Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics

Being an open access journal, Comunicação Pública contributes to the dissemination of the scientific and academic knowledge in its area of intervention. The journal follows the code of ethics and good publishing practices indicated in the COPE's guidelines. (Committee on Publication Ethics; http://publicationethics.org). 

Editors, reviewers, and authors must abide by the following principles:  professional, scientific, and academic responsibility and rigor; integrity and honesty; respect for diversity, dignity, and human rights.

 

Duties of the Editorial Coordination

1. Responsibility

The Editorial Coordination is aware of the scientific responsibility involved in the publishing of the journal. The Editorial Coordination is committed to keeping authors informed about the submission, evaluation, and publication process, as well as to ensuring that it takes place in the shortest possible time.

The Editorial Coordination seeks to detect plagiarism in advance, plus to investigate allegations of plagiarism or misuse of published articles. If any misconduct is detected, the journal has the right to take any measures it deems appropriate, namely publishing an errata or correction, withdrawing the article from publication, taking the matter to academic bodies prohibiting the author from publishing in the journal, or other appropriate legal measures. The Editorial Coordination is available to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies whenever necessary. It also responds to complaints and requests after analysis, following the journal's code of ethics or the legal framework in force.

2. Publication decision

The Editorial Coordination is responsible for the final decision of the publication of manuscripts. The Editors follow the reviewers' opinions and the journal's editorial policies in this decision-making, thus they can reject manuscripts that violate legal and ethical standards, such as copyright rights or plagiarism. In case of plagiarism or any other practice that does not respect the code of ethics, the Editorial Coordination will follow the guidelines set out by COPE.

3. Equity

The Editorial Coordination will evaluate the manuscripts submitted in terms of their intellectual/scientific content, without considering matters of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, citizenship, nationality, or the political spectrum of their authors. Although the content and language of the articles are the responsibility of the authors, the editors do not allow texts with content or language that are discriminatory and/or offensive to a certain social group to enter the evaluation process.

4. Confidentiality

The Editorial Coordination, as well as all other members of the editorial team, must not reveal information regarding manuscripts submitted to Comunicação Pública, except to the authors themselves, reviewers, potential reviewers, or other members of the editorial team. The Editorial Coordination ensures the confidentiality of the double-blind peer review process, namely the anonymity of authors and reviewers, guaranteeing strict compliance with the confidentiality of the entire process.

5. Conflict of Interest

The data contained in the manuscripts submitted to Comunicação Pública cannot be used in research by members of the Editorial Coordination, or any other member of the editorial team, except when duly authorized by the authors of the manuscript. During the editorial role, the editorial team cannot submit manuscripts to the journal, except in the role of a thesis advisor in the case of articles derived from theses, in which case they will not participate in any stage of the editorial process.

        6. Use of AI Tools in the Editorial Process

Editors must treat all manuscripts and related communications as confidential and must not upload them into AI tools, as this could violate authors’ confidentiality, intellectual property, or data privacy rights. Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies must not be used to evaluate manuscripts or make editorial decisions, as editorial judgment requires human expertise, critical thinking, and accountability. Authors may disclose the use of AI in manuscript preparation, which editors can find at the end of the paper before the References.

 

Duties of the Reviewers

1. Responsibility

By agreeing to review submitted manuscripts, reviewers commit to provide a high-quality service to the best of their abilities and knowledge. They must follow the evaluation criteria indicated by Comunicação Pública, as well as respect the delivery deadlines indicated by the Editorial Coordination.

2. Contribution to editorial decisions

The reviewers propose an evaluation and the editorial decision of the manuscripts to the Editorial Coordination, providing details that allow the authors to improve their article.

3. Revision acceptance

Any reviewer who does not feel qualified to review the research reported in a manuscript, or who cannot guarantee the timely submission of their review to the Editorial Coordination, must immediately report this fact.

4. Confidentiality

Any manuscript received for review must be treated by the reviewer as a confidential document, that cannot not be shared or discussed with other participants, unless authorized by the Editorial Coordination.

5. Objectivity

Reviews must be conducted objectively, following the criteria in the provided evaluation form. Personal criticism directed at authors is strictly inappropriate. The language must be objective, free from prejudice or malice. Reviewers must express their opinion about the manuscript clearly, always adding arguments to support their perspective. Reviewers are committed to providing an unbiased, honest, constructive, and informative review.

6. Referencing

Reviewers must seek to detect published works that have not been cited by the authors, which includes any previously published observations and arguments by the same author. Reviewers must also inform the Editorial Coordination if they notice any similarity or overlap between a manuscript under review and any other published article they are aware. Reviewers must inform the Editorial Coordination of any concerns regarding the author's ethical conduct that may appear during the review process.

7. Conflicts of interest

Privileged information or any ideas obtained through the peer review process must be kept confidential and cannot be used for personal use. Reviewers must not accept reviews of articles with which they have any conflicts of interest, such as those resulting from collaborations, personal relationships with authors, or even connections with companies or institutions linked to the manuscript.

       8. Use of AI Tools in Peer Review

Reviewers must treat manuscripts as confidential and must not upload them or peer review reports into AI tools, as this could violate authors’ confidentiality, intellectual property, or data privacy. Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies should not be used to evaluate or judge a manuscript, since peer review requires human expertise, critical thinking, and accountability. Authors may disclose AI use in manuscript preparation, which reviewers can see at the end of the paper before the References. Reviewers are fully responsible for their evaluations, and AI tools are only intended to support, not replace, human judgment in the review process.

