“Bionika” publishes a number of medias, including medical and pharmaceutical  journals. Most of these journals are on behalf of scientific societies and other similar organizations.   As part of this objective, the Press itself adopts a neutral position on issues treated within its Journals. Those Journals serve to further academic discussions of topics, irrespective of their nature – whether religious, gender-based, environmental, ethical, political or other potentially or topically contentious subjects.

Publication of an article in an academic peer-reviewed journal serves several functions, one of which is to validate and preserve the “minutes” of research. It is therefore of immense importance that these “minutes” are accurate and trustworthy. The act of publishing involves many parties, each of which plays an important role in achieving these aims. It therefore follows that the author, the journal editor, the peer-reviewer, the publisher and the owner of Society-owned journals have responsibilities to meet expected ethical standards at all stages in their involvement from submission to publication of an article.

“Bionika” is committed to meeting and upholding standards of ethical behaviour at all stages of the publication process. We follow closely the industry associations, such as the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICJME), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), and The European Association of Science Editors (EASE), that set standards and provide guidelines for best practices in order to meet these requirements.

Editor and publisher adhere to Editorial Policy Statements, developed by The Council of Science Editors (CSE), that cover the responsibilities and rights of editors of peer-reviewed journals.

Below is a summary of our key expectations of editors, peer-reviewers and authors.

1. ETHICAL EXPECTATIONS

Editors’ responsibilities

• To act in a balanced, objective and fair way while carrying out their expected duties, without discrimination on grounds of gender, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, ethnic or geographical origin of the authors.
• To handle submissions for sponsored supplements or special issues in the same way as other submissions, so that articles are considered and accepted solely on their academic merit and without commercial influence.
• To adopt and follow reasonable procedures in the event of complaints of an ethical or conflict nature, in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Society where appropriate. To give authors a reasonable opportunity to respond to any complaints. All complaints should be investigated no matter when the original publication was approved. Documentation associated with any such complaints should be retained.

Reviewers’ responsibilities

• To contribute to the decision-making process, and to assist in improving the quality of the published paper by reviewing the manuscript objectively, in a timely manner
• To maintain the confidentiality of any information supplied by the editor or author. To not retain or copy the manuscript.
• To alert the editor to any published or submitted content that is substantially similar to that under review.
• To be aware of any potential conflicts of interest (financial, institutional, collaborative or other relationships between the reviewer and author) and to alert the editor to these, if necessary withdrawing their services for that manuscript.
• To follow in his work to «Singapore Statement on Research Integrity»

Authors’ responsibilities

• To maintain accurate records of data associated with their submitted manuscript, and to supply or provide access to these data, on reasonable request. Where appropriate and where allowed by employer, funding body and others who might have an interest, to deposit data in a suitable repository or storage location, for sharing and further use by others.
• To confirm/assert that the manuscript as submitted is not under consideration or accepted for publication elsewhere. Where portions of the content overlap with published or submitted content, to acknowledge and cite those sources. Additionally, to provide the editor with a copy of any submitted manuscript that might contain overlapping or closely related content.
• To confirm that all the work in the submitted manuscript is original and to acknowledge and cite content reproduced from other sources. To obtain permission to reproduce any content from other sources.
• To be ensure that any studies involving human or animal subjects conform to national, local and institutional laws and requirements (e.g. WMA Declaration of Helsinki, NIH Policy on Use of laboratory Animals, EU Directive on Use of Animals) and confirm that approval has been sought and obtained where appropriate. Authors should obtain express permission from human subjects and respect their privacy.
• To declare any potential conflicts of interest (e.g. where the author has a competing interest (real or apparent) that could be considered or viewed as exerting an undue influence on his or her duties at any stage during the publication process).
• To notify promptly the journal editor or publisher if a significant error in their publication is identified. To cooperate with the editor and publisher to publish an erratum, addendum, corrigendum notice, or to retract the paper, where this is deemed necessary.
• To take full responsibility for any plagiarism of text, image or other type of graphics. Any related misconduct will be dealt in accordance with COPE algorithm.

