghost authors);
4. inform about the measures taken to ensure that paper submissions proposed by members of the journal or the SC are evaluated objectively and impartially.

 

3. Relationship of the Herança Journal with the authors

3.1. The Herança journal's decisions regarding the approval/rejection of a manuscript for publication are based on the importance of the research work, its originality and clarity and the validity of the study, as well as its relevance to the journal;

3.2. The Scientific Council (SC) of Herança Journal does not reverse the approval decisions for submissions, unless there is some kind of serious problem with the submission;

3.3. Unless serious problems are identified, the SC must not overturn publication decisions made by the Editor-in-Chief;

3.4. A description of the peer review process is available and Herança Journal justifies any major deviation that occurs in the process;

3.5. The author(s) are allowed to appeal to the Editor-in-Chief or the management against an opinion unfavorable to the publication, presenting arguments. To ensure fairness, internal audits are provided for the reviewers' reports, regardless of the existence, or not, of resources. In this context, additional clarifications may be requested from reviewers, even in favorable decisions;

3.6. Authors can, if they so choose, know who the reviewers of their work were. Then, they can assess the competence of the reviewers and, if necessary, the existence of conflicts of interest that may affect the evaluation;

3.7. The Herança Journal publishes guidelines for authors on all aspects that they must attend to.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. regularly review instructions for authors;
2. publish conflicts of interest relevant to all authors and publish corrections if conflicts of interest are identified after publication;
3. ensuring that reviewers are chosen on the basis of academic training, experience and professional competence, which demonstrate, on the whole, the skills to review the submitted manuscripts;
4. respecting the requests of the authors about people who should not review their submission, if they are well-founded and practicable;
5. disseminating information about how the journal deals with suspected cases of misconduct;
6. publishing the dates for submission and approval of the manuscripts.

 

4. Relationship between Herança Journal and reviewers

4.1. Reviewers are required to thoroughly review all manuscripts and be free from any prejudice. The review form should highlight the aspects that underlie the decision, and, in the event of an opinion unfavorable to the publication of the manuscript (rejection), highlight the weaknesses of the text and suggest ways to bridge them in future submissions;

4.2. The Herança Journal provides guidance to reviewers on what is expected of them, including the need to deal confidentially with the submitted material;

4.3. The Herança Journal asks reviewers to indicate potential conflicts of interest before reaching an agreement to review an article. Notwithstanding a previous selection of reviewers, they can always decline the invitation to review the manuscript if they feel, for some reason, unable to review the text;

4.4. The Herança Journal has systems to guarantee the protection of the identity of the reviewers.

The Herança Journal Good Practices include:

1. encourage comments on the originality of submissions and to pay attention to redundant publication and plagiarism;
2. encouraging comments on ethical issues, as well as research and publication misconduct that arise in submissions;
3. send the reviewers' comments to the authors, unless they contain offensive or unfounded observations;
4. publicly acknowledge the reviewers' contribution to the journal;
5. monitor the performance of the peer review and take steps to ensure its high standard and search to obtain from its reviewers a commitment to the fulfillment of the review deadlines;
6. develop and maintain a database of suitable reviewers and update it based on their performance. Annually, the Herança analyzes the average review deadlines.
7. ensure that the reviewers' database reflects the journal's profile and, whenever necessary, add new members;
8. use a wide range of sources to identify potential new reviewers.
9. reviews should contribute to increasing the quality of publications, helping to qualitatively differentiate the Herança;

 

5. Relationship of the Herança Journal with the members of the Scientific Council (SC)

5.1. The Herança Journal provides new members of the SC with guidelines on their roles and must keep up-to-date with new revision policies and developments.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. maintain policies and procedures that ensure impartiality in handling submissions;
2. identifying duly qualified people for the SC who can actively contribute to the development of the journal;
3. regularly review the composition of the SC;
4. periodic consultations with members of the SC on the operation of the journal, informing them of any changes in editorial policy and identifying future challenges;
5. provide guidance to SC members on their roles and duties, which may include:

• support and promotion of the journal;
• looking for good work (e.g., from abstracts from scientific meetings);
• review of submissions to the journal;
• approval of requests to write editorials, reviews and comments on articles in your area of expertise;
• participation and contribution to SC meetings.

