JOURNAL POLICIES OF BIOSCIENCE BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH COMMUNICTIONS

(Author Ethical Statement / Copyright Forms / Plagiarism Report)

(To Be Submitted By Authors)

1. Manuscript Submission Requirements
2. Type of Articles: Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications considers the following types of articles for publication: Original Research Articles, Reviews, Case Reports, and Short Communications. Perspectives and Opinions, this is our academic endeavour for our new section, Under One Thousand Words.
3. Brief Preparation Guidelines for Manuscript

Each article has a format, the title page must have a concise title, a short running title, full author names, their full affiliations, email addresses, and ORCIDs.

The main manuscript must contain an abstract of 250 words, 5 keywords, and sections of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, and Discussion (IMRAD), followed by a brief conclusion and references.

The maximum word limit for the Original Article is 3500 and 5000 for Reviews, excluding tables, figures, and references. The word limit for Case Reports and Short Communications is 2000, excluding tables and references. Perspectives and Opinions should be of 1000 words,  for our new section, Under One Thousand Words, our novel academic endeavour.

References must be in Harvard Style, in-text citations, appearing by the last author’s name and year in brackets. All references cited in the text matter must be arranged alphabetically in the last section of References.

Tables, figures, and photographs must be numbered and arranged between the results and the discussion.

4. Mandatory Requirements for Submission of Manuscripts

Manuscript submissions by authors must align with the journal and editorial policies of Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications. Please see the detailed instructions to authors, submission Guidelines, and checklist www.bbrc.in instructions to authors

We require the following from our distinguished authors when they submit a manuscript:

1. The manuscript must be submitted online after logging in / registering by the corresponding author.
2. The work described has not been published before, and it is not under consideration for publication anywhere else.
3. All co-authors have read and approved the manuscript (MS) for publication.
4. The MS has been checked for plagiarism, and it is less than 15%.
5. Please complete the author’s ethical declaration/plagiarism check forms.
6. Mandatory Policy Statements to be Included in the Manuscript Before References
7. Ethics statement: Include an ethics declaration if your work reports research involving human or animal subjects, their data, and /or biological materials.
8. Funding statement: Include a statement declaring whether this work received funding. If you did receive funding, you must declare it and give the grant number or funding body details.
9. Competing / Conflict of interest statement:
10. Data Availability Statement:
11. Acknowledgements (Optional):

Journals Open Access Policy:

Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications has an open-access policy following the Creative Commons licence. According to this license agreement, authors of articles published in this journal retain the copyright of their articles. Articles are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication, without subscription charges or registration barriers.

Authorship: The corresponding author needs to confirm that all authors have read the journal’s policies and the submitted manuscript. The plagiarism level check certificate/ethical clearance declaration statement/ informed consent have been attached with the MS.

1. Submission Fees: There is no submission fee for Biosc.Biotech.Res. Comm.
2. Article Processing Charges:  A modest article processing charge will apply to accepted articles to cover the bare minimum expenses of the journal. Please see our APC / Waivers for different countries. Link to Article Processing Charges of Biosc, Biotech, Res. Comm

Editorial Process / Peer Review Process

5. Upon initial submission of the manuscript, the author will be notified of the receipt via e-mail. Initially, an article will be reviewed by one member of the Editorial team to judge the technical quality of the paper, its relevance to the scope of the journal, the type and format of the manuscript, submitted disclosures, and its plagiarism levels.
6. Articles written in poor English or not conforming to Biosc.Biotech.Res.Comm submission guidelines will either be rejected or returned to the authors to rectify the shortcomings.
7. Manuscripts deemed proper are then forwarded to at least two subject experts to provide their unbiased input.
8.  Articles submitted to  Biosc Biotech Res Comm are evaluated according to their merit. Editorial decision on manuscripts submitted to Biosc. Biotech.Res.Comm is based on independent, anonymized peer review reports.
9. Acceptable manuscripts will also be checked for data analysis and verification of references before the author is notified about the status of the paper, with any suggestions for modifications strictly as reviewers’ comments and revisions as asked.
10. Editors will check at every step for full compliance and revision of all such articles in press. Finally accepted articles will then be forwarded for typesetting and formatting, and the galley proof will be sent to the authors for proofreading, before final publication in a time-bound period. For the detailed process of the manuscript, please see the flow chart of  MS processing in Biosc.Biotech.Res. Comm.

