OPEN ACCESS POLICY International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR)  is loyal to open access for academic/research work. All the original articles and review papers published in this journal are free to access immediately from the date of publication. We don’t charge any fees for any reader to download articles and reviews for their own scholarly use.

The International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR)  also operates under the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-ND. This allows for the reproduction of articles, free of charge, for non-commercial use only and with the appropriate citation information. All authors publishing with the IJBMR accept these as the terms of publication.

Creative Commons License: (CC BY-NC-ND) 

The peer-review process is double blinded, i.e., the reviewers do not know who the authors of the manuscript are and the authors do not have access to the information of who the peer-reviewers are.

The manuscripts are reviewed for possible publication on the understanding that they are being submitted only to one journal at one time and have not been published, simultaneously submitted, or accepted for publication elsewhere.

The following is the editorial workflow that every manuscript submitted to the journal undergoes during the course of the peer-review process:

The entire editorial workflow is performed using the online BioMedSciDirect Publications Manuscript Management System. Once a manuscript is submitted, the manuscript is assessed by a Screening Editor for originality of work, serious scientific flaws and plagiarism.

Thereafter the article is handed over to the editor depending on the subject of the manuscript and the availability of the Editors. The editor assess the article and inform the author (through author dashboard) if the article has been accepted for peer review or has been rejected. If rejected, the corresponding author will be informed via an email.

If the editor determines that the submitted manuscript is of sufficient quality and falls within the scope of the journal, it is then sent for peer review (a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 3 external reviews). The reviewers submit their reports in the standard format (provided to them by the IJBMR) to the Editor and also grade the article as follows:

• Exceptional quality article
• High quality article
• Good quality article
• Fair quality article
• Unacceptable in present form
• Unacceptable in any form

When all reviewers have submitted their reports, the Editor in-charge makes one of the following editorial recommendations:

• Publish Unaltered
• Accept after Minor Changes
• Consider after Major Changes
• Reject

Thereafter the authors are notified to prepare and submit a final copy of their manuscript with the required changes as suggested by the reviewers. In the case of a first decision of major revisions, authors should respond to the reviewers` comments as a separate file in point by point format, and in a timely manner, revising and re-submitting their manuscript (as revised file) to the journal by the given time, else the article will stand rejected with status as 'rejected no author reply'.

The Editor reviews the revised manuscript after the changes have been made by the authors. Once the Editor is satisfied with the final manuscript, the manuscript is accepted.

The editorial workflow gives the Editors the authority to reject any manuscript because of inappropriateness of its subject, suitability to journal, lack of quality, or incorrectness of its results. The Editor cannot assign himself/herself as an external reviewer of the manuscript. This is to ensure a high-quality, fair, and unbiased peer-review process of every manuscript submitted to the journal. Any manuscript must be recommended by one or more (usually two or more) external reviewers along with the Editor in charge of the manuscript in order for it to be accepted.

Reviewer identification and evaluation 

Experienced researchers and authors of high quality articles submitted to IJBMR are sent request mails for reviewing articles. Author suggested reviewers are always taken into consideration. Besides this, database searches are done to mark significant research articles and case reports (with topics matching or similar) and those authors are mailed and manuscripts sent, if affirmative. In cases where review reports are not obtained within the stipulated time, after trying three sets of honorary reviewers, a paid peer review is obtained. This is resorted to avoid frustration in author for delaying decisions. Reviewers are graded from 1 to 10 based on promptness, completeness and how useful the comments were in taking final decision on articles (grading is done by the senior Editor in-charge of the article). Dedicated staff positions are there in-house for identifying peer reviewers, searching them by matching the title of articles, noting the promptness of review.

A due acknowledgment for the researchers who have performed the peer-review process for one or more of the manuscripts in the past is made on the journal website. We genuinely feel that without the significant contributions made by these researchers, the publication of the journal would not be possible.

