Compliance with ethical standards is an important factor which affects the quality of scientific research and publications. All the participants of the publishing process — the author(s), the reviewers, the Editorial Council, the publishing institution — are responsible for detection and prevention of violations (such as plagiarism, falsification and fabrication).
“The Animal Biology” is responsible for the quality of published scientific works. We rely on COPE practices. Institute of Animal Biology, as a publisher, is obliged to guarantee a serious approach to all stages of publishing activity. Advertisers and any other funding sources cannot influence the magazine’s editorial policy.
Duties of the Editor and the Editorial Council
Publication Decisions
The editorial decision about publication or rejection of the manuscript depends on its relevance to the Aims & Scope, novelty, compliance with the requirements to the articles; the reviewers’ conclusions; taking into account malpractices detected on the stage of paper preparation.
The Editorial Council accepts and evaluates manuscripts regardless of the previous merits, race, ethnic origin, gender, religion views, citizenship, sexual orientation, political preferences of the author(s).
In case of receiving malpractice reports a paper can be retracted even if it has already been published regardless of any limitation period. The Editorial Council reviews every such message and due to the situation makes a correction or publishes a retraction of the paper.
Confidentiality
The editor does not disclose any information about the received manuscript (author(s), subject, data etc.) to anyone except the corresponding author and reviewers, and the publisher, if necessary.
Editor, members of the Editorial Council and all informed persons are prohibited from using any information from the unpublished manuscript in their own research without written consent of the author. Privileged information and arguments obtained through peer review cannot be used for personal or third-party advantage.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
The editor or any member of the Editorial Council should waive the process of manuscript examination in case of any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or other relationships or connections with any author(s) or the relevant companies/institutions.
The editor has the right to demand the disclosure of conflict of interests from all co-authors. If the conflict of interests is revealed after the paper is published, the editors are required to publish a correction, notice of concern, or retraction due to the situation.
Ensuring the Integrity: Involvement and Cooperation
Editor accepts and responds to all messages from readers, reviewers and other persons with claims and doubts of research or publication misconduct (such as plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication). If concerns about the conduct or validity of academic work are raised, the relevant experts will be involved. The editor will also ask the author(s) to respond to the affairs. If that response is unsatisfactory, the question will be taken to the institutional level, the journal may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies.
If the published paper can negatively affect the further scientific research or practical application, the editor informs readers by publishing explanations and finding of the investigation. In case of severe misconduct, the Editorial Council retracts the paper; such papers are still available in the journal’s archive with a conspicuous marking.
Duties of the Reviewers
Read more: Peer-review process
Contribution to Editorial Decisions
Peer review is an obligatory step in evaluation of manuscript quality. The final editorial decision about paper publication or rejection depends on the two single-blind peer reviews. Peer review also aims to help the author(s) improve the manuscript.
Efficiency
If the reviewer asked for peer review feels the shortage of qualification in this area of research, has a conflict of interests with the author(s) or organization which have submitted the paper or he/she knows about the lack of time that makes his/her review impossible at the appointed time, he/she should notify the editor and waive the duty of review process.
Confidentiality
Any manuscript and supplementary materials received for review are confidential documents. It is prohibited to show, share and discuss them with third parties except the cases when it is authorized by the editor.
Reviewers are prohibited from using any information from the unpublished manuscript in their own research. Privileged information and arguments obtained through peer review cannot be used for personal or third-party advantage.
Standards of Objectivity
The reviewers are obliged to express clearly, objectively and with the supporting argumentation their views on controversial issues. No personal criticism against the author(s) is admissible.
Acknowledgement of Sources
The reviewer should indicate sources relevant to the research area that have not been cited or discussed in the manuscript. The reviewer’s duty is to inform the editor about all overlaps and similarities with any previously published paper for revealing the plagiarism; every such observation should be supported by the relevant citation.
Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
The reviewer cannot be the author or co-author of the reviewed work, as well as the research supervisor of the (co)author and/or a collaborator of the unit where the (co)author works.
The reviewer should waive reviewing the manuscript in case of any conflicts of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or other relationships or connections with any author(s) or the relevant companies/institutions.
