As a member of COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics), IBJ is seeking to ensure high-quality scientific publications and public trust in scientific findings. To achieve this goal, considering the ethical guidelines for publication provided by COPE and ICMJE (the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors), IBJ attempts to clarify, based on its ethical policies, the roles of authors, reviewers and editors, as the target group of individuals.
Ethical Notes for Editor:
- Editors are accountable and take responsibility for everything published in the Journal.
- Editors preserve the scientific integrity of the academic record.
- The editorial team is fully committed to notify the corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, the review process of the submitted manuscript. The corresponding author can follow the publication process of the manuscript by logging on the website using his/her personal username and password.
- Received manuscripts under review will be evaluated based on the following values:
- Originality, contribution to biomedical-related issues
- Soundness of methodology, analysis, or interpretation of data
- Clarity of presentation
- Standard quality of writing in English
- Editors enjoy complete authority to make decisions on academic merit and reject/accept a manuscript based on priority for publication in the journal.
- Editors do not disclose the identity of reviewers to authors or vice versa.
- Publication of manuscripts suspected of duplication, plagiarism, or image manipulation will be put on hold, and the editor-in-chief will instantly pursue the matter.
- Editors evaluate and approve the ethical conduct of the study in humans and animals, as described in the "Guide for Authors".
Ethical Notes for Authors:
- IBJ authorship criteria include the following indicators based on ICMJE guidelines. All those designated as authors should meet the four criteria below.
- Substantial contributions to the conduct of study including its conception and design, data acquisition, statistical analysis, and interpretation
- Drafting or revising the article for intellectual content
- Approval of the final version
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved
- Any communication between the Journal's office and the corresponding author of a manuscript is done only electronically.
- Manuscripts published or currently under review elsewhere are not eligible for submission.
- By submitting a manuscript, the corresponding author and all co-authors approve their active participation in the publication process of their manuscript.
- The corresponding author must ensure all co-authors are listed on the manuscript.
- The corresponding author and all co-authors should fill "Assignment of Copyright and Authorship Responsibilities" form to enable IBJ to publish their work.
- Authors of published articles should promptly notify the journal if they find any part of their published material needs to be corrected. Any changes or corrections to a published work require the consent of all authors.
- Authors are required to disclose funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest, as stated in the "Guide for Authors".
- In case of undisputed changes in authorship for appropriate reasons, editors request from all authors (including any whose names are being removed from an author list) for an agreement letter on these changes. Authorship disputes (i.e., disagreements on who should or should not be an author before or after publication) are not adjudicated by editors and should be resolved at institutional level or through other appropriate independent bodies for both published and unpublished papers.
- Rejected manuscripts will not be reviewed again.
Ethical Notes for Reviewers:
- Reviewers should agree to review manuscripts for which they have the subjective expertise required to carry out a proper assessment.
- Reviewers who are unable to provide a prompt review for an assigned manuscript should notify the editor-in-chief to be excluded from the peer-review process.
- Information obtained during peer-review process should not be shared with individuals other than the Journal's editors and not be used for anyone's advantage or disadvantage.
- Reviewers should notify the Journal of any conflicts of interests, such as the same research topic/direct competition, a close personal relationship or collaboration with the authors, or recent co-authorship with the authors.
- Reviewers should provide constructive feedback with a respectful tone, rather than unfounded criticism, to both authors and the editors.
- Reviewers should review objectively, far from any bias, refraining from making hostile, inflammatory, libelous or derogatory personal comments.
- Reviewers should point out relevant published work that has not been cited yet.
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