Ethics policy

Ethics policy for authors

The authors guarantee that the submitted work is original and unpublished, and that it does not contain extracts or fragments from works published by other authors. Furthermore, they affirm the accuracy of the empirical data, confirming that it has not been altered to validate the hypothesis.

Additionally, the authors ensure that the results will not be published in more than one scientific journal. The simultaneous submission of the same contribution to multiple journals is considered ethically inappropriate.

Regarding authorship, the authors have been organized according to their level of responsibility and respective roles in the work. All authors assume full responsibility for what they have written and for the content expressed in the published text.

Finally, the authors guarantee that they have not engaged in inappropriate authorship, data falsification, or manipulation. They are also obliged to explicitly declare that there are no conflicts of interest related to the presented results.

Ethics policy for evaluators

Reviewers of each issue are expected to:

1. Act in accordance with the principles of competence, confidentiality, impartiality and honesty, diligence, respect, and courtesy.
2. Commit to conducting a critical, honest, constructive, and objective review of both the scientific and literary quality of the work.
3. Adhere to the established deadline for the review process.
4. Accept to review articles only if they possess the necessary expertise in the subject matter and if no conflict of interest exists.
5. Inform the editors if the submitted manuscript has been previously published or if they are aware of it through means other than the Caribbean Journal of Educational Research.
6. Refrain from using information obtained during the review process for personal gain or to benefit third parties.

To ensure transparency, the journal publishes real-time statistics on the reviewers who contribute to each issue.

Editorial Team Code of Ethics

The editorial team is committed to selecting the most qualified and expert reviewers in the research area of the manuscript under review. It also guarantees the confidentiality of contributions from both authors and reviewers, ensuring that anonymity preserves the intellectual integrity of the entire editorial process.

Editors are responsible for adhering to the established deadlines for the review and publication of accepted manuscripts to ensure the prompt dissemination of research findings.

Moreover, the editorial team ensures that publication decisions are based solely on academic and scientific criteria, free from any commercial or personal influence. Any form of favoritism in the selection and evaluation of manuscripts is strictly prohibited.

The editorial team is also responsible for verifying that accepted articles are free from plagiarism and data manipulation.

The Caribbean Journal of Educational Research adheres to the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). For more information, please visit: https://publicationethics.org/.

Procedure on allegations of misconduct

When scientific misconduct is identified, or concerns are raised regarding the integrity of a submitted or published article, the following procedure will be followed:

1. Any allegation of potential scientific misconduct must be reported to the journal's official email: [email protected].
2. The editor will notify the corresponding author in writing about the allegation of misconduct, providing details of the accusation while maintaining the confidentiality of the source.
3. If the corresponding author cannot be contacted, the editor will reach out to the co-authors. If there is no response from the co-authors, the institutional authorities will be contacted. If no response is received from any of the parties, the editorial team will consider it an unsatisfactory response.
4. The author has ten days to respond in writing to the allegation.
5. If the author's response is satisfactory, an apology will be issued to the author.
6. If the response is unsatisfactory and misconduct is confirmed, a retraction of the article will be published on the journal's website. If the article has not yet been published, it will be withdrawn from the editorial process.

Cases of misconduct include, but are not limited to, plagiarism, data falsification or manipulation, inappropriate authorship, duplicate publication, and manipulation of the peer review process.

Conflict of Interests

Authors are required to provide a written declaration if there is any potential conflict of interest related to their article.

Reviewers are entrusted with the critical assessment of contributions and are expected to act with impartiality, objectivity, promptness, confidentiality, respect, and acknowledgment of uncited sources. They must align with the journal's editorial guidelines and declare any potential conflicts of interest.

Expert reviewers are required to disclose any potential conflicts of interest through a written declaration for each case.

Editors must also declare any potential conflicts of interest that may influence their decision-making process.

Ethics in Research Involving Human Subjects

For articles involving research with human subjects, authors must ensure that their study complies with both international and national ethical standards.

Authors are required to provide evidence of approval from an ethics review committee when applicable. Additionally, they must obtain informed consent from participants and ensure the anonymity and privacy of their data.

In accordance with the journal's policy, personal data must be handled in compliance with current data protection regulations.

Corrections and Retractions

The journal is committed to ensuring transparency in the publication of errata and corrected versions. If a published article contains significant errors that affect its validity, an official correction will be issued.

In cases where there is evidence of scientific misconduct or serious errors that invalidate the findings, the article will be retracted. Corrections and retractions will be publicly announced on the journal's website and linked to the original article.