1. The journal is committed to an editorial process that is not compromised by financial or political influence, thereby actively seeking and encouraging submissions from underrepresented segments of the global scholarly communication ecosystem

8. Incomplete studies and manuscripts not in strict compliance with the policies of the journal will be strongly discouraged and rejected. Each type of article has a special format and should comply with the updated Biosc Biotech Res CommInstructions for authors / submission check List, published in its issues.

All articles in Biosc Biotech Res Comm are published under a Creative Commons License, International Attribution 4.0 BY-CC, meaning thereby a free, unlimited use of the articles for academic purposes with proper citations, without any barriers.

We are particular in demonstrating conformance with established industry guidelines and best practices promoted by professional scholarly and academic quality publishing organizations such as: Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing.

Acceptable manuscripts will be checked for data analysis and verification of references before the author is notified about the status of the paper, with any suggestions for modifications.

Finally accepted articles will be forwarded to the printer for typesetting and formatting, etc., and the galley proof will be sent to the authors for proofreading and minor corrections before publication, to be obtained within a time-bound frame.

2. Peer Review Policy

Unbiased, independent, critical assessment is an intrinsic part of all scholarly work, including the scientific process. Peer review is the critical assessment of manuscripts submitted to journals by experts who are not part of the editorial staff, and is, therefore, an important extension of the scientific process.

Each article submitted to Biosc. Biotech. Res. Comm for publication is reviewed by at least two specialist reviewers of the concerned area. The dual anonymized review process is strictly followed, and in certain controversial cases, the opinion of a 3rd reviewer can also be sought.

Guidelines for Reviewers

An unpublished manuscript is a privileged document. Please protect it from any form of exploitation. Don’t cite a manuscript or refer to the work it describes before it has been published and don’t use the information that it contains for the advancement of your own research or in discussions with colleagues. Adopt a positive, impartial attitude toward the manuscript under review, with the aim of promoting effective and constructive scientific communication.

If you believe that you cannot judge a given article impartially, please return it immediately to the editor. Reviews must be completed within 3 weeks. If you know that you cannot finish the review within that time, immediately return the manuscript to the editor.

In your review, consider the following aspects of the manuscript: –Adherence to style of the MS as set forth in Instructions to Authors of Biosc Biotech Res Comm.

• Adequacy of title, abstract and its contents. Language and expression of findings in the manuscript.
• Significance of research questions or subject studied.
• Originality of work: It should be checked through standard plagiarism software only.
• Appropriateness of approach or methodology and adequacy of experimental techniques.
• Appropriateness of figures and or tables and length of article.
• Experimental data its presentation and interpretation.
• Soundness of conclusions and interpretation and relevance of discussion of the manuscript.
• Appropriate literature citations as per Harvard Style of References with updated references.

Any help you can give in clarifying meaning in the manuscript will be appreciated. We prefer reviewers to use the manuscript comment review system, enabling the authors to make the necessary changes as suggested by the reviewers, which can be later checked for compliance.

If you wish to mark the text of the manuscript, use a pencil or make a photocopy, mark it, and return it together with the original. You can be particularly helpful in pointing out unnecessary illustrations and data that are presented in both tabular (and graphic) form and in detail in the text. Such redundancies are a waste of space and readers time.

A significant number of authors have not learnt how to organize data and will be benefit from your guidance. Do not discuss the paper with its authors. In your comments intended for transmission to the author, do not make any specific statement about the acceptability of a paper. Suggested revision should be stated as such and not expressed as conditions of acceptance. Present criticism dispassionately and avoid offensive remarks.

Organize your review so that an introductory paragraph summarizes the major findings of the article, gives your overall impression of the paper and highlights the major shortcomings. This paragraph should be followed by specific numbered comments which if appropriate may be subdivided into major and minor points. Confidential remarks directed to the editor should be typed (or handwritten) on a separate sheet, not on the review form. You might want to distinguish between revisions considered essential and those judged merely desirable.

Your criticisms, arguments and suggestions concerning the paper will be most useful to the editor and to the author if they are carefully documented. Do not make dogmatic, dismissive statements, particularly about the novelty of work. Substantiate your statements.

Reviewer’s recommendations are gratefully received by the editor. However, since editorial decisions are usually based on evaluations derived from several sources, reviewers should not expect the editor to honour every recommendation.

