Editorial Ethics Policy

Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

Horizonte Científico International Journal (HCIJ) – 2023

Horizonte Científico International Journal (HCIJ) is firmly committed to upholding the highest ethical standards in academic publishing, ensuring integrity, transparency, and quality throughout the editorial process. The journal adheres to the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), adapted to the fields of science, education, educational technology, and related disciplines. The following outlines the core ethical principles adopted by the journal. For further details, readers are encouraged to consult the official documentation of COPE and ICMJE.

Editorial Board Responsibilities

Editorial Independence and Impartial Evaluation
All manuscripts are evaluated solely on their academic merit, originality, clarity, relevance to HCIJ’s multidisciplinary scope, and methodological rigor. No discrimination is made based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, or institutional affiliation. Editorial decisions are made independently and free from external pressure, under the oversight of the Editor-in-Chief to ensure fairness and transparency.

Confidentiality
All manuscript-related information is treated with strict confidentiality. Only editors, peer reviewers, and the corresponding author will have access to the manuscript content during the review process.

Conflicts of Interest and Disclosure
The use of unpublished materials for personal, institutional, or commercial gain is strictly prohibited. If a conflict of interest arises involving any editorial board member and the authors, funders, or institutions, the editor must withdraw from the evaluation process and assign the manuscript to another editor.

Scientific Publication Ethics

All research must comply with the ethical regulations of the country or region where the study is conducted. Authors are solely responsible for obtaining institutional approvals or ethics committee authorization prior to beginning their research.

If manuscripts include images, testimonies, or sensitive personal data, authors must ensure participant privacy and anonymity, following the ICMJE recommendations for academic publication:
https://www.icmje.org/recommendations

Research Involving Humans or Animals

Studies involving human or animal subjects must adhere to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (latest version). For human studies, authors must obtain informed consent from participants and explicitly state this in the manuscript.

Randomized controlled trials in clinical, educational, or technological contexts must be approved by an institutional review board or ethics committee, registered in public databases (such as ClinicalTrials.gov), and disclose their funding sources.

Conflict of Interest Declaration

All authors are required to disclose any financial, institutional, or personal relationships that may have influenced the study’s design, development, or publication. This information must be included in the designated section of the manuscript. If no conflicts exist, the following statement must be provided:

“Conflicts of interest: none.”

If applicable, authors must submit the ICMJE Disclosure of Interest Form, available at:
https://www.icmje.org/disclosure-of-interest

The information disclosed in the form must fully align with what is reported in the manuscript.

Funding Statement

Authors must indicate in the manuscript any institutions or organizations that funded the research and/or the writing of the article, specifying the extent of their involvement in the study design, data analysis, manuscript preparation, and decision to publish.

If the research received no external funding, the following statement should be included:

“Funding: this research received no external financial support.”