To justify authorship for the submitted manuscripts, the contributors should meet the following conditions:

• Conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data has been done by the author
• Either drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content has been done by the author
• The final approval of the version to be published has been given by the author. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to be allowed to take public responsibility for suitable portions of the content.

Naming Order for Contributors

• The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and the writing of the manuscript. Once submitted, the order cannot be changed without the written consent of all the contributors.

Authorship Change

• No addition of author(s) will be entertained post submission. Exception to this will be made only with proper justification supported by institution/university head.
• For any kind of change it is expected that the corresponding author writes to us detailing the reasons, as well as submit a signed copy from all authors wherein they have agreed upon the change. This can be accepted anytime till the article is published online. Post-publication changes are not acceptable, even any change/hand over of corresponding authorship will not be agreeable by the journal. If, any serious misconduct or conflict is brought to light, the study institution will be informed. A mutual agreement is always prayed for.

Guarantor

• One or more author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work from the inception to the publishing of the article. This author will be designated as the guarantor.

International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR) , developed submission policies by adopting policies for overlapping publications from IJBMR. 

• that the work described has not been published previously with singed copyright form attached (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis)
• that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere
• that it will not be submitted to other publication until under consideration by this publication
• that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the authorities responsible where the work was carried out.

Open access publishing provides a model for scholarly journal publishing with immediate, worldwide, barrier-free access to the full-text of all published articles. Many authors realize the benefits that open access publishing can provide in terms of increasing the impact of their work. 

IJBMR was initially supported by funds given by shruthi educational trust & cristal Diagnostic Research foundation on returnable basis The journal runs on a Not-for-Profit Model. Many people give journal their valuable time and services. Some of them work honorary or on subsidized salary.

However, due to increase in number of articles submitted and rising Publication costs, we may levy Publication charges in the near future. As of now, we do not charge any article Publication charges from the author. 

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Authors should not submit the same manuscript, in the same or different languages, simultaneously to more than one journal. Before submitting the manuscript, author(s) should make sure the complete withdrawal from the previous publisher. Such behavior wastes precious editorial resources as two or more journals will unknowingly and unnecessarily undertake the work of peer review, edit the same manuscript, and possibly publish the same article which will later undergo removal procedure. Making simultaneous submission will be considered as author misconduct which may result in blocking author for a certain period from all Biomedscidirect publications as well as informing the author’s institution.

Plagiarism meaning that reproducing or paraphrasing another author's content, be it a text, a end result, or an observation, and stating it as their own, without citing a reference to the source. Therefore, the authors should acknowledge and cite references to the work of other authors in their articles. The author should ensure that all the sources are authentic and that there is no discrepancy in the content of the manuscript.

If potential plagiarism is detected, the editor -in- chief of IJBMR will take serious actions against those papers containing plagiarism that may include removing those articles completely from IJBMR website and from the websites of the databases which we are listed and indexed in. The editors will contact the authors for clarification, and may also contact the authors’ institution. Therefore, we request to the all our author(s) please adopt the practical approach to design the manuscript of interest. Hence IJBMR will not be responsible for further action on plagiarism issue. The author will be solely responsible for plagiarism issue.

Duplicate or redundant (overlapping) publication is the publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without clear, visible reference to the previous publication. Readers should be able to identify that what they are reading is original unless there is a clear statement that the author and editor are intentionally republishing an article.

When authors submit a manuscript reporting work that has already been reported in large part in a published article or is contained in or closely related to another paper that has been submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere, the cover letter should be clearly mentioned it and the authors should provide copies of the related material to help the editor decide how to handle the submission.

Authors who attempt duplicate publication without such information will be considered as a violator of our submission terms and such submission will be considered as plagiarized. Any such attempt of duplicate submission or submitting already published work (own or others) will be considered as serious author misconduct. The author(s) should expect serious action for such misconduct which may include informing their institution as well as various forums, making a public post and blocking the author for certain period from all Biomedscidirect publications.

