Journal Policy
Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement
Journal of Biological and Sustainability Sciences
Commitment to Publication Ethics
The Journal of Biological and Sustainability Sciences is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, academic responsibility, and editorial independence.
The journal expects authors, editors, reviewers, and publishers to follow responsible scholarly publishing practices. All manuscripts must be prepared honestly, evaluated fairly, and published only after appropriate editorial and peer-review assessment.
Suspected cases of plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, unethical research, authorship abuse, peer-review manipulation, or other publication malpractice may be investigated by the editorial office.
Responsibilities of Authors
- Authors must submit only original work that has not been published previously and is not under consideration elsewhere.
- All authors must have made a meaningful scholarly contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript.
- All listed authors must approve the submitted version and the final accepted version of the manuscript.
- Authors must present data honestly, accurately, and without fabrication, falsification, inappropriate manipulation, or selective reporting.
- Authors must cite relevant previous work accurately and acknowledge the contributions of others.
- Authors must disclose all funding sources, competing interests, ethical approvals, consent information, and data availability details where applicable.
Responsibilities of Editors
- Editors are responsible for making fair, unbiased, and timely editorial decisions.
- Manuscripts are assessed on scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, clarity, and relevance to the journal scope.
- Editors must not discriminate on the basis of nationality, gender, institutional affiliation, religion, political view, or personal background.
- Editors must maintain confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and peer-review records.
- Editors must declare conflicts of interest and avoid handling manuscripts where a conflict may influence editorial judgment.
- Final editorial decisions are based on reviewer comments, editorial assessment, journal policies, and the scientific merit of the manuscript.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
- Reviewers must evaluate manuscripts objectively, constructively, and confidentially.
- Reviewers should declare conflicts of interest before accepting a review invitation.
- Reviewers should not use unpublished data, methods, or ideas from a manuscript for personal advantage.
- Reviewers should provide clear comments that help authors improve the manuscript.
- Reviewers should alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, ethical concerns, data problems, or citation manipulation.
- Reviewers should submit their reports within the agreed deadline or inform the editorial office if more time is needed.
Authorship and Contributorship
Authorship should be limited to individuals who made a significant scholarly contribution to the work. All authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the manuscript and must approve the submitted and accepted versions.
Changes in authorship after submission, including addition, removal, or rearrangement of authors, must be justified and approved by all affected authors. The editorial office may request written confirmation from all authors before accepting authorship changes.
Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged in the acknowledgement section with permission.
Research Ethics and Biosafety
Authors must ensure that all research is conducted according to applicable ethical, institutional, biosafety, and regulatory requirements.
- Studies involving human participants must include institutional ethical approval information where required.
- Informed consent must be obtained where applicable and clearly stated in the manuscript.
- Animal studies must follow institutional and national animal-care and welfare requirements.
- Research involving microorganisms, recombinant DNA, clinical samples, pathogens, or biosafety-sensitive material must follow applicable biosafety regulations.
- Clinical, biomedical, therapeutic, or pharmacological studies must comply with relevant ethical and regulatory standards.
Plagiarism, Originality, and Duplicate Publication
Submitted manuscripts must be original and must not contain plagiarized material. Authors must properly cite and acknowledge all sources, including text, ideas, data, figures, tables, methods, software, and previously published work.
Manuscripts submitted to JBSS must not be under consideration by another journal at the same time. Redundant publication, duplicate submission, and inappropriate reuse of previously published material are not acceptable.
The journal may screen manuscripts for similarity. A manuscript may be returned, rejected, corrected, or retracted if plagiarism or major overlap is identified.
Data Integrity and Image Integrity
Authors must present research data accurately and transparently. Fabrication, falsification, selective reporting, inappropriate statistical manipulation, and misleading interpretation of results are not acceptable.
Figures and images must not be manipulated in a way that changes the scientific meaning of the results. Any adjustment to images must be applied appropriately and described where necessary.
The editorial office may request raw data, original images, ethical approval documents, or additional methodological details during review or after publication.
Conflicts of Interest and Funding Disclosure
Authors must disclose any financial, institutional, personal, professional, or other relationships that could influence, or be perceived to influence, the research or its interpretation.
All sources of funding, grants, institutional support, industrial sponsorship, or material support must be clearly stated in the manuscript.
Editors and reviewers must also declare conflicts of interest and should not participate in handling or reviewing manuscripts where impartiality may be affected.
Peer Review Integrity
JBSS uses a double-blind peer-review process for manuscripts that pass the initial editorial assessment. Reviewer identities and author identities are handled confidentially during peer review.
Peer-review manipulation, false reviewer identities, fabricated review reports, inappropriate reviewer suggestions, or attempts to influence reviewer independence are considered serious publication misconduct.
Publication Misconduct
Publication misconduct may include, but is not limited to:
- Plagiarism or text recycling without proper citation
- Duplicate submission or redundant publication
- Data fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation
- Image manipulation that misrepresents scientific findings
- Gift authorship, guest authorship, ghost authorship, or authorship exclusion
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest or funding sources
- Citation manipulation or coercive citation practices
- Peer-review manipulation or use of false reviewer identities
- Unethical research involving humans, animals, biological materials, or sensitive data
Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions
- A correction may be issued when a published article contains an honest error that does not invalidate the main findings.
- An expression of concern may be issued when serious questions are raised and an investigation is ongoing.
- A retraction may be issued when findings are unreliable due to misconduct, major error, plagiarism, unethical research, or duplicate publication.
- Retracted articles remain part of the scholarly record but are clearly marked as retracted.
- The journal may update article metadata, notices, or records to preserve transparency and research integrity.
Appeals, Complaints, and Ethical Concerns
Authors may appeal editorial decisions by providing a clear, evidence-based explanation. Appeals are reviewed by the editorial office and may be referred to an appropriate editor or editorial board member.
Readers, reviewers, authors, or institutions may report ethical concerns, suspected errors, or possible misconduct to the editorial office. All complaints are treated seriously and reviewed according to the nature of the concern.
The journal aims to handle complaints fairly, confidentially, and transparently while protecting the integrity of the scholarly record.
Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools
Authors are responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and validity of all manuscript content, including any content prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence tools.
Artificial intelligence tools must not be listed as authors. Authors should disclose significant use of such tools where they assisted in writing, data analysis, image generation, translation, editing, or other manuscript preparation tasks.
Contact for Ethical Concerns
Ethical concerns, publication complaints, authorship disputes, corrections, or suspected malpractice may be reported to the editorial office.