1.- Journal Editor Duties

1.1 The journal editors are responsible for performing a first revision of the received manuscripts and deciding on their thematic pertinency and appropriate presentation of the formal aspects before proceeding with the peer review process. They are also responsible for starting and managing the double-blind peer-review process by assigning reviewers based on academic qualifications and thematic and methodological pertinency, notifying authors on a timely manner of the results of the review process, and publishing manuscripts which have received favorable results in accordance with the journal guidelines. 

1.2 Norteamerica will timely inform authors on each phase of the publishing process: (1) Reception; (2) First revision; (3) Double-blind peer-review results; (4) Editorial Board decision on publication and programming; (5) Publication Notice. 

1.3 The Journal Editor is responsible for deciding which papers will be submitted to the peer-review process but it is the Editorial Board who will decide on publication. 

1.4 Publishing decisions will not depend in any way on nationality, ethnicity, political views, institution or gender. 

1.5 The Journal is commited to preserving confidentiality of all participants in the double-blind peer-review process.

2.- Authors Duties

2.1 Authors are committed to submitting only original and unpublished manuscripts. No previously published texts will be considered for publication on Norteamérica. 

2.2 A manuscript is considered previously published when (1) the full text has been published in another journal or academic publication; (2) large fragments of previously published papers appear in the submitted manuscript; (3) the submitted manuscript has been published in congress memoirs. These criteria apply for printed and electronic publications and for any language. 

2.3. Authors must declare and appropriately cite any fragment taken from another work; this applies to sources, tables or any other content. 

2.4. The author who submits a manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility for including all the appropriate names of his or her co-authors. 

2.5 Authors are responsible for avoiding any reference to their identity in the manuscript. 

2.6 Authors should not submit their manuscript simultaneously to other journals. 

2.7 Authors must accept the norms, criteria and publishing processes of the journal.

3.- Reviewers duties

3.1 Reviewers should only accept to review manuscripts for which they consider themselves to have enough competence, expertise and the specific knowledge for performing the task expected from them. 

3.2 The reviewers task is to decide if a manuscript is worthy of publication. If not, they must provide sufficient reasons to sustain their rejection. In any case, they should strive to help authors improve their manuscripts by offering constructive criticism whenever possible. 

3.3 Reviewers must avoid any conflict of interest that they may recognise in relation to their proposed reviews. They should notify the editors of any non ethical conduct detected in the manuscripts and point out any other motive that may lead to the rejection of the manuscript under review. 

3.4 Reviewers should notify the editors if they are qualified to review a manuscript according to the time and form proposed by the journal.