If the editor was not aware of the violations and the article has already been published, then the article might warrant retraction (along with above action) with or without the author's explanation or approval.

Articles in the International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR) are Open Access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND). This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, is not changed in any way, and is not used for commercial purposes.

The authors are requested to download the "Copy-Right" document. The downloaded document should be signed by the corresponding author and all other co-authors and send the scanned copy of the duly signed document to The Editor-in-Chief, IJBMR, BioMedSciDirect Publications through the e-mail ID: chiefeditorijbmr@gmail.com . 

The article will not be displayed without the sign in the copyright-right document.

Letter to Editors on articles published in IJBMR are considered. As a rule, the letter is mailed to the corresponding author of the article. In case the reader highlights any significant lack of data or expects any elaboration on a finding or methodology etc, the letter along with response from the corresponding author is published. A lack of response, however, does not condemn the publication of the letter. If, on the other hand, a correction of an error is required, an errata corrigendum is published. Online discussions are also encouraged wherein a reader can put his/her thoughts on the article in the link. The user after login can post comments directly in the article. These comments are filtered by the editorial for any abusive use of language or irrelevant comment. Rests are posted with the article. This facilitates post publication peer review.

Ethic Review Board (ERB) or Ethics committee clearance is very essential for the studies done on the human subjects, whether prospective or retrospective. The ICMR guidelines in 2017 and the Declaration of Helsinki have mandated this. Those which can be undertaken without ethical approval, include systematic reviews and secondary data analysis (for example, NFHS4 data and data on trials conducted by other researchers that is available on request), case reports with consent of parents and assent of child or case series in which data is being looked at retrospectively, provided the patients are de- identified.

Patient Rights

Patients have a right to privacy thus; all studies should be conducted with informed consent. No identifying information should be published in written descriptions, photographs, and pedigrees unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian or legally authorized representative) gives written informed consent for publication. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the article. Investigations with human subjects must follow the ethical standards formulated in the Helsinki Declaration of 1964, . All the experiments should be approved by the institutional human experimentation committee or equivalent.

Note: Please do not submit the patient’s actual written informed consent with your article, as this in itself breaches the patient’s confidentiality. The authors need to include a statement regarding the same in the manuscript text.

Animal Rights

Animal experiments must follow the ethical standards for the care and use of laboratory animals. The article involved animal experiments must seek approval(s) from the appropriate Ethical Committee in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" and CPCSEA guidelines . A statement on ethics committee permission must be included in all research articles.

Clinical trial registry

The journal recommends that the clinical trials should be registered in a publicly accessible database. Authors should include the clinical trial registration numbers on all papers that report their results. The authors must adhere to the minimum set of recommendations for reporting randomized trials as described in "The CONSORT (CONsolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) 2010 guideline.

IJBMR accepts articles only in English language.

All manuscripts for articles, original research reports, editorials, reviews, that are submitted to the journal must be accompanied by a conflict of interest disclosure statement or a declaration by the authors that they do not have any conflicts of interest to declare.

IJBMR believes that, to make the best decision on how to deal with an article, Journal should know about any competing interests that authors may have, before an article can be reviewed and accepted for publication.

Other interest-

• Author must be truthful and must declare if the article has been published in some other language during the time of submission.

• Author must disclose if some part of work has already been published or under consideration elsewhere.

• If the research submitted is the thesis or PhD work, author should reveal the name of the "Primary researcher" and the "Supervisor".

