Ethical Codex

Publication Ethics And Publication Malpractice Statement

Relationships between authors, editors and reviewers in Biophysical Bulletin are based on academic benevolence, objectivity of ratings and priority of scientific quality. We are following the principles of Code of Conduct for Editors as defined by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE), in particular:

FAIR PLAY

Manuscripts are evaluated for their scientific quality, regardless of author’s nationality or political opinions, ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion.

ELIMINATION OF LIBEL AND COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Biophysical Bulletin rejects any material that breaks legal requirements regarding libel and copyright infringement.

ELIMINATION OF THE PLAGIARISM

Our Journal rejects any material that breaks legal requirements regarding plagiarism!

We check all submitted manuscripts by Unicheck.com software before review process. If plagiarism is detected, the submitted manuscript is rejected. The software calculated a proportion of fragments of the manuscript that consists a minimum 8 words in row and coinside with internet sourses and the inside database. The manusctipt will be rejected if the proportion of the coinsided text is more than 5 %.

Variations of plagiarism are:

copying and publication of papers by other authors;
verbatim copying of fragments of the text (from a phrase to a set of sentences) from someone else's paper without proper references;
making minor corrections to the copied material (reformulation of sentences, changing the order of words in them, etc.) without proper quoting;
excessive use of paraphrases. Paraphrase is a retelling of other people's thoughts, ideas, or text in your own words. The essence of the paraphrase consists in the replacement of words (signs), phraseological units or sentences in the use of any author's scientific paper (stored on electronic or paper media, including posted on the Internet).

Plagiarism after publication

If plagiarism is detected after publication, the Journal will conduct an investigation. If plagiarism is found, the journal editorial office will contact the author's institute and funding agencies. The paper containing the plagiarism will be marked on each page of the PDF. Depending on the extent of the plagiarism, the paper may also be formally retracted.

Recommendations for avoiding plagiarism

Use quotation marks around words taken verbatim from a source
Change no part of quotation within the context of the sentence
Use single marks for a quotation within a quotation
Use ellipses (a space and three periods) for a part of the quotation omitted.
Use brackets around added words
Limit the use of direct quotes
Summarize the information derived from a variety of sources using own words

Authors are responsible for obtaining copyright permission for reproducing illustrations, tables, figures taken from other authors and/or source. Permission must be placed at the foot of each figure.

Authorship and AI tools

Authors should not list AI-assisted technologies, such as LLMs, chatbots, or image creators, as authors or co-authors. AI tools used in research or manuscript preparation must be transparently disclosed in the cover letter, acknowledgments, and methods section. Authors are responsible for accuracy, avoiding plagiarism, and guarding against AI-induced bias. Editors may reject manuscripts for inappropriate AI use, and reviewers must refrain from AI-generated reviews to maintain confidentiality.

AI-generated images and other multimedia are not allowed in our journal without explicit permission from the editors. Exceptions may be considered for content in manuscript directly related to AI or machine learning, subject to evaluation on an individual basis.

EDITORS RESPONSIBILITIES

The Editor-in-chief shall be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and consults with other editors or reviewers about the decision to publish.

Editors

have full authority to reject or accept the article, guided by objective scientific criteria and the conclusions of reviewers;
guarantee the quality of materials that they publish or approve for publication;
contribute to the correction of errors found or reject materials in the event that such correction is impossible for one reason or another;
should identify any conflicts of interest;
should ensure the confidentiality of information relating to submitted manuscripts;
undertake to defend the freedom of scientific expression;
should provide anonymity of reviewers.

If editors have suspicions about the authenticity, originality or ethical correctness of submitted paper, its publication is postponed until all doubts are eliminated. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.

AUTHORS RESPONSIBILITIES

Authors must:

ensure that they have written truly original works;
have significant contribution to the research (if a paper has several authors);
guarantee obtained permission for use of copyrighted materials;
certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere and is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere;
identify all sources used in the creation of their manuscript;
state that all the researches in living organisms comply with the principles of bioethics;
disclose in their manuscript any substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the assessment of their manuscript.

Information obtained by authors privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit, written permission from the source.

By submitting an article to the editorial board, the authors agree that (in the case of publication in the paper version of the Journal) their text will be automatically published in the online version of the Journal (under open access).

The fact of submitting of an article to the editorial board means that the authors agrees with the review procedure and are ready to correct the manuscript according to reviewers and editors comments.

The authors declare financial or any other conflict of interest at the end of the article. They must indicate all sources of financing of their research (grants, programs, fellowships, etc). If there is no conflict of interest, the authors should state: “The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.”

REVIEWERS RESPONSIBILITIES

Reviewers must:

notify Editorial staff of any conflicts of interests that may determine their findings;
protect the confidentiality of information relating to the manuscript;
be objective and constructive in their reviews.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an reviewers' own research without the express written consent of the author.