Ethics Code

Revista de Comunicación y Salud (RCYS) is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical conduct throughout all stages of the publication process. This commitment is reflected in our adherence to leading industry organizations such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Elsevier’s Publishing Ethics Resource Kit (PERK). These entities establish rigorous standards and provide guidelines that inform our best practices and ensure compliance.

This Ethical Code aims to ensure that authors, reviewers, editorial staff, and health professionals maintain high ethical standards in their activities, promoting honesty, responsibility, diversity, quality, and relevance in the information shared. By adhering to these principles, the journal seeks to guarantee its integrity, readers' trust, and a positive impact on public health.

Authorship and Contribution Policy

RCYS respects the order in which authors appear and their institutional affiliations, assuming that this order has been agreed upon in advance and that all listed authors share co-responsibility for the integrity and content of the submitted manuscript.

To prevent citation exchange and honorary authorship, the journal requires authors to complete a “Contributions” section based on the CRedit taxonomy. This section must be included after the references, detailing each author’s specific contributions to the research and manuscript writing. In the case of single-author manuscripts, this section is not applicable, as all contributions are understood to correspond to the sole author.

The journal requires that all authors review and approve the final version of the manuscript prior to submission. To this end, the submission must include a Statement of Originality.

Peer Review and Editorial Quality

Once manuscripts pass the initial screening, RCYS subjects them to a double-blind peer review process that is impartial and objective, carried out by experts in the relevant field. Peer review is essential to ensure the accuracy and quality of the content. Editors must ensure that manuscripts are assessed by qualified professionals who provide constructive feedback and help enhance the quality and reliability of the publication.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

Well-founded complaints from authors may be submitted formally via email to: comunicacionysalud@hisin.org. They will be addressed within a maximum period of 30 days from receipt, following COPE's recommended flowcharts and the journal's internal policies. The identity of reviewers will never be disclosed as part of the resolution process. RCYS is committed to following clear and fair procedures to address all complaints or appeals related to published articles.

Appeals regarding the peer review process will be considered if the author identifies potential errors in the evaluation. The competence of reviewers will not be questioned. Complaints should be addressed to the Editor, along with the necessary rationale and supporting documentation. If necessary, the Editorial Committee or a subject expert will intervene. A resolution will be provided within a maximum of three months. RCYS is committed to investigating all appeals thoroughly and taking appropriate corrective measures when necessary.

Should a case of plagiarism be identified after publication and confirmed by the Editorial Board, the article will be removed from the journal’s website and from all databases and repositories. To prevent such situations, RCYS submits all manuscripts to anti-plagiarism software before peer review.

Conflict of Interest Policy

RCYS is committed to publishing clear and detailed disclosures of any potential conflicts of interest related to its published content. All authors, reviewers, and editorial staff must declare any conflicts of interest—such as personal relationships, professional affiliations, or funding—that could affect the impartiality of the publication process.

Reviewers must inform the editorial office if they identify any ethical concerns that may arise during the review, such as the manuscript not being properly anonymized or including content that may reveal the identity of its authors.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy

As part of our commitment to open and accessible science, we encourage authors to deposit supplementary materials or at least the research data underlying their publications in institutional or thematic open access repositories federated in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC).

RCYS promotes transparency and reproducibility in research, endorses international data sharing guidelines, and ensures that datasets are accessible and reusable by other researchers. The journal also supports the use of standardized methods and protocols to enhance research reproducibility.

Ethical Oversight Policy

The Ethics Committee, composed of five members of the Scientific Committee and renewed every four calendar years (since 2010), acts as a mediator in the event of conflicts between authors and reviewers and represents the Editorial Office.

In cases of detected irregularities or doubts regarding submissions, the committee may act ex officio to clarify the situation, applying an ethical code aligned with the COPE guidelines (Committee on Publication Ethics).

RCYS ensures that all published research complies with ethical and legal standards and requires authors to provide evidence of approval from the relevant ethics committees.

Intellectual Property Policy

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication under a Creative Commons license, allowing others to share the work as long as proper credit is given to both the authors and the journal.

Once an article is published—either in its final form or as an early version—it may be non-exclusively redistributed (e.g., deposited in an institutional repository or included in a book), provided the original publication in the journal is acknowledged.

The journal will inform authors of any intellectual property concerns that may arise during the editorial process and will take appropriate action to resolve them.

Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections

RCYS considers publishing post-publication rebuttals, provided they are well-argued, evidence-based, and peer-reviewed. Such rebuttals will be reviewed by the same reviewers who evaluated the original article.

Comments, disagreements, and related concerns must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief at comunicacionysalud@hisin.org. The journal encourages scientific debate by publishing letters to the editor and expert commentaries.

Editorial Team Responsibilities

  • Ensure confidentiality during the review process.

  • Apply objective and transparent criteria when evaluating manuscripts.

  • Act independently and without conflicts of interest.

  • Follow a retraction protocol in cases of fraud or misconduct, in line with COPE guidelines.

Author Responsibilities

Honesty and accuracy:
Authors and health professionals must provide accurate, truthful, and evidence-based information, avoiding exaggeration, data manipulation, or misinformation.

Respect for privacy and confidentiality:
Authors must protect the identity and personal data of individuals involved, securing informed consent where applicable.

Scientific rigor:
Research must be based on sound scientific methods and avoid promoting treatments not backed by credible evidence.

Diversity and equity:
Authors must use inclusive language, avoid bias or stereotyping, and respect cultural and social diversity.

Conflict of interest disclosure:
Authors must transparently disclose any financial, institutional, or personal connections that could influence their objectivity.

Social impact and responsibility:
Authors must avoid promoting harmful practices and instead advocate for healthy behaviors, preventive care, and evidence-based public health guidance. Articles should empower readers to make informed decisions about their well-being.

Reviewer Responsibilities

  • Conduct fair and objective evaluations.

  • Adhere to review deadlines, and notify the editor if unable to complete the task.

  • Clearly explain the reasoning behind their decisions.

  • Decline to review any manuscript where a conflict of interest may exist.

  • Maintain confidentiality and refrain from disclosing manuscript content.

  • Evaluate manuscripts solely based on their scholarly merit, irrespective of authors' personal or cultural background.

Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Revista de Comunicación y Salud acknowledges the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and their growing use in research and scientific publishing processes. In order to preserve the integrity of the editorial process, the journal requires authors to explicitly disclose whether AI has been used at any stage of the work, including research, writing, or data analysis. Authors must include in the Methodology section a clear statement on the use of AI, specifying the LLM employed (model name), version, date(s) of use, purpose(s), and the way in which the final content was verified in order to avoid errors or “hallucinations.”

AI may only be used as an auxiliary tool and cannot be listed as an author or generate substantive content of the article. The use of AI in editorial decision-making or peer review is strictly prohibited. These rules are aligned with Committee on Publication Ethics guidance on AI in scholarly publishing.

For authors:

Authors shall bear full responsibility for the content of the manuscript, as well as for the review and validation of any results, text, analysis, or material generated with the support of automated or artificial intelligence tools.

The use of automated tools or AI does not exempt authors from ensuring the accuracy, coherence, originality, and scientific reliability of the submitted work.

Automated tools or artificial intelligence systems may not be listed as authors or co-authors of manuscripts.

AI-generated content may not be cited as a bibliographic source or regarded as a primary or secondary source in academic work.

For the journal:

Reviewers and editors must not use generative AI to draft their reports or evaluations, due to the risks involved, including potential breaches of confidentiality, the production of generic or insufficiently specific feedback, the introduction of bias, the presence of hidden prompts, and the generation of inaccurate information, including non-existent references. However, editing or rephrasing tasks may be acceptable provided that their use is explicitly disclosed.

The journal or publishing entity must disclose any routine use of automated tools in its processes, provided that such tools have been properly assessed and tested in advance.

In any case, the use of automated tools shall be subject to human oversight. Accordingly, the journal uses Crossref’s Similarity Check service, through iThenticate 2.0 (Turnitin), to identify textual similarities and to support the detection of potential academic integrity issues.

Likewise, it may use the AI writing assessment functionality integrated into iThenticate 2.0 as a support tool to identify text fragments potentially generated or modified באמצעות generative AI. Given that this type of system may produce false positives or false negatives, its results shall never be used as the sole basis for making editorial decisions or for attributing improper conduct.

Any textual match, indication of possible undeclared use of generative AI, image manipulation or duplication, or automated suggestion related to the editorial assessment shall be reviewed individually by an editor or another member of the editorial team, who will consider the context, the nature of the manuscript, and the explanations provided by the authors before making any decision.