Editorial Policies
FIJBAS has ethical policy guiding its publication. The ethical policy of FIJBAS is in line with the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity which is also guided by the policies described by Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Author(s) must be sincere in sharing the results of their research. Research misconduct is bad for knowledge since it can lead to misinformation for other researchers. Each author must acknowledge that they will adhere to the FIJBAS guidelines on editorial policy when submitting manuscripts to FIJBAS. All manuscripts will be scrutinized with the hope that the author(s) have read and approved the version submitted.
Contributions and Authorship
Each listed author must have made a substantial contribution to the research described in the manuscript, endorsed its claims and agreed to be an Author. It is important that all author(s) who have made significant contributions are listed. We refer you to section II of the ICMJE recommendations. Author(s) must grant permission to the corresponding author to submit each paper and any changes in the authorship.
Co-author(s) who made limited contributions to a specific area of the research paper are accountable for their work, however they could be held accountable only for other results too. Although not all co-author(s) are knowledgeable of all the research in their paper however, they should all have a procedure in place to ensure that the results are accurate.
Corresponding author(s)
Corresponding author is responsible for the submission and is accountable for all information concerning the manuscript. They are also saddled with the responsibility of interacting with the editorial office if the need arises. After acceptance, several corresponding authors are allowed provided that they are indicated on the title page of the manuscript. These author(s) are responsible for proofreading of the galley proof and also response to comment /queries about the published article.
Competing Interest
Sanction can be given if an author fails to declare a competing financial
interest prior to submission. Author(s) must disclose any affiliations that could be considered to be having a conflict of interest regarding their manuscript. Authors must also acknowledge all funding sources. Author(s), reviewers as well as editors must disclose any conflict of interest when asked to assess a manuscript.
FIJBAS Competing Interest Policy
FIJBAS' policy was created to manage and not eliminate conflicting interests. The policy's core principle is that author(s), reviewers, editors must disclose any affiliations that could be considered to be posing conflicts of interest in relation to the manuscript. A conflicting interest disclosure is rarely a cause to invalidate research results or to change the opinions of editors or referees. It provides information to the reader that allows them to independently evaluate the work.
FIJBAS reserves rights to issue an Erratum that discloses any competing interests regarding papers published in the past. Author(s), reviewers or editors of papers that were published in the past may be subject to disciplinary action, including exclusion from publication. This policy is applicable for all publications published in FIJBAS
i. Financial Competing Interest
Interest in a financial organization whose product/service is related to the subject matter of the article should be disclosed as a conflicting interest.
ii. Personal Competing Interest
Conflicts can arise in personal relationships with family, friends or enemies as well as colleagues and competitors. It is possible for an editor/reviewer to have difficulties providing impartial decision/reviews of articles that have been written by co-workers. As a consequence, reviewing the work of competing author(s) may prove difficult. There may be strong family bonds that make it difficult for you to be objective when reviewing the work of competitors. If there is such conflict of interest, you can't serve as editor/reviewer of the manuscript.
iii. Author(s) responsibilities
Author(s) must acknowledge all funding sources as well as declare any competing interest.
iv. Responsibilities of Editor and Reviewer
If asked to evaluate manuscripts for publication, editors and reviewers need to declare any conflicts of interest. If there is a competing interest that hinders them from rendering an impartial judgment, editors and referees will be asked not to participate in the evaluation.
Errata
Author(s) should notify FIJBAS via email editor@fijbas.org if a published article requires a correction. FIJBAS may correct errors in published articles that don't significantly impact the results. Online corrections are possible for minor typographical errors which could have an effect on the meaning.
FIJBAS publishes independent or citable corrections for mistakes that do no harm to the overall results and conclusions of papers. Correction requests are submitted to the editor for consideration in order to determine if they merit correction.
FIJBAS editors or the author(s) may retract articles due to widespread errors, unsubstantiated or missing evidence. Articles may be removed for honest error and misconduct.
Change of Name
FIJBAS recognizes people changing their names for many reasons. If you wish to modify the name that appears in a published article, you must notify the editorial office. FIJBAS reviews every request carefully to ensure that the changes are made in a timely, accurate, confidential, and practical manner. All paper versions (HTML or PDF) will be updated with the initials and given/family names. Once corrections are affected, no notice will be given unless otherwise requested. Crossref will get the most current information from FIJBAS. However, FIJBAS is unable to control modifications made by other downstream repositories.
Image Integrity
Technical manipulation of images is allowed for improved readability. Technical manipulation refers only to the alteration of the contrast, brightness or color balance. The Journal Editor must receive a cover note notifying any technical manipulations made by the author. Improper technical manipulation means that an image has been altered to conceal, enhance, delete, or add new elements. If Editor is unsure of the accuracy of an author's figures, the original data would be requested.
License available to publish
Completed online submission forms grant FIJBAS a License to publish the manuscript. The right of publication is terminated when a manuscript is rejected for publication.
Materials and Access to Data
Author(s) should make their materials, data and associated protocols available to the public upon publication to allow others to copy and build on the work published. Author(s) must provide information about how readers can gain access to data codes and protocols. In the published article, a detailed description on how data is to be shared would be included. At submission, any restrictions on access or partial disclosures of data needs to be disclosed.
Author(s) may use supporting Information to show all data if depositing data is not feasible. References should contain research datasets.
