Publication Ethics Statement

As a globally active journal, we strive to promote the best practice in the academic arena and maintain integrity in all of our publishing activities. Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents (JBRHA) follows the best practices such as those outlined by these organizations:
Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE)
Council of Scientific Editors (CSE)
National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
World association of Medical Editors (WAME)
World Medical Association (WMA)

All of our publishing activities are guided by the following core ethical values:

1. Authorship and contributorship

All authors and co-authors must meet criteria for authorship and ensure appropriate credit is given in their manuscript. Authors are encouraged to make a clear statement about contributions to their work.

1.1 Author Contributions

In general, the term 'author' is considered to refer to individuals who have made significant intellectual contributions to the published research. All individuals designated as authors should adhere to the four criteria set by ICMJE:  (i) made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; and (ii) been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and (iv) agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Acquisition of funding, collection of data or general supervision of the research group alone; does not usually justify authorship.

JBRHA also encourages authors to use CRediT to definit the authors' individual contributions, provided that it is based on the ICMJE. The specific contributions of each author to the manuscript should be outlined, using initials to denote each author's contribution. For example, PJ: Conceptualization, Writing- Reviewing and Editing. JS and PJ: Data curation, Writing- Original draft preparation. All authors contributed to editorial changes in the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. All authors have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to its accuracy or integrity).

All manuscripts must be submitted by an author and may not be submitted by a third party. Authors should not list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as an author.

The corresponding author takes primary responsibility for communication with the journal and editorial office during the submission process, throughout peer review, and during publication. The corresponding author is also responsible for ensuring that the submission adheres to all journal requirements including, but not limited to, details of authorship, study ethics and ethics approval, clinical trial registration documents, and conflict of interest declaration. The corresponding author should also be available post-publication to respond to any queries or critiques. Although the corresponding author has primary responsibility for correspondence with the journal, the JBRHA editors should send copies of all correspondence to all listed authors.

1.2 Acknowledgment
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should be listed in the 'Acknowledgment' section. Examples of those who might be acknowledged include a person who provided purely technical help or writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. The involvement of scientific (medical) writers or anyone else who assisted with the preparation of the manuscript content should be acknowledged, along with their source of funding, as described in the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) guidelines. The role of medical writers should be acknowledged explicitly in the 'Acknowledgment' section as appropriate.

Authors have responsibility to get written approval by persons named in the acknowledgment section.

Use of AI for writing assistance should be reported in the acknowledgment section.

1.3 Authorship Change

It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to ensure that the list of authors is correct upon first submission. Requests to change authors (for example, adding or removing authors, author names, or contributing changes) must be accompanied by a letter (Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents Change of Authorship Form) signed by all authors stating that they agree to the changes. New authors must also confirm that they fully meet the journal authorship requirements. JBRHA will individually inform anyone who is added or removed from the author list.

2. Plagiarism and Other Fraud

Authors must guarantee the submitted manuscript was originally written by them. The work must not have been published previously nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. If the work and/or words of others are included, they must be appropriately cited or quoted.

Upon submission, all manuscripts are rigorously evaluated to identify any previously published material. JBRHA utilizes Crossref’s similarity checker, iThenticate, to detect plagiarism in submitted manuscripts by comparing them with published studies and other relevant sources. Concerning the submitted figures, images are routinely examined for the presence of duplicated, or otherwise apparently anomalous, data. Authors should note that, if the unprocessed data are unavailable, this may lead to a delay in manuscript evaluation until the issue is resolved.

If the journal Editor has a reason to suspect that a manuscript is plagiarized or fraudulent, they reserve the right to raise their concerns to the authors' sponsoring institution and any other relevant bodies. In cases where plagiarism is suspected, a preliminary investigation will be conducted following the guidance offered in the flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the guidelines of ICMJE. Every suspected act of unethical publishing behaviour will be looked into. If plagiarism is detected, the manuscript containing the plagiarism will be obviously marked on each page of the PDF. Manuscripts in which plagiarism has been detected will not be considered for publication. In cases where the paper has already been published, depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted.

