Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement
“International Journal of Biomedicine” (IJBM) endorses and behaves in accordance with the codes of conduct and international standards established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
IJBM publishes peer-reviewed articles on the topics of basic, applied, and translational research on biology and medicine.
Editorial Procedures
IJBM’s editorial procedures are guided by the COPE Code of Conduct for Journal Editors and Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The editor also may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board. Manuscripts are evaluated for their content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. IJBM is committed to following best practices on ethical matters, errors, and retractions, and to provide legal review if necessary.
Confidentiality
The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author and reviewers, other editorial advisers, as appropriate.The editor and any editorial staff must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author and reviewers, other editorial advisers, as appropriate.
Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. All authors must disclose any financial or other relations that could lead to a conflict of interest. If a potential conflict exists, its nature should be stated for each author. When there is a stated potential conflict of interest a footnote will be added indicating the author's equity interest in or other affiliation with the identified commercial firms. All sources of financial support for the study should be cited, including federal or state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and pharmaceutical or other commercial sources. Acknowledgment of those who contributed to the research or preparation of the paper should follow the text. Please use ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest (http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/).
Review Process
IJBM reviews the manuscript for appropriateness and notifies the corresponding author whether it is under consideration for publication. Articles under such consideration are sent to peer reviewers selected by the Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board members to whom the task has been delegated. Experts are usually not part of the editorial staff. Editor-in-Chief or the Editorial Board members send confidential information to the reviewer with the invitation letter, which contains explicit instructions on the IJBM’s expectations for the scope, content, quality, and timeliness of their reviews to promote thoughtful, fair, constructive, and informative critique of the submitted manuscript. The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board members ensure that reviewers have access to all materials that may be relevant to the evaluation of the manuscript, including supplementary materials. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. If the reviewers recommend extensive revisions or have questions, authors may be asked to revise their manuscript and then resubmit the article. Reviewers not are allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their files. Reviewers should return or destroy copies of manuscripts after submitting reviews. The Editor-in-Chief or Editorial Board members may sometimes reject a manuscript without external peer review if the manuscript is outside the scope of IJBM, does not meet the journal’s quality standards. IJBM reserves the right to edit text for clarity, style, and length. Final drafts are sent to authors for review before publication. Our reviewers are experts in their fields from around the world. IJBM will be pleased to accept services of reviewers in the fields of clinical science, experimental medicine and biology.
Timeliness
Generally, peer review is completed within 3-4 weeks and the editor’s decision within 7-10 days of this. It is therefore very rare to have to wait more than 6 weeks for a final decision.
Duties of Authors
IJBM accepts manuscripts that have not been published elsewhere and are not under consideration for publication by other print or electronic media. Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the paper. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work of others that this has been appropriately cited. Manuscript should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscript Submitted to Biomedical Journals, developed by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors and available at http://www.icmje.org. Please review section “For Authors”.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is not acceptable in IJBM submissions. Plagiarized content will not be considered for publication. If plagiarism is identified, we will follow COPE guidelines.
If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected.
Ethical Considerations in the Conduct and Reporting of Research: Protection of Human Subjects and Animals in Research
Studies involving human subjects or tissues must adhere to the Declaration of Helsinki and Title 45, US Code of Federal Regulations, Part 46, Protection of Human Subjects, and must have received approval of the appropriate institutional committee charged with oversight of human studies. All research studies involving animals must have been conducted following animal welfare guidelines such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, or equivalent documents.
The Use of Generative AI and AI-assisted Technologies in Scientific Writing
The adoption of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in scientific writing has prompted the formulation of this policy. The policy aims to enhance transparency and provide guidance to authors, readers, reviewers, editors, and contributors. This policy focuses solely on the writing process and does not encompass the use of AI tools for data analysis in research.
When authors employ generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process, they must use these tools only to enhance readability and linguistic quality. Human control should be exercised while applying these technologies, as authors must review and edit the results meticulously. This precaution is necessary because AI-generated content may sound authoritative but can be incorrect, incomplete, or biased. Authors bear ultimate responsibility and accountability for the content of their work.