3. Conflict of Interest

For Authors:

All manuscripts for articles, including the original research data-based articles, reviews, editorials, perspectives, comments, and letters that are submitted to Biosc. Biotech.Res.Comm. must be accompanied by a conflict-of-interest disclosure statement or a declaration by the authors that they do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.

Type of Declarations Required

Conflicting Interests: If you are submitting your article to  Biosc. Biotech.Res.Comm. make a Declaration of Conflict of  Interests at the end of your manuscript, before the references, under the heading Conflict of Interest Statement: None Declared, or The author (s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding: Provide whether the work received any funding, with details of the grant,  number, and period.

Data Retention and Availability Statement: Provide a statement that the data are available, with the corresponding author, and will be shared on reasonable request.

4. Plagiarism

According to Oxford University Dictionary, plagiarism is defined as using someone else’s ideas, words, data, or other material produced by them without acknowledgement. It is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author, and representing them as one’s original work.

Biosc Biotech Res Comm condemns all forms of plagiarism, following a very strict and vigilant policy of removing this malady. Plagiarism can be unintentional or intentional, reproducing academic material without appropriate credit to the original authors (Citations / References).  The worst form of plagiarism is to steal the whole article or its parts from others and publish it under one’s name.

Plagiarism, fabrication, unethical or redundant publication grossly violates the editorial policies of Biosc Biotech Res Comm., which follows best practice guidelines given by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as mentioned in the Instructions for Authors of Biosc Biotech Res Comm.

All authors submitting their MS to Biosc Biotech Res Comm must complete and sign the ethical statement form and append the Plagiarism Check Certificate of their MS along with the copyright form (www.bbrc.in), failing which, their MS will not be processed further.

The Editorial Committee of Biosc Biotech Res Comm will take appropriate action against any author found to be guilty of intentional plagiarism or exceeding the standard limits of plagiarism/similarity levels of the text matter in their manuscript.

We do not tolerate plagiarism in any of our publications, and we reserve the right to check all submissions through appropriate plagiarism checking tools. Submissions containing suspected plagiarism, in whole or part, will be rejected. If plagiarism is discovered post-publication, we will follow our guidelines outlined in the Retractions, Corrections, and Expressions of Concern sections.

We expect our readers, reviewers, and editors to raise any suspicions of plagiarism, either by contacting the relevant editor or by emailing  editor@bbrc.in.

5. Ethical Issues for Clinical Trials, Human Subjects / Animal Studies

Clinical trials and studies conducted on animals must have been approved by an Institutional Review Board / Committee (IRB) following the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and/or the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, as adopted and promulgated by the United States National Institutes of Health or Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Animal Studies

Ethical declarations in research form an integral part of the submission process of a manuscript to a journal. Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications requires that the experimental conditions under which animal and human assays and tests are performed are as per standard protocols used worldwide.

Authors must make it clear in writing that the procedures they used were as humane as possible and complied with the guidelines for animal care of their institutions or with national/international guidelines.

Studies on animals must comply with the prevailing standards of animal welfare according to Indian Council of Medical Research Guidelines or  Committee for the Purpose of Control & Supervision of Experiments on Animals  (CPCSEA)  in India,  and likewise following similar conditions elsewhere, (Ethical Approval  Committees/ Institutional Review Board with Approval Number is necessary). For details of animal studies, please see: ARRIVE and Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.

1. Human Studies: Ethical Standards and Informed Consent

Studies involving human subjects /patients, and also if the manuscript includes case reports /case series, authors need to provide the following: Name of the Ethical Committee /Institutional Review Board, they have obtained consent, along with approval number /ID, and date of approval. Authors should specifically mention that the study was following the Helsinki Declaration / SCARE criteria.

Case Reports: Case Reports should be followed as per the guidelines of the SCARE criteria. Informed consent should be obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

Data access and retention: Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data.

9. Honorary Editorial Committee and Advisory Board of

 Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications

The Editorial Committee of Biosc.Biotech.Res. Comm. comprises the Editor-in-Chief, Executive Editors, Associate Editors,  Managing Editors, Assistant Editor (s), and the editorial assistants /secretaries, who meet frequently to expedite the business of the journal.

