Declaration of ethics and commitments

BioBrasil Declaration of Ethics

The journal Biodiversidade Brasileira is committed to practices that value research ethics and integrity. Thus, it requires authors, editors and reviewers to have the same level of commitment. To this end, it is based on guiding documents such as the Code of Conduct and Best Practices for Journal Editors of the Committee on Ethics in Publication – COPE, (available at http://publicationethics.org/) and the CSE's White Paper on Promoting Integrity in Scientific Journal Publications by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), available at http://www.councilscienceeditors.org/wp-content/uploads/entire_whitepaper.pdf.

To ensure the clarity and transparency of the entire editorial process, BioBrasil establishes the following commitments and requires compliance by those involved:

Authors' Commitments

- Authors must be aware of the rules and guidelines of the BioBrasil journal, as well as commit to following them.
- When submitting a manuscript to BioBrasil, the manuscript must not have been published or submitted to another journal. The author cannot send his manuscript elsewhere while it is being considered at BioBrasil.
- Be responsible for authorship information when submitting the manuscript. Names must be informed at the time of submission, when filling in the journal's system. If requested by the journal editors, authors are committed to declaring the roles and responsibilities of each author.
- Observing ethical conduct with respect to information sources to ensure the integrity of the research. - Authors are responsible for properly citing all sources used in their research, in accordance with the Guidelines for Authors and BioBrasil standards. The author should ensure proper citation and source identification when using third-party materials.
- If the manuscript includes personal communications, provide a written permission statement from any named person. E-mail permission is acceptable.
- BioBrasil does not require all authors of a research paper to sign the cover letter at the time of submission, nor does it impose an order in the list of authors. The submission of an article to BioBrasil will be understood that all the listed authors agree with all the content. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that this agreement has been reached and for managing all communication between the publication and all co-authors, both before and after publication.
- Act ethically and do not commit plagiarism. Plagiarism is unethical behavior in publishing in all its forms and is unacceptable.

Editorial Team Commitments

- The editorial team undertakes to maintain confidentiality regarding the author and information related to manuscripts submitted to the journal throughout the entire editorial process.
- Ethical rigor must be observed at all stages of the editorial process. The editorial team cannot act in their own interest or take actions based on subjectivity.
- Transparency must accompany editors throughout the editorial process, and compliance with the journal's policy is mandatory.
- Any type of conflict of interest must be communicated to the editor as soon as it is identified. If the conflict of interest is related to the editor-in-chief, he/she must refuse the evaluation and forward the activity to the thematic editors or to one of the members of the Editorial Board.
- The base of evaluators must be constantly updated, according to the performance of the evaluator.
- Orient the new members of the Editorial Board on their duties and on the journal's policies.
- Investigate any and all suspected plagiarism in manuscripts submitted to BioBrasil, following the flowchart proposed by COPE's Core Practices, available at https://publicationethics.org/core-practices.
- BioBrasil reserves the right to reject an article even after it has been accepted, if it becomes apparent that there are serious problems with its scientific content or that publication policies have been violated.

Appraisers' Commitments

- Maintain the confidentiality of information related to the manuscript assigned for its evaluation and opinion.
- Take into account the merit of the research and the Editorial Policy of the journal when evaluating the manuscript.
- Act impartially. The evaluation and decision must not be influenced positively or negatively by professional, personal and/or financial, racial, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, nationality, political orientation or social class of the authors.
- Inform the editor immediately if you identify any indication of misconduct (plagiarism, falsification of data, for example).
- Inform the editor when you do not feel qualified to evaluate a manuscript due to thematic incompatibility or conflict of interest.
- Present objective and justified opinions, in order to support the final decision of the editor.
- Act punctually. If the evaluator is unable to evaluate the manuscript within the established period, it is up to him to promptly notify the editor, so that the editorial process is not impaired. When accepting the task of issuing an opinion on a manuscript, it is the reviewer's responsibility to comply with the deadlines established by the journal.

 

Conflict of interest

All authors are responsible for informing the editor of any potential or existing conflict of interest when submitting the manuscript and/or during the editorial process. Contact should be made via email sent to biodiversity.brasileira@icmbio.gov.br.

Gender equality and diversity

BioBrasil magazine repudiates prejudiced, racist, discriminatory attitudes of any kind or that incite violence. The publication is committed to seeking gender balance in its Editorial Board and in the body of thematic editors, valuing institutional and geographic plurality.