Ethics Policy
Ethics policy
Terra Latinoamericana is committed to respecting and upholding the principles of transparency and best practices in scholarly publishing, in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/) and adheres to its principles.
In general terms, Terra Latinoamericana’s Code of Ethics refers to the integrity expected from the Editorial Committee, reviewers, members of the Mexican Society of Soil Science, and authors. Accordingly, Terra Latinoamericana requires the Editorial Committee and reviewers to act with objectivity and transparency throughout the peer-review process. Authors are required to submit authentic and original manuscripts, and all individuals involved in the editorial and publication process are expected to refrain from any form of scientific misconduct.
Terra Latinoamericana and its Editorial Committee apply a zero-tolerance policy toward any breach of transparency, best editorial practices, or publication ethics. Any serious violation may result in the permanent removal of the involved member from the Editorial Committee or from participation in the journal’s editorial processes. In the case of authors, serious ethical violations may result in restrictions on future submissions to Terra Latinoamericana, in accordance with the severity of the misconduct and the evaluation of the Editorial Committee.
Terra Latinoamericana takes all matters related to publication ethics very seriously. Authors are expected to comply with ethical standards regarding authorship attribution, conflicts of interest, ethical considerations involving human participants and experimental animals, disclosure of financial support, and participation in the peer-review process.
Cases involving invalid or fraudulent data, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, excessive similarity, duplicate submission, or simultaneous submission to another journal may constitute grounds for rejection.
Editors and reviewers of Terra Latinoamericana are expected to comply with ethical standards regarding conflicts of interest, confidentiality of reviewed manuscripts, objective evaluation of submitted work, preservation of reviewer anonymity until acceptance, and the avoidance of coercive citation practices.
Editors have the authority and responsibility to make decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts. Although Terra Latinoamericana promotes transparency regarding the roles of editors and reviewers in the editorial process, the external publication, disclosure, or distribution of review reports or internal discussions related to the peer-review process is strictly prohibited.
Because contributions to the interactive peer-review process may come from multiple participants, the decision to share such contributions does not belong exclusively to any single party and must be governed by the journal’s confidentiality and publication ethics policies.
Corrections policy
The Editorial Team of Terra Latinoamericana is responsible for correcting scientifically relevant errors identified in previously published articles to preserve the accuracy, integrity, and reliability of the scientific record.
Corrections may be issued in situations including, but not limited to, the following:
· A limited section of an otherwise reliable publication is found to be misleading or inaccurate.
· Errors are identified in a figure that do not affect the scientific conclusions of the article.
· Statistical or numerical errors are detected that do not alter the interpretation or conclusions of the study.
· Errors are identified in figure legends, table captions, or other descriptive elements.
· The list of authors or contributors is incorrect, including cases in which an eligible author has been omitted or an individual who does not meet the journal's authorship criteria has been included.
Requests for corrections must be submitted to the Editorial Office by email to: Lic. Alejandro Rodríguez Barba. Format Editor. Email: formato.ed.terra@gmail.com
The request should clearly identify the published article, specify the section requiring correction, describe the error, and provide the proposed correction together with any supporting information deemed necessary by the Editorial Team.
All correction requests will be evaluated by the Editorial Committee. When appropriate, a formal correction notice will be published and linked to the original article to ensure transparency and maintain the integrity of the scientific record. Corrections that substantially affect the validity, reliability, or integrity of the published work may result in the publication of an Expression of Concern or the retraction of the article, in accordance with COPE guidelines (https://publicationethics.org/guidance-and-tools).
Errata policy
The Errata Policy of Terra Latinoamericana addresses the correction of errors introduced into an article during the editorial, copyediting, typesetting, or production process by the Editor or members of the Editorial Team.
All editorial changes made during the production process are highlighted for the corresponding author at the page-proof stage. Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing the proofs and identifying any errors prior to publication. Any error detected at this stage must be reported to the Editor-in-Chief, who will ensure that the necessary corrections are made before the final publication of the article.
Authors who identify an error attributable to the editorial or production process after publication must promptly notify the Editorial Office by contacting: Lic. Alejandro Rodríguez Barba. Format Editor. Email: formato.ed.terra@gmail.com
The communication should clearly describe the error identified in the published article and include all relevant article identification information, such as the title, authors, volume, issue, year of publication, and DOI.
Upon verification of the reported error, Terra Latinoamericana will evaluate the request and, when appropriate, publish an erratum linked to the original article to preserve the accuracy, integrity, and transparency of the scholarly record.
Retraction policy
In accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/) Terra Latinoamericana follows COPE guidelines and recommendations in cases involving possible retraction.
Terra Latinoamericana also adheres to two fundamental principles recommended by COPE: the purpose of retractions is not to punish authors, and retraction notices must be publicly available and linked to the original retracted article.
All potential retractions will be evaluated on their own merits and may be subject to an editorial investigation or, when appropriate, to the recommendations resulting from an institutional investigation conducted by the authors’ affiliated institution.
