Políticas editoriales
Open Access Policy and License
Open Access Statement
RICIT – Research Journal is a fully open access journal: no embargoes, subscriptions, memberships, or payment barriers apply to accessing its content from the moment of publication.
Open access is understood as the condition in which the copyright holder of an academic work grants usage rights to third parties through an open license (Creative Commons or equivalent), which allows free and immediate access to the work and authorizes any user to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, as well as to crawl them for indexing purposes, process them as data using software, or use them for any other lawful purpose.
License
All articles published in RICIT are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, which allows sharing and adapting the material under the following terms:
Attribution: Appropriate credit must be given to the original author, indicating the source and a link to the license.
NonCommercial: The material may not be used for commercial purposes without the author's express permission.
ShareAlike: If the material is remixed or transformed, derivative works must be distributed under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
For inquiries regarding special uses or exceptions to the license, please write to: ricit@udet.edu.ec
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Editorial Process and Peer Review System
RICIT subjects all manuscripts to a double-blind peer review process: neither the author nor the reviewers know the author's identity. This confidentiality is maintained throughout the entire editorial process.
All peer reviewers convened by RICIT are external to the University of Tourism Specialties (UDET) and are not part of the journal's editorial team. Their selection is based on proven research experience in the manuscript's subject area, the absence of conflicts of interest with the authors, and their independence from the internal editorial team. The final editorial decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief, who will make it considering the peer reviewers' opinions and the Editorial Committee's criteria.
Process Phases
The process comprises four phases. The total estimated time, without delays, is approximately three months.
Phase 1 – Receipt and Preliminary Editorial Review Upon receipt of the manuscript in OJS, the author is notified. The Editor-in-Chief verifies compliance with formatting guidelines and thematic relevance (approximately two weeks). The co-editors assess whether the content meets the minimum requirements to proceed to external peer review (approximately two weeks). Manuscripts that do not pass this stage are returned with an explanation of the reasons.
Phase 2 – External Peer Review. The manuscript is sent to two external peer reviewers with a two-week deadline. Once the reviews are received, the author is notified within a maximum of three business days. The author has two weeks to submit the revised version; if the depth of the revisions warrants it, an extension may be requested before the deadline.
If one or both reviewers reject the manuscript, an alternative reviewer is assigned (estimated additional delay: two weeks). When the reviews are contradictory or insufficient, a third, deciding reviewer is convened (estimated additional delay: two weeks). In cases where the opinions diverge, the editor-in-chief analyzes the reports and makes the final decision with due justification.
Phase 3 – Academic Validation and Style Editing. The co-editor verifies that the corrections have been satisfactorily addressed (approximately one week), and the editorial team reviews the text in terms of linguistics and scientific style (approximately two weeks).
Phase 4 – Production and Publication. The edited proofs are sent to the author for review and approval within five business days. Once approved, the corresponding author signs and submits the Copyright Transfer Agreement. Finally, the article is formatted and published on the OJS platform.
Possible decisions of the reviewers
The reviewers may issue one of the following decisions:
1. Accepted without comments
2. Accepted with comments
3. Rejected
Rejection of a manuscript does not allow for resubmission of the same work.
Instructions for Peer Reviewers
By accepting the invitation, the reviewer agrees to submit their report within a maximum of two weeks. If this deadline cannot be met, the reviewer must notify the editorial team in advance. The review report must include:
(a) General comments on the manuscript as a whole;
(b) Specific observations for each section, referencing the corresponding page and paragraph. Suggestions should be constructive and aimed at improving the work; criticisms should be directed at the content, not the author.
Reviewers must declare any conflicts of interest before accepting the review and must recuse themselves if they have a personal, institutional, or financial relationship with any of the authors. The information in the manuscript is strictly confidential and may not be used for personal purposes. If, during the review, evidence of plagiarism, fabricated data, or any ethical irregularity is detected, the reviewer must immediately notify the Editor-in-Chief.
Copyright and Self-Archiving
Authors retain their moral rights to the work in accordance with Ecuadorian law (Organic Law of Culture, 2016) and applicable international regulations. By signing the Copyright Transfer Agreement, authors grant the RICIT journal and the University of Tourism Specialties (UDET) a non-exclusive license to publish the article, distribute it under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license, maintain it in digital repositories, and include its metadata in indexing services.
RICIT permits and encourages authors to self-archive both the preprint and published versions (editorial version) in institutional or thematic repositories, always citing the original source and under the terms of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
These copyright terms apply exclusively to the published scientific content and are independent of the copyrights pertaining to the design, branding, and structure of the journal's website, which belong to the University of Tourism Specialties (UDET).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Editorial Code of Ethics
RICIT's ethical policies are based on the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the principles of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), where applicable.
