Open Access Policy, Licensing Terms and Copyright

^{Last update: 22/05/2026}

The authors are advised to read their rights carefully. We believe this approach ensures a fair agreement for both parties. These instructions should be read in conjunction with the Ethical Guidelines and the Author Guidelines of the journal "Deusto Estudios Cooperativos (DEC)".

By submitting their manuscripts to Deusto Estudios Cooperativos (DEC), the authors accept the terms and conditions set out below regarding copyright and undertake to comply with them. They do not sign any document transferring rights to the Publisher (University of Deusto).

1. Authorship

The author must be the sole creator of the work or must act legally on behalf of and with the full consent of all the authors, ensuring that those who have made a significant contribution are cited as co-authors.

The authors warrant that their work is original; that it has not been previously published in any form; that it is not currently being prepared for publication elsewhere; and that its submission and publication do not breach the DEC’s Ethical Guidelines, nor the codes of conduct, laws or rights of any third party.

2. Copyright and Exploitation Rights:

When the authors submit an article for review and publication, they agree that the article will be published under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence. Specifically, they grant the Publisher (University of Deusto) permission to edit and format the article, which will be included in a forthcoming issue and distributed via any online or offline medium, whether currently known or developed in the future, that the Publisher deems necessary to promote the article, the authors and the journal.   

a) The authors retain the intellectual property rights to their work, but grant the Publisher (University of Deusto) the exclusive, royalty-free right to first publish, exploit and sub-license the work worldwide, in all forms and media, for the purposes of information, dissemination, public outreach, education and research, including its inclusion in the databases in which the journal is indexed and in the institutional repository of the University of Deusto.

b) The authors retain the right to present, display, distribute, adapt and publish their work in order to further their academic careers, provided they give due credit to their original publication in DEC. In this regard, they may make their article available for archiving in repositories or on personal websites, as well as use copies for teaching purposes or as a basis for future research, provided they give due credit to the original source.

Furthermore, they may subsequently publish the work in other media or journals, provided that the first footnote clearly states that the work was originally published in DEC (including the issue number, year, page numbers and DOI), and in a manner that does not suggest that the Journal and/or the Publisher (University of Deusto) endorses such subsequent publication or the other media or journals in which it appears.

c) The authors warrant that no permissions, authorisations or licences of any kind have been or will be granted that might infringe the rights granted to the Publisher.

3. Legal notice

Responsibility for the content of published works lies solely with the authors. Furthermore, they undertake to obtain the necessary permissions for the reproduction of any text, material or illustration sourced from third parties. Consequently, they shall be solely liable for any claims of plagiarism or infringement of intellectual property rights.

Access to DEC content is free of charge under our open access policy. However, in accordance with the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence, the authors of the articles must always be cited; both commercial use of the articles and any modification, alteration, adaptation or translation of the work (derivative works) intended for distribution will require the express prior written permission of the rights holder.