Editorial policy on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The Revista Caribeña de Investigación Educativa (RECIE) reaffirms its commitment to ethics, scientific integrity, and editorial transparency, in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), SciELO, and international best practices in scholarly communication. Within this framework, the following guidelines are established for the responsible and transparent use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the preparation, review, and publication of scientific manuscripts.

General principles

AI tools cannot be listed as authors of a manuscript, as they do not meet the criteria for scientific authorship related to intellectual responsibility, legal capacity, conflict of interest disclosure, or copyright transfer.

Authors bear full and exclusive responsibility for all content in the manuscript, including sections assisted or generated by AI tools.

Improper or undisclosed use of AI constitutes a serious ethical violation. Improper use includes, but is not limited to:

• The generation of false data, results, or references.
• The manipulation of images or scientific evidence without explicit disclosure.
• The automatic generation of literature reviews without academic verification.
• The misappropriation of authorship or intellectual contribution.
• Concealing the use of generative AI at any substantial stage of manuscript development.

RECIE distinguishes between automated editorial support tools (such as spell checkers, grammar correction tools, or conventional statistical software) and generative AI tools capable of producing text, images, analyses, or interpretations. Only the latter must be mandatorily disclosed when they have a substantial impact on the development of the manuscript.

For authors

When AI tools are used in any phase of writing, analysis, translation, interpretation, image generation, or manuscript editing, authors must include a “Statement on the Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies” before the references section.

Likewise, when AI has had a significant impact on the research or production of the manuscript, its use must also be described in the methodology or equivalent section.

The statement must clearly and specifically indicate:

• The tool used.
• The version of the tool (when applicable).
• The purpose of its use.
• The extent of its contribution to the manuscript.
• The human supervision and validation procedures carried out by the authors.

When AI tools are used for data analysis, interpretation of results, or generation of scientific content, authors must clearly describe the procedures applied, parameters used, and validation mechanisms implemented to ensure the reproducibility and reliability of the results.

Authors must verify the authenticity, accuracy, and relevance of all references generated or suggested by AI tools, ensuring that such references actually exist and adequately support the claims made in the manuscript.

When AI tools are used to generate content incorporated into the manuscript, such use must be properly documented and referenced in accordance with APA guidelines, indicating the tool used, its version, and the date of access.

Authors assume full ethical, academic, and legal responsibility for all content generated, assisted, or modified through AI tools.

For reviewers

Reviewers must inform the editors if they detect signs of undisclosed AI use in a manuscript.

The use of AI tools to conduct peer review is not permitted without proper critical supervision by the reviewer and without prior notification to the journal editors.

Manuscripts submitted for review must not be uploaded to open or external AI platforms that may store, reuse, or disclose confidential content, author identities, or information protected under the peer-review process.

The use of AI tools by reviewers must comply with the principles of confidentiality, academic integrity, and editorial transparency.

For Editors

Editors may use AI tools solely as technical, administrative, or complementary support in editorial tasks such as similarity detection, metadata assignment, reviewer identification, or language assistance.

Final responsibility for editorial decisions rests exclusively with human editors.

Editors must not upload unpublished manuscripts to AI platforms or services that may compromise confidentiality, intellectual property, or the privacy of authors and reviewers.

Any substantial use of AI tools in editorial processes must be internally documented in accordance with the journal’s transparency and editorial ethics policies.

RECIE will promote the continuous training of editors and reviewers on the ethical, critical, and responsible use of AI tools in scholarly communication.

AI-generated images

The inclusion of images created through AI, machine learning, or similar technologies is not recommended unless they are part of the methodological design or constitute a formal research outcome.

If such images are indispensable, they must be accompanied by a precise description of the procedure used, clearly indicating:

• The tool employed.
• The methodology used for generation.
• The relevant parameters or prompts.
• The purpose of their inclusion in the manuscript.

Authors assume ethical and academic responsibility for the integrity, authenticity, and accuracy of visual content generated through AI.

Consequences

Undisclosed or fraudulent use of AI in a manuscript may result in:

• Immediate rejection of the submission.
• Temporary suspension of future submissions.
• Notification to the authors’ affiliated institutions when appropriate.
• Retraction of the article, in accordance with COPE guidelines and international best practices in scholarly publishing.

RECIE reserves the right to request clarifications, evidence, or additional documentation regarding the use of AI tools at any stage of the editorial process.