Ethics and social responsability in the production of scientific journals

Abstract

Taking into account the concepts of ethics and social responsibility, the role of the social actors involved in the production of scientific journals and articles is discussed here. Social responsibility is made of ethical principles, moral values and cultural contexts to develop activities, practices, policies and behaviors that are expected from (in a positive way) or forbidden to (in a negative way) members of the society without the need of being determined by ethical codes. Based on this representation, some situations are analyzed in which authors, referees, and editors are faced with ethical dilemmas that could be minimized by the practice of self-ethics towards the other, in any media, be it written, digital or electronic. This seems to be the way that lead to ethical principles and to the practice of social responsibility despite all dilemmas that may persist when faced with the impossibility to generalize.