Biosci Abstracts – Policies

Editorial policies
Authors of abstracts must conduct their research in line with best practices of relevant professional and regulatory bodies.

Authors must ensure that the work does not contain anything which is libelous, illegal or infringes any copyright or other rights.

All submissions are peer-reviewed and selected anonymously (blind) by the relevant Organising Committee, on behalf of the governing society.

Conflict of interest
Authors must declare any conflict of interest caused by financial support or relationships during submission of abstracts. This information will be treated as confidential during peer-review and selection.

Examples of conflicts include:
• Research grants from funding agencies
• Financial support for attending educational programmes or conferences
• Honoraria for speaking at conferences or events
• Employment or consultation
• Support from a sponsor for a project
• Intellectual property rights (e.g. copyrights and royalties)

Human and animal rights
For abstracts containing patient data, authors must confirm that the research complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and that subjects have given their informed, written consent (see Informed Consent). This must be confirmed during the submission process.

Abstracts containing research involving animal experimentation must comply with the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare guidelines. This must be confirmed during the submission process.

Informed consent
Abstracts must not include any information that could identify a patient, unless essential for scientific purposes. This could include names, dates of birth, identity numbers or other information. In these instances, the patient (or parent/guardian) must give informed, written consent for publication. Written consent should be obtained if there is any doubt that anonymity cannot be maintained. This must be confirmed during the submission process.

Authorship

All named authors should be able to identify which co-authors worked on specific parts of the work. In addition, authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their co-authors. Any changes to authorship during the publication process must be approved in writing by all authors of the abstract. Bioscientifica reserves the right to refuse requests to change author lists if there is reason to doubt the legitimacy of the request. If an unresolvable authorship dispute arises, the institution(s) where the work was undertaken should be asked to investigate. Bioscientifica will not arbitrate in cases where there is disagreement over authorship.

Research misconduct

Bioscientifica is committed to integrity in scientific research. 'Research misconduct' means fabrication, falsification or plagiarism in proposing, performing or reviewing research, or in reporting research results. Plagiarism is not acceptable in Bioscientifica abstract submissions and plagiarised content will not be considered for publication.

To report misconduct, please contact publishing@bioscientifica.com clearly outlining the details of the complaint. Bioscientifica takes all complaints seriously and all complainants will receive a response detailing what has been investigated and any action that has been taken as a result. Wherever possible, depending on the nature of the complaint, complaints will be investigated by an independent, senior member of the Bioscientifica team.

Retractions and corrections

The outcome of a misconduct investigation may be the retraction of a published abstract.