Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

1.     About the Journal

Journal name and ISSN: Medicina Clínica y Social (Med. Clín. Soc.), ISSN 2521-2281 (online) is the first peer-reviewed scientific Journal in the field of Medicine and Health Sciences published, as a contribution of the Social Anthropology Department, in the Santa Rosa del Aguaray Campus of the School of Medical Sciences of the National University of Asunción, Paraguay.

Aim and Scope: Its aim is the dissemination of the results of scientific works in the field of Medicine, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences applied to Health in the form of high-quality scientific articles that follow the methodology of scientific research and the concepts of ethics, providing scientific knowledge that contributes to the knowledge and solution of health problems.

Its thematic coverage includes the fields of Medicine, Health Sciences, and Social Sciences applied to Health.

2.     Peer-review process

The editorial process starts after the article submission, and each article is assigned to an associate editor responsible for the editorial process. The associate editor will make preliminary corrections to the article before sending it for external review. The review process is double-blinded, and the manuscript will be sent to at least two external reviewers; corrections to the manuscripts may be requested according to their advice. Once the corrections are completed, the editor-in-chief will accept or reject the submission according to the recommendation of the associate editors.

In case of controversies, the decision is left to the discretion of the editor-in-chief with the support of the Drafting Committee. The mean time of first review will take 4 to 6 weeks after the submission.

3.     Ownership and management of information

The ownership and management of the information in this Journal are in charge of the Social Anthropology Department in the Santa Rosa del Aguaray Campus of the School of Medical Sciences of the National University of Asunción, Paraguay.

4.     Governing body

The governing body of the Journal is made up of the first instance by Social Anthropology Department in the Santa Rosa del Aguaray Campus of the School of Medical Sciences of the National University of Asunción, Paraguay, and, secondly, by the Editorial Committee, led by the Editor-in-Chief.

5.     Editorial Team and Contact Information

The editorial team is divided into an Editorial Committee and a Scientific Advisory Committee. The members of this editorial team are listed on Editorial Team. Contacts- information is available at Contact.

6.     Copyright and licenses

The authors own the copyright of the manuscripts. All articles are published under a CC-BY license as indicated in the Guidelines for authors.

The Journal accepts submissions from Preprints Servers.

7.     Authors fees

The Journal does not charge authors for the submission or publication of articles.

8.     Process for identifying and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

The Journal and the editors discourage any misconduct in the publication process. In case of complaints of research misconduct related to a published article, the Journal will follow the COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines. In these cases, the Journal will follow the flowcharts available at https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/fabricated-data-submitted-manuscript-cope-flowchart.pdf

The reviewers and the Editorial Team will identify the documents involved in publication misconduct to process the corresponding complaint. The Journal Editorial Team will also contact the corresponding authors and offer them the opportunity to respond to the complaint, allegation, or dispute. In case of confirmed misconduct, the Editorial Team will address the various situations following COPE's recommendations.

The Journal will distinguish cases of human error from the deliberate intent to defraud. The Editorial Team will consider the possibility of withdrawing the publication in case of misconduct, issuing a note in case of inconclusive evidence of misconduct, or requesting the correction of the affected fragment.

9.     Publication Ethics

Journal policies on authorship and contribution: All persons designated as authors should be qualified for such authorship, and all those who qualify as such should be listed as authors. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for its content. All authors must meet these criteria: 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or data acquisition, or data analysis and interpretation; 2) writing of the article or critical revision of its important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. In addition, the authors must meet conditions 1, 2, and 3. Obtaining funding, data collection, or general supervision of the research group do not justify authorship.

Handling of complaints and appeals: The Journal will receive complaints and appeals through the email editor@medicinaclinicaysocial.org. The Journal will follow the COPE flow charts for handling complaints and appeals.

Policies on conflicts of interest: The Editorial Team and reviewers will refrain in case of conflict of interest concerning an author, some authors or their manuscript's content to be evaluated. The Editorial Team will avoid any conflict of interest between the authors, reviewers, and themselves. The Editorial Team and the reviewers must refrain from making decisions when: there is a direct relationship between authorship and a reviewer; there is a recent and significant professional collaboration between reviewers and authors; the editor or reviewer is a contributor to the article being submitted; the editor or reviewer considers that their evaluation cannot be objective, either for personal reasons or for a financial interest.

Journal policies on data sharing and reproducibility: Although the Journal does not require data sharing, confidential access to any primary data needed to reproduce the article may be requested at any time in order to verify the results. The Journal encourages authors to cite publicly available research data in their reference lists. References to data sets must include a persistent identifier. We encourage research data to be available under open licenses for unrestricted reuse.

Journal's policy on ethical oversight: Ethical oversight of the Journal is the responsibility of the Editorial Committee. The Journal adhered to the COPE's good practice policies and the management of misconducts is following its flowcharts.

Journal's policy on intellectual property: the intellectual property issues and potential violations will be sorted out by the editorial group according to specific laws and conventions. Best practices for editors would include the following actions: adoption of plagiarism detection systems (in the case of this Journal, we use the PlagScan software in all submitted articles); support for authors whose copyrights have been violated or who have been victims of plagiarism.

Journal's options for post-publication discussions and corrections: post-publication discussions and corrections will be processed by emailing editor@medicinaclinicaysocial.org  and may be sent by one of the authors, preferably the corresponding author.

10.  Publication schedule

The publication will be based on a quarterly release in January, April, and September.

11.  Access

All articles are available in full text to readers without fee or subscription.

12.  Archiving

Medicina Clínica y Social uses the digital preservation system of LOCKSS (http://www.lockss.org/) from Stanford University through the PKP PN. It offers digital preservation services, in open source, to permanently provide and preserve access to the digital content generated through our publication. In addition, it allows sharing of digital content securely between participating libraries.

Medicina Clínica y Social recognizes the importance and interest of preserving the content of our publication for future generations of readers and complies with the following procedures: a) identifies the definitive electronic documents for publication; b) once published, backups are made of each volume of the software (Open Journal System) and its entire contents; c) storage in external hard drives of the complete publication of the Journal and its content is updated annually.

13.  Revenue sources

The Journal is not for profit and does not charge for submitting or publishing articles. The Journal is sustained by institutional and organizational supports and donations.

14.  Advertising

The Journal does not use advertising on the website.

15.  Direct marketing

The Journal does not use direct marketing.