Ethical code

COMMUNICATION PAPERS. MEDIA LITERACY AND GENDER STUDIES's  Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The Journal of Communication Papers – Media Literacy & Gender Studies’s ethics and malpractice statement are based on the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors, available at  Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). 

We encourage all prospective authors and reviewers to familiarize themselves with COPE's recommendations before submitting manuscripts or conducting reviews. To emphasize our core ethical commitments, we provide below a non-exhaustive list of stringent guidelines that govern the submission, selection, evaluation, feedback, and publication processes at Communication Papers.

All pieces involved in the publishing process (Editors, Reviewers, Authors and Publishers) are expected to agree on the following ethical principles:


(i) All submissions must be original, unpublished (including as full text in conference proceedings), and not under the review of any other publication synchronously.

(ii) Each manuscript is reviewed by one of the editors and at least two referees under double-blind peer review process.

(iii) Plagiarism, duplication, fraud authorship/denied authorship, research/data fabrication, salami slicing/salami publication, breaching of copyrights, prevailing conflict of interest are unethical behaviors.

(iv) All manuscripts not in accordance with the accepted ethical standards mentioned above will be removed from the publication. This also contains any possible malpractice discovered after the publication. In accordance with the code of conduct the editorial team will report any cases of suspected plagiarism or duplicate publishing.

Publication Policy

The journal adheres to the highest standards of publication ethics. It adopts the ethical publishing principles published by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME); you can visit the link below for the principles expressed under the title Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines-new/principles-transparency-and-best-practice-scholarly-publishing

Submitted manuscripts should be appropriate to the purpose and scope of the journal. Original, previously unpublished manuscripts or manuscripts that are not under evaluation in another journal at the same time and whose content and each author has approved submission are accepted for evaluation.

In the manuscripts submitted to the journal for publication, the name of any of the authors cannot be deleted from the imprint, a new name cannot be added to the imprint, and the order of authors cannot be changed without the written permission of all authors.

Plagiarism, duplication, false authorship/ denied authorship, research/data fabrication, article slicing, slicing and dicing, copyright infringement, and concealment of conflict of interest are considered unethical behaviors. All studies that do not comply with accepted ethical standards are removed from publication. In addition, the publication of unlawful and/or unethical studies detected after the publication process is stopped in the same way.

Plagiarism Check

All manuscripts are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. Authors are informed if plagiarism/self-plagiarism is detected. If necessary, editors may check the manuscript for plagiarism at various stages of the review or production process. High similarity rates may result in a manuscript being rejected before or even after acceptance. Depending on the type of manuscript, a similarity rate of less than 20% is mandatory for publication.

Double-Blind Review Process

After the plagiarism check, the editor-in-chief evaluates the eligible manuscripts, especially in terms of originality, methodology, the importance of the subject matter, and compatibility with the journal’s scope. Then, the editor-in-chief submits the manuscripts that meet the formal requirements to at least two referees from Spain and/or abroad for a fair double-blind review. Finally, the editor-in-chief approves the publication of the manuscript after the changes deemed necessary by the referees are made by the author(s).

AI Usage

Communication Papers does not accept submissions that are partially or fully generated using AI tools, consistent with the policies of most academic publishers. However, this does not apply to the use of AI or other tools for checking and improving spelling and grammar in submitted materials. Any other use of AI must be explicitly disclosed in the submitted work.

Research Ethics

The Communication Papers Journal upholds the highest standards and adopts the international principles of research ethics. It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that manuscripts comply with ethical guidelines.

- The principles of integrity, quality, and transparency must be ensured in the design, review of the invention, and conduct of the research.

- The author(s) should inform the participants and/or the research team about the purpose of the research, methods and possible anticipated uses, and the requirements and risks, if any, of participation in the research.

- Confidentiality of information provided by research participants and confidentiality of respondents must be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.

- Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily and not be under coercion.

- Harm to participants should be avoided. The research should be planned in a way that does not put participants at risk.

- Research independence must be clear and explicit; any conflict of interest must be stated.

- In experimental studies, written informed consent must be obtained from participants who decide to participate in the research. In addition, consent must be obtained from the legal guardian of children and those under guardianship or those with confirmed mental illness.

- If the study will be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization that the study will be conducted.

Editor Responsibilities

Communication Papers, in line with the recommendations of major international organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) considers necessary and essential to promote ethical publication and observes the following ethical principles throughout the editorial process:

  • The editor ensures that manuscripts submitted for publication undergo fair double-blind peer review.
  • All information about submitted articles remains confidential until the article is published.
  • The Editor is responsible for the content and overall quality of the publication.
  • The Editor should publish an error page or make necessary corrections.
  • The Editor does not allow conflicts of interest between authors, editors, and reviewers.
  • The Editor has full authority to appoint reviewers and is responsible for making the final decision on the articles to be published in the Journal.
  • The Editor evaluates manuscripts independently written by the authors’ ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religious, and political philosophy.
  • The Editor’s responsibility is to preserve the anonymity of authors and reviewers during the review process.
  • During the review process, the editor should make it clear to reviewers that manuscripts submitted for review are the private property of the authors and this is a privileged communication.
  • In some cases, at the editor's discretion, the referees' comments on the article may be sent to other referees who commented on the same theme to enlighten the referees in this process.