Authors are required to disclose their use of AI and AI-assisted technologies. A statement regarding the use of these technologies should be included in the published work, aiding compliance with relevant tool or technology terms of use.
Authors should not credit AI and AI-based technologies as co-authors, as authorship entails responsibilities that only humans can fulfill.
Regarding figures and images, we do not permit using generative AI or AI-assisted tools to create or modify images in submitted manuscripts. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance are permitted as long as they do not obscure or destroy any information present in the original. Finally, the use of generative AI or AI-assisted tools in creating graphical abstracts is not permitted.
The only exception is when the use of AI or AI-assisted tools is part of the research design or research methods (for example, in AI-assisted imaging approaches to generate or interpret underlying research data, such as in biomedical imaging). Such use should be described in a reproducible manner in the methods section, explaining how the AI or AI-enabled tools were used to create or modify the image.
Authors must adhere to specific policies for using AI software and ensure proper attribution of content. In some cases, authors may be asked to provide pre-AI-corrected versions of images and/or composite raw images used to create the final submitted versions for editorial assessment.
Informed Consent
Authors are required to ensure the following guidelines are followed, as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals. Patients have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying information, including patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that a patient who is identifiable be shown the manuscript to be published. Authors should identify Individuals who provide writing assistance and disclose the funding source for this assistance. Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, however, and informed consent should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of patients is inadequate protection of anonymity. If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity, such as in genetic pedigrees, authors should provide assurance that alterations do not distort scientific meaning and editors should so note. When informed consent has been obtained it should be indicated in the submitted article.
Journal Policy on Affiliation with Sanctioned Institutions
At IJBM, we uphold the highest standards of academic integrity and compliance with international laws and regulations. To ensure the ethical and legal standing of all submitted research papers, authors are required to adhere to the following policy regarding affiliation with sanctioned institutions:
1. Declaration of Non-Affiliation: Authors must provide a clear and unambiguous statement confirming their non-affiliation with any institution, organization, or individual subject to sanctions imposed by international sanctions, laws, or regulations. This declaration should be included in the cover letter accompanying their manuscript submission.
2. Sanctioned Entities: Sanctioned entities include those listed on sanctions lists maintained by international authorities, such as the United Nations, the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the European Union, or any other relevant governing body.
3. Independence and Ethical Research: Authors should affirm that their research is conducted independently and ethically, without receiving any funding, resources, or support from sanctioned sources in connection with the submitted research.
4. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may compromise the ethical and legal standing of their submission. This includes any financial interests or affiliations that could be perceived as influencing the research.
5. Consequences of Non-Compliance: Failure to adhere to this policy, misrepresentation of affiliations, or non-disclosure of conflicts of interest may result in the rejection of the submitted manuscript or further investigation into the matter.
Authors submitting their research papers to IJBM are responsible for ensuring their compliance with this policy. We reserve the right to verify the provided information's accuracy and take appropriate action in cases of non-compliance.
Copyright & Self-archiving
IJBM articles are published under an IMRDC user license. Authors grant to the Journal an exclusive right to publish his/her article on Journal’s online platform, the right to share his/her article in all formats so his/her research is widely distributed after publication using the latest technology. Articles published under an IMRDC user license are protected by copyright and may be used for non-commercial purposes. A copy of the full text of each Open Access article is archived in an online repository separate from the journal. The authors can also self-archive the final publisher's version/PDF on personal website, departmental website, institutional repository with a link to publisher version.
Users may access, download, copy, translate, text and data mine (but may not redistribute, display or adapt) the articles for non-commercial purposes provided that users cite the article using an appropriate bibliographic citation (i.e. author(s), journal, article title, volume, issue, page numbers, DOI and the link to the definitive published PDF version on www.ijbm.org).
Advertising
IJBM carries out only advertisement for scientific forum or events. IJBM prohibits selling advertisement for any pharmaceutical product.
IJBM is 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.
Editor-in-Chief