Articles submitted by the present journal editors are processed ensuring that no bias takes place at any step, while following all the pre-publication procedures. In this category there are three types of articles -

1. Editorials written by guest or current editors. The policy is to get these articles peer reviewed by an external reviewer, and then published post-revision.
2. Academic articles submitted by editors of the journal. Such articles are not handled by the submitting editor. Despite best intentions it is unfair to assume that no bias creeps in. The peer reviewer is blinded to the author. However, the in-house processing editor is aware of the author (colleague). In such a situation it is tried best to keep the assessment as objective as possible. To note, in the recent past, articles authored by present editors were rejected based on certain statistical issues.
3. Articles that are written by editor or research fellow, while working in-house, on the journal publication process. Such works are sent for independent peer reviews, and published post-revision. However, if the peer reviewer shows concern or suggests major modifications in the methodology or result interpretations, larger data is compiled or re-analysis is done to ensure filling the deficiencies.

Declaration of conflict of interest

Articles authored by present Editors and Reviewers are handled with the same policy as with any other article. The external peer review is done on the de-identified file. If accepted for publication, the author affiliations with the journal are also declared along with other author details. The peer reviewer is not chosen by the same editor. Similarly, for a reviewer-authored-article, it is ensured that the assigned reviewer is in no way associated with the author.

The editors assess their own COI in case of submissions from institutions that they are or were affiliated, if the topic of research is a matter of conflict or the author is known professionally or personally. These are informed to the Editor-in-chief before handling the article, who in turn decides about the judicious step. The editor may decline handling an article, at the onset, if an absolute conflict exists.

Reviewers are instructed to declare their potential COI before accepting an article for review. Though the draft is blinded, if in any way the probable identity is guessed which is conflicted or the reviewer is presently working on a similar project, it must be declared. A reviewer may deny from reviewing an article, citing the exact type of conflict.

A reviewer suggesting author to cite own publications on a similar study is taken cautiously. The assigned editor looks into the case to judge the absolute need for the citation. If found necessary, after discussion with the Editor-in-chief, the suggestion is forwarded to the author.

For authors who have some knowledge about the journal editorial board or the reviewer panel may write to us while or before submitting an article, if any COI or even a concern exists. This concern is always respected and the editorial ensures that the named board members/reviewers are not chosen to evaluate the article.

The peer-review process is double blinded, i.e., the reviewers do not know who the authors of the manuscript are and the authors do not have access to the information of who the peer-reviewers are. A due acknowledgment for the researchers who have performed the peer-review process for one or more of the manuscripts in the past is made on the journal website. Without the significant contributions made by these researchers, the publication of the journal would not be possible.

The publication of the article shall always be subject to the right of the journal to re-tract and removed the article from its website / portal if it is found at any time that :

• The subject matter has been infringing the Intellectual Property Rights(IPR) (IPR, including copyright) respecting same, similar or identical subject matter belonging to the third party whether published or not.
• The subject matter has been published earlier by any means or in any form whatsoever
• The subject matter and its publication tantamount to ethical misconduct.
• The publication of the subject matter is against public policy and against the provisions of any law of the land in force in the time being.

Procedure governing retraction:

• On receiving a complaint or information from any source whatsoever, whenever it came to the notice that the subject matter published in the journal is similar or identical respecting same subject matter, which is authored by some other person, entity or institution prior to the date on which the author has submitted the subject article for publication in our journal, an explanation shall be called affording reasonable opportunity and to respond in writing to the issue raised respecting the subject matter.
• The author shall on receiving the notice to explain, submit his/her explanation within in the period stipulated in the notice.
• On receiving the explanation the editor may within his/her discretion, and if deemed necessary and expedient, refer the issue in dispute to any expert of the field with request to give his/her report containing opinion on the merits of the subject matter.
• Based upon the complaint, explanation of the author, report/opinion of the expert and considering any other material relevant, the editor of the journal shall, after due application of mind, pass a final speaking order rejecting either the complaint or allowing the complaint backed by reasons. In the event it is decided by the reader to allow the complaint he/she shall issue a show cause notice to the author calling upon him/her as to why the publication may not retracted and removed from the website the journal.
• The author shall within clear 10 days of the receipt of the afore-stated notice, may if so desire submit his/her explanation, following which a reader shall pass an order in terms with the reference of the show cause notice. In the event the editor of the journal passed an order directing removal of the article, the author shall not be entitled for any refund of the charges earlier remitted by him at the time of provisional acceptance of the publication.
• Decision of the Chief Editor and senior editors will be final.
• In the event, the author is not satisfied and aggrieved by the final order of removal of article from the website of the publication, the author may request the editor within 14 days of the receipt of the removal of the article from the publication to refer the issue in dispute to the arbitrator. The publisher, within a further period of 15 days on receipt of such request shall refer issue in dispute to the arbitrator.

