Editorial policies
Open access policy
Creative Commons License
Copyright policy
Digital preservation policy
Self-archiving policy
Plagiarism policy
Authorship policy
Correction, retraction, and ethical conduct policy
Funding and conflict of interest policy
Research data deposit policy
Human and animal research policy
Policy on the Use of Large Language Models (LLMs)
Advertising policy
Open access policy
Desafíos is an Open Access Journal, which means that all its content is freely available to users and their institutions. Readers are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, as well as use them for any other lawful purpose, without needing prior permission from the publisher or the authors. This editorial policy is aligned with the definition of open access established by the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI).
Creative Commons License
Desafíos is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which means that:
You are free to:
- Share: copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
- Adapt: remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
Under the following conditions:
- Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the original author or source, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. This must be done in a reasonable manner, without suggesting that the author or the journal endorses your use.
Copyright policy
Authors retain the intellectual property rights (copyright) of the works published in Desafíos, and grant the journal only the right of first publication. This means that authors may reuse and disseminate their work later, provided that the original publication in this journal is properly cited and the terms of the CC BY license are respected.
Digital preservation policy
Desafíos implements multiple digital preservation mechanisms to ensure the integrity, accessibility, and long-term conservation of scientific articles, from the original version submitted by the authors to the final version published on the OJS platform. The following strategies are applied:
- Local storage: All manuscripts are stored on official journal computers as well as on the Editor-in-Chief’s computer, in both editable (Word) and PDF formats.
- External backups: Periodic backups are made of the files stored on the journal’s computer, using external storage devices (hard drive) and cloud storage, specifically via Google Drive linked to the official Gmail account.
- Institutional OJS system backups: The institutional servers of the Universidad de Huánuco perform automatic and periodic backups of the OJS platform, thus ensuring the preservation of the final published version of all articles.
Self-archiving policy
Desafíos allows the self-archiving of the pre-print version of the manuscript, that is, the version submitted for evaluation before peer review and formal acceptance. Once the article is accepted, authors are encouraged to disseminate the post-print version (peer-reviewed and accepted) through their personal website, institutional repository, or thematic repository, including a clear reference to its acceptance by the journal, indicating the volume and issue in which it will be published.
Once the article is published in its final version, the author must replace the self-archived text with the official PDF available on the journal's platform. No embargo period is established; authors are fully free to publicly share the final published PDF version through any digital medium immediately after publication.
Plagiarism policy
Desafíos uses the specialized tool Turnitin to detect textual similarities and potential cases of academic plagiarism. All submitted manuscripts will be checked using this tool before being sent for editorial review and peer evaluation.
Articles must be at least 80% original, meaning that the majority of the content must represent a novel contribution to the field of knowledge, beyond properly referenced citations.
If significant similarities with previously published texts are detected, the following actions will be taken based on the severity of the case:
- If it is an unintentional error or minor citation oversight, a warning will be issued and the author will be asked to make the necessary corrections.
- If a case of deliberate full or partial plagiarism is confirmed, the manuscript will be immediately rejected and the affiliated institution of the author(s) will be notified, in accordance with COPE ethical guidelines.
Authorship policy
Number of authors
Desafíos preferably accepts manuscripts with a maximum of four authors. In cases requiring a larger number of contributors, justification must be provided through documentation proving that the article results from a collaborative or interdisciplinary research project. The journal reserves the right to request formal evidence supporting such collaboration. Only one institutional affiliation per author will be included, specifying the city and country.
Authorship criteria
An individual will be recognized as an author or co-author if they have made a substantial contribution to:
- The conception or design of the study
- The acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data
- The drafting of the manuscript or critical revision with relevant intellectual content
- The final approval of the version to be published
Individuals who do not meet these criteria — for example, those who assisted with technical editing, language revision, or statistical analysis — should be acknowledged in the Acknowledgements section as collaborators.
Desafíos strongly rejects the practices of honorary authorship (including individuals without real contribution) and ghost authorship (excluding significant contributors), in accordance with COPE ethical guidelines.
Contribution statement
The journal adopts the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy), which identifies 14 distinct types of contributions (e.g., conceptualization, formal analysis, writing, etc.). Each author must declare their specific contribution using the manuscript submission template.
Changes in authorship
Once a manuscript has been submitted, no changes to the number or order of authors will be accepted. All authorship-related matters must be resolved before the initial submission. Any conflict between authors will be the responsibility of the respective affiliated institutions, as established by COPE (https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines).
Changes in author names
Desafíos recognizes that authors may request name changes for personal or legal reasons. Upon such request, the editorial team may require official identification or legal documentation. The journal is committed to respecting the author's privacy and autonomy, managing this process with confidentiality and in direct coordination with the individual concerned.
Correction, retraction, and ethical conduct policy
Corrections and author correspondence
If an author needs to make corrections to a published article, they must contact the editorial team via email at editorial@udh.edu.pe, properly identifying themselves. Requests will be evaluated by the Desafíos Editorial Committee, which will determine the relevance and validity of the proposed changes. Any accepted correction will be reflected through an erratum or a correction note clearly linked to the article.
