Terms of Publication

1. Submission and Authorship Responsibility

• Submission constitutes confirmation that the work is original, not under review elsewhere, and that all authors have approved the final version.
• Authorship must reflect significant intellectual contribution following the ICMJE criteria.
• All sources of funding, conflicts of interest, and institutional approvals must be disclosed at submission.
• Authors grant BM-Publisher the right to circulate their submission to editors and reviewers during peer review.

2. Peer Review Process

• All manuscripts undergo double-blind peer review unless stated otherwise by the journal.
• Reviewers are selected based on subject expertise and must declare conflicts of interest.
• Editorial decisions are made impartially, based solely on scientific merit, clarity, and ethical compliance.

3. Acceptance and Editorial Decision

Final acceptance is issued by the Editor-in-Chief or delegated Handling Editor. Acceptance implies that the manuscript will proceed to production, subject to professional copy-editing, layout, and metadata registration (DOI assignment via Crossref).

4. Copyright and Licensing

• Upon acceptance, authors retain copyright while granting BM-Publisher a non-exclusive license to publish and disseminate the work.
• All open-access articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, permitting reuse with proper citation.
• Authors may post accepted or published versions on personal, institutional, or funder repositories with full bibliographic citation and DOI link.

View CC BY 4.0 License

5. Open-Access Policy

• BM-Publisher supports immediate, free public access to scholarly content worldwide.
• Open-access ensures compliance with mandates such as Plan S, NIH, and UKRI policies.
• Metadata and full-text files are archived through CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, and Portico services.

6. Ethical and Legal Compliance

• Authors must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki, COPE flowcharts, and ICMJE recommendations.
• Research involving humans or animals must include IRB/EC approval numbers and consent statements.
• Misconduct (plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, duplicate publication) will result in retraction and notification of institutions.

7. Data Availability and Research Transparency

• Authors must include a Data Availability Statement describing where supporting data can be accessed or explaining justified restrictions.
• For genomics or proteomics studies, deposition in recognized repositories (GEO, ArrayExpress, PRIDE, ClinVar, etc.) is required.
• Underlying data must be retained for at least 5 years after publication.

8. Article Processing Charges (APCs)

• APCs cover editorial management, peer review infrastructure, DOI registration, copyediting, and long-term archiving.
• Current fees and waiver policies are published on each journal’s website.
• Waivers may be granted for authors from low- and middle-income countries or in cases of demonstrated financial hardship.

9. Corrections, Retractions & Withdrawal

• BM-Publisher follows COPE guidelines for post-publication changes.
• Corrections address minor factual errors that do not affect conclusions.
• Expressions of Concern may be issued during ongoing investigations.
• Retractions occur for proven misconduct or invalid results and remain permanently linked to the original record.
• Authors may request withdrawal before peer review; after acceptance, withdrawal requires editor approval and written justification.

10. Publisher Liability and Disclaimer

• The opinions expressed in published articles are solely those of the authors.
• BM-Publisher and editors accept no responsibility for errors or consequences arising from use of the information contained in its journals.
• No warranties are given as to accuracy, completeness, or fitness for a particular purpose of the content.

11. Privacy and Data Protection

• Personal data (names, emails, affiliations) are collected only for legitimate editorial communication and publication metadata.
• Data are processed under applicable privacy laws, including the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR.
• Authors may request removal or correction of personal data in accordance with GDPR Articles 16–17.

12. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms of Publication are governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of London, United Kingdom.