Intellectual property and copyright policy

The journal Portal de la Ciencia adheres to the principles of open access, promoting the free circulation and dissemination of scientific knowledge under standards of quality, publication ethics, transparency, and respect for intellectual property rights.

Authors retain the copyright to their works. Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication in Portal de la Ciencia, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive authorization to publish, reproduce, distribute, publicly communicate, host, preserve, and make the article available in any medium or format, for purposes of scientific, academic, and educational dissemination.

The authorization granted to the journal does not imply the transfer of copyright ownership. Authors retain the rights corresponding to their works, in accordance with applicable legislation and the terms of the Creative Commons license under which the article is published.

1. Publication License

All articles published by Portal de la Ciencia are distributed under the following license:

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

This license allows third parties to share, copy, and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as adapt, remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided that the conditions established by the license are respected.

The license establishes the following conditions:

  • Attribution (BY): appropriate credit must be given to the authors, the original publication source must be identified, and the relevant license information must be provided.
  • NonCommercial (NC): the material may not be used for commercial purposes, meaning that it may not be used primarily for commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
  • ShareAlike (SA): when the material is modified, adapted, transformed, or used to create a derivative work, the resulting creation must be distributed under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license or a compatible license, in accordance with the terms established by Creative Commons.

Likewise, when the material is shared, the applicable attribution, copyright, license, and source information must be retained, and any modifications made to the original material must be indicated.

2. Rights Granted by the License

The CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license allows published articles to be:

  • read and consulted;
  • downloaded;
  • copied;
  • shared;
  • redistributed;
  • stored in repositories;
  • used for non-commercial educational and academic purposes;
  • adapted, translated, or transformed for non-commercial purposes; and
  • used as a basis for new works, provided that the attribution and ShareAlike conditions are respected.

These permissions are subject to the terms of the license and do not constitute authorization for commercial use of the content.

The license is worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, and irrevocable, provided that its terms and conditions are complied with.

3. Restriction on Commercial Use

The content published by Portal de la Ciencia under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license may not be used for commercial purposes.

Commercial use refers to use that is primarily intended to obtain a commercial advantage or monetary compensation.

Accordingly, the reproduction, distribution, adaptation, or reuse of articles must be carried out within the limits established by the license, respecting its NonCommercial (NC) condition.

When an individual, institution, or organization wishes to use material published by the journal for a commercial purpose that is not permitted by the license, the corresponding authorization must be obtained from the applicable rights holders.

4. Adaptation and ShareAlike Condition

Users may adapt, transform, translate, remix, or build upon articles published by Portal de la Ciencia, provided that such activities comply with the conditions of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

When an adapted work is shared, the following requirements must be met:

  1. the authorship of the original work must be appropriately acknowledged;
  2. Portal de la Ciencia must be identified as the original publication source;
  3. a link or reference to the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license must be provided;
  4. any modifications must be clearly indicated, when applicable; and
  5. the adapted material must be distributed under the same license or a compatible license incorporating the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike elements.

The ShareAlike (SA) condition is intended to ensure that adaptations of published content maintain a reuse framework equivalent to that of the original work.

5. Open Access and Reuse

Portal de la Ciencia provides immediate and free open access to its published content, without embargo periods.

Articles may be consulted, read, downloaded, stored, linked, shared, and reused for academic, scientific, and educational purposes on a non-commercial basis, in accordance with the conditions established by the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

Open access means that content is freely available to readers and may be reused within the rights granted by the license. Open access does not mean the absence of copyright or authorization for any type of commercial use.

Reuse of content must at all times respect the Attribution, NonCommercial, and ShareAlike conditions established by the license.

6. Originality and Authors' Responsibility

Authors are responsible for ensuring that manuscripts submitted to Portal de la Ciencia are original, have not been previously published in substantially the same form, and are not simultaneously under review by another journal, unless there is a justification expressly accepted by the editorial team.

Authors also declare that they hold the necessary rights to the materials included in their works and that they have obtained the corresponding permissions when using texts, images, photographs, tables, graphs, databases, or other materials protected by third-party rights.