The electronic content of International Journal of Biological & Medical Research is open access journal stored on various sources for digital archiving. The authors who have published manuscripts in International Journal of Biological & Medical Research may archive their manuscript after final published version in personal or institutional repositories. Contents published in International Journal of Biological & Medical Research is open access, content is freely available and can be access by readers free of cost. International Journal of Biological & Medical Research is index in numerous indexing agencies and all the data are being stored (may or may not include) for digital archiving in that also

Google Scholar, Scribd, Open Access Resources-PSOAR, Academia.edu,Global Impact Factor(GIF), World Cat, DRJI Index, Scientific Journal Impact Factor(SJIF), Index Copernicus, Pro-Quest,  Open-J-Gate, Research Gate, Journal Seek, CiteSeer, Medline, Cite Factor, Eurasian Scientific Journal Index, IP Indexing, Root Indexing, International Science Indexing (ISI), International institute of organized research (I2OR), Slide share, Euro Pub, Semantic Scholar, Advanced Sciences Index, Semantic Scholar, International Science Indexing, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar-Health Sciences Library indexing etc…

If there has been a genuine error in an article, which has been missed earlier, then an errata or correction in posted in the next issue. However, if the error is in the details of the authors that could have been carefully weeded out at the time of proofs and the work has been published both in print and online, a small charge is levied

International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR) endorse novelty, scientific, intellectual discourse in its publications. We expect all members (Editors, Referees, Authors) to adhere standard etiquette in publishing manuscripts with International Journal of Biological & Medical Research.

Principles of Publication

Role of Editors
The Editor at International Journal of Biological & Medical Research is responsible for which of the submitted manuscripts should be publish/reject; Referees, Editorial members assistance are taken account along with the journal’s policy. The Editors have the right to examine the published manuscripts at any time in its content and plagiarism. Hence we strongly recommend the authors to avoid self plagiarism in all means. International Journal of Biological & Medical Research uses plagiarism detection software to check the originality of the submitted manuscript. Hence if the submitted manuscripts are found plagiarized; the content is harm to any segment of society. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision

Referees of Manuscripts
Manuscripts sent for review must be treated as confidential documents, International Journal of Biological & Medical Research choose Referees based on their qualifications and objectivity regarding a particular manuscript. We would like anticipate prompt thorough reports from the Referees. Anonymity of referees should be preserved to the extent possible, unless the referee and editor agree to disclosure. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. If overlap identified in the manuscripts, Reviewers should bring to the knowledge of the Editor.

Authorship & Originality:
Authorship credit should be based on a substantial intellectual contribution. It is assumed that all authors have had a significant role in the creation of a manuscript that bears their names. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co- authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.

The authors should ensure the submitted manuscript is original works and not submitted somewhere else, Similarly it is bound duty for the authors to give acknowledgement to works which inspired them in the form of citation as mentioned in the author’s guidelines. We strongly insist a rigorous viewpoint to the authors on self-plagiarism.

Authors need to duly signed the copyright form which is available at COPYRIGHT FORM Without signed copyright form, the article will not be accepted.

International Journal of Biological and Medical Research (IJBMR) is an international open access, peer-reviewed multidisciplinary online journal published quarterly in the months of January, April, July and October, this has been followed since 2010.

When errors or publication ethics concerns are identified in published articles, the journal will consider the appropriate action and may consult the editor(s), author(s), and the authors’ institution(s). Errors by the authors may be corrected by a corrigendum and errors by the publisher by an erratum.

