Focus

Centro Sur is a journal published and financed by the Instituto Superior Tecnológico Universitario Corporativo Edwards Deming (ISTUCED) - Quito - Ecuador. It publishes articles with original research results in both Spanish and English, covering topics related to the social sciences and humanities, specifically law, economics, psychology, and anthropology. 

Code of Ethics

1. Duties of authors

Originality and Plagiarism

All articles must be original works of the authors and must not contain evidence of plagiarism.

Acknowledgment of Sources

If authors have used the work or words of others, they must cite them appropriately.

Multiple, Redundant, or Concurrent Publication

Authors should not submit the same article to more than one journal at the same time.

Access and Retention

If the Editor or members of the Editorial Board deem it necessary, authors must make available the sources or data on which the research is based. These may be retained for a reasonable period after publication and, possibly, made accessible.

1. Duties of the Editor

Publication Decisions

The Editor is responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the journal will be published. This decision should be guided by the policies of the Editorial Board and based solely on the academic merit and the reviewers' evaluations.

Honesty

The Editor should evaluate articles solely on their intellectual content, without regard to the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy.

Confidentiality

The Editor and any members of the editorial team should not disclose information about submitted articles to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, or editorial advisors, as necessary.

Duties of reviewers

Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review is essential for editors to make informed decisions about the publication of articles.

Timeliness

If a selected reviewer does not feel qualified or is unable to review the article in time, they should inform the Editor and withdraw from the review process.

Confidentiality

Articles received for review must be treated as confidential documents and must not be shown or discussed with others without the Editor's permission.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively, avoiding personal criticism of the authors. Reviewers should express their opinions clearly and with well-founded arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. They should accompany any previously reported arguments with the corresponding citation and alert the Editor to any significant similarity or overlap between the article under review and other published documents of which they are aware.

Conflict of interest

The journal requires authors to declare any commercial association that may create a conflict of interest with the article submitted. Given the nature of potentially publishable articles, conflicting interests may arise that affect editorial impartiality. Therefore, each author should make every effort to identify them. Along with the article and the statement of commitment, authors must send a communication to the journal clearly indicating the existence of conflicts of interest, specifying each one, and mentioning the source of funding for the research, as well as any relevant commercial, financial, or personal links.

Procedure for duplication

For the duplication of texts, which involves copying or reproducing content in a new format, the journal follows this procedure: all duplicated material will bear a caption that clearly identifies it as such and distinguishes it from the original. The applicant must complete the internal duplication request form and send it to the journal's email address, even if the duplication is determined by the journal itself.

Procedure regarding originality and plagiarism

For the purposes of this policy, originality is considered from two perspectives: the certainty that the work is by the declared author and its novelty in relation to other creations. Plagiarism implies that the work must be distinguished from copies, forgeries, or unauthorized uses of fragments of other works.

Authors must guarantee the originality of the articles and the accuracy of the data and results, ensuring that the content has not been copied, invented, distorted, or manipulated. The journal totally rejects plagiarism and the unauthorized use of third-party content, as well as multiple or redundant publication, considering them serious breaches of ethics.

Authors should avoid submitting texts to the journal that are simultaneously under consideration for publication elsewhere, although they may publish content that expands on previously published material, provided that it is properly cited.

Conflict of interest events involving reviewers

Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest related to the articles they review. Such conflicts arise when there is a direct personal or professional relationship with the author, enmity, a connection with the underlying research, or a moral or ethical conflict with the subject matter. In general, members of the editorial team and external reviewers should refrain from reviewing works if they find themselves in any of these situations.

The journal's editorial team will also avoid selecting reviewers who may be affected by these conflicts.