For the Editorial Team
The Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Committee are responsible for the final decision regarding the publication of all received manuscripts. Manuscript evaluation will be based solely on academic merit, regardless of the authors' race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political affiliation.
The editorial team will maintain absolute confidentiality regarding received manuscripts and will not disclose any information about them to anyone outside the editorial process. Under no circumstances will the content of unpublished manuscripts be used for the editorial team's own purposes without the author's written consent. The editor-in-chief will act promptly on any complaint of scientific or editorial misconduct, following COPE protocols.
For authors:
Contributions submitted to RICIT must be original and unpublished. Studies submitted to the journal may not be under review by another scientific publication simultaneously; this is a reprehensible practice in the context of disseminating specialized research.
Authors are responsible for the accuracy of the data, statements, and references contained in the manuscript. Authorship must reflect substantial intellectual contributions; exclusive participation in fundraising, data collection, or general supervision does not justify authorship. When submitting a contribution, authors are required to explicitly declare the absence of conflicts of interest and to mention the sources of funding for their research.
If authors detect a significant error in a published work, they are required to notify the editor-in-chief and initiate the correction or retraction process.
Regarding the number of authors, research articles, methodological articles, case studies, and practical innovation articles may have a maximum of four (4) authors. In all cases, each author listed must have participated in the work to a sufficient degree to assume public responsibility for its content.
Contributions containing manifestly racist, sexist, or otherwise offensive content that violates fundamental human rights will not be accepted.
The following conduct constitutes serious ethical violations and will be addressed according to COPE protocols, potentially resulting in manuscript rejection, retraction, notification to the authors' institutions, or disqualification from future submissions: total or partial plagiarism (including self-plagiarism), fabrication or manipulation of data, fraudulent authorship (gift, ghost, or honorary authorship), simultaneous submission to multiple journals, failure to declare relevant conflicts of interest, and falsification of affiliations or academic credentials.
For peer reviewers: By accepting the invitation to review, peer reviewers commit to conducting a rigorous, objective, and constructive review of the manuscript within the established timeframe. Criticisms will be directed at the work, not at the individuals.
Reviewers will treat manuscripts with absolute confidentiality and will not use their content for personal purposes. They will declare any conflicts of interest before accepting the review and will abstain from participating if there is a personal or professional relationship with any of the authors. Reviewers will identify relevant works not cited by the authors and will notify the editor-in-chief of any indication of plagiarism or misconduct.
Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence
In accordance with the Heredia Declaration (2023) and the COPE guidelines on artificial intelligence in scientific publications, RICIT establishes the following policy:
Authors who have used generative AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, or others) in the writing, translation, analysis, or revision of the manuscript must explicitly declare this in the Methodology section or in the Acknowledgments, indicating the tool used and its specific purpose. AI tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors, as authorship implies intellectual and public responsibility for the content, a condition that automated systems cannot fulfill.
Authors are responsible for verifying the accuracy, originality, and integrity of all content generated with AI support, including data, citations, and bibliographic references. The use of AI to generate substantial data, results, or analytical sections without explicit disclosure constitutes a serious ethical violation and may lead to the rejection or retraction of the manuscript.
Peer reviewers and the editorial team may use artificial intelligence tools only to support minor, non-substantive tasks (e.g., proofreading their own report), under two conditions: under no circumstances will the manuscript, its data, or its content be entered into third-party artificial intelligence tools, given its confidential and unpublished nature; and the evaluative judgment regarding the quality, originality, and relevance of the manuscript must always be made directly by the reviewer, without delegating it to these tools. Failure to comply with this provision is considered a breach of the confidentiality of the peer review process.
Anti-Plagiarism Policy
RICIT applies a systematic protocol for detecting similarities in all received manuscripts. Detection is carried out in Phase 1 of the editorial process, before submission for peer review.
The journal uses Plagiarisma as its primary detection tool. The following criteria apply:
Similarity index up to 10%: the manuscript proceeds normally to the evaluation process.
Similarity index between 11% and 30%: the editor analyzes the origin of the similarities. If they correspond to correctly attributed citations or other justifiable elements, the manuscript may proceed with feedback to the author.
Similarity index greater than 30%: the manuscript is rejected, and the author is notified with the similarity report. The incident is recorded.
These percentages are for reference only. The final decision on whether a similarity constitutes plagiarism always rests with the editor, who will consider the context and the correct attribution of sources. If plagiarism is detected in a previously published article, the retraction protocol will be activated.
Corrections, Errata, and Retractions Policy
RICIT is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published scientific record, applying the COPE guidelines on corrections and retractions.