Terra Latinoamericana considers the following situations to be grounds for concern and possible retraction:
i. Clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, whether as a result of misconduct, such as data fabrication, or honest error, such as miscalculation or experimental error.
ii. Findings that have been previously published elsewhere without proper attribution, permission, or justification, including cases of redundant publication.
iii. Major plagiarism or self-plagiarism.
iv. Reports on unethical research. Publication of an article that lacked the required approval from an ethics or bioethics committee.
v. Legal issues related to the content of the article, such as defamatory content.
vi. Serious authorship concerns, including confirmed or highly suspected cases of ghostwriting, guest authorship, gift authorship, or authorship for sale.
vii. Politically motivated articles in which objectivity is a major concern.
viii. Articles that target individuals or organizations for attack.
ix. Faith-based claims presented as scientific evidence, such as intelligent design.
x. Articles making extraordinary claims without corresponding scientific or statistical evidence, including cases of pseudoscience.
When a reader, author, reviewer, or member of the Editorial Committee identifies a published article in Terra Latinoamericana that may require retraction, they must immediately contact the authors of the article and send an email to the Editor-in-Chief of Terra Latinoamericana at bmurillo04@cibnor.mx including copies of all correspondence with the authors.
All retraction cases will be handled with due process, confidentiality, transparency, and respect for the integrity of the scholarly record.
Conflict of interest policy
In accordance with internationally recognized publishing standards, Terra Latinoamericana defines a conflict of interest as any circumstance that may interfere with, or be perceived as interfering with, the objective, impartial, and independent peer-review process, editorial decision-making, or publication of manuscripts submitted to the journal.
Personal, professional, institutional, academic, financial, political, or other relationships may give rise to actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.
All authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the Editorial Committee of Terra Latinoamericana are required to disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest at the time of manuscript submission or upon accepting editorial or peer-review responsibilities.
Failure by authors to disclose relevant conflicts of interest may result in the rejection of a manuscript. If an undisclosed conflict of interest is identified after publication, Terra Latinoamericana will take appropriate action in accordance with its editorial policies and the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE (https://publicationethics.org/guidance-and-tools). Any circumstance that could reasonably be perceived as a potential conflict of interest must be disclosed in the manuscript's declarations section during submission. Such disclosures will be included in the final published version of the article to ensure transparency and maintain confidence in the integrity of the scientific record.
Terra Latinoamericana is committed to promoting transparency, objectivity, and integrity throughout the editorial and peer-review processes and expects all participants to disclose any interests that could influence, or appear to influence, their professional judgment. When a conflict of interest exists, disclosure does not necessarily preclude publication, participation in peer review, or editorial involvement; however, failure to disclose such conflicts may constitute a breach of publication ethics.
Plagiarism and similarity assessment policy
The use of another person's ideas, data, or words in their original form or with only minor modifications, without appropriate attribution, constitutes plagiarism and will not be tolerated by Terra Latinoamericana. Even when a citation is provided, authors may still be considered guilty of plagiarism if text taken directly from another source is not enclosed in quotation marks and properly referenced.
The reuse of an author's own previously published words, with or without citation, constitutes self-plagiarism. According to the International Standards for Authors established by the World Conferences on Research Integrity (WCRI) and endorsed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/guidance/endorsed-guidance/international-standards-editors-and-authors-wcri-2010)"original wording taken directly from publications of other researchers should appear in quotation marks with the appropriate citations." This principle also applies to an author's previously published work.
All manuscripts submitted through the Terra Latinoamericana platform are screened using iThenticate®, a plagiarism detection system that compares manuscript content against extensive databases of scholarly publications, research articles, books, web pages, and other relevant sources to verify the originality of the submitted work.
As part of the screening process, iThenticate® generates a Similarity Report that includes:
The overall similarity percentage is based on matches identified in published articles, books, web pages, and other sources.
A detailed report highlighting specific phrases, sections, expressions, or text segments that overlap with previously published documents.
Terra Latinoamericana evaluates similarity reports according to the following general criteria:
a. Individual source matches below 1% are generally considered acceptable and are not normally regarded as problematic, even when the cumulative similarity score exceeds 15%.
b. Reference lists are frequently identified by similarity-detection software. Although this is not considered plagiarism per se, authors are expected to demonstrate an independent and comprehensive review of the relevant literature rather than reproducing reference lists from previously published articles.
c. Similarity arising from the use of identical variable names, cultivar names, species names, technical terminology, standard methodologies, or other commonly used scientific expressions will not be considered plagiarism or self-plagiarism.
d. As a general guideline, the overall similarity index excluding references and quoted material should be equal to or lower than 15%. However, manuscripts exceeding this threshold may still be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the nature, extent, and context of the identified similarities.
When significant similarity is detected, the Editor-in-Chief will notify the corresponding author as part of the editorial review process. If the corresponding author chooses to proceed with the review process, they must revise the manuscript and reduce the similarity index accordingly.
Should the authors decline to address the identified similarities and resubmit the manuscript without the requested revisions, the manuscript may be considered plagiarized or self-plagiarized based on the iThenticate® report and will not be considered for publication.
The final decision regarding the rejection of a manuscript on grounds of plagiarism or self-plagiarism rests with the Editor-in-Chief and is supported by the recommendations of the Associate Editor and, when necessary, other members of the Editorial Committee.
When no significant similarity is detected, no action is required from the corresponding author. In such cases, authors will not receive a specific notification regarding the similarity assessment, and the manuscript will proceed to the Associate Editors for further evaluation.