Image Manipulation:
All digital images within manuscripts being considered for publication will undergo a thorough examination to identify any manipulation not aligned with the prescribed guidelines. Any manipulation found to contravene these guidelines may result in delays in manuscript processing, rejection, or the retraction of a published article.

 • No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced.
 • The grouping of images from different parts of the same gel, or from different gels, fields or exposures, must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure and in figure legend.
   • Adjustments of brightness, contrast or color balance may be acceptable if they are applied to every pixel in the image and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate or misrepresent any information present in the original, including the background. Non-linear adjustments (e.g., changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend.
   • Any questions raised during or after the peer review process will be referred to the Editor, who may request the original data from the author(s) for comparison with the prepared figures. If the original data cannot be produced, the manuscript may be rejected or, in the case of a published article, retracted. Any case in which the manipulation affects the interpretation of the data will result in rejection or retraction. Cases of suspected misconduct will be reported to the author(s)' institution(s).

3. Availability of Data and Materials

Where datasets are included in the study, authors should include an “Availability of data and materials” section in the article, stating where the data supporting their findings may be found.

Availability of data and materials statements can take one of the following forms:
• The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the [NAME] repository, [PERSISTENT WEB LINK TO DATASETS].
• All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
• The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to [REASON WHY DATA ARE NOT PUBLIC] but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
• Data sharing is not applicable to this article, as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.
• The data that support the findings of this study are available from [THIRD PARTY NAME] but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of [THIRD PARTY NAME].
• Not applicable. If your manuscript does not contain any data, please state 'Not applicable' in this section.

Authors are encouraged to deposit their datasets in publicly available repositories, where available and appropriate. Publicly available datasets must be fully referenced in the reference list with an accession number or unique identifier such as a digital object identifier (DOI). The selection of the repository is left entirely to the author's discretion, but please note that the data must be freely available to readers. Consulting the Registry of Research Data Repositories may also be useful in this regard.

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents supports the prospective registration of systematic reviews and encourages authors to register their systematic reviews in a suitable registry (such as PROSPERO), including the registration number as the last line of the manuscript abstract. Authors of systematic reviews should also provide a file describing all details of the search strategy. For an example of how a search strategy should be presented, see the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook.

Authors who do not wish to share their data must state this fact, and also provide an explanation as to why the data are unavailable.

Statistical Methods:

Authors should provide information on the statistical methods and measures used in their research, including the name, version and supplier of the statistical software used, and the p-value considered to be significant.

4. Citations

Articles must cite appropriate and relevant literature in support of the claims made. Authors should consider the following guidelines when preparing their manuscript:
• Any statement in the manuscript that relies on external sources of information (i.e., not the authors' own new ideas or findings) should use a citation.
• Authors should not copy references from other publications if they have not read the cited work.
• Authors should ensure that their citations are accurate (i.e., they should ensure the citation supports the statement made in their manuscript and should not misrepresent another work by citing it if it does not support the point the authors wish to make).
• Authors should not cite sources that they have not read.
•Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents discourages citation manipulations to inappropriately increase the number of citations of themselves, their Friends etc.
• Authors should cite sources that have undergone peer review where possible.
• Authors should not cite advertisements or advertorial material.

5. Conflict of Interests

Authors, reviewers, and editors must declare whether there are any conflicts of interest with regard to the publication of a study. Authors will declare the COI in every published paper. Also the editors and reviewers should declare the COI to editorial office.

5.1 Authors

A conflict of interest exists when the authors' interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by, or may be perceived to be influenced by, their personal, political, academic relationships or financial relationship with other people or organizations, such as reimbursement for salaries, equipment or supplies, or a personal belief that may influence their objectivity and motivation, and consequently affect the data interpretation. This can include competing patents, grants, funding, employment, personal relationships and strong ethical beliefs, among other factors. Such conflicts must be declared, as they may affect the integrity or reliability of the science in the study, as well as that of otherwise unassociated studies in the same journal. The statements of conflicts of interest for public funding sources, including government agencies, charitable or academic institutions, is best to be included.