The editorial committee follows the guidelines provided by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors in Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals: Writing and Editing for Biomedical Publication, which can be downloaded from http://www.icmje.org/

1. An international advisory board comprising members from diverse regions, with significant professional experience in different fields of biological and biomedical sciences, helps the Editorial Committee in policy matters when needed.
2. Senior advisory board members from India, as well as abroad, are members of the journal. Each member is selected due to the expertise and experience in the field of his/her specialization.
3. Affiliations, biographies, and addresses of all members of the Editorial Board are displayed on e website of  Biosc. Biotech.Res. Comm.

Other Policies: Correction and Retraction, Expression of Concern:

 Corrections, Withdrawals, and Retractions

• Authors submitting their work to Biotech.Res. Comm.must carefully ensure that their submitted articles follow standard conventions of scientific reporting, originality of the work, and explicit and correct English. All factual statements must be supported by cited sources or research evidence. Authors must ensure the accuracy of citations, diagrams, tables, and figures. If there are violations, articles will be retracted or withdrawn.
• Despite the mandate of clear instructions on the website of the journal, Biotech.Res. Comm. will consider retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern in line with COPE’s Retraction Guidelines.
• Retractions are usually reserved for articles that are seriously flawed that whose findings or conclusions should not be relied upon, or that contain substantial plagiarism.
• Accepted articles in the final stages of publication, if they are withdrawn, will entail withdrawal fees. The request will be processed by the editorial board, and only genuine reasons will be considered for retraction if possible. The decision of the editorial board will be final and not negotiable.
• Infringements of professional ethical codes, such as multiple submissions, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data, or the like, will entail a complete retraction or will be allowed to correct errors in publication.
• A retraction note titled “Retraction: [article title]” will be published in the paginated part of the issue of the journal and listed in the contents list.

Complaint Policy of Biosc.Biotech.Res.Comm

Genuine complaints in Publication: Complaint or expression of dissatisfaction made in honest intention of improvisation are always welcome, as they provide an opportunity and instant moment of attaining quality.

The editorial team of Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications shall strive hard to establish, along with the publisher, a transparent mechanism for appeal against editorial decisions or any related matter of publication. If still there are any genuine complaints related to ethical publishing, we are always open to them for the sake of maintaining quality and ethics of publication.

Please write your complaint with Journal title, Vol No/ Issue No /Year /Page numbers, full title of the MS and necessary author details along with type of complaint. The complaint must be about something that is within the jurisdiction of Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications, its contents or process such as authorship, plagiarism, copy right violation, multiple, duplicate, or concurrent publications/simultaneous submissions etc. Similarly, undisclosed conflicts of interest, reviewer bias or competitive harmful acts by reviewers or any bias of apparent discontentment, backed by logic and judicial discretion will be immediately looked into without any bias and discrimination.

If the Editor receives a complaint that any contribution to the Journal breaks intellectual property rights or contains material inaccuracies or otherwise unlawful materials, a detailed investigation may be requested into, with the parties involved, substantiating their materialistic claims in writing, following the law of natural justice. We assure that we will make a good faith determination to remove the allegedly wrongful material or take actions as per law. All the investigations and decisions are to be documented to the Journal.

Our aim is to ensure that Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications follows best practices in publication and is of the highest quality, free from errors. However, we accept that occasionally mistakes might happen, which are inadvertently made or beyond human control, giving opportunity to all parties to decide the best to rectify.

Editorial Complaints Policy: The Managing Editor and staff of Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications will make every efforts to put matters right as soon as possible in the most appropriate way, offering right of reply where necessary. As far as possible, we will investigate complaints in a blame-free manner, looking to see how systems can be improved to prevent mistakes occurring.

How to Make a Complaint: Complaints about editorial content should be made as soon as possible after publication, preferably in writing by email to editor@bbrc.in or by on-line submission at www.bbrc.in

Indexing and Archiving:

Bioscience Biotechnology Research Communications is archived and indexed in the following:

Archived in CROSS REFERENCE USA, PORTICO, J-Store / Ithaka, NISCAIR, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus International, Scilit.net  a project of MDPI St. Alban-Anlage 66, 4052 Basel, Switzerland, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) NLM ID: 101703647 [Serial], Articles Indexed and Reposited in Semantic Scholar, Research Gate National Academy of Agricultural Sciences CAS, Harvard Library University Libraries, (University of Washington) (USA), Academic Business Current Data (ABCD), Academic Resource Index, Research Bib and others are under process.