If there are errors that significantly affect the conclusions or there is evidence of misconduct, this may require retraction or an expression of concern. IJBMR follows the retraction guidelines for such cases.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE ACADEMIC EDITORS

The editors of the International Journal of Biological & Medical Research (IJBMR) are responsible to make the editorial decision on the submitted articles. The journal relies on the integrity and honesty of the editors to select high-quality manuscripts that conform to ethical standards and meets all the requirements. The editors of this journal must follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) “Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”.

The editorial decisions must be made only on intellectual merit without any prejudice or bias. The editors must maintain the confidentiality of the submitted manuscripts and ensure the integrity of double-blind peer-review. The editors are required to read the journal’s conflict of interest policies carefully and ensure compliance with the same.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE REVIEWERS 

The volunteer contribution of peer-reviewers is paramount to maintaining the scientific integrity and selection of high-quality articles. The peer-reviewers of the journal are required to follow the COPE guidelines to the peer–reviewers [https://publicationethics.org/node/19886]and peer-review guidelinesof this journal.

The reviewers are also requested to read the journal’s conflict of interest policies carefully and ensure compliance with the same.

The reviewers are expected to maintain the confidentiality and objectivity of the double-blind peer review.

ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR THE AUTHORS

Authors are required to fulfill the ICMJE’s definition of the authors and contributors [Link] . The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

The authors should read and ensure compliance with the journal’s policies such as;

• Plagiarism policy,
• conflict of interest policies,
• Ethical approvals, patients rights and informed consent
• Corrections and Retraction Policy

Authors of the original research article must present accurate data and provide sufficient information and references to ensure the reproducibility of the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical behavior and unacceptable. Authors may be asked to provide the raw/supplementary data for a paper that is under editorial review. The authors should be prepared to provide the public access to these data (if practicable) and to retain such data for a reasonable time after the publication.

Redundant or duplicate submission/publication

Duplicate or redundant (overlapping) publication is the publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without clear, visible reference to the previous publication. Readers should be able to identify that what they are reading is original unless there is a clear statement that the author and editor are intentionally republishing an article.

When authors submit a manuscript reporting work that has already been reported in large part in a published article or is contained in or closely related to another paper that has been submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere, the cover letter should be clearly mentioned it and the authors should provide copies of the related material to help the editor decide how to handle the submission.

Authors who attempt duplicate publication without such information will be considered as a violator of our submission terms and such submission will be considered as plagiarized. Any such attempt of duplicate submission or submitting already published work (own or others) will be considered as serious author misconduct. The author(s) should expect serious action for such misconduct which may include informing their institution as well as various forums, making a public post and blocking the author for certain period from all Biomedscidirect publications.

If the editor was not aware of the violations and the article has already been published, then the article might warrant retraction (along with above action) with or without the author's explanation or approval.

Acknowledgment and funding sources

Authors should provide the proper acknowledgment for the work of others. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

The authors must declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the journal. Authors should give the name of granting agencies and grant numbers, along with a short description of each fund

Some authors request withdrawal of manuscript after submission. If the withdrawal is done within the time span when the article is with Editor, and for a genuine reason like problems discovered in data etc, author is allowed to withdraw the manuscript without any penalty. If the author withdraws manuscript any time after the manuscript has been sent to peer review till the final decision, then unless there are compelling reasons, the request is not entertained without a penalty. This penalty may be in form of payment to journal for its time and resources spent.

Authors & readers can submit their complaints/appeals to the editor or the publisher of the journal through email  editorialofficeijbmr@gmail.com or through the complaint form provided on the contact us . All the complaints will assign a unique complaint number by the publisher. Authors/readers can use complaint numbers for further follow-up.

If you do not receive a response to your complaint within 48 hrs or if you are not satisfied with the response please write to chief editor email chiefeditorijbmr@gmail.com.