Full disclosure of the Conflicts of Interest is to be made in the cover letter and manuscript at the time of submission, even if the author judges that it has not influenced the work. If no conflict exists, this must also be stated clearly in the manuscript as follows: 'Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.' And all authors should confirm its accuracy. If there is a conflict, please include it in a 'Conflicts of Interest' section. The examples of conflicts of interest may include but are not limited to the following: such as, having received consulting fees, having received research funding, having been employed by affiliated companies, holding stocks or shares in companies that may be influenced by publication of this manuscript, having received funds to reimburse expenses for attending relevant seminars or giving speeches, etc. Authors may be asked to confirm or update, or provide further details regarding such disclosure statements following acceptance of the manuscript. All authors will be encouraged/advised to fill in the ICMJE’s unified disclosure form (www.icmje.org/coi_disclosure.docx). Further details regarding requirements for conflict of interest statements are provided in http://www.icmje.org.

5.2 Reviewers

Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest that could bias their opinions of the manuscript, and they should disqualify themselves from reviewing specific manuscripts if they believe it appropriate. Should any such conflicts of interest be declared, the journal editor will judge whether the reviewer's comments should be recognised or will interpret the reviewer's comments in the context of any such declaration. Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents requires that editorial staff or editors not be involved in processing their own academic work. The Editor or members of the Editorial Board may occasionally submit their own manuscripts for possible publication in the journal. In these cases, the peer review process will be managed by alternative members of the Board. Submissions will be assigned to at least two independent outside reviewers. The submitting Editor/Board member will have no involvement in the decision-making process. Decisions will be made by other Editorial Board Members who do not have a conflict of interest with the author.

5.3 Editors

Guest Editors should not hold conflicts of interest with authors whose work they are assessing (e.g., from the same institution or collaborate closely). In this case, the Editor-in-Chief or a suitable Editorial Board member will make final acceptance decisions for submitted papers.

This section is required for all papers. If there are no interests to declare, please use the following wording: "Given his/her role as [Guest] Editor [in Chief], <NAME of Editor> had no involvement in the peer-review of this article and has no access to information regarding its peer-review."

Other than research articles, for any non-research articles such as commentaries or editorials written by editors or members of the Editorial Boards, an impartial editor will be responsible to evaluate the piece and decide whether it should be peer reviewed or not. In case of peer review, a process similar to reviewing for original articles will be considered.

6. Multiple, Duplicate, Concurrent Publication/Simultaneous Submission

All manuscripts submitted to the journals must be original. Upon submission of a manuscript, it is assumed that no similar manuscript has been or will be submitted to any other journal for publication. It is considered unethical to submit an identical manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Multiple submissions of the same paper can damage the reputation of journals if published in more than one journal. Duplicate publications or redundant publications (re-packaging in different words of data already published by the same authors) will be rejected. A flowcharts on dealing with Redundant Publications of COPE.

7. Research Ethics and Informed Consent

7.1 Research Involving Humans

Research involving human subjects, human material or human data must be performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

Prior to starting the study, ethical approval must have been obtained for all protocols from the local institutional review board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee to confirm the study meets national and international guidelines for research on humans. A statement detailing this, including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate, must appear in all manuscripts reporting such research.

For non-interventional studies (e.g., surveys), where ethical approval is not required (e.g., because of national laws) or where a study has been granted an exemption by an ethics committee, this should be stated within the manuscript with a full explanation. Where a study has been granted exemption, the name of the ethics committee which provided this should also be included. However, if the researcher is in doubt, they should always seek advice from the relevant department before conducting the study.

Authors reporting the use of a new procedure or tool in a clinical setting, must give a clear justification in the manuscript for why the new procedure or tool was deemed more appropriate than usual clinical practice to meet the patient's clinical need, and should obtain ethics approval and informed patient consent for participation in the study.

