Policy

Policies

Open access policy

The journal Agroecosistemas provides immediate open access to its content, based on the principle that providing the public with free access to research helps a greater global exchange of knowledge.

It operates on the basis of the Budapest Open Access Declaration - BOAI 2002. According to this Open Access policy users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search or link to the full text of articles, or use them for any lawful purpose, without any financial, legal or technical barriers, other than those inseparable from Internet access itself” (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/translations/spanish-translation).

In accordance with this Open Access policy, at no step of the publication process do we charge for subscribing, submitting, processing, publishing, or reading articles in our journal.

Content License

This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC): This license allows sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format) and adapting (remixing, transfroming and building on the material), under the following conditions: authorship is acknowledged, no commercial use is made of the materials and new creations are licensed under the same terms.

For more information, please visit: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.es

Digital preservation policies

Agroecosistemas magazine adheres to the preservation and information security policies established for the University of Cienfuegos “Carlos Rafael Rodríguez” (UCf), described in the Information Security Plan.

Archive preservation policy

The journal uses its own file preservation system backed up by the Open Journal System platform service provider on the servers of the University of Cienfuegos UCf (UCf network). In turn, the UCf servers have an archive preservation mechanism based on their own policies and mechanisms.

The policies implemented by the UCf Network involve the daily backup of all its servers, including the Editorial Universo Sur and the platforms of all its journals, including Agroecosistemas, which will be saved for a week on a server different from that of the journal.

Application of publication charges

This journal DOES NOT APPLY CHARGES FOR PROCESSING, NOR FOR ARTICLE PUBLICATION (NOT APC).

Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is the copying or misuse of another person's intellectual property. Researchers should not submit as their own parts of other people's work or data. Manuscripts will be screened for plagiarism.

This journal uses an electronic match detection system as part of its editorial management to ensure the quality of the publication, which contributes to the prevention of possible plagiarism. Articles with a level of coincidence above 35% will be rejected. (Describe, how and by whom)

All articles received in the journal are verified by the editors before and during the publication process by using specific tools such as: Turnitin, for the detection of coincidences in the texts.

The editorial committee will analyze each particular case in relation to the ethical violation and will take the pertinent measures according to the case. When plagiarism is denounced or detected, the Editorial Committee will form a committee of experts to investigate and rule on the violation and, if it is proven, a note will be included in the published article and the institution that supports the work, the employer, sponsor, or the competent national agency will be informed.

Policy on journal sections

The journal Agroecosistemas publishes predominantly original research articles. It also considers for publication review articles and editorials. 

Policy on the editorial process

This journal uses an electronic system for editorial management (Open Journals Systems - OJS). All the processes that include the activity will be carried out through the platform. Submissions and personal communications using other media are not allowed.

About submitted manuscripts

As part of the adoption of the universal principles of Open Science in favor of credibility and transparency of research results, the journal Agroecosistemas accepts manuscripts deposited in Preprints servers (see policy of previous submissions). It is the authors' duty to declare the permanence of their manuscripts in these repositories. Manuscripts submitted will be subjected to an initial evaluation to determine their relevance to the thematic coverage of the journal and compliance with the established regulations. Documents that do not meet these initial requirements will be returned or rejected.

Policy on manuscript evaluation

The journal Agroecosistemas performs scientific evaluation of all manuscripts submitted using the open review method.

The journal will preferably use the OJS system for the peer review process. Peers will be external to the editorial board and may be selected from the users registered in the platform after consultation and verification of their qualities in their ORCID profile and CV.

Manuscripts that are accepted after the first evaluation will be submitted for open evaluation.

During the review process, authors and reviewers will know each other's identities and contact information, in order to be transparent and establish a constructive and cooperative working relationship.

In case the document is accepted with modifications, the authors will have up to 15 calendar days to return it with the corrections; otherwise, a new submission must be made and a new process will begin. The editorial team is committed to give a verdict on the evaluation process within 90 days.

When in the evaluation process a verdict is not satisfactory, the Editorial Board may select a new reviewer. If the result is favorable, the process will continue, otherwise the manuscript will be rejected. The author/authors will be notified of the decision stating the results and the reason for rejection.

The journal will acknowledge, through written certification, the participation of the reviewers in the review process.

Approved manuscripts will be published within 6 to 9 months from the date of submission.

After the peer review is satisfactory, the manuscript undergoes a process of improvement in terms of writing and style, and subsequently.

The Editorial Committee, at the request of the Section Editor who worked on the manuscript and in accordance with the results of the external evaluators, will decide on the publication of the article.

About the technical process

The technical process includes the correction, design and layout of the manuscript, at which time the authors will receive the corrected and layout versions for approval. In order to review and approve the versions, the authors will notify their approval within 72 hours from the date of submission. After this time limit, the article will remain pending.

Authorship policy

The journal recognizes the persons who sign as authors as long as they meet the criteria established universally for authors of scientific articles.

The journal will acknowledge up to 5 authors of the manuscript as long as it is an original article and is justified given the length and complexity of the study.

Authors of original articles will be regularly asked to send a declaration of authorship signed by each of them, explaining their role in the research. The editorial committee reserves the right to accept certain authors in relation to their declared role and the scope of the research. The CRediT taxonomy is used for the authorship declaration.

Copyright policy

This journal protects copyright from the moment of submission. However, it assigns part of the patrimonial copyright by displaying a Creative Commons 4.0 license (cc-by-nc), which allows the use of the work to share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform and build upon the material) as long as exclusive mention is made of the publication in the journal as the primary source.  However, you may not commercialize with it.

