Editorial Policy and others

This version maintains the original content while enhancing readability and grammatical correctness.

In this section, you will find policies on: Preprints; Peer Review Process; Open Data; Fees (APC); Ethics and Misconduct Policy, Errata and Retraction; Conflict of Interest Policy; Use of Similarity Detection Software; Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Tools; Sex and Gender Issues; Ethics Committee; Copyright; Intellectual Property; and Terms of Use.

Editorial Policy

Preprints

The journal accepts submission of manuscripts previously deposited on a preprint server such as SciELO Preprints or Research Square.

The author must inform the editor about the preprint version of the manuscript, indicating the DOI or URL. The author is responsible for linking all materials to the article, including citing the article in the preprint version, after the article is published, in order to maintain hyperlinked versions and prevent the perception of duplicated content.

Peer Review Proccess

Manuscripts submitted to "Em Questão" must be unpublished. Texts that have been previously published, even in conference proceedings, will not be accepted. Similarly, texts under simultaneous evaluation by another journal are ineligible. Plagiarism, including the publication of the author's own excerpts without proper citation, is strictly prohibited. "Em Questão" uses Turnitin Originality software to monitor for plagiarism. The use of artificial intelligence in research must be detailed in the methodological procedures of the article, but does not confer authorship responsibilities. The journal asserts that the authors who sign the article bear responsibility for its content.

Publication Criteria:

Priority is given to unpublished texts resulting from completed research. Texts previously published in conference proceedings are not accepted.
Emphasis is placed on scientific discoveries and on methodological or conceptual innovations.
Preference is given to texts written in English.
Priority is afforded to works by researchers from various regions of the country and internationally.
Consideration is given to the potential impact on Information Science.

To ensure a diverse range of authors, "Em Questão" does not evaluate more than one manuscript simultaneously from the same author (s).

In alignment with Open Science principles, "Em Questão" encourages authors to share research data, making it accessible to referees. Articles on preprint servers are also considered.

Editorial Process

Manuscripts undergo an initial review by the editor. At this stage, a text may be rejected for not adhering to the journal’s guidelines, rules, template, and priority criteria. Reasons for rejection include:

(1) Being experience reports or having a prescriptive nature.
(2) Solely configured as a bibliographic review.
(3) Presenting as a research project or report.
(4) Lacking theoretical or methodological consistency.
(5) Being merely descriptive without in-depth analysis of the intended theme.
(6) Not centrally focusing on Information Science.
(7) Containing numerous writing errors or not adhering to ABNT standards and/or the journal’s template.
(8) Not presenting results, formulations, or records indicating advancements in the proposed theme.

This quick initial procedure prevents authors from waiting unnecessarily for a peer review. Rejected works may be returned to the authors with suggestions for reformulation and potential resubmission.

Manuscripts not initially rejected undergo double-blind reviews by two members of the Editorial Board or ad hoc consultants, with a third referee involved if necessary. Based on reviewers’ assessments, the editor makes the publication decision, maintaining reviewer anonymity when communicating with authors. The average response time from submission to first decision is approximately 12 weeks.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to:

(1) Request thematic or formal changes in submitted texts.
(2) Make formal, spelling, and grammatical corrections, conducted by expert reviewers.
(3) Invite experts with academic competence in Information Science for potential publication, subjecting their works to editorial review.

Exceptionally, translated works of texts published in international journals are accepted, subject to the evaluation process.

Works not accepted for publication in "Em Questão," filed by the SEER system, are free for submission to other journals.

In line with Open Science practices, referees may choose to have their review reports published anonymously or signed alongside the evaluated paper, with consent from the author (s).

Open Data

"Em Questão" recommends that authors deposit research data (and other relevant materials) in institutional or thematic repositories, such as SciELO Data, Zenodo and LattesData. If the research has reused data, proper citation of this data is requested (Portuguese only).

Fees

There are no charge for review, distribution, or downloading either. The publication is entirely free and open access.

Ethics and Misconduct, Correction and Retraction Policy

Conducts in cases of ethical infraction suspicion

In cases of ethical infractions suspicions, any members of the academic community (authors, readers, reviewers, Editorial Board) or public in general may report to emquestao@ufrgs.br. Denunciations reported directly to a member of the Editorial Board or by other means will be registered through the journal's formal communication channel (electronic address), through which the resolutions will be notified and / or the responses will be send to the complainant.

Ethical infractions concern: duplicate publication, plagiarism, data-making, issues related to authorship (change, ghostwriter, etc.), conflicts of interest not mentioned, misappropriation of ideas or data by referees, and other ethical issues related to research (eg involving people).

The editor-in-chief (or an invited member of the Editorial Board) will strictly follow the most relevant conflict resolution flowcharts from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in order to investigate and resolve the issue. The flowcharts currently used by Em Questão can be checked at COPE Flowcharts.

Regarding the retraction policy, the journal follows the prerogatives of COPE. Available at COPE Retraction guidelines.

Policy on Conflict of Interest

Conflicts of interest of a personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial nature, even if potential, must be informed in writing to the journal.

For editors and reviewers, communication can be done on the manuscript submission platform or by email.

The author(s) must inform it in a signed document attached to the submission platform. For more information see: Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest. When submitting the manuscript, authors are responsible for acknowledging and disclosing financial or other conflicts that may have influenced the work.

Adoption of similarity software

The journal uses Turnitin Originality software to verify the similarity of manuscripts. All manuscripts are analyzed in the initial phase of submission, before being sent for evaluation.

Em Questão does not use Artificial Intelligence in any of the processes of manuscript evaluation and editing. The use of Artificial Intelligence by authors must be described in the research methodology (indicating how the AI tool was used and specifying which tool was employed) and must adhere to ethical principles and research integrity. Authors are solely responsible for the text and any AI-based research support. Concealing the use of AI tools in research constitutes an ethical violation. Content generated by AI tools must be cited and referenced, and authors are responsible for verifying its accuracy.

Adoption of software using Artificial Intelligence resources

Gender and Sex Issues

The Em Questão editorial team, as well as the authors who publish in the journal, should always observe the Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER guidelines. The SAGER guidelines comprise a set of guidelines that guide the reporting of sex and gender,

Ethics Committee

Authors must attach a statement of approval from the ethics committee of the institution responsible for approving the research if the article involves procedures with human beings subject to ethical evaluation, according to the institution where the authors or research are linked.

Copyright

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) License, which allows accessing, printing, reading, sharing, remixing, adapting, and developing derivative work with the recognition of authorship.
Authors are authorized to enter additional contracts separately, for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal, such as publishing in an institutional repository, with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Readers are free to read, download, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of the articles without asking prior permission from the author or publishers, respecting the prerogatives of the CC BY 4.0 license.

Intellectual Property and Terms of Use

Website Responsibility:

All content on Em Questão website is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY 4.0).
Readers can read, download, distribute, print, search or link to the full text of the articles without asking prior permission from the author or publishers, respecting the prerogatives of the CC BY 4.0 license.

Author Responsibility:

"Em Questão" complies with the DOAJ prerogative for open-access journals. Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors of articles published by "Em Questão" retain Copyright and are aware that Em Questão adopts Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, which allows the articles to be reused and distributed without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited.
"Em Questão" encourages authors to self-archive their accepted manuscripts by posting them on personal blogs, institutional repositories, and academic social media, as well as on their personal social media, as long as the full citation to the journal's website version is included.

Others

See also the information on the About the Journal page, Author Guidelines, History, Editorial Team, and Contact. The Ethics Guidelines section has been moved to About and Editorial Policies (current page).

Editorial Policy and others