Editorial Policy and others

Code of Ethics and Good Practices

 

Ethics and Integrity Policy in Publication, Misconduct, Errata, and Retraction

Em Questão is committed to integrity, transparency, and accountability at every stage of scholarly communication. Its editorial practices are guided by the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the SciELO Guide to Best Practices for Strengthening Ethics in Scientific Publication, the FAPESP Code of Good Scientific Practice (only in Portuguese), and the CNPq Policy on Integrity in Scientific Activity, established by CNPq Ordinance No. 2,664 of March 6, 2026 (only in Portuguese).

These principles apply to authors, reviewers, editors, Editorial Board members, and all other participants in the evaluation and publication process.

 

Scientific and Editorial Misconduct 

The journal adopts the definitions provided by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) as references for the following forms of misconduct:

• Fabrication - making up data or results and recording or reporting them as authentic;

• Falsification - manipulating research materials, equipment, procedures, data, or results, including their alteration or omission, so that the research is not accurately represented;

• Plagiarism - appropriating another person's ideas, processes, results, images, or words without appropriate acknowledgment.

Depending on their nature and severity, the following practices are also considered ethical violations:

• self-plagiarism or the reuse of content without transparent acknowledgment of the source;

• duplicate or redundant publication;

• simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal;

• manipulation of citations, data, or review processes;

• inappropriate attribution, exclusion, or unjustified alteration of authorship;

• undisclosed conflicts of interest;

• improper appropriation or use by reviewers or editors of ideas or data contained in manuscripts;

• breach of peer-review confidentiality;

• failure to comply with ethical standards applicable to research involving human participants;

• omission or falsification of ethical approval, consent, or authorization;

• failure to disclose relevant use of artificial intelligence.

Academic disagreements, errors made in good faith, and legitimate differences of interpretation do not, in themselves, constitute research misconduct.

 

Reporting and Investigation of Suspected Misconduct

Suspected ethical violations or allegations of misconduct may be reported by authors, readers, reviewers, members of the editorial team, or any other person via emquestao@ufrgs.br.

Communications received through other channels will be formally registered through the journal's institutional channel. Whenever possible, a report should identify the manuscript or article concerned, objectively describe the relevant facts, and include documents or evidence that may support its examination.

The investigation will be conducted by the editor-in-chief, provided that the editor has no conflict of interest in the matter, following the COPE procedure most appropriate to the case. Information will be handled confidentially and impartially, while respecting the right of the parties involved to respond.

Authors and reviewers may be asked to provide explanations, documents, research data, or other information required for the investigation. The parties will be informed of decisions that directly concern them, subject to confidentiality, data protection, and other applicable obligations.

Depending on the nature and severity of the issue and the stage at which it is identified, the measures adopted may include:

• requests for clarification or correction;

• suspension of the evaluation process while the matter is being investigated;

• rejection or archiving of the submission;

• replacement of the reviewer;

• notification of institutions or relevant authorities, when necessary;

• publication of an erratum;

• publication of an expression of concern;

• partial or full retraction of the article.

No decision will be based exclusively on automatically generated similarity scores.

 

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

An erratum will be published when errors or omissions made in good faith are identified that require information to be corrected, added, or removed but do not invalidate the article's central findings and conclusions. The erratum must clearly identify the corrected content and will be linked to the original publication, thereby preserving the record of the previously published version.

An expression of concern may be published when there are significant doubts about the integrity or reliability of an article but the investigation has not yet been completed or there is insufficient evidence to determine the appropriate final action immediately. Once the investigation has been concluded, the expression of concern may be withdrawn, supplemented, replaced by an erratum, or followed by a retraction.

A partial or full retraction may occur when the results or conclusions are unreliable because of a serious error or when there is evidence of fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, unethical research, or another violation that substantially compromises the article's integrity.

A retraction will be published as a duly reasoned public notice linked to the article. The original text will remain accessible to preserve the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as retracted, in accordance with the COPE Retraction Guidelines and the SciELO Guide for Recording and Publishing Retractions.

 

Originality, Simultaneous Submission, and Preprints

Manuscripts submitted to Em Questão must be original and may not be under consideration by another journal at the same time.

Prior deposit in a recognized preprint server does not constitute duplicate publication or prevent submission, provided that it is disclosed to the journal at the time of submission. The existence and location of the preprint, as well as any subsequent changes, must be transparently reported.

Previous publication of parts of the content, including in conference proceedings, repositories, or other venues, must also be disclosed to the editorial team and appropriately cited in the manuscript.

 

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any actual, apparent, or potential conflicts of interest that could influence — or reasonably be perceived as influencing—the preparation, evaluation, or editorial decision concerning a manuscript.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not, by itself, result in rejection of the manuscript. Disclosure enables the editorial team to take the measures necessary to preserve the transparency and impartiality of the process. Additional information is available in the ICMJE recommendations on conflicts of interest.

 

Similarity Checking

Em Questão uses Turnitin Originality to screen manuscripts for similarity during the initial submission stage, before they are sent for peer review.

The reports are qualitatively examined by the editorial team. The presence of passages resembling previously published content does not automatically constitute plagiarism, as quotations, references, standardized methods, and versions previously deposited as preprints may produce legitimate matches.

When unjustified overlap is identified, authors may be asked to provide explanations or make the necessary revisions. Cases involving plagiarism, improper self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, or another violation may result in rejection or archiving of the submission. If identified after publication, they may lead to correction or retraction procedures.

 

Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools

Em Questão does not use generative artificial intelligence tools to evaluate manuscripts, prepare peer-review reports, make editorial decisions, or modify the intellectual content of submitted works.

Authors must disclose the use of artificial intelligence tools at the time of submission and describe it in an appropriate section of the manuscript, identifying the tool used, its purpose, and the stages of the research or writing process in which it was employed.

Artificial intelligence tools may not be listed as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for content or be held accountable for conflicts of interest, copyright issues, or ethical violations.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

• the accuracy, originality, and integrity of the manuscript;

• the verification of data, statements, and references;

• the identification of inaccurate or nonexistent information produced by the tool;

• obtaining all necessary permissions;

• protecting personal, confidential, or sensitive information;

• appropriately identifying and attributing content produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence.

The use of artificial intelligence to fabricate or falsify data, results, images, references, or other information constitutes an ethical violation. Failure to disclose its relevant use also violates the principles of transparency and research integrity. Authors must follow the SciELO Guide on the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools and Resources in Research Communication.

 

Sex and Gender Considerations

When relevant to the subject of the research, the editorial team, authors, and reviewers must observe the Sex and Gender Equity in Research Guidelines - SAGER.

Whenever sex or gender is relevant to a study, manuscripts must use these concepts appropriately, explain how they were considered in the research design, and, where applicable, present disaggregated data and results. Any limitations or exclusions must be justified.

Em Questão also seeks to promote diversity and gender equity in the composition of its editorial team, reviewer pool, and other bodies involved in the publication process.

 

Ethics Committee

Research involving human participants must comply with all applicable ethical and institutional standards. Whenever required, approval by a Research Ethics