Ethics

1. Introduction

The journal Anales del Instituto de Actuarios Españoles makes this declaration of ethics and good practice, through which it undertakes to maintain the highest ethical standards. Any party involved in the authorship or submission of manuscripts, as well as in their management and subsequent dissemination, will be obliged to comply with this code of ethics.

2. Duties and responsibilities of the editorial team

The editorial team will be responsible for the editing of the journal and for technical decisions about its content. This means that they must:

• To try to satisfy the needs of the Instituto de Actuarios Españoles, its readers and the authors of the articles published in the journal.

• Evaluate manuscripts only for their intellectual content, regardless of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnicity, nationality, or political philosophy of the authors.

• Maintain the integrity of the publication's academic record.

• Prevent interests of any kind from compromising the rules.

• Strive to constantly improve the journal.

• Establish processes to ensure the quality of the published material. The journal's standards for the publication of originals (regarding the characteristics of the work, format, image resolution, bibliographic reference system, etc.) will be public.

• To maintain confidentiality about the papers received and their content until the moment of publication. No member of the editorial team may use data, arguments nor interpretations contained in unpublished works submitted to the journal for their own research, except with the express written consent of the authors.

• Be impartial in the handling of papers submitted for publication and respect the intellectual independence of the authors, as well as their right of reply in the case of negative evaluations.

• Respect deadlines. Establish clear deadlines for responding to authors regarding the acceptance or non-acceptance of the text. Process manuscripts quickly, informing the author of the status of his/her article at the different stages of the editorial process.

• Do not manage an original when there is a conflict of interest. The editorial team will also refrain from selecting reviewers who are affected (or could be affected) by this situation.

• Not to publish papers that have not been approved by simple-blind reviewers appointed for this purpose in order to maintain the quality criteria required by journals of high scientific prestige.

• Maintain free online access to published papers, as well as to inform the author of the status of the evaluation from the time the proposal is received until its rejection or final acceptance, with or without modifications.

• To make decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of an article for publication based solely and exclusively on the quality of the article, i.e. its clarity, originality, and importance, as well as its suitability to the objectives and scope of the journal. Papers may also be rejected for other reasons (inappropriateness to the scientific objectives of the journal, evidence of scientific fraud, excessive self-citation, lack of quality, etc.).

• Always inform the author of the reasoned decision, either to accept or to reject.

• To ensure the quality of the published material, and to avoid the publication of plagiarism and non-original work. The conflict of duplicity, caused by the simultaneous publication of an article in two journals, will be resolved by determining the date of receipt of the work in each of them.

• Disavow published articles whose unreliability is the result of both unintentional errors and scientific malpractice (manipulation of data, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, omission of sources consulted, etc.). The journal may ask the author(s) for explanations and evidence in case of conflict. Unauthorised articles will be retained in the electronic edition of the journals, with a clear and unequivocal warning that it is an unauthorised article. If only part of the article contains an error, this can be rectified later by means of an editorial note or an erratum.

• For articles containing data from studies or research involving individuals, authors must obtain informed consent, permissions and appropriate authorisations if they wish to include details of the case or other personal information or images of individuals in this publication. Authors are required to retain written consents and, on request, the editorial team may ask for copies of consents or evidence that these have been obtained.

• Advise authors to use inclusive language in line with gender policies that lead to real equality between women and men.

3. Duties, responsibilities of the authors

The authors undertake to:

• Ensure the originality of the work and the submission of manuscripts that have not already been published or are not in the process of being evaluated in another journal or any other support.

• Not to plagiarise (totally or partially) from other published works, defined as the appropriation of texts by other authors without their consent and without citing the source, even if express permission has been granted by these third-party authors. Authors must also commit themselves to submitting other texts already created by themselves, avoiding those where there is more than a 20% coincidence between a previous work and the one submitted. The journal will use Similarity Check to detect plagiarism attempts.

• Provide truthful data and show that they have been collected in a technically correct manner. Ensure the accuracy and validity of the results before submitting the manuscript to the journal.

