Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Molecular Biology Research Communications uses the ethical guidelines for publication provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org/) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, https://www.icmje.org/).

 

Ethical guidelines for authors

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, data collection, data analysis, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. He/she should agree to be listed as an author on the manuscript and approve the version to be submitted to the journal and the final version to be published.

The corresponding author ensures that all contributing co-authors and no uninvolved persons are included in the author list. The corresponding author will also verify that all co-authors have approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

Authors must certify that their manuscript is their original work and it has not previously been published elsewhere in any language.

Authors must state that all data in the paper are real and authentic.

Authors must notify the editors of any conflicts of interest.

Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have influenced their research.

Authors must participate in the peer review process and follow the comments.

Authors must not submit their manuscript to more than one journal at the same time.

Authors must not submit their manuscript to other journal while waiting for a decision from the “Molecular Biology Research Communications” journal.

Authors cannot withdraw their articles within the review process or after submission, or they must pay the penalty defined by the publisher.

If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Manuscripts should adhere to the principles of the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki regarding research study involving human or animal subjects.

If requested by Editor-in-Chief, authors should supply evidence that reported research received the appropriate approval and was carried out ethically (e.g. copies of approvals, licences, participant consent forms).

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own submitted manuscript / published work, it is the author’s obligation to promptly notify the journal editor and cooperate with the editor to retract or correct the paper.

 

 

Ethical guidelines for reviewers

Peer review assists the Editor-in-Chief in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.

 

Conflict of Interests: We ask our referees to refuse review of a manuscript if they feel there is a conflict of interest (financial or otherwise) that might prevent an impartial and object review. A conflict of interest could arise under a number of circumstances and is difficult to define clearly. We would generally ask you to refuse if you; have financial interest in the outcome of the research, are competing to publish similar findings, have past disputes with any of the manuscript authors, and have any other competing reasons.

 

Guidelines to be followed while reviewing the articles are:

 “Molecular Biology Research Communications”applies single-blind peer review, which means that reviewers remain anonymous by default. Reviewers should not disclose their identity to the authors, at any stage of the publication of the manuscript.

Reviewers of the Journal will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his own research.

Any invited referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its timely review will be impossible should immediately notify the editor so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

Reviewers should review the manuscript within the provided timeline in order to facilitate timely completion of the review process. If a reviewer believes it is not possible for him/her to review the research reported in a manuscript within the designated guidelines, or within stipulated time, he/she should notify the editor, so that the accurate and timely review can be ensured.

Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except if authorized by the Editor-in-Chief.

Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author. No self-knowledge of the author(s) must affect their comments and decision.

Reviewers should not be biased or partial while reviewing the manuscript.

Reviewers should provide constructive comments to improve the quality of the article.

Reviewers may identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.

Reviewers should directly contact the editor/editorial office, if there is any problem in the manuscript content/figures/tables/experimental data.

Reviewers should evaluate the manuscript in fairness based on the intellectual content of the paper regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship nor political values of the authors.

Reviewers should directly inform the editor, if the manuscript does not meet the standards of the journal or there is no quality content in the manuscript.

Articles are assigned based on the research interests of the reviewers. They can approach the assigned editor/editorial office, if the manuscript is beyond their expertise.

Reviewers should also call to the Editor-in-Chief's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

 Reviewer reviews his/her assigned article and judges it according to four categories: publish as is, publish with minor revisions, publish with major revisions, and reject.

 Reviewers have to remember that the final decision to accept or reject will depend on the comments from the Editor-in-Chief.

 

 

Ethical guidelines for editors

Editor-in-Chief takes responsibility for making publication decisions for submitted manuscripts based on the reviewer’s evaluation of the manuscript and policies of the journal editorial board.

The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential.

The anonymity of reviewers is preserved.

The editor and any editorial staff of the Journal must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

The editor and any editorial staff of the Journal will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his own research.

All manuscripts are evaluated in fairness based on the intellectual content of the paper regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship nor political values of the author(s).

Editor-in-Chief should not allow any conflicts of interest between staff, authors, reviewers and board members.

Editor-in-Chief has complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.

When genuine errors are found in a manuscript, the Editor-in-Chief promote publication of correction or retraction. The online version of the paper may be corrected with a date of correction and a link to the printed erratum. If the error renders the work or substantial parts of it invalid, the paper should be retracted with an explanation as to the reason for retraction (i.e., honest error).

 

 

Publishing ethics issues

The “Molecular Biology Research Communications” uses the COPE flowchart for retraction of a published article (http://publicationethics.org//resources/guidelines).

All patients and participants of the research should be thoroughly informed about the aims of the study and any possible side effects of the drugs and intervention. Written informed consent from the participants or their legal guardians is necessary for any such studies. The Journal reserves the right to request the related documents.

The Editors-in-Chief are always willing to publish corrections, clarifications.

Plagiarism: Use of verbatim texts from other sources without acknowledgement is prohibited. The content of all articles must be the original work of authors and must not be plagiarized from other articles.

Data falsification/fabrication: Falsification is the practice of omitting or altering research materials, data, or processes so that the results of the research are no longer accurately reflected. Fabrication is the practice of inventing data or results and reporting them in the research. Both of these misconducts are fraudulent and seriously alter the integrity of research. Therefore, articles must be written based on original data and use of falsified or fabricated data is strongly prohibited.