Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Publishing Ethics

The publication of an article in a peer reviewed journal serves many purposes. It is a building block in the development of a coherent and respected network of knowledge. It is an evidence for the quality and impact of the research work of its authors and by extension the institutions that support them. In this regards, it is important to follow a standard of ethical behaviour by all parties involved during publication: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer, the publisher and the society for society-owned journals. This includes all parties treating each other with respect and dignity and without discrimination, harassment, bullying or retaliation. These guidelines are designed specifically for primary research journals, but may also be relevant for review and other professional publications as well.

Duties of the Publisher

Guardianship of the Scholarly Record: These guidelines have been written with all these requirements in mind but especially recognizing that it is an important role of the publisher to support the huge efforts made by journal editors, and the often unsung volunteer work undertaken by peer reviewers, in maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. Although ethical codes inevitably concentrate on the infractions that sometimes occur, it is a tribute to scholarly practice that the system works so well and that problems are comparatively rare. The publisher has a supporting, investing and nurturing role in the scholarly communication process but is also ultimately responsible for ensuring that best practice is followed in its publications. BJMM is adopting these policies and procedures to support editors, reviewers and authors in performing their ethical duties under these guidelines. We work with other publishers and industry associations to set standards for best practices on ethical matters, errors and retractions.

Safeguard Editorial Independence: We are committed to ensuring that the potential for advertising, reprint or other commercial revenue has no impact or influence on editorial decisions.

Collaborate to Set Industry Best Practice: We promote best practice by offering editors membership of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and providing editors with Crossref Similarity Check reports for all submissions to our editorial systems.

Provide editors with technical, procedural & legal support: We support editors in communications with other journals and/or publishers where this is useful to editors and are prepared to provide specialized legal review and counsel if necessary.

Educate Researchers on Publishing Ethics: We also provide extensive education and advice on publishing ethics standards, particularly for early career researchers.

Competing interests for editors: Competing interests must be reported as soon as they arise, and in any case through an annual declaration, so that they can be assessed and mitigated or resolved. Editorial competing interests may be disclosed on the journal’s website for ongoing competing interests such as holding a patent and/or on published papers for competing interests related to the specific paper. Competing interests for editors include both financial and non-financial interests, such as:

Current academic affiliations or other editorial roles. Examples include: employment, consultancies, professional affiliations, advisory positions, board memberships, or acting as an expert witness (in each case whether paid or unpaid).

Financial interests, including patents or patent applications, travel grants, ownership, directorship.

Duties of Editors

Publication Decisions: The editor of this journal is solely and independently responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always underwrite such decisions.  The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding issues such as libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making these decisions.

Peer Review: The editor shall ensure that the peer review process is fair, unbiased, and timely.  Research articles must typically be reviewed by at least two external and independent reviewers, and where necessary the editor should seek additional opinions. The editor shall select reviewers who have suitable expertise in the relevant field. The editor shall follow best practice in avoiding the selection of fraudulent peer reviewers. The editor shall review all disclosures of potential conflicts of interest and suggestions for self-citation made by reviewers in order to determine whether there is any potential for bias. This journal follow the peer review policy of it’s own.

Fair Play: The editor should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors. The editorial policies of the journal should encourage transparency and complete, honest reporting, and the editor should ensure that peer reviewers and authors have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. The editor shall use the journal’s standard electronic submission system for all journal communications. The editor shall establish, along with the publisher, a transparent mechanism for appeal against editorial decisions.

Journal Metrics: The editor must not attempt to influence the journal’s ranking by artificially increasing any journal metric. In particular, the editor shall not require that references to that (or any other) journal’s articles be included except for genuine scholarly reasons and authors should not be required to include references to the editor’s own articles or products and services in which the editor has an interest.

Confidentiality: The editor must protect the confidentiality of all material submitted to the journal and all communications with reviewers, unless otherwise agreed with the relevant authors and reviewers. In exceptional circumstances and in consultation with the publisher, the editor may share limited information with editors of other journals, institutions, and other organizations that investigate cases of research misconduct where deemed necessary to investigate suspected ethical breaches. This journal is double blinded publication. Unless the journal is operating an open peer-review system and/or reviewers have agreed to disclose their names, the editor must protect reviewers’ identities. 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. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Declaration of Competing Interests: Any potential editorial conflicts of interest should be declared to the publisher in writing prior to the appointment of the editor, and then updated if and when new conflicts arise. The publisher may publish such declarations in the journal. The editor must not be involved in decisions about papers which s/he has written him/herself or have been written by family members or colleagues or which relate to products or services in which the editor has an interest. Further, any such submission must be subject to all of the journal’s usual procedures, peer review must be handled independently of the relevant author/editor and their research groups, and there should be a clear statement to this effect on any such paper that is published.

Vigilance Over the Published Record: The editor should work to safeguard the integrity of the published record by reviewing and assessing reported or suspected misconduct (research, publication, reviewer and editorial), in conjunction with the publisher (or society). Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration to the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies. The editor shall further make appropriate use of the publisher’s systems for the detection of misconduct, such as plagiarism. An editor presented with convincing evidence of misconduct should coordinate with the publisher (and/or society) to arrange the prompt publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other correction to the record, as may be relevant.

Ethical Guidelines for Reviewers

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Microbiology follows the COPE Peer review guidelines and it provides basic principles and standards to which all peer reviewers should adhere during the peer review process in research publication. Peer reviewers play a central and critical part in the peer-review process.

1. Reviews should be objective evaluations of the research. If you cannot judge a paper impartially, you should not accept it for review or you should notify the editor as soon as you appreciate the situation. If you have any professional or financial affiliations that may be perceived as a conflict of interest in reviewing the manuscript, or a history of personal differences with the author(s), you should describe them in your confidential comments.
2. If, as a reviewer, you believe that you are not qualified to evaluate a component of the research, you should inform the editor in your review.
3. Reviews should be constructive and courteous and the reviewer should respect the intellectual independence of the author. The reviewer should avoid personal comments; Bangladesh Journal of Medical Microbiology reserves the right to edit out comments that will hinder constructive discussion of manuscripts.
4. Just as you wish prompt evaluations of your own research, please return your reviews within the time period specified when you were asked to review the paper. If events will prevent a timely review, it is your responsibility to inform the editor at the time of the request.
5. The review process is conducted anonymously; Bangladesh Journal of Medical Microbiology never reveals the identity of reviewers to authors. The privacy and anonymity provisions of this process extend to the reviewer, who should not reveal his or her identity to outsiders or members of the press. The review itself will be shared only with the author, and possibly with other reviewers and our Board.
6. The submitted manuscript is a privileged communication and must be treated as a confidential document. Please destroy all copies of the manuscript after review. Please do not share the manuscript with any colleagues without the explicit permission of the editor. Reviewers should not make personal or professional use of the data or interpretations before publication without the authors' specific permission (unless you are writing an editorial or commentary to accompany the article).
7. You should be aware of Journal policies for authors regarding conflict of interest, data availability, and materials sharing.