 

Duties of the Authors

1. Responsibility

Authors must carefully read the information regarding the publication standards and principles, ensuring that the submitted manuscript is original, has quality and constitutes a relevant contribution to be disseminated internationally. The authors undertake not to use offensive, discriminatory or abusive language, particularly regarding issues of ethnicity, culture, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, language, disability, health conditions, socioeconomic status, marital or parental status, among other issues that may be of a sensitive nature. The authors ensure the protection, or the confidentiality, of the data presented in their study, as well as the integrity of the research.

2. Research Report

Authors must clearly and precisely report the original research in their manuscript, describing the work carried out and presenting a discussion that contributes to the study area under analysis. The data collected must be correctly reported. The manuscript must contain detailed information to allow other researchers to replicate the research conducted.

3. Data access and restrictions

Authors must be prepared to provide further data relating to their manuscript or to provide public access to it. When requested, authors must share the data with the Editorial Coordination, to confirm a result or answer questions that may arise from the review process. They must also preserve their data for a reasonable time after publishing their work. The authors undertake to obtain informed consent, oral or written, from research participants or their legal representatives, whenever ethically recommended. They must be prepared to present such consent to the Editorial Coordination if requested, or to present the authorization for the research granted by a competent entity if applicable.

4. Source recognition and plagiarism

Authors must explicitly indicate, give credit to, and reference other authors, whenever they use data or material from others in their research. They must accurately indicate the sources and recognize the contributions mentioned, citing publications that have been predominant in the work being reported, even in case of previous works by the author. Plagiarism is unethical behavior and is considered fraud. All articles submitted go through a plagiarism detection software, such as Urkund.

5. Misconducts

The appropriation of intellectual work without legal consent constitutes a form of misconduct. The fabrication or falsification of results, the intentional distortion of results, as well as the presentation of the same work, in whole or in part, without explicit mention of the original source and the replicated parts, are also considered forms of misconduct. Authors must not falsify or fabricate data, sources, results, conclusions, or credentials. Incorrect or fraudulent statements constitute forms of unethical behavior and are unacceptable. Any conduct that violates the journal's ethical code will be reported to the ESCS Ethics Committee. Such practices will be investigated and sanctioned following the journal's code of ethics, what is established by COPE and the Ethics Committee, as well as the legal framework in force.

6. Originality and multiple, concurrent, or redundant publication

Authors must ensure that they have produced an original and unpublished manuscript, not previously published. Authors should not submit the same manuscript, describing essentially the same research, to different journals. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal in a competitive manner is considered unethical behavior. Comunicação Pública accepts articles based on dissertations or theses, in case they have not been previously published, and as long as the author writes this information in a note at the beginning of the article.

7. Authorship of the manuscript

Authorship of manuscripts should be limited to authors who provided a substantive contribution to the conception, design, execution, and interpretation of the reported research. The main author of the article must ensure that all co-authors are included in the manuscript, and that inappropriate co-authors are excluded. It must also be ensured that all co-authors are aware of the final version of the manuscript to be submitted and that they agree with its publication. In the case of collective authorship, and prior to the submission of the article, the authors agree among themselves on the order in which they will appear associated with the publication, which must reflect their degree of involvement and responsibility. In case the work is based on dissertations or theses, the student's name must appear first, followed by the name of the supervisors.

8. Conflicts of interest

Authors must express in their manuscript any conflicts of interest, such as financial or other, which could be interpreted as a factor of influence on the results or analysis of the reported data. The authors undertake to declare that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results or conclusions of the work. All sources of funding must also be reported in the manuscript.

9. Significant errors in published works

When an author discovers a significant error in their published work, they must immediately notify the Editorial Coordination and collaborate in the removal or correction of the article. The Editorial Coordination may choose to add a correction note in the published article.

      10. Guidelines for the Use of AI Tools

Comunicação Pública recognizes the value of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies (“AI Tools”) in supporting manuscript preparation. These tools, however, must never replace human expertise and critical thinking. Authors remain fully responsible for the integrity, originality, and quality of their work.

• Responsible Use: AI Tools may assist with tasks such as organization, readability, or literature summaries, but authors must always verify accuracy, completeness, and impartiality. References generated by AI must be checked against original sources. Any use of AI must respect data privacy, intellectual property, and confidentiality.
• Disclosure: Use of AI Tools must be declared in the manuscript and will appear at the end of the published article, before the References. Authors should indicate the tool used, its purpose, and the extent of human oversight. Routine grammar or spelling checks do not require disclosure. If AI is part of the research methodology, full details must be provided in the methods section. Example: During the preparation of this work, the authors used [AI Tool name, version] to [state purpose]. After using this tool, the authors reviewed and edited the content as necessary and take full responsibility for the final version of the manuscript.
• Authorship: AI Tools cannot be credited as authors or co-authors. Authorship requires human responsibilities such as approving the final manuscript, ensuring accuracy, and meeting ethical and originality standards.
• Figures, Images, and Artwork: AI-generated or AI-altered images are not permitted, except for basic adjustments (e.g., brightness, contrast) that do not obscure information. If AI is part of the research design, its use must be described in the methods section, with full details of the tool and reproducible explanations. Generative AI may be used for cover artwork only with prior editor and publisher approval and proper rights clearance.
• Author Responsibilities: Authors must ensure that their manuscripts represent their own original contribution, comply with ethical and legal standards, avoid factual errors and bias, and include transparent disclosure of AI use when relevant.

 

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