Code of Ethincs
Code of Ethics and Best Editorial Practices
1. Ethical Commitment and International Standards
UDA Law Review strictly adheres to the transparency guidelines and standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). This ethical framework comprehensively guides the actions of the editorial management, authors, and reviewers to ensure integrity at every stage of the publication process. The editorial team is committed to acting with absolute impartiality, evaluating manuscripts solely on the basis of their academic merit and methodological rigor, and will investigate any suspicion of scientific misconduct in accordance with international protocols for academic integrity.
2. Responsibilities and Criteria for Authorship
Regarding author responsibility, authorship is reserved exclusively for those who have made substantial contributions to the conceptualization, methodology, or critical writing of the study. The journal requires the use of the Contribution Role Taxonomy (CRediT) to detail the participation of each team member (maximum three authors), prohibiting misauthorship. Authors guarantee that the work is original and unpublished, assuming full responsibility for the accuracy and reliability of the content presented, adhering to the Chicago citation style, 18th edition.
3. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism Prevention
To ensure the originality of the research, each manuscript is analyzed using Turnitin® software. Any overlap exceeding 20% with other sources, excluding properly referenced bibliographic citations, is considered a potential ethical violation. Plagiarism in all its forms, including redundant publication or self-plagiarism, will result in the immediate rejection of the article and notification to the authors, and may lead to restrictions on future submissions.
5. Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The use of generative artificial intelligence tools is permitted only to assist in improving grammatical clarity, coherence, or style of the text. Under no circumstances will an AI be accepted as an author or co-author, given that authorship entails legal and ethical responsibilities that can only be assumed by natural persons. Authors are fully responsible for the final content and must supervise and edit the generated results to avoid errors, biases, or incomplete information.
Mandatory declaration: Any use of these technologies must be declared at the time of initial submission. This declaration must be included in the manuscript in a specific section titled "Declaration on the Use of Generative AI in Writing," located immediately before the list of references. This rule does not apply to basic spell-checking or reference management tools.
Declaration Format: To ensure transparency, authors should use the following format:
"In preparing this manuscript, the author(s) used [Name of tool/service] to [State reason: improve writing, correct style, etc.]. After using this tool, the content was reviewed and fully adjusted by the author(s), who assume full responsibility for the accuracy and content of the published article."
Editorial Restrictions: To safeguard the confidentiality of unpublished research and copyright, UDA Law Review strictly prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence by reviewers or members of the editorial committee during the evaluation and peer review process.
6. Double-Blind Peer Review Process
External reviewers conduct their work under a double-blind system, maintaining strict confidentiality regarding the documents received. Their evaluation must be technical, constructive, and free from personal bias, committing to deliver their reports within an average of 45 days. Reviewers are obligated to alert the Editorial Committee to any suspected conflicts of interest or breaches of integrity detected during the peer review process, thus ensuring the scientific quality of the publication.
7. Retractions, Error Management, and Inclusion
UDA Law Review reserves the right to withdraw or retract published articles if serious ethical violations, data manipulation, or plagiarism are subsequently discovered. In the event of unintentional errors that do not invalidate the research conclusions, the journal will publish an erratum permanently linked to the original document. Authors and reviewers are obligated to declare any conflicts of interest that could compromise the objectivity of the evaluation or the study results. The use of
