BMRT STATEMENT OF ETHICS AND GOOD PRACTICES IN SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATION

Biological Models Research and Technology is a journal committed to ensuring the highest ethical standards in publishing. All parties involved in the publications (editors, authors, and reviewers) agree to the ethical principles based on the Codes of Conduct and Guidelines of Good Practice for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics - COPE (available at http://publicationethics.org/).

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDITORS AND EDITORIAL BOARD:

• Decide which manuscripts submitted to the journal should be published. These decisions are guided by the journal's policies (BMRT Guidelines for Submission and Publication of Manuscripts, available at https://app.periodikos.com.br/journal/bmrt/instructions) and by legal requirements regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
• Provide guidance to authors and reviewers describing the submission and peer review processes.
• Discuss and update new policies and actions.
• Evaluate manuscripts solely based on their academic, scientific, and intellectual merit, regardless of the race, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin, religious belief, political orientation, or social class of the author(s).
• Ensure the protection of the identity of the authors and reviewers involved in the refereeing process.
• Ensure a fair and impartial double-blind review of manuscripts and keep confidential all information related to them.
• Maintain a database of reviewers for each area of the journal.
• Ensure that unpublished material from a submitted manuscript is not used in the editors' or reviewers' research without the author's express consent.
• Respond promptly when ethical questions are raised regarding a submitted or published manuscript.
• Publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies whenever necessary.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AUTHORS

• Authors of articles submitted for publication must provide an accurate account of the work performed. Data must be presented accurately in the manuscript. Fraudulent or intentionally inaccurate statements constitute unethical and unacceptable behavior.
• Authors should not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.
• Authors must ensure that the work is original and that any text citations or data from other authors have been properly credited and referenced.
• Authors confirm that the work represents their own contributions and has not been copied or plagiarized, in whole or in part, from another work.
• Authors must cite publications that have influenced the determination of the nature of the work reported.
• Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publication behavior and is unacceptable.
• Authorship should be limited to those who made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study reported. Others who contributed to the work may be acknowledged and mentioned in the determined session for such purpose at the end of the article.
• The corresponding author with the journal should ensure that all coauthors are included in the list of authors of the manuscript, and that there is a consensus of all coauthors in approving the final version of the article and submitting it for publication.
• Authors must disclose financial, professional, or other conflicts of interest that might influence the interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support must be disclosed.
• When an author identifies a significant error or inaccuracy in their own published work, they will immediately notify the journal editors and cooperate to retract or correct the manuscript.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE REVIEWERS:

• Peer review assists the editors in decisions about articles and assists the author in improving the manuscript.
• Any invited reviewer who feels unqualified to review the article should notify the editors immediately.
• Any manuscript received for review should be treated as confidential document.
• Insider information or ideas obtained through peer review should be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.
• Reviewers should report to the editors if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism by the author.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively, and observations should be formulated clearly and with supporting arguments, so that the authors can use them to improve the article.
• Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from personal, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions linked to the articles.
• Reviewers may either provide general comments on the evaluated text in the online review system form or include an attached file with comments on the article following the line numbering of the text.
• BMRT editors emphasize the need for submitted articles to follow basic rules of scientific methodology to facilitate the reproducibility of the data presented. To this end, reviewers are asked to assess the accuracy of the information presented in the methodology and whether this is sufficient to allow the work and its results to be reproduced by other researchers.
• The BMRT follows the ARRIVE guidelines (Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments) developed as part of an initiative to improve the design and review of papers with animal models, maximizing published information and minimizing unnecessary studies.