Errata
An errata will be published when a minor error is detected in a published article—for example, typographical or formatting errors—that does not affect the conclusions or the integrity of the work. The error will be corrected in the original article on the OJS platform, indicating the date of correction.
Corrections
A correction will be published when an error made by the authors or the editorial team affects the understanding or reproducibility of the work, but does not invalidate its main conclusions. The correction will be published linked to the original article, clearly indicating what was corrected, why, and on what date.
Retractions
A published article will be retracted when significant plagiarism or data fabrication is confirmed, when the results have been previously published in another journal without disclosure, when the authors are not legitimate, or when there are serious errors that invalidate the main conclusions of the work.
The retracted article will remain accessible on the OJS platform with a clearly visible retraction notice, along with the formal document explaining the reasons. Articles will not be removed from the registry.
The procedure is as follows: the editor-in-chief receives the notification, opens an internal investigation with a 30-day deadline, notifies the authors and their institution if the cause is confirmed, publishes the notice on OJS, and notifies the relevant indexing services.
Digital Preservation
The long-term preservation of content published in RICIT is an institutional responsibility of the University of Tourism Specialties (UDET). The policy aims to guarantee the integrity, authenticity, accessibility, and continued availability of published articles.
The journal uses the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN), a preservation network developed by the Public Knowledge Project, which distributes copies of the content across multiple archiving nodes using the LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) program, ensuring decentralized preservation and permanent access to the content.
Additionally, the UDET Systems Department performs weekly backups of the OJS platform, including the database, content files, and system configuration. Articles are preserved in multiple formats: PDF, HTML, and EPUB. The original files in editable format are stored by the Editor-in-Chief in secure institutional storage.
The responsibility for digital preservation rests jointly with the Editor-in-Chief and the UDET Systems Department.
Editorial Openness
At least two-thirds of the members of RICIT's collegiate editorial bodies belong to institutions other than the University of Tourism Specialties (UDET). The Scientific Committee and the Co-editors' group are international, with representatives from universities in Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador outside of UDET, thus guaranteeing the journal's scientific independence from the publishing institution.
The updated list of editorial team members, with their full institutional affiliations (institution, city, country) and ORCID identifiers, is available in the Editorial Team section of the journal's website.
Indexing and Information Services
RICIT is included in the following indexing services, directories, and selective databases:
DOAJ – Directory of Open Access Journals
Latindex – Catalog 2.0
Dialnet – Portal for the dissemination of Hispanic scientific production
ERIH PLUS – European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Latinrev – Latin American Network of Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Latinoamericana – Association of Academic Journals in the Humanities and Social Sciences
LIVRE – Portal of Latin American Journals
The journal only lists verified and active indexings. If an indexing is removed or not renewed, this list will be updated within 30 days.
Publication Frequency
RICIT is an annual journal (January-December). One issue is published each year on December 10th, covering the period from January to December of the corresponding year.
For example: Núm. 20, ene-dic 2026.
Adherence to the stated publication frequency is an institutional commitment of UDET. In the event that exceptional circumstances prevent publication on the scheduled date, authors and indexing services will be notified in advance.
Interoperability and Access Formats
The journal implements the OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative – Protocol for Metadata Harvesting) protocol for metadata exchange with other systems. The metadata is encoded in the Dublin Core 1.0 standard. The access address is: publicaciones.udet.online/index.php/ricit/oai
Each article is published simultaneously in three formats: PDF (reference version for citation and download), HTML (online reading version with hypertext), and EPUB (mobile version). Each article includes complete metadata on its OJS page: title, authors with affiliations, abstract, keywords, dates of receipt and acceptance, and bibliographic references.
Value-Added Services
RICIT offers its users the opportunity to download, review, and read its articles. This service is available on each article’s page in OJS.
Each article’s OJS page includes a citation in APA 7th edition format. RSS and Atom feeds are provided so that readers and systems can check for updates to the journal.
Publication Fees
RICIT does not charge authors any fees at any stage of the editorial process. Specifically:
-Manuscript submission fees: none.
-Editorial processing fees: none.
-Article processing fees (APC): none.
-Page fees: none.
-Charts for color or graphic material: none.
-Expedited review fees: none.
-Fees for voluntary withdrawal of the manuscript after the review process has begun: none.
Access to published content is also completely free for readers. Since there are no fees, there is no fee waiver policy. The journal does not foresee establishing any fees in the future.
Publishing Institution and Contact Information
University of Tourism Specialties (UDET)
Av. Machala Oe6-160 and José Miguel Carrión
Postal Code 170301, Quito, Ecuador
https://udet.edu.ec/
Editor
MSc. Gonzalo Cadena Echeverría
Editor-in-Chief
PhD. Nataly Cáceres Santacruz
Journal Contact Email: ricit@udet.edu.ec
