EDITORIAL INBREEDING POLICY

General Principles

Sapiens Sciences (ISSN: 3072-7936) is committed to preventing editorial endogamy in order to safeguard academic independence, editorial impartiality, institutional diversity, scientific plurality, and the credibility of the scholarly publishing process.

The journal adheres to international best practices promoted by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, as well as the quality standards applied by major indexing and abstracting services such as SciELO, Scopus, DOAJ, Redalyc, and Latindex.

Editorial endogamy refers to the excessive concentration of publications authored by individuals directly or indirectly affiliated with the journal’s editorial structure or publishing institution in a manner that may compromise editorial independence, academic diversity, or the perception of fairness in the peer-review process.

Individuals Affiliated with the Journal

For the purposes of this policy, affiliated individuals include:

  • Editor-in-Chief.
  • Associate, Academic, or Section Editors.
  • Members of the Editorial Board.
  • Members of the Scientific Committee.
  • Members of the Advisory Board.
  • Technical or administrative personnel permanently involved in editorial management.
  • Representatives or authorities of the publishing institution.
  • Individuals who regularly participate in editorial decision-making processes.

Limit on Publications by Affiliated Authors

To preserve institutional and academic diversity, articles whose corresponding author or principal author is directly affiliated with the journal shall not exceed 25% of the total research articles published during a calendar year or within the two most recent journal issues.

The journal seeks to maintain a clear majority of contributions originating from authors external to both the publishing institution and the journal’s editorial and scientific bodies.

Evaluation of Manuscripts Submitted by Affiliated Individuals

Manuscripts submitted by affiliated individuals shall undergo the same editorial procedures and evaluation criteria applied to all other submissions.

No preferential, expedited, or differential treatment shall be granted to manuscripts submitted by members of the journal’s editorial or institutional structure.

All submissions shall be evaluated through a double-blind peer-review process, ensuring the anonymity of both authors and reviewers throughout the editorial process.

Editorial Independence and Conflict-of-Interest Management

When a manuscript is submitted by an affiliated individual:

  • The author shall not participate in any stage of the editorial handling of the manuscript.
  • The author shall not be involved in reviewer selection.
  • The author shall not have access to confidential information related to the evaluation process.
  • The author shall not participate in editorial discussions or decisions concerning the manuscript.
  • The author shall not directly or indirectly influence the editorial outcome.

Editorial responsibility shall be assigned to an independent editor who has no academic, institutional, professional, financial, or personal conflicts of interest with the authors.

Reviewer Selection

Reviewers shall be selected according to the following criteria:

  • Academic independence.
  • Demonstrated scientific expertise.
  • Subject-matter competence.
  • Institutional diversity.
  • Geographic diversity.
  • Absence of conflicts of interest.

The journal actively promotes the participation of national and international reviewers capable of providing objective, impartial, and scientifically rigorous evaluations.

Institutional and Geographic Diversity

Sapiens Sciences encourages the participation of authors, reviewers, and advisory members from diverse:

  • Universities.
  • Research institutions.
  • Public organizations.
  • Professional associations.
  • Countries and geographic regions.

The journal considers institutional, disciplinary, and geographic diversity essential for strengthening scientific quality, internationalization, and academic credibility.

Transparency and Monitoring

The editorial team periodically monitors the proportion of publications authored by affiliated individuals to ensure compliance with this policy and to implement corrective measures whenever necessary.

Information regarding the composition of the Editorial Board, Scientific Committee, and other academic bodies shall remain publicly available and regularly updated on the journal’s official website.

The journal may publish aggregated statistical information concerning authors’ institutional and geographic affiliations as part of its commitment to editorial transparency.

Compliance with International Standards

This policy forms part of the institutional commitment of Sapiens Sciences to:

  • Scientific integrity.
  • Editorial independence.
  • Transparency in decision-making.
  • Academic diversity.
  • Journal internationalization.
  • Best practices in scholarly publishing.

Its implementation contributes to compliance with the quality criteria applied by national and international journal indexing, evaluation, and accreditation systems.

Final Statement

Sapiens Sciences reaffirms its commitment to editorial independence, transparency, academic diversity, and scientific integrity.

Through this policy, the journal ensures that all editorial decisions are based exclusively on scientific, methodological, and ethical criteria, thereby promoting an open, pluralistic, objective, and trustworthy scholarly communication environment free from undue influence.