Publication Ethics

Ácoma employs a double-blind peer review process. The editorial board and the scientific committee are committed to ensuring the scientific and editorial quality of all published material. Ácoma adheres to the principles of publication ethics and the declaration of malpractice based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors. Ácoma operates independently of any external funding.

a. Peer Review Procedures and the Role of Editorial Bodies

Submissions sent to the journal’s email address are reviewed by two anonymous experts specializing in fields relevant to the subject of the contribution. At least one of the reviewers must not be a member of Ácoma’s editorial board or scientific committees. The names of both authors and reviewers are kept confidential. Reviewers must provide an overall scientific assessment and recommendations regarding publication (acceptance without revisions, acceptance with minor or significant revisions, or rejection). All submissions are treated with the utmost confidentiality. Reviewer feedback is shared with the authors for final revisions. In cases of conflicting recommendations, a third reviewer will be consulted.

Reviewers are expected to:

1. Provide the editorial board with information necessary for an informed decision regarding publication.

2. Offer authors constructive feedback to help them meet the highest academic standards or improve their work for future publications.

3. Submit their reviews promptly and inform the editorial board of any circumstances that may delay their review.

4. Remain impartial in their assessment.

5. Express their opinions clearly and without ambiguity.

6. Avoid ad hominem arguments.

7. Refrain from using their role to enhance their own academic or professional standing.

8. Disclose any conflicts of interest and decline the review if such conflicts exist.

9. Treat all documents received as confidential.

10. Report insufficient citation of sources or suspected plagiarism to the editorial board.

The editorial board and the issue editors make the final decision on the publication of contributions, which is communicated to authors via email. Contributions from the editorial board, scientific committees, or issue editors are subject to the same double-blind peer review process as external submissions.

b. Conflicts of Interest

Ácoma is committed to avoiding any potential conflicts of interest that could compromise the quality or objectivity of the research and contributions published. All Ácoma contributors, in any capacity, are required to disclose possible conflicts of interest when editing a special issue or assigning reviewers. If selected reviewers declare a conflict of interest, the editorial board will appoint alternative reviewers.

c. Practices Contrary to Scientific Integrity

Ácoma is committed to protecting the work of authors, ensuring clear and accurate attribution of authorship. Contributions submitted to Ácoma must be original works; submission implies that the text has not been published or submitted elsewhere. For multi-author articles, submission implies that all listed authors have approved the publication. References to other individuals' texts or ideas must be explicitly cited.

Once accepted, contributions cannot be published elsewhere in the same form, including electronically, without written consent from the editorial board. External reports or evidence showing that submitted contributions contain false or fabricated data will result in rejection. If an already published contribution is found to contain plagiarism or falsified data, the text will be retracted and replaced with a note explaining the reason for removal. The author will no longer be allowed to submit work to Ácoma.

With written consent from copyright holders, Ácoma publishes Italian translations of critical or creative texts, sometimes alongside the original text.

d. Post-Publication Debate and Corrections

Ácoma welcomes debate arising from the publication of contributions. The editorial board reserves the right to publish notes, letters, or response articles. If an author identifies errors or inaccuracies in their published work, they may notify the editorial board, which will issue subsequent corrections.

e. Ethical Aspects of Research Practices

Ácoma does not consider citizenship, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, disabilities, religion, or political beliefs as factors influencing the selection of texts for publication. The sole criteria for selection are:

• The relevance of the contribution to the journal’s field of study and purpose.

• The originality of the contribution.

• The quality of critical language.

• The clarity of argumentation.

• Compliance with all legal requirements concerning defamation, copyright violations, and plagiarism.

f. Permissions and Releases for Publication and Accessibility

Authors are responsible for obtaining permissions for reproducing copyrighted images or texts. Submissions containing texts, data, figures (either in translation or paraphrased), or images without proper attribution or authorization will not be accepted.

g. Intellectual Property

Authors of contributions published in Ácoma are fully responsible for the validity of their research and the content of their work. Misleading or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical and unacceptable. Authors must:

1. Present original research, interpretations, and critical analyses.

2. Provide truthful and accurate descriptions of their research methods.

3. Present reliable and verifiable data, also by third parties.

4. Include a complete and accurate list of critical sources used, citing all references that contributed to the submitted work.

5. Avoid submitting material containing fraudulent or distorted information.

6. Provide impartial and methodologically sound arguments concerning collected data.

7. Submit only original work, with proper citations for any borrowed material, including specific elements of orientation provided by the scholarly canon.

8. Avoid plagiarism in any form, including translations of uncredited material or uncited unpublished work, or ideas consciously derived from unpublished sources (students included).

9. Properly acknowledge their sources, either by mentors or authors, documenting research findings with reliable references.

10. Refrain from submitting previously published work, except in cases where the editorial board explicitly requests re-publication of copyrighted material because of its relevance for thematic purposes.

By submitting their material to Ácoma, authors retain rights to their published work under the conditions of a Creative Commons License. Authors must cite the original Ácoma issue in subsequent re-publications and may archive the PDF version of their articles in academic or institutional repositories. Authors may upload the published PDF version of their articles in academic and/or institutional repositories. They may republish their work, with the written consent of the editors, and provided that the reference to the issue of Ácoma in which it was originally published is given.

Authors grant Ácoma the right to publish their work in an issue of the journal and authorize Ácoma to license its content to national and international databases in order to make its contents known by way of texts, images, other digital formats or any other supports. Users may access, download, copy, and link the full text of articles free of charge for personal or academic purposes, provided the original Ácoma issue is cited.