 

6. The relationship of the Herança Journal with Ponteditora, as the entity that owns the Journal

6.1. The relationship between the Herança Journal’s SC and Ponteditora is based on the principle of editorial independence;

6.2. The Editor-in-Chief decides which manuscripts to publish based on their quality and suitability for the journal, without interference from Ponteditora and those responsible;

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. establish mechanisms to deal with disagreements between the SC and Ponteditora;
2. communicate regularly with Ponteditora, reporting on the journal's results, successes and issues.

 

7. Editorial and double peer review processes

The purpose of evaluation is to help authors improve the quality of their work by providing constructive and timely evaluations prepared by experienced scholars. The Herança considers the evaluation process as a fundamental step for the improvement of articles. For this reason, the reviewers of the Herança they are encouraged to present, in addition to the opinion regarding the publication, suggestions for improvement regarding the content and form of the text.

The evaluation process of articles submitted to the Herança consists of two stages. The first, a preliminary evaluation by the Editor-in-Chief and the Deputy Editor, examines the adequacy of the work to the journal's editorial line and makes a preliminary evaluation (Desk Review). The second, the assessment itself, consists of the double-blind review system or open peer review to be carried out by two ad hoc reviewers.

7.1. The Herança Journal strives to ensure that anonymous double or open peer review is fair, impartial and timely;

7.2. The Herança Journal has systems in place to ensure that submitted material remains confidential while under review.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. encouraging appropriate training for people involved in the editorial process (including themselves) and ensuring that they are properly informed about the latest guidelines and recommendations regarding anonymous or open peer review and the management of journals;
2. stay informed about peer review processes and their technological advances;
3. adopting the methods of double-anonymous or open peer review most suitable for the journal and for the scientific and academic community;
4. periodically review peer review practices to improve them.

 

8. Quality assurance

8.1. The Herança Journal’s SC takes all reasonable steps to guarantee the quality of the material it publishes.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. determine procedures and systems for detecting falsified data (e.g., plagiarism). The review primarily considers the scientific quality of the text, focusing on the following aspects:

1. Topicality of the topic;
2. Originality of the work;
3. Relevance and theoretical consistency of the text for the development of the area of knowledge;
4. Quality of the theoretical framework used;
5. Quality of writing and organization of the text;
6. Contribution of work to administrative knowledge and/or administrative action in organizations;
7. Methodology used: property, quality, level of sophistication;
8. Quality of data analysis and discussion (if applicable);
9. Conclusions: achievement, foundation and consistency.

2. basing decisions about the journal's style standards on relevant evidence to increase the quality of communication (e.g., adopting structured abstracts), and not simply on aesthetic foundations or personal preferences.

 

 

9. Protection of individual data

9.1. The Herança Journal guarantees the confidentiality of individual information obtained in the course of investigative interactions.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. disclose its policy for publishing individual data (for example, personal details or identifiable images) and, whenever necessary, explaining it clearly to the authors.

 

10. Encourage research ethics

10.1. The Herança Journal seeks to ensure that published research is carried out in accordance with internationally accepted guidelines;

10.2. The Herança Journal seeks guarantees that all research has been approved by an appropriate body, whenever relevant and existing. However, the Herança journal recognizes that such approval does not guarantee that the investigation is ethical.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. requesting evidence of ethical approval of the investigation and questioning the authors about ethical aspects in case concerns are raised or clarifications are needed.

 

11. Ensure the integrity of the academic record

11.1. Errors and inaccurate or misleading statements are promptly corrected.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. ensure that published texts are securely archived (e.g., via permanent online repositories);
2. having an active system to give authors the opportunity to make original texts free of charge.

 

12. Encourage debate

12.1. The Herança Journal encourages and is willing to consider convincing criticisms of the published work;

12.2. The authors of the material criticized have the opportunity to respond;

12.3. Studies reporting negative results are not excluded.

The Herança Journal’s Good Practices include:

1. opening to research that challenges works already published in the journal;
2. respond promptly to complaints.