Policy on previous publications and presentations at events

The journal Agroecosistemas will not consider any original research paper or component of a research paper that has been published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. Theses or dissertations are not considered prior publications. Publication of research articles on not-for-profit preprint servers such as SciELO Preprints, arXiv.org, bioRxiv.org, ChemRxiv.org, medRxiv.org and the like is acknowledged. Distribution on the Internet in other ways may be considered prior publication and may compromise the originality of the article as a submission to a scientific journal. While manuscripts are under the peer review process they should not be published in any instance. If any press coverage of the content of the manuscript is to be made, it is recommended that it be made after the paper has been published.

Policy on Preprints

The journal Agroecosistemas suggests and approves that the authors of the articles publish in Preprints Servers as long as they notify the journal about this publication.

It is recommended to use the SciELO Preprints server for these purposes. https://preprints.scielo.org/index.php/scielo/index

Conflict of interest declaration policy

Authors will declare in their research whether there are conflicts of interest in relation to the research results presented and will be responsible for the information provided. The declaration of conflict of interest is a section within the scientific article.

Policy on ethical violations

This journal adheres to all international best practice initiatives in scientific publication and uses the algorithms of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to resolve all cases of misconduct in scientific publication.

Publication frequency policy

The journal publishes from January 2025 in Continuous Publication mode. The volume starts in January and closes in December of the current year.

Policy on languages of publication

The journal predominantly publishes articles in Spanish, but favors publication in English provided that the author(s) are native English speakers. English versions of Spanish articles written by Spanish speakers must have a professional translation certification.

Document referencing policy

The journal uses the style of the American Psychological Association (APA) in its 7th edition, (to cite and reference the documents used in the article).

It will be limited to the works cited in the text, which will be presented at the end of the article. The maximum number of references allowed is 25.

Privacy policy

Names and e-mail addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes stated in this journal and will not be provided to third parties or for use for other purposes.

Policy on errors after publication

The journal Agroecosistemas requires authors to thoroughly review the final version of the manuscript before publication. Authors assume responsibility for any errors not noticed before publication. Errors found after publication will be evaluated by the Editorial Committee, which decides whether it is necessary to replace the current version or publish an erratum.

Policy on the publication of special issues or supplements

Special issues or supplements respond to a need to communicate specifically on a topic or event, although the latter already exist in the so-called proceeding.

The publication of a special issue of the journal Agroecosistemas, is conditioned to the above situations. Its structure and length will be determined by the Editorial Committee, together with the editorial processing unit or Publisher (Editorial Universo Sur). An ad hoc team may be selected to carry out the activity (Assistant Editors).

The publication of a special issue will never supplant the continuous publication or interrupt it.

On the publication of advertisements or commercial promotions

Agroecosistemas magazine does not promote advertisements of commercial products that function as sponsors. However, in the environment of scientific activity the pages of the journal can be clear vehicles for dissemination. Courses, workshops and events related to the central theme of the publication can have a limited space in the journal to be displayed.

Policy on Openness of Research Data

The journal Agroecosistemas promotes the openness of research data, as long as the level of confidentiality allows it. As part of compliance with the principles of Open Science, the author may submit their research data in any of the servers available internationally for this purpose, which ensures compliance with the principles FAIR (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability).

The following are recommended:

DataCite, The Dataverse Network, Zenodo, SciELO Data.

Interoperability policy between information systems

The journal Agroecosistemas uses the metadata schema: Dublin Core and the OAI-PMH interchange protocol that allows access and transmission of metadata between the data provider and harvesters, allowing retrieval, filtering, reporting on conditions of use, authentication and evaluation, preservation and interoperability.

URL validator: https://aes.ucf.edu.cu/index.php/index/oai

Policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence

Significant recent advances in large language models (sophisticated generative artificial intelligence - AI - algorithms trained on massive amounts of language data) have resulted in widely available writing tools, such as OpenAI's popular chatbot, ChatGPT, that can parse text and produce new content in response to user prompts. This technology has important and immediate implications for academics writing articles and for the journals that publish them.

Large language models have a powerful ability to search and repackage information from their training data set into a wide variety of formats and styles that users can specify. They can be used to generate ideas, outlines for academic manuscripts, or even part of the manuscript, as long as it is declared by the authors (see requirements for reporting usage). Because contemporary AI tools can be remarkably well trained to mimic human speech and writing styles, their results can closely resemble those of a human author and can convey the impression of accuracy and authority, as well as an emotional connection.

Requirements for reporting the use of AI-assisted technologies for manuscripts submitted to Agroecosistemas Journal (based on recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and the Artificial Intelligence Recommendations of the Council for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD))

• The journal Agroecosistemas requires authors to declare any use of AI-assisted technologies in any aspect of the creation of the submitted work.
• Artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies should not be listed as an author or co-author of a manuscript.
• Artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies should not be cited as a reference or other primary source or as an author of a reference.
• Human authors are responsible for any material submitted that includes the use of AI-assisted technologies, including its correctness, completeness, and accuracy.
• Authors must be able to claim that there is no plagiarism in the article, including text and images produced by AI-assisted technologies, and must ensure proper attribution of all material, including full citations where appropriate.
• Peer reviewers should not upload manuscripts in software or other AI technologies where confidentiality cannot be guaranteed.
• Even if AI-assisted technologies are used in such a way that the confidentiality of the manuscript can be guaranteed, reviewers who choose to use such technologies to facilitate their review must declare their use and nature and are responsible for ensuring that any AI-generated information the content incorporated in reviews is correct, complete, and unbiased.

Policy on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (IDEIA)

The journal Agroecosistemas publishes scientific articles selected under an open peer review process without any type of discrimination. It promotes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in research and communication of scientific results.