In case of clinical trials, which are defined as "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes", the trial registration number (TRN) and date of registration should be included in the last line of the manuscript abstract. Suitable publicly available registries are those listed on the ICMJE website and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents encourages retrospective registration to ensure the complete publication of all results. In such cases, the TRN, date of registration and the words 'retrospectively registered' should be included in the manuscript.

7.2 Privacy and Confidentiality

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents follows the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which emphasizes that patients and study participants have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent.

7.2.1 Consent to Participate
Research that is performed on humans should follow international and national regulations in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki or any other relevant set of ethical principles. For patients or study participants who are not adults, or are considered to be vulnerable or unable to provide informed consent, this must then be obtained from their legal guardians, or next of kin if the participant is deceased. In the case of articles describing human transplantation studies, authors must include a statement declaring that no organs/tissues were obtained from prisoners and must also name the institution(s)/clinic(s)/department(s) via which organs/tissues were obtained.

7.2.2 Consent for Publication

Patients have a right to privacy that should not be violated without informed consent. Identifying information, including names, initials, date of birth or hospital numbers, images or statements should not be included in a manuscript unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) has provided written informed consent for publication. A statement must be included in the manuscript declaring that the patient, or parent, guardian or next of kin (in case of deceased patients) provided written informed consent for the publication of any associated data and accompanying images. The consent form that will be treated confidentially must be made available to the Editor if requested.

For case reports or other studies in which case details, personal information or images are included that may enable an individual to be identified, the individual or a parent, guardian or next of kin must consent to its publication, and this consent should be declared in the manuscript. Authors should disclose to patients that personally identifiable material would be available via the Internet under the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 as well as in print after publication.
For datasets containing clinical data, authors have an ethical and legal responsibility to respect participants' rights to privacy and to protect their identity. Ideally, authors should gain informed consent for publication of the dataset obtained from participants at the point of recruitment to the trial. If this is not possible, authors must demonstrate that publication of such data does not compromise anonymity or confidentiality or breach local data protection laws, for the dataset to be considered for publication. Authors must consider whether the dataset contains any direct or indirect identifiers and consult their local ethics committee or other appropriate body before submission if there is any possibility that participants will not be fully anonymous. Authors must state in their manuscript on submission whether informed consent was obtained for publication of patient data.

7.3 Research Involving Animals

For all manuscripts submitted to JBRHA involving animal research, authors must confirm that all experiments were conducted following relevant guidelines and regulations, such as adhering to the ARRIVE reporting guidelines for animal research, following best practices for animal anesthesia and euthanasia as outlined by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals (2020), and ensuring that the tumor burden does not exceed the recommendations of the University of Pennsylvania Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines, among others. Additionally, authors must provide a detailed and accurate ethical statement, including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number where appropriate, as well as any relevant details such as housing and husbandry conditions affecting experimental outcomes, and the gender and other characteristics of animals influencing the results.

7.4 Research Involving Plants

Experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild), including collection of plant material, must comply with institutional, national or international guidelines (e.g., IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Field studies should be conducted in accordance with local legislation, and the manuscript should include a statement specifying the appropriate permissions and/or licenses.

To ensure reproducibility, the voucher specimens mentioned in the manuscript must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collection providing access to deposited material. The manuscript must include information about the voucher specimens as well as the identifier's information.

7.5 Research Involving Cell Lines

If cell lines are used, authors are strongly encouraged to include the following information in the materials and methods section of their manuscript:
(1) Confirm that mycoplasma testing has been done for the cell lines used.
(2) Confirm that the cell lines used have been authenticated and state what method was used for the authentication.
(3) Provide the source, supplier and, if available, catalogue number of all the specific cell lines used in the study.

The authors are strongly encouraged to submit a detailed methodology stating the maintenance and culture of cell lines according to international guidelines on good cell culture practice (fundamental techniques, mycoplasma contamination, passage number, etc.).

Furthermore, information regarding misidentified or cross-contaminated cell lines must be provided and cross-checked from the International Cell Line Authentication Committee and ExPASy Cellosaurus databases in order to exclude their contamination with other cell lines or their incorrect identification.