Retractions
An article may be retracted for various reasons, including:
- Unintentional errors (such as methodological or instrumental flaws)
- Fabrication or manipulation of data
- Duplicate or overlapping publication
- Plagiarism
- Unauthorized or fraudulent use of data
- Breach of ethical standards in research
Retractions may be requested by the authors or initiated by the editor in response to a formal investigation. Desafíos will publish a retraction notice, specifying the reason, the party initiating it, and its connection to the affected article. The article will remain visible on the website but will be clearly marked as “retracted,” including in the PDF file. Content will only be removed in the presence of legal restrictions or court rulings. In such cases, the bibliographic information will be retained along with an explanation of the removal.
In exceptional circumstances (such as the publication of false data posing serious risks to public health or safety), the original version of the article may be removed and replaced with a corrected version, duly indicated.
Misconduct and ethical complaints
In cases of suspected scientific or editorial misconduct, the journal will follow the guidelines and workflows established by COPE:
https://publicationethics.org/guidance/Flowcharts?classification=277
The process begins with a communication to the author involved, requesting clarification. If necessary, the affiliated institution, ethics committee, or other academic authorities may also be contacted.
To report a suspected case of misconduct in an article published in Desafíos, please write to: editorial@udh.edu.pe. A member of the editorial team will contact you within a maximum of 7 days to confirm receipt of your report and, if applicable, request additional information. We will do our best to keep you informed of the outcome, although certain details may be withheld for ethical or legal reasons.
Appeals and complaints
Desafíos follows COPE guidelines regarding appeals and complaints:
https://publicationethics.org/appeals
If you wish to appeal an editorial decision or file a formal complaint, please contact the editorial team at: editorial@udh.edu.pe.
Funding and conflict of interest policy
Authors must transparently declare any source of funding, material assistance, or financial support received during the research, writing, or publication process. They must also disclose any institutional, commercial, or financial ties that could represent a potential conflict of interest related to the manuscript's content.
If no external funding was received, the following statement must be included:
“The authors received no financial support for the conduct of this study.”
Likewise, if there are no conflicts of interest, the following declaration must be included:
“The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this study.”
If a conflict of interest exists, it must be included in the corresponding section of the manuscript and accompanied by the official conflict of interest disclosure form, following the ICMJE format:
https://www.icmje.org/downloads/coi_disclosure.docx
The information provided in the form must match the statements in the manuscript. The Editorial Committee may request clarification if inconsistencies or omissions are detected.
Research data deposit policy
Desafíos recommends that data generated or used in research be deposited in well-recognized repositories, whether discipline-specific or general-purpose. This practice aims to promote scientific transparency, facilitate result verification, and encourage the use, reuse, and replication of data in future studies.
Repository requirements
The selected repository must comply with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and provide open access to the data. It is recommended to consult the Registry of Research Data Repositories (re3data): https://www.re3data.org, where suitable repositories and their deposit policies can be found.
Data availability statement in the article
At the end of the manuscript, before the list of references, a section titled Deposited Data Availability must be included, containing:
- The name and URL of the repository used
- A unique and permanent identifier (DOI or other)
- The usage and distribution license
Example: The data supporting the findings of this study have been deposited in the Zenodo repository and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The dataset includes anonymized survey responses and the final database used for the analysis. The data can be accessed at the following link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1234567
Research policy on human and animal subjects
All manuscripts reporting studies involving human participants must comply with the ethical principles set by the World Medical Association, particularly the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki.
In the case of research involving animal experimentation or clinical trials (whether with patients, human biological samples, or confidential medical data), it is mandatory to present a certificate of approval issued by an Ethics Committee recognized at the institutional, regional, or national level, with jurisdiction over the evaluation of studies involving human and/or animal subjects.
If the study does not have formal ethical approval, the authors must provide a detailed justification in the manuscript, explaining the reasons and describing how the research adhered to the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki.
In all cases, it must be explicitly stated that the research was carried out with the prior informed consent of the participants. Both the ethics committee approval and the information regarding informed consent must be clearly mentioned in the Methods section of the article.
Policy on the Use of Large Language Models (LLMs)
Desafíos does not prohibit the use of large language models (LLMs)—such as ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, among others—during the writing, analysis, or technical support phases of manuscript preparation. This policy aligns with the recommendations of the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) on the use of chatbots in scientific publishing: WAME Recommendations on ChatGPT and Chatbots.
However, LLMs do not meet the criteria for scientific authorship as defined by the ICMJE and therefore must not be listed as authors on any article.
If authors use these tools, they must explicitly declare it in the Methods section, specifying the name of the tool, its version, and the purpose of its use (e.g., writing assistance, idea generation, style editing, etc.).
It is important to note that the use of LLMs does not exempt authors from their ethical and academic responsibilities, especially concerning the truthfulness, accuracy, originality, and intellectual ownership of the content presented. Any errors, biases, or misuse resulting from the use of these tools will be the sole responsibility of the authors.
Advertising policy
Desafíos is funded exclusively by the Universidad de Huánuco through its editorial fund and corresponding academic bodies. As it does not receive financial support from public or private companies, both the journal's website and its digital editions remain free of external commercial advertising. The journal guarantees that no editorial or digital space will be used for the dissemination of advertising content unrelated to academic, scientific, or institutional activities.