Responsibility for the content, opinions, data, results, interpretations, and any potential infringement of third-party rights rests with the authors, without prejudice to any editorial responsibilities that may correspond to the journal.

7. Third-Party Materials

The CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license applied to an article does not necessarily cover materials incorporated into the article that belong to third parties and are subject to different rights, licenses, or conditions.

When an article contains material that is not covered by the journal's license, this situation should be appropriately identified whenever possible.

Users intending to reuse third-party material are responsible for verifying its applicable terms of use and, when necessary, obtaining the required authorization from the respective rights holders.

8. Self-Archiving and Dissemination of Articles

Portal de la Ciencia permits and encourages the self-archiving and dissemination of published articles in institutional repositories, subject repositories, digital libraries, personal websites, academic profiles, and academic networks.

Authors may deposit and share the final published version (Version of Record) of their articles, provided that appropriate recognition is given to the authors, Portal de la Ciencia is clearly identified as the original publication source, and the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license is respected.

Whenever possible, shared material should include:

  • article title;
  • authors' names;
  • complete bibliographic reference;
  • identification of Portal de la Ciencia as the original publication source;
  • link to the published article;
  • indication of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license; and
  • link to the applicable license.

The journal does not establish embargo periods for the self-archiving of published articles.

9. Citation and Acknowledgment of the Source

Any person who uses, reproduces, shares, or adapts an article published by Portal de la Ciencia must provide appropriate attribution.

At a minimum, the following is recommended:

Author(s). Article title. Portal de la Ciencia, volume, issue, year, pages or article identifier. Link to the original article. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 License.

When the material has been modified, translated, summarized, or adapted, the nature of the modification must be clearly indicated.

Attribution must not be presented in a manner that suggests that the authors, the journal, or the publishing institution endorse or sponsor the use made of the material when no such endorsement or sponsorship exists.

10. Moral Rights and Other Rights

The application of the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license does not constitute a general waiver of the authors' moral rights, nor does it authorize uses relating to privacy, publicity, image, trademarks, patents, or other rights that may be protected under legal provisions other than copyright.

The Creative Commons license governs only those rights that the licensor has the authority to grant under its terms.

11. Copyright and Intellectual Property Infringements

If a potential infringement of copyright or intellectual property rights related to a published article is identified, Portal de la Ciencia may evaluate the situation and request information or documentation from the parties involved.

Where appropriate, the journal may adopt relevant editorial measures in accordance with its policies and procedures, including:

  • publication of corrections;
  • modification or clarification of editorial information;
  • publication of an expression of concern;
  • temporary restriction of access to the content when necessary;
  • retraction of the article; or
  • any other editorial measure appropriate to the nature and seriousness of the case.

Such actions will be undertaken with the aim of preserving the integrity of the scientific record and respecting the principles of transparency, due process, and good practices in scholarly publishing.

12. Retraction and Preservation of the Scientific Record

When an article is subject to a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, Portal de la Ciencia will seek to maintain the traceability of the scientific record and clearly indicate the editorial status of the document.

The eventual retraction of an article does not necessarily imply the complete removal of its bibliographic record, since preservation of the scientific record allows transparency regarding the publication's editorial history.

13. License Validity

The CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license applied to articles published by Portal de la Ciencia is governed by the terms established by Creative Commons.

The license grants the public certain rights of use and reuse provided that its conditions are respected. In particular, the license establishes that the permissions to share and adapt the material are subject to compliance with Attribution, NonCommercial, and ShareAlike requirements.

14. Institutional Statement

Portal de la Ciencia recognizes that open-access scholarly publishing contributes to the democratization of knowledge, the strengthening of research, and the dissemination of scientific and academic results.

Accordingly, the journal provides free access to its publications and permits their reuse within the framework established by the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, seeking to simultaneously promote knowledge dissemination, recognition of authorship, and protection of intellectual property rights.

License of the Articles

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Articles published by Portal de la Ciencia are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license.

You are free to:

  • Share: copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
  • Adapt: remix, transform, and build upon the material.

Under the following conditions:

  • Attribution: give appropriate credit to the authors and source.
  • NonCommercial: do not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • ShareAlike: if you modify or adapt the material, distribute your contributions under the same license or a compatible license.