Publication of scientific papers involves conscientious, systematic and comprehensive processes by publishers and editors which have to be dealt with competently and efficiently. To maintain high ethical standards of publication of quality scientific work the publisher strives to work closely at all times with journal editors, authors and peer-reviewers.
The essential statements of publishing ethics for INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL BIOAUTOMATION (further referred to as JOURNAL) for all groups involved in the publishing process are as follows:
1. Submission of Manuscript
Authors should consider the Instruction to Authors on the JOURNAL'S website when making a submission. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the style and specifications of the Journal’s policy. At the time of initial manuscript submission the authors are also required to submit a cover letter clearly stating that the contents of the proposed paper have been neither fully, nor partially published and are currently not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
2. Conflict of Interest
“Conflict of interest (COI) exists when there is a divergence between an individual’s private interests (competing interests) and his or her responsibilities to scientific and publishing activities such that a reasonable observer might wonder if the individual’s behavior or judgment was motivated by considerations of his or her competing interests”. Authors should disclose any financial/relevant interest that may have influenced the development of the manuscript. Reviewers should disclose any COI and if necessary, decline the review of any manuscript they perceive to have a COI. Editors should also decline from considering any manuscript that may involve a COI. Such manuscripts should be re-assigned to other editors or even journals.
3. Corresponding Author - Prepublication Responsibilities
The corresponding author is solely responsible for communicating with the JOURNAL and for managing communication between co-authors. Before submission, the corresponding author should ensure that all authors are included in the author list, its order has been agreed by all authors, and that all authors are aware that the paper is to be submitted.
4. Changes in Authorship
Any changes in authorship must be agreed upon by all authors – including those being added or removed. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to obtain confirmation from all co-authors to the editorial board. The Change of authorship request form should be used by authors to request any change in authorship (adding/deleting authors) including changes in corresponding authors. Such changes must comply with our criteria for authorship.
Requests for significant changes to the authorship list after the paper has been accepted may be rejected if explicit reasons and evidence of author contributions cannot be provided.
5. Review Process
Manuscripts, judged by the Topic Editors to be of potential interest to our readers, are sent out for peer review to at least two independent reviewers, suggested by the Topic Editors. When submitting their manuscripts, authors are also welcome to suggest suitable independent reviewers who are not directly affiliated with their research unit, but these suggestions may not be followed by the JOURNAL. Authors may also request the JOURNAL to exclude a few (usually not more than two) individuals or affiliations. The JOURNAL sympathetically takes into consideration such inclusion or exclusion requests and usually honours them, but the editor's decision on the choice of peer-reviewers is final. When reviewers agree to assess a paper, the JOURNAL considers this a commitment to review subsequent revisions. However, editors will not send a resubmitted paper back to the reviewers if it seems that the authors have not made a serious attempt to address the criticisms.
Reviewer selection is critical to the publication process, and the reviewers’ choice is made based on many factors, including expertise, reputation, specific recommendations, as well as our own previous experience of a reviewer's characteristics. In general, reviewers are expected to be quick, careful, and objective, and to provide sound reasoning for their views, whether critical or favourable.
Confidential comments to the editor are welcome, but they should not contradict the main points as stated in the comments for transmission to the authors.
Papers may, however, be returned to authors without review if the Editors consider that they fall out of scope of the JOURNAL, fail to meet the criteria of scientific significance and novelty, or if they are considered too preliminary.
The final decision concerning publication, revision or rejection is taken by the Editorial board based on the reviewers' reports and recommendations and after at least two positive reviews. The editors then make a decision based on the reviewers' advice, from among several possibilities:
The peer review process usually takes between three and six months unless need of an additional advice in case of controversy between the reviewers' reports.
6. A Confidential Process
Editors, authors and reviewers are required to keep confidential all details of the editorial and peer review process on submitted manuscripts. Unless otherwise declared as a part of open peer review, the peer review process is confidential and conducted anonymously. Identities of reviewers are not disclosed to authors.
The JOURNAL editors treat the submitted manuscripts and all communication with authors and reviewers as confidential. Authors must also treat communication with the JOURNAL as confidential: correspondence with the JOURNAL, reviewers' reports and other confidential material must not be posted on any website or otherwise publicized without prior permission from the editors, whether or not the submission is eventually published.
7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is unacknowledged copying or an attempt to misattribute original authorship, whether of ideas, text or results. Duplicate publication occurs when an author reuses substantial parts of his or her own published work without providing the appropriate references. This can range from publishing an identical paper in multiple journals, to only adding a small amount of new data to a previously published paper.
In case of plagiarism which becomes evident post-publication, the JOURNAL may correct or retract the original publication depending on the degree of plagiarism, context within the published article and its impact on the overall integrity of the published study.
8. Publication Ethics and Security
The JOURNAL editors may seek advice about submitted papers not only from technical reviewers but also on any aspect of a paper that raises concerns. These may include, for example, ethical issues or issues of data or materials access. Very occasionally, concerns may also relate to the implications to society of publishing a paper, including threats to security. In such circumstances, advice will usually be sought simultaneously with the technical peer-review process. As in all publishing decisions, the ultimate decision whether to publish is the responsibility of the JOURNAL editors.
9. Correction and Retraction of Articles
Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the editor of the JOURNAL. Editors will determine the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections may be made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will remain unchanged, while the corrected version will also be published. Both the original and corrected version will be linked to each other. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published.
10. License to Publish
For the authors, the JOURNAL allows holding the copyright on their articles without restrictions. Generally, the articles are distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, unless the authors choose any of the other Creative Commons licenses. A complete version of the articles is deposited in a standard electronic format (usually in pdf format) in the JOURNAL website, ensuring online open access repository immediately on publication.
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