Publisher or Society responsibilities

“Bionika” publisher and Farmateca guarantee that all published materials compliant with standards above.

2. PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

Identification of unethical behaviour

• Misconduct and unethical behaviour may be identified and brought to the attention of the editor and publisher at any time, by anyone.
• Whoever informs the editor or publisher of such conduct should provide sufficient information and evidence in order for an investigation to be initiated. All allegations should be taken seriously and treated in the same way, until a successful decision or conclusion is reached.

Investigation

• An initial decision should be taken by the editor, who should consult with or seek advice from the publisher, if appropriate.
• Evidence should be gathered, while avoiding spreading any allegations beyond those who need to know.

Minor breaches

Minor misconduct might be dealt with without the need to consult more widely. In any event, the author should be given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.

Serious breaches

Serious misconduct might require that the employers of the accused be notified. The editor, in consultation with the publisher or Society as appropriate, should make the decision whether or not to involve the employers, either by examining the available evidence themselves or by further consultation with a limited number of experts.

Outcomes (in increasing order of severity; may be applied separately or in conjunction)

• Informing or educating the author or reviewer where there appears to be a misunderstanding or misapplication of acceptable standards.
• A more strongly worded letter to the author or reviewer covering the misconduct and as a warning to future behaviour.
• Publication of a formal notice detailing the misconduct.
• Publication of an editorial detailing the misconduct.
• A formal letter to the head of the author’s or reviewer’s department or funding agency.
• Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the journal, in conjunction with informing the head of the author or reviewer’s department, Abstracting & Indexing services and the readership of the publication.
• Imposition of a formal embargo on contributions from an individual for a defined period.
• Reporting the case and outcome to a professional organisation or higher authority for further investigation and action.

3. BUSINESS MODEL. FEE FOR PUBLICATIONS

The publisher of the Journal – Bionika Media Publishing House – incurs all the expenses for production and publishing of the Journal, which includes organizing expert review, internet hosting and archiving. The authors are not charged for publication. PUBLICATION OF ARTICLES in the Journal is FREE! Reviewing is not paid.

4. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST POLICY

Potential conflicts of interest arise when there are financial, personal or professional conditions, which can influence the scientific judgments of a reviewer or editor and, as a consequence, on the decision of the Editorial Board concerning the publication of the article.

The Journal presumes that by submitting a paper the author states that:

• all forms of financial support are acknowledged in the submitted article;
• there are no commercial, financial, personal, professional involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the submitted article.

Otherwise, the author should make an explicit declaration of possible conflicting interests in a cover letter that accompanies the manuscript.

If there is a conflict of interests, authors may also suggest excluding any specific editors or reviewers from the peer review of their article.

Editors and reviewers should declare whether they have any conflicts of interests that may influence the judgment of the editorial board.

If there is a conflict of interest an editor or reviewer from the author of the article, the article should be transferred to another editor or reviewer, respectively.

If the editor or reviewer has conflicts of interest with any of the authors, the article should be transmitted to another editor or reviewer correspondingly.

Articles should be evaluated fairly and will not necessarily be rejected when any conflicting interests are declared by any participant of the consideration and reviewing process, because the most important criterion of manuscript evaluation is its scientific quality.

5.  PRIVACY STATEMENT

Information about the authors (surname, name, patronymic, affiliation, e-mail, contact number), which is provided by them for publication in the Journal, is becoming available for indefinite range of persons, for which the authors give their written permission by signing the corresponding Letter Of Agreement as a part of Author's Questionnaire, provided within the list of items to accompany the manuscript (questionnaire form is available on the site).

The above mentioned data is published for the convenience of the authors with the aim of the full and correct account of publications and their citation by the corresponding bibliography companies and providing the possibility of contacting the authors and the scientific community.

Personal information provided by the authors in addition to the referred above, include additional e-mails and phone numbers. These will be used exclusively for contacting the authors in the process of preparing the publication and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.