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Peer review process

Biolife is committed to upholding the integrity of all its publications. It is necessary therefore to agree on the standards of ethical behaviour expected from all parties involved in the publishing process; these include the author, the editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.

Biolife follows the COPE Best Practice Guidelines on publishing ethics. Full details of these guidelines can be found on the COPE website.

Biolife does not tolerate plagiarism, or the publication of material that is libellous, illegal or which infringes the copyright or other rights of any third party. In addition, the manipulation of scientific data, tables, figures or any text for the purpose of knowingly providing incorrect information in order to manipulate the process of peer review is strictly prohibited.

Authors publishing a paper with Biolife should certify that:

their work is original and written by them;
their work has not been previously published and has been submitted only to the journal;
where material is taken from other sources (including their own published writing) the source is clearly cited and that where appropriate permission is obtained;
their work does not infringe on any rights of others, including privacy rights and intellectual property rights;
their data is true and not manipulated;
their data is their own or that they have permission to use data reproduced in their paper;
any real or apparent conflicting or competing interest is clearly stated on submission of their paper (this would include funding assistance);
they adhere to all research ethics guidelines of their discipline, particularly where human or animal subjects are involved;
they contact the Editor to identify and correct any material errors upon discovery, whether prior or subsequent to publication of their work;
authorship of the paper is accurately represented, including ensuring that all individuals credited as authors participated in the actual authorship of the work and that all who participated are credited and have given consent for publication;
the authors have read and agree to the Biolife copyright agreement.

Above all, authors should be transparent. For example, if an author is not sure whether her paper is original (for instance, whether it might constitute duplicate publication), she should inform the journal’s editor. If the editor decides it is appropriate to publish, the paper itself should state clearly any potential overlap.

The editor or peer reviewer of any Biolife publication shall evaluate manuscripts on their intellectual content, irrespective of the race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. The editor and any editorial staff shall not disclose any confidential information concerning a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, or publisher, as appropriate. The content of any unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript is not to be used, either in whole or in part, in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the submitting author.

The publisher, Biolife, affirms that any misconduct, in the form of fabrication, falsification or plagiarism, jeopardizes the success of the entire scientific endeavor. Any questions raised with regard to possible misconduct or plagiarism will initially be evaluated by the editor(s) of the publication, in consultation with the manuscript’s peer reviewer(s) if appropriate. If deemed appropriate, the matter will be taken up with the institution where the scientific work in question was performed. In principle, matters will be reviewed in accordance with the institutional procedures for handling allegations of misconduct. At all stages, every effort should be made to ensure that the process is fair and just, both for those who have been accused of misconduct and for those who have raised the issue of scientific misconduct. In the event that a published article must be retracted or corrected, a statement of retraction or correction, usually in the form of an erratum, will be published. Articles may be removed from the publication if deemed appropriate.

Biolife expects authors to abide by the general ethics polices outlined by The Council of Scientific Editors and COPE. Please use the links below as references.

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