• Confirm that the authorship of the text really belongs to the persons signing it. The person submitting the article must ensure that none of the signatures responsible for the work have been omitted, nor have others been added that are not, avoiding fictitious or gift authorship, which is a bad scientific practice. Authors must agree on the order of appearance in the publication of the article. Likewise, the person responsible for the submission must guarantee that all the signatories have reviewed and approved the final version of the paper and that they give their approval for its possible publication.

• Declare any circumstance that may involve a conflict of interest in connection with the article submitted. When there is a commercial, financial or personal link that may affect the results and conclusions of their work, the text of the work must be accompanied by a declaration stating this fact.

• Indicate clearly and concisely the sources of funding granted for the study, mentioning the private or public entity responsible for such funding. This information will appear in the published version of the article.

• Not to infringe copyright, requesting the necessary permissions for the reproduction of quoted texts, figures, graphs, tables, photographs, etc., which must bear their corresponding source of origin.

• In articles containing data from studies or research in which individuals have participated, authors must ensure that the privacy rights of the individuals involved are respected. To comply with this requirement, authors must attach a written statement that they have obtained the informed consent (free and voluntary) of the persons involved in the study. The Journal may request copies of the consents or evidence that these have been obtained.

• When an author identifies a major error or inaccuracy in his/her article, he/she should immediately inform the journal editors and provide them with all the information necessary to list the relevant corrections.

• Respect deadlines. If the article is accepted, the authors must undertake to make the modifications within the stipulated deadline.

• Excessive self-citation, citing sources without having consulted them, adding cited texts that do not contribute to the content of a manuscript for the sole purpose of increasing the citations of an author or a journal, making erroneous interpretations of other works consulted, releasing scientific results before peer review, concealing data and methods that allow the experiments used to be reproduced, including privately obtained information that cannot be verified, etc. will be considered irregular practices.

• All authors accept responsibility for what has been written. The authors also undertake that a review of the most current and relevant scientific literature on the subject analysed has been carried out, taking into account the different currents of knowledge in a pluralistic manner.

• The authors are primarily responsible for the content and statements made in their article.

4. Duties and responsibilities of reviewers

The reviewers will act under the criteria of impartiality, objectivity, promptness, confidentiality, respect and acknowledgement of uncited sources. They undertake to:

• Do not accept articles for review where there may be a conflict of interest that would limit your objectivity.

• Manuscripts received should be treated as confidential information and should not be shown or discussed with third parties, except with the prior express authorisation of the journal's management.

• Respect the evaluation deadlines established in the journal's publication rules. If you are unable to complete the evaluation in the scheduled time, you will immediately notify to the editors.

• Refuse to review an article if they do not feel technically qualified.

• Clearly state the arguments for their assessment. Conduct a fair and objective review of the articles, making clear and precise judgements and evaluations that are sufficiently argued and impartial.

• Indicate precisely the bibliographical references of fundamental works that may have been forgotten by the author.

• Reviewers should refrain from asking authors to include their own bibliographical references. If they are relevant, they should be indicated to the Editorial Committee who, if necessary, may pass them on to the authors.

• Inform the editors of any similarity or overlap of the manuscript with other published works.

• Do not use information, data, theories or interpretations in the manuscript for your own benefit or that of others, or to the detriment of third parties. Only in special cases may you seek the advice of other specialists in the field, of which you will inform the journal's management.

• Reviewers contribute to the improvement of the Journal by assisting the editorial team, and they are entitled to ask for any help they need from the Journal's management.

• Reviewers have the right to ask the journal's management for accreditation of their collaboration with the journal by reviewing manuscripts.

• Reviewers have the right to request the Journal's management to remove their identity from the annual summary of reviewers.

5. Handling of complaints and sanctions

The Executive Committee will ensure that the positions of authors and reviewers are reconciled in the event of disagreements. Authors may refer to it by e-mail to anales@actuarios.org. They will be answered within 30 days of receipt of the e-mail. In the event of any conflict, the guidelines of the COPE (Committee On Publication Ethics), available on its website: www.publicationethics.org, will be followed as a reference.

Download the Code of Ethics here