Reviewer Responsibilities

Communication Papers, in line with the recommendations of major international organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) considers necessary and essential to promote ethical publication and observes the following ethical principles throughout the review process:

  • Reviewers should have no conflicts of interest with the author(s) and/or financial supporters.
  • Reviewers should make an unbiased judgment at the end of their evaluation.
  • Reviewers should ensure that all information regarding submitted manuscripts is kept confidential and report to the editor if s/he notices any copyright infringement or plagiarism on the author’s part.
  • Reviewers should prepare a suitable evaluation report consisting of these values in the manuscript:
  • Originality of the manuscript
  • The scope of the manuscript
  • The methodological approach applied in the manuscript
  • The state-of-art of the manuscript
  • The relevant literature used in the manuscript
  • Findings and discussions and their compatibility with the theoretical and methodological approach.
  • Reviewers should provide timely feedback. In that case, he/she should inform the editor and ask him/her not to involve him/her in the review process.
  • Reviewers and editorial board members may not discuss articles with other individuals.

​Author’s Responsibility ​& Policy

According to the Uniformity Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), the "author" of a published work is considered to be a person who has contributed significantly to the publication intellectually. In the journal Communication Papers (Media Literacy & Gender Studies) the authors are asked to indicate the degree of contribution of each signing authorship.

Only people who have contributed intellectually to the development of the work should appear on the list of authors—having helped in the collection of data or having participated in some technique are not sufficient criteria to appear as an author. The author of an article must have participated in a relevant way in the design and development of this, as well as to assume responsibility for the contents and, likewise, must agree with the definitive version of the article. In general, to be listed as an author, the following requirements must be met:

  • Have participated in the conception and design, or in the acquisition of data, or in the analysis and interpretation of the data of the work that has resulted in the article in question
  • Have participated in the writing of the text and in the possible revisions
  • Have approved the version that will finally be published.

The journal Communication Papers (Media Literacy & Gender Studies) declines any responsibility for possible conflicts derived from the authorship of the works published in the Journal.

The journal Communication Papers (Media Literacy & Gender Studies) follows the decision tree recommended by COPE in case of a request to change the authorship of a received manuscript or an article already published.

Communication Papers, in line with the recommendations of major international organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) considers essential to promote ethical publication. The authors should follow the steps mentioned below:

  • Authors must follow scientific and ethical rules.
  • Authors must ensure that the article is original, has not been previously published elsewhere, and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, in another language.
  • Copyright laws and treaties should be highlighted. Copyrighted material (e.g., tables, figures or large quotations) should be used with appropriate permission and acknowledgment.
  • The work of other authors, contributors, or sources cited should be used appropriately and cited in the references.
  • All articles must contribute to the field and must be prepared in a specific conceptual, theoretical and methodological framework.
  • Funding, data collection, or general supervision of the research group alone does not confer authorship.
  • All individuals cited as authors must meet all the criteria listed, and any individual who meets the above criteria may be cited as an author.
  • The order of authors' names should be a joint decision.
  • All individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship but have contributed to the study should be listed in the "acknowledgments/information" section.
  • All authors should declare any financial relationships, conflicts of interest and competition of interest that have the potential to influence the results of the research or the scientific evaluation.
  • If an author identifies a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her published manuscript, he/she has the responsibility to immediately contact and cooperate with the editor for correction or retraction.
  • In studies with a human element, it should be stated in the "methods" section that "informed consent" was obtained from the participants and ethics committee approval was obtained from the institution where the study was conducted.
  • The moral and ethical responsibility of the authors implies:

- Consistency and reliability in research: must be responsible and legal, carefully crafted, using correct methods of analysis to guarantee the results and properly filed.

- Honesty: without lies and falsifications or data manipulations.

- Original: not published in another country or language, not presented simultaneously to more than one publication without the publishers having agreed to co-publishing pointing in the text, subject to copyright laws identifiable citing primary sources.

- Transparent to sources of research funding, including direct and indirect financial support, provision of equipment or materials, or other support.

- Responsibility: authors should adjust the text to the established publication rules. Must work ast and agile, making corrections. 

  • Indications of authorship. The degree of participation in the study will depend on the simultaneous presence of these conditions: intervention in all phases (structure, drafting, and revision), coordination with other authors, and the contribution to the obtaining funds' collection and analysis data. The firm order will be decided consensus and after. The author assumes public responsibility for the content of the article. Investigators with only minor contributions appear in the acknowledgments. The quality of the texts is based on the review process by anonymous peers and the option correspondence with the editor or comments on articles where other professionals are not directly linked to the review process can express their opinions contributing to the recognition of the scientific contributions of the literature.
  • The lien is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0 GB) of Spain.
  • The Journal subscribe the protocol of Good Practice of COPE and Wiley (2014).