Ethical Guidelines

The Journal Terra Latinoamericana is committed to respecting and complying with the principles of transparency and good practices in academic publications in accordance with the Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE, for its acronym in English. https://publicationethics.org/) and is governed by his principles. In general terms, Terra Latinoamericana's code of ethics refers to the integrity of the Editorial Committee, the Reviewers, the Member of the Mexican Society of Soil Science, the Authors, and under this argument, Terra Latinoamericana forces the Editorial Committee and the reviewers to act with objectivity and transparency in the process of review, to the Authors that their manuscripts are authentic and original and all those involved are required not to incur in scientific fraud. 

Terra Latinoamericana and its Editorial Committee apply a zero-tolerance policy for any lack of transparency, good practices, or publication ethics. A fault will result in the definitive withdrawal from the journal of any member of the Editorial Committee and the author, in addition to a 20-year veto on the publication of papers in Terra Latinoamericana.

Terra Latinoamericana takes issues related to publishing ethics very seriously. Generally speaking, authors are expected to adhere to ethical standards with respect to attribution of authorship, conflicts of interest, respect for ethical considerations in the use of human and experimental animal participants, disclosures of financial support, and participation in the peer review process. In addition, cases of invalid or fraudulent data, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, similarity, and dual submissions will constitute grounds for rejection. Of course, Terra Latinoamericana editors and reviewers are expected to comply with ethical standards regarding conflicts of interest, confidentiality of reviewed articles, objective evaluation of work and preservation of the anonymity of reviewers until acceptance, in addition to refraining from coercive dating. Editors have the authority and responsibility for the acceptance of articles. While Terra Latinoamericana strives for transparency regarding the identity of reviewers and editors, external publication of review reports or discussions of the review process is strictly prohibited. As contributions made to the interactive review process come from different parties, the decision to share these contributions is not the reservation of either party.

Corrections policies

The Editorial Team of Terra Latinoamericana have the responsibility to correct scientifically relevant errors in previously published articles. The corrections more common that we attend are related to a small section of an otherwise reliable publication proves to be misleading; or there is an error in a figure that does not alter the conclusions; or there is an error in statistical data not altering conclusions; or there are mislabeled figures; or if the authors/contributors list is incorrect when a deserving author has been omitted or somebody who does not meet authorship criteria has been included. To address any of these corrections or any other, an email must be sent to Lic. Alejandro Rodríguez Barba (formato.ed.terra@gmail.com), indicating the incorrect section, as well as the corresponding correction.

Erratum policies

The policies of erratum of Terra Latinoamericana refers to a correction of errors introduced to the article by the editor or editorial team. All changes introduced by the editor are highlighted to the author at the proof stage or galley and any errors should be identified by the author and should be corrected by the editor before final publication. The authors who notice an error should immediately contact by e-mail to Lic. Alejandro Rodríguez Barba (formato.ed.terra@gmail.com), indicating the error detected in the publication, adding all the identification data of the paper published.

Retractations policies

According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (https://publicationethics.org/), Terra Latinoamericana abides by their guidelines and recommendations in cases of potential retraction. Terra Latinoamericana also abides by two other key principles, as recommended by COPE: retractions are not about penalizing authors; retraction statements should be public and linked to the original, retracted article. All potential retractions will be judged on their own merits and will be the subject of an internal investigation or were satisfactory, the recommendations from the institutional investigation of the author(s). Terra Latinoamericana as other international journals, considers the following reasons as giving cause for concern and potential retraction: clear evidence that findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error); findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper attribution, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication); major plagiarism or auto plagiarism; the reporting of unethical research, the publication of an article that did not have the required ethics or bioethics committee approval; legal issues pertaining to the content of the article, e.g. libelous content; major authorship issues, i.e. proven or strongly suspected cases of ghostwriting or sold (‘gift’) authorship; politically motivated articles where objectivity is a serious concern; the singling out of individuals or organizations for attack; faith issues (e.g. intelligent design); papers that have made extraordinary claims without concomitant scientific or statistical evidence (e.g. pseudoscience). When any reader, author or member of the editorial committee detects articles published in Terra Latinoamericana that may require retraction, they should immediately contact the authors of the article and send an email to the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Terra Latinoamericana (editor@terralatinoamericana.org. mx), making sure to include copies of all correspondence with authors.

Conflict of interest

For the Terra Latinoamericana and according to other international journals, a conflict of interest can be anything potentially interfering with, or that could be perceived as interfering with, full and objective peer review, decision-making or publication of articles submitted to Terra Latinoamericana. The personal, financial, and professional affiliations or relationships can be perceived as conflicts of interest. All authors and members of Terra Latinoamericana Editorial Board are required to disclose any actual and potential conflicts of interest at submission or upon accepting an editorial or review assignment. Failure to declare competing interests can result in the rejection of a manuscript. If an undisclosed competing interest comes to light after publication, Terra Latinoamericana will act in accordance with internal policies and Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines. Anything that can be perceived as a potential conflict of interest should be disclosed within the statements section, during submission, which will be included in the file of the version of the final publication of the paper.