Code
of ethics
The directors of the journal promise to: (1) Work towards the smooth functioning of the journal and its continual improvement; (2) Ensure the quality of all the papers published and avoid the publication of plagiarised and /or unoriginal papers; (3) Respect the rights to freedom of opinion and expression of its authors; (4) Publish corrections when errors are detected and retractions and apologies whenever necessary; (5) Safeguard the identity of the referees designated to evaluate papers; (6) Ensure the proper functioning of the system of peer review and protect the rights of the authors, making sure the authors have all the information they require to effectively protect their rights; (7) Never place commercial interests before the ethical and intellectual commitments of the journal; (8) Continually revise the journal’s compliance with its ethical commitments and the peer review process, and, when necessary, update them; (9) Guarantee that the acceptance or rejection of a paper shall be based exclusively on objective factors such as its originality, clarity or its concordance with the objectives of the journal; (10) Refrain from any form of discriminatory treatment; (11) Guarantee that the staff and directors of the Journal shall not affect previously adopted decisions concerning the acceptance or rejection of papers which have already undergone the process of peer review; (12) Ensure that papers are not sent to anyone other than the author, reviewers, or members of the organisational structure of the journal; (13) Ensure that unpublished papers are not, under any circumstances, used for research purposes by members of the organisational structure of the journal.
The authors of the papers to be published by the journal agree to: (1) Abide by the code of ethics and adhere to any other rules for publication established by the journal; (2) Respect the formatting guide and stylistic guidelines of the journal; (3) Include all the details necessary for the subsequent citation of their work (4) Not submit papers for publication under a pseudonym; (5) Only submit for publication papers that are original in all respects. Plagiarism, of any type, shall be considered unethical and unacceptable conduct. If plagiarism comes to light after the publication of the paper, even after a number of years have passed, the directors shall publish a correction, retraction or other type of notice to draw attention to the incident and to express the journal’s rejection of plagiarism; (6) Not submit the same research paper to any other publication. Publication in more than one Journal is considered unacceptable. The publication of the same paper in a collective work may, exceptionally, be permitted, providing that its previous publication in the journal is referenced adequately; (7) Agree to recognise the work of other authors by citing the papers that have been relevant to the production of their work and by including a bibliography at the end of their paper; (8) Agree that if any source unconnected to the publication were to detect an error or an inaccuracy in his or her paper and communicate it to the journal, that, upon receiving notice from the journal, the author shall make the corresponding retraction or correction, or alternatively, accredit the veracity of the information contained in paper published; (9) Ensure that, in the case of co-authorship, the names of all the co-authors are included in the paper, that they have approved its final version, and that they have agreed to its publication (10) Agree to indicate in the paper the presence of any financial or in any other way significant conflict of interest which could be seen to influence the opinions it expresses; (11) Cite any sources of financial support for the paper.
The peer reviewers of the papers to be published in the Journal undertake to: (1) Act objectively and respect the evaluation procedure; (2) Issue clear, precise, impartial and motivated evaluations; (3) Respect the publication deadlines of the Journal; (4) Avoid conflicts of interest of any type, whether they be personal, academic, financial, etc..; (5) State sufficiently in advance of the intended date of publication their lack of capacity to evaluate the paper for review or their inability to comply with the deadlines established; (6) Refrain from recommending the citation of their own work, or that of persons intimately related to them, except when it can be justified objectively; (7) Take appropriate steps to maintain the confidential nature of the review procedure, both prior to and after the publication of any paper that they have evaluated. Peer reviewers must not discuss the papers sent to them for evaluation with third parties, except when they have received the express authorisation of the Journal to do so; (8) Agree that any paper that is reviewed and not published cannot be used for any purposes whatsoever; (9) Agree that any information or ideas obtained through the review process must be kept secret and cannot be used for their personal benefit.
Evaluation
In order for a paper to be published it has to be accepted by the Executive Committee, made up of two directors, the coordinator and the secretary. Only once a paper has been accepted by the Executive Committee can it be passed on to independent experts for peer review.
The Executive Committee shall review all papers both materially and formally, and make a report on both these aspects. These evaluation reports have to be positive in order for a paper to be published by the JLFS.
Evaluation of the content of the paper by independent experts.
In order to guarantee the objectivity and independence of its evaluations, the process of evaluation of all papers shall be anonymous. Under no circumstances shall the authors be informed of the identity of the peer reviewers.
The peer reviewers responsible for the evaluation of a paper shall examine its originality, placing particular importance on the avoidance of plagiarism as well as taking into consideration the following aspects: its scientific interest, its topical interest, its practical applications, its transversality, the international character of the work, the correspondence between the title, its abstract and the content of the paper, its suitability and methodological rigour, the clarity of its expression and its grammatical correctness, the novelty of its conclusions and the thoroughness of the citations employed. The report of the peer reviewer shall indicate his or her favourable or unfavourable opinion by means of a numerical scale from 1 to 140 that ranges from: acceptance (a minimum of 90 points), accepted with suggestions (89-75 points), requires revision (74 – 65 points) and rejected (less than 65 points). The report shall also include a section on suggestions for the improvement of the paper.
The evaluation of formal aspects of the paper by independent reviewers
The peer reviewers shall also evaluate formal aspects of the work, placing particular emphasis on the use of citations and bibliographical sources. They shall also ensure that papers follow the stylistic guidelines and abbreviations established by the JLFS, and consider the suitability of the paper’s title, its layout, its abstract, and check that the sources referenced at the end of the paper are suitably ordered.
The peer reviewers undertake to deliver their evaluations a maximum of 20 days after the reception of the paper.
The communication of the peer reviewers’ reports to the authors
Once the Journal has received the reports from the peer reviewers they shall be sent by email to the author, indicating whether the paper has been accepted or rejected, or whether acceptance is conditional on the modifications suggested by the peer reviewers. If published, the paper will include the date of reception and acceptance by the Journal.
The following up of the corrections
If the peer reviewers have suggested modifications to the original text then, once the author has been informed of the need for corrections, the editorial team shall be responsible for following up on the author’s rewriting of the paper.
Publicity and transparency
The Journal of the Law of the Financial System, Markets, Operators and Contracts (hereinafter the JLFS) is financed primarily by its subscribers. Occasionally it has also received finance from publically funded research projects. Whenever an issue of the JLFS publishes the findings of research that has been presented at the JLFS Congress, the issue shall include a list of the businesses and institutions that have contributed to the financing of the Congress and shall display their logos or emblems on its front cover.
Under no circumstances shall the acceptance of economic contributions to help finance the Congress affect the editorial independence of the JLFS or compromise its freedom to select the papers that it chooses to publish.
The executive committee shall be responsible for guaranteeing compliance with these commitments to publicity and transparency.
