The journal adheres generally to the Core Practices recommended by COPE.  It also conforms to the ethical guidelines of the American Musicological Society, Society for Ethnomusicology, and Society for American Music. 

Allegations of misconduct

The editorial team will respond promptly when ethical concerns are raised with regard to a submitted manuscript or published paper. All instances of reported unethical behavior in publishing, including those identified long after the publication date, will be investigated. Acts such as plagiarism and the publication of duplicate content are unequivocally regarded as misconduct. Should the investigation reveal that these ethical concerns are substantiated, the journal reserves the right to retract the implicated article or, alternatively, to issue a correction or a statement of concern in its pages and may contact the author’s academic institution.

Authorship and contributorship

The expectation is that every author named on a submitted paper has made a significant contribution to its creation and has agreed to its submission. Furthermore, authors are responsible for addressing any external claims regarding contribution to their paper.

Complaints and appeals

Appeals regarding editorial decisions, when supported by solid reasoning, should be submitted to the editorial team of the journal, who is responsible for making decisions on matters related to editorial policy and the content of the journal. These issues will be taken seriously and handled swiftly.

Conflicts of interest / Competing interests

The journal diligently works to address potential conflicts of interest involving authors, reviewers, and editors. In situations where editors have a conflict of interest with an author or authors of a paper, they are expected to recuse themselves from any discussions or decision-making processes related to that paper. Likewise, reviewers who find themselves in a conflict of interest with an author are advised to refuse the task of reviewing their work. Conflicts of interest can arise from various connections, including personal or business relationships, current advisory or mentorship roles, recent collaborative work, or shared affiliations with the same institution. 

Ethical oversight

The journal will take reasonable steps to ensure that publications avoid inflammatory language and do not disclose data that would violate an individual’s privacy. Personal data collected during the editorial process, beyond a paper’s bibliographic metadata, will be kept confidential.

Peer-review processes

Each submission is assigned to one of the handling editors. If the paper meets the standards set forth by the mission statement of the journal, then at least one independent external referee is invited to review the submission. If the Handling Editor determines that a submission does not meet the standards of the journal, then the authors will be notified and the paper may be rejected without additional reviews.

Diagonal uses a doubly anonymous reviewing process. Authors are asked to remove identifying information from their submission and reviewers are not informed of the authors’ identity.  Reviewers are asked not to search for the identity of authors.  However, reviewers are not asked to recuse themselves from the refereeing process if they are aware of the identity of the authors.

Referees are requested to provide their evaluations within a two to three-month period following receipt of the manuscript, with additional time allowed for longer articles. The Handling Editors rely on these referee reports to assess the research's merit, quality, and its relevance to the field. Decisions on manuscript submissions are based solely on these factors, ensuring impartiality regardless of the authors' gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs, political views, or institutional association.  Articles in English, Spanish, or Portuguese receive equal consideration, without special preference for any particular language.  All articles include an abstract and keywords in English and in a second language relevant to the topic, whether Spanish or Portuguese.

Post-publication discussions and corrections

Authors are expected to promptly notify the Editor-in-Chief of any significant errors found in their work that has been published in Diagonal. Should the editors learn of a third party questioning the accuracy of a publication, they will reach out to the author(s). It is then the responsibility of the author(s) to thoroughly assess the claim and either confirm the error or offer a rebuttal.

In the event that a major error is verified, the journal will collaborate with the author(s) to inform the scholarly community about the issue. This may include the publication of an erratum.

Journal management

The journal is funded through the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music, which in turn is supported by the College of Humanities, ARts, and Social Sciences at the University of California, Riverside.  Its publisher is eScholarship out of the University of California.