Reviewer’s misconduct
Editors investigate any case of reviewer’s misconduct — such as confidentiality breach, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (both financial and non-financial), inappropriate use of provided confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. In case of the reviewer’s severe misconduct (e.g. plagiarism), the question will be taken to the institutional level.
Duties of Authors
Reporting Standards
If the manuscript describes the original experimental research, the author should present an accurate account of the performed work and an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately, methods should contain enough details and references to make the experiment replicable. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate statements are considered unethical behavior, they are inadmissible and may result in manuscript rejection.
If the manuscript is a literature review (compilation of papers), the author must base his work on his own research and personal reflection, submit his own assessment and original conclusions.
Data Access and Retention
If additional questions arise during manuscript evaluation or peer-review process, the authors should provide the information on request of editors, reviewers or the publisher. The author could be asked to provide the raw data of their study and should be prepared to provide public access to such data if practicable. Authors also should in any case retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
Originality and Plagiarism
The submitted manuscript — either experimental or review article — should be an original and independent work. If this manuscript is a continuation of the series of already published papers, the author should provide the bibliographic references to previous publications and explain the novelty and originality of the submitted manuscript.
Plagiarism in any form (excessive loaning, verbatim copying or paraphrasing with no reference to the source, appropriation of the other scientists’ research result) and also self-plagiarism (verbatim copying or paraphrasing of author’s own works) are considered unethical behavior and are inadmissible. When using parts of other works the author should provide appropriate bibliographic references. At the stages of evaluation and preparation the manuscript is checked for plagiarism and detection of severe misconduct may result in its rejection.
The author guarantees that the publication of the material will not violate the copyright of any person or organization and will not cause the disclosure of confidential or secret information. For the use of authorial data (tables, figures, extensive citations) the appropriate permissions and confirmation are required.
Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
The author is prohibited from submitting a manuscript that is already pending in another journal or has been published in any language. Author also should not submit papers describing the same research. Submission of the same manuscript to several journals or any other type of redundant publication is considered unethical behavior, it is inadmissible and results in manuscript rejection or paper retraction if the misconduct is revealed after the manuscript has already been published.
Acknowledgement of Sources
The author’s manuscript should be entirely original work. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. When fragments of someone’s work and/or affirmations loaned from other authors are used, the article should contain the relevant citations. The requirements for bibliographic references are prescribed in Requirements to the articles.
Authorship of a manuscript
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All participants who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors or mentioned in the Acknowledgement section. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all the co-authors are thoroughly familiar with the manuscript, all they approve the final version of the paper and agree to its submission for publication. All of them are responsible for paper content.
Hazards
If the research work involves chemicals, physical and chemical procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use and can be harmful for animal or human health, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.
Reporting of Research Involving Animals
he compliance with bioethical principles is a necessary requirement while carrying out research. Authors should indicate compliance with international and national recommendations for the taking care about and using the laboratory animals. Before the beginning of the experiment an appropriate approval, licensing or registration should be obtained — e.g. Institutional Review Board, Research Ethics Committee approval, or national licensing authorities for the use of animals. The author should on the editor’s request confirm that the experiment was carried out ethically (e.g. copies of approvals or licenses).
If any identifiable individual data (e.g. pet owners) has been collected during the research, the author is prohibited to publish or disclose it without specific consent from the individual or their official representative.
Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Author should disclose any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation in submitted manuscript. All sources of financial support for the research should be disclosed in the appropriate section.
Fundamental Errors in Published Works
If the author discovers a significant inaccuracy or fundamental error in his/her own published work, he/she is obliged to notify the journal editor or publisher promptly and to cooperate with the editor to correct or retract the paper.
Disclaimer
Neither the editors nor the Editorial Council are responsible for authors’ expressed opinions, views, and the contents of the manuscripts published in the journal. All submitted manuscripts undergo the procedure of double-blind peer reviewing by two independent experts which involves assessment of their authenticity, ethical issues, and useful contributions. The decisions of the reviewers are the crucial factor for the publication of the manuscript.