If a cell line has previously been reported to be contaminated or misidentified, an STR profile of the cell line used in the study must be available for evaluation by the journal's editor.

7.6 Sex and Gender in Research

We encourage our authors to follow the 'Sex and Gender Equity in Research – SAGER – guidelines' and to include sex and gender considerations where relevant. Authors should use the terms sex (biological attribute) and gender (shaped by social and cultural circumstances) carefully in order to avoid confusing both terms. Article titles and/or abstracts should indicate clearly what sex(es) the study applies to. Authors should also describe in the background, whether sex and/or gender differences may be expected; report how sex and/or gender were accounted for in the design of the study; provide disaggregated data by sex and/or gender, where appropriate; and discuss respective results. If a sex and/or gender analysis was not conducted, the rationale should be given in the Discussion. We suggest that our authors consult the full guidelines before submission. These guidelines apply to studies involving humans, vertebrate animal and cell lines.

8. Publication Ethics Statement

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

Publication of a scientific article represents the means through which the contribution of the scientists is recognized. Along with this recognition, the authors of a scientific article bear the responsibility to make certain that their contribution is original, reproducible, and clearly and honestly represented. It is not always possible to detect erroneous nature of a set of data during the peer-review process. Therefore, it is vital that all authors carefully review the accuracy of the data that they present.

Authors of the manuscript are obligated to:

• Refrain from plagiarism (total or partial submission of the work of others).

• Refrain from fabricating (falsifying) data.

• Refrain from dishonesty (altering or suppressing information).

• Refrain from submitting information previously published or under consideration for publication in another journal.

• Describe the work accurately.

• Provide the details necessary for the duplication of the data by other investigators.

• Include all the data even if they do not support a given hypothesis.

• Cite all the relevant contribution of other investigators and references that allow interpretation of the results.

• Include the source of all materials used.

• Make available all products that they generate such as protein, DNA, clone, cell or other types of material that they describe to other investigators. This should be done with the spirit that the data that are published can be duplicated and that other ideas can be tested.

• Abide by the rules set in the Declaration of Helsinki and Recommendation for Conduct of Clinical Research.

• Use laboratory animals for the research according to the rules and regulations of NIH and their institution.

• Use recombinant DNA for the research according to the rules and regulations of NIH and the institution.

• If errors and inaccuracies are found by the authors after publication of their paper, these issues need to be promptly communicated to the editors of this journal so that appropriate actions can be taken. Please refer to our policy regarding publication of publishing addenda and corrections.

For more information, please see Publishing Ethics and Research Ethics and Informed Consent.

9. Corrections, Retractions and Editorial Expressions of Concern

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agentsfollows the ICMJE and COPE guidelines.

Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement, or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence. Changes to published articles that affect the interpretation and conclusion of the article, but do not fully invalidate the article, will, at the Editors' discretion be corrected via publication of an erratum, correction, or editorial expression of concern at the earliest possible date.

If the scientific information in an article is substantially undermined, it may be necessary for published articles to be retracted. Retraction articles are indexed and linked to the original article.

10. Appeals and Complaints

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents adheres to COPE guidelines regarding appeals to editorial decisions and complaints. Where an author believes that an editor has made an error in declining a paper, they may submit an appeal. The appeal letter should clearly state the reasons why the author considers the decision to be incorrect and provide detailed, specific responses to any comments relating to the rejection of the review. Further advice from members of the journal's Editorial Advisory Panel and external experts will be sought regarding eligibility for re-review.

11. Promoting Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness within Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents is an online publication platform of scientific communication for global researchers, to publish original works without regard to gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, geographic/regional background, religion, or socio-economic status. Our publisher encourages the Editors-in-Chief to invite and appoint diverse experts to our journal's Editorial Boards.

12. Borders and Territories

Potential disputes over borders and territories may have particular relevance for authors in describing their research or in an author or editor correspondence address, and such issues should be respected. Content decisions are an editorial matter and where there is a potential or perceived dispute or complaint, the editorial team will attempt to come to a resolution that satisfies all parties involved.

Journal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Updated on 1 June 2024