These commitments are based on Elsevier’s performance policies, as well as on the guidelines or good practices recommended by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics).
ADI Directorate obligations
ADI Directorate must: (1) Look after the Journal continuous improvement; (2) Ensure the quality of published articles; (3) Maintain the academic integrity of the Journal content; (4) Respect the freedom of expression; (4) Be willing to publish the corrections, and to do so if errors are detected, as well as to publish the retractions, and the apologies that may be necessary, following the recommendations published in this regard by COPE [http://publicationethics.org/files/retraction%20 guidelines.pdf]; (5) Preserve the evaluators appointed in each case for the articles evaluation anonymity; (6) Do not in any case put commercial interests ahead of the intellectual and ethical commitments assumed by the Journal; (7) Continuously review and ensure compliance with the ethical commitments assumed by the Journal together with the Secretariat; and (8) ensure that appropriate measures are taken to ensure the published contributions quality, and to avoid the plagiarism and non-original work publication.
Authors obligations
The manuscripts sent by authors for publication in ADI must contain the necessary data to allow their subsequent quotation by other authors. Authors must submit completely original articles, and if authors have used the work and/or words of others, these must be properly quoted in the paper. Plagiarism in the different way, such as the reproduction of another’s work as if it were one’s own work, copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another work/s without citing them, are considered unethical and unacceptable behaviours. Faced with such practices, the ADI Directorate will adopt the appropriate measures, which will generally include communication to the author of the complaints or claims presented, as well as further communications to the corresponding research institutions or bodies. If the unethical conduct is confirmed and discovered after the article publication, even if years have passed, ADI will proceed to publish a correction, retraction or other type of note that records the act produced.
Authors should generally try not to publish the same research in more than one publication. Sending the same original to more than one journal simultaneously is considered an unacceptable behaviour. The publication of an article in more than one Journal may be exceptionally justified, and in any case the first reference published in the second publication must be properly mentioned.
Other authors’ works must be acknowledged, so authors must quote in their manuscripts the works that were relevant to their own work. Information obtained by means other than works previously published publicly may only be used with the corresponding author express permission. If an author discovers a relevant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, they must immediately notify the ADI Directorate and cooperate with the latter in correcting or retracting the error made. If the ADI Directorate is aware of a relevant error in a work published through a third party, the author must send the corresponding retraction or correction as soon as possible, or prove to the Journal editor the original article veracity and correction.
The articles authorship must be limited to the people who contributed significantly to the work determination, design and preparation. All of those who significantly contributed must be quoted as co-authors. If other people participated in some work substantive aspects, they must be properly acknowledged in the article. Authors must make sure in their case that all co-authors are properly included, and that no person is improperly mentioned as an author. Likewise, all authors must see and approve the final work version and its submission for publication.
Authors must state in the manuscript any financial or substantive conflict of interest they may have which may affect its publication and evaluation. All sources of funding for the project must be indicated in the manuscript.
ADI’s obligations regarding the publication process
The publication process will be published and kept duly updated in the Journal so that the authors can have all the information they need in this regard, and that only for duly justified reasons can it be altered. In particular, the peer review process functioning for the articles received will be published, to which all authors must submit.
Decisions regarding the acceptance or rejection of an article for publication must be based solely and exclusively on the article quality, that is, on its clarity, originality, and importance, as well as on its suitability to the Journal goals and scope. ADI Directorate will ultimately be responsible for deciding which articles submitted to the Journal will be finally published. In no case will articles be rejected due to criticism or divergent opinions of majority positions and/or expressed by ADI members, as long as they are quality articles that justify their positions without falling into disqualification. Equally, the decision, being either acceptance or rejection, will always be communicated to the author within the time indicated in the publication rules, and must be motivated, especially in case of rejection. This decision must not be modified later, unless there have been serious problems in the publication process that must be duly justified.
In any case, changes in the ADI structure will not affect the decisions previously taken regarding the articles submitted for publication acceptance or rejection.
The ADI Directorate and Secretariat must not provide information about the articles sent for possible publication to any person other than the corresponding author, the potential or current article evaluators and the ADI Scientific Board members, if appropriate.
Unpublished articles may not be used under any circumstances in research by ADI organisational structure members or by any other person who may have access to it pursuant to the previous paragraph, unless the author’s express consent is obtained. Information or ideas obtained through the evaluation by the evaluators must be kept confidential and must not under any circumstances be used for personal gain. ADI Directorate and Secretariat must refrain from evaluating manuscripts with respect to which they may find themselves in a conflict of interest situation because of close relationships existence or connections with the authors or with their affiliation institutions. Authors must state their relevant interests, and the ADI Directorate must publish the corresponding corrections in the event that some of them were not disclosed before publication.
Peer review process
An adequate peer review is considered an essential part of ADI. Evaluators assist the ADI Directorate in decisions about the publication of articles, and through communication with the author, they also contribute to the improvement of the article. At least, two evaluators will review articles.
Evaluators must act objectively, and issue clear and precise judgements and evaluations, sufficiently reasoned and impartial. Likewise, existing conflicts of interest of any type (personal, academic, commercial, etc.) will be avoided. In particular, evaluators must point out not quoted by the author in the manuscript relevant publications, as well as possible similarities or partial or total identities of the manuscript with other already published articles of which the evaluator has personal knowledge. If an evaluator does not consider him or herself sufficiently qualified to evaluate one manuscript, or knows that he or she will not be able to do so in a reasonable time, he or she must immediately notify the ADI Secretariat.
In any case, the evaluation process will be subject to strict confidentiality requirements. Neither the evaluators nor the authors will know their respective identities, thus avoiding any conflicts of interest that may arise. Regarding this, the ADI Directorate and the Secretariat will have a strict confidentiality duty. Equally, evaluators must treat the manuscripts received as confidential information, and must not show or discuss them with third parties, unless expressly authorized by the ADI Directorate.
Unpublished articles may not be used under any circumstances in research by the reviewers without the express consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained through the evaluation by the evaluators must be kept confidential and must not under any circumstances be used for personal gain. Evaluators must refrain from evaluating manuscripts with respect to which they may find themselves in a conflict of interest situation because of close relationships existence or connections with the authors or with their affiliation institutions.
Quality Policy and Objectives
ADI has undertaken to make visible the presence of female researchers in the industrial and intellectual property and competition law subjects through the introduction of the full name of the author quoted in the final bibliography of each article (consult the section “Elaboration of bibliographic references”, supra).