Best practice guidelines

All persons involved in the publication of papers in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España (authors, reviewers and editors) should take into account these guidelines of best practices where basic ethical rules for the publication of scientific papers are indicated.

FOR AUTHORS

- The papers will be signed by the authors, who will be the persons that have contributed substantially to the development of the work and who agree on the final version of the paper and accept responsibility for all aspects of the article.

- In the article, the authors must declare the existence or non-existence of sources of funding for the study, indicating the sponsoring organisations and whether they influenced any aspect of the study. They must also declare the existence or non-existence of any conflict of interest that may bias the scientific content of the article (information presented and/or interpretation of the data). For example: financial and/or personal relationship with individuals or organisations that may have influenced the author's work and/or benefited from the content of the study, such as employment, consultancies, receiving honoraria, travel grants, testimony or participation in courses/conferences as a paid expert, etc.

- They will not submit manuscripts that are under review in another journal, nor will they send the manuscript in question to another journal, until they are notified of their rejection for publication in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España or the authors withdraw the manuscript voluntarily.

- The work must be original and must not be a redundant publication of an aspect already published in a previous article, unless it is a compilation and review of previous information. It must be an unpublished, concrete work, which can publish its data and interpretations, in a reasoned way, in the format established for articles in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España.

- They must correctly indicate, in accordance with the rules of the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España, the bibliographical sources from which they have extracted ideas, literal phrases or data that they consider of interest for the development of their research.

- They must indicate the source of figures and images of any kind provided that they are not original. In appropriate cases, they must provide the necessary reproduction permissions, when they come from a previous publication with copyright.

- Very long papers may be divided into several parts, so that each part develops an aspect of the research. Each part must be sufficient in its own right to constitute a separate article.

- In the case of multiple-authored manuscripts, there will be a responsible author who will also be in charge of communication with the Editor-in-Chief (corresponding author). This author must ensure that the other authors have actively participated in the preparation of the manuscript and must inform them of the decisions taken by the Editor-in-Chief and/or Editorial Team.

- If an author discovers an erratum in the manuscript, he/she must inform the Editor-in-Chief so that it can be corrected according to the stage of editorial process of the manuscript. If the manuscript is published, an "erratum" will be submitted as soon as possible, if the Editorial Committee deems it appropriate.

- Authors are advised to acknowledge in the article the work carried out by the reviewers, even if they are anonymous.

FOR REVIEWERS  

- They must inform the Editor-in-Chief if there is any conflict of interest, such as a close professional or personal relationship with the authors, or if there are profound scientific discrepancies with the subject of the manuscript to be reviewed, which could affect their impartiality, i.e., any type of situation that could influence the evaluation of the work.

- They must consider the work under review as a confidential document until publication.

- They must carry out the review objectively, considering the entire manuscript.

- They should make constructive and well-argued criticisms.

- They must warn the Editor-in-Chief of any indication of plagiarism, invented, falsified or manipulated data.

- They must check that the works cited in the manuscript are relevant to the subject matter. Recommending the reviewer's own published work must be well justified.

- They must submit the manuscript review report on the date agreed with the Editor-in-Chief. In the event of delay or inability to meet the agreed deadline, they must inform the Editor-in-Chief as soon as possible.

FOR EDITORS, SCIENTIFIC BOARD MEMBERS, AND SPECIAL VOLUME EDITORS

- They must be impartial in the handling of manuscripts submitted for possible publication in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España. Members of the Editorial Committee will not participate or influence, in any way, in the evaluation and editorial decision of papers they have authored or manifest a conflict of interest. In the event that they are signatories of a manuscript submitted to the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España, they will not participate in the evaluation process.

- They must recognise the right of reply of the authors of manuscripts that have been negatively evaluated.

- They must maintain the confidentiality of the texts received and their content until they are accepted for publication. Under no circumstances may they use or allow third parties to use the data or interpretations of unpublished manuscripts.

- They must guarantee that all manuscripts received in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España have been reviewed by at least two specialists in the field who must act impartially. If there are conflicting reports between two reviewers, they must request the mediation of a third reviewer.

- They must impartially analyse the authors' justified report on the rejection of the performance of certain reviewers.

- They must expressly indicate to the reviewers the importance of assessing the originality of the work, as well as the need to highlight total or partial plagiarism or the use of invented, manipulated and/or falsified data.

- They must acknowledge, in writing, the work carried out by the reviewers.

- They must inform, with justification, of the decision to accept or reject any manuscript. In doing so, they will take into consideration the reviewers' reports.

- They may report negatively, without the need for reviewers' reports, when the manuscript submitted for evaluation does not meet the required quality, shows evidence of plagiarism or any other type of scientific fraud, does not meet the scientific objectives or does not comply with the rules of the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España.

- Special Editors, appointed to manage special volumes, must strictly adhere to these best practice guidelines. They must consult with the Editor-in-Chief on any decisions taken. In addition, they should extend an open invitation to all scientific community interested in participating in the special volume. 

Good editorial practices on gender equality

The Editorial Committee endeavours to promote gender equality in all its activities and management, specifically, to ensure parity in the Editorial and Scientific Committees, as well as in the review and evaluation of papers submitted to the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España. On the other hand, the journal includes the full name of the authors of the papers submitted to the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España, without any kind of discrimination.

USE OF INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE

The Editorial Committee recommends the use of inclusive language for articles or papers published in the Revista de la Sociedad Geológica de España. Inclusive language recognises diversity, conveys respect for all people, is sensitive to differences and promotes equal opportunities. The contents of the journal should not make assumptions about the beliefs or commitments of any reader; should not contain anything that could imply that any person is superior to another on the basis of age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health status; and should use inclusive language at all times. Authors, reviewers and editors should ensure that writing is free of bias, stereotypes, jargon, references to the dominant culture and/or cultural assumptions. We advise seeking gender neutrality by using plural nouns by default, wherever possible, to avoid the use of "he/she", "they/them", etc. We recommend avoiding the use of descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, disability or health status, unless they are relevant and valid. These guidelines are intended as a reference point to help identify appropriate language, but are by no means exhaustive or definitive, and may be revised by the Editorial Board in the interests of advocacy and the use of appropriate language.