Biological Forum-An International Journal has Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement is based, in large part, on the guidelines and standards of
COPE - Committee on Publication Ethics
ICMJE - International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
WAME – World Association of Medical Editors
The relevant duties and expectations of authors, reviewers, and editors of the journal are set out below.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF AUTHORS
- All the work reported in the manuscript must be original and free from any kind of plagiarism.
- The work should not have been published elsewhere or submitted to any other journal(s) at the same time.
- Any potential conflict of interest must be clearly acknowledged.
- Proper acknowledgements to other work reported (individual/company/institution) must be given. Permission must be obtained from any content used from other sources.
- Only those who have made any substantial contribution to the interpretation or composition of the submitted work, should be listed as ‘Authors’. While other contributors should be mentioned as ‘co-authors’.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF REVIEWERS
Biological Forum-An International Journal reviewers perform work for the journal on a volunteer basis.
- Providing a detailed, constructive, and unbiased evaluation in a timely manner on the scientific content of the work.
- Indicating whether the writing is relevant, concise & clear and evaluating the originality and scientific accuracy.
- Maintaining the confidentiality of the complete review process. Privileged information or ideas obtained by reviewers through the peer review process must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
- Notifying the journal editor about any financial or personal conflict of interest and declining to review the manuscript when a possibility of such a conflict exists.
- Notifying the journal editor of any ethical concerns in their evaluation of submitted manuscripts; such as any violation of ethical treatment of animal or human subjects or any considerable similarity between the previously published article and any reviewed manuscript.
- Reviewers who have accepted manuscript assignments are normally expected to submit their reviews within one week.
- They should also not accept manuscript review assignments for which they feel unqualified
RESPONSIBILITIES OF EDITORS
The Biological Forum-An International Journal Editor has ultimate responsibility for deciding if a manuscript submitted to Biological Forum-An International Journal should be published, and in doing so is guided by the journal’s policies as determined by the Biological Forum-An International Journal editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism. The Editor may consult with the Associate Editor and other members of the editorial team, as well as with reviewers, in making publication decisions.
The editors will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the race, color, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the author(s). They will not disclose any information about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other than the author(s), reviewers and potential reviewers, and in some instances the Biological Forum-An International Journal editorial board members, as appropriate. Additionally, the editors will make every effort to ensure the integrity of the blind review process by not revealing the identity of the author(s) of a manuscript to the reviewers of that manuscript, and vice versa.
When evaluating a manuscript for publication, in addition to considering standard criteria pertaining to the rigor of the manuscript, the quality of its presentation, and its contribution to humanity’s stock of knowledge, the editors will also seek evidence that ethical harms have been minimized in the conduct of the reported research. They will question whether the benefits outweigh the harms in the particular study’s case. Since Biological Forum-An International Journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts from any country, it is necessary to recognize that laws and regulations regarding research ethics and ethical approval vary worldwide. As such, the editors may need to seek clarification in this regard with the author(s) and request that they supply a letter from the relevant institutional ethics committee or board that approved the research.
The editors will be guided by CORE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles when considering retracting, issuing an expressions of concern about, and issuing corrections pertaining to articles that have been published in Biological Forum-An International Journal. They are committed to working closely with research organizations and institutions in line with CORE’s advice on Cooperation between Research Institutions and Journals on Research Integrity Cases.