Ethics Code | Revista Bio Ciencias

CODE OF ETHICS AND GOOD EDITORIAL PRACTICES

Introduction and Purpose

Revista Bio Ciencias, a scientific journal published by the Autonomous University of Nayarit (UAN), is committed to academic integrity, transparency, equity, and excellence throughout all stages of manuscript submission, review, evaluation, editing, and dissemination. The purpose of this Code of Ethics is to:

Promote integrity, transparency, fairness, and quality in editorial processes.
Strengthen trust among authors, reviewers, editors, readers, and the scientific community.
Establish clear ethical responsibilities in the communication of research findings in the biological, agricultural, and related sciences.
Ensure compliance with international standards of publication ethics.

Revista Bio Ciencias adopts as reference the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), as well as the guiding principles of the Autonomous University of Nayarit.

Guiding Principles

The journal conducts its editorial activities according to the values of transparency, accountability, responsibility, equity, loyalty, commitment, tolerance, professionalism, integrity, justice, and environmental awareness, in accordance with the institutional principles of the Autonomous University of Nayarit and international standards of editorial ethics.

Responsibilities of the Editorial Team

The Editorial Team assumes the following ethical responsibilities:

Ensure transparency throughout the editorial process and clearly communicate peer-review criteria to authors.
Maintain absolute confidentiality of manuscripts at all stages and refrain from disclosing information to anyone other than authors, reviewers, and, when necessary, members of the Editorial Board.
Select manuscripts exclusively on the basis of scientific quality, originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and clarity, without discrimination based on gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, political ideology, ethnicity, or institutional affiliation.
Promote diversity among authors, reviewers, and research topics, fostering inclusion and equity throughout the editorial process.
Provide written justification for any dispute arising during the review process.
Publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, or apologies whenever necessary.
Avoid conflicts of interest and refrain from using privileged information for personal or third-party benefit.
Establish clear procedures for handling complaints, appeals, and allegations of misconduct.
Make editorial decisions regarding acceptance, rejection, or retraction based solely on scientific merit and expert evaluations.
Ensure that editorial decisions are free from commercial, political, institutional, or external pressures.

Responsibilities of Authors

Any individual submitting a manuscript to Revista Bio Ciencias assumes the following responsibilities:

Submit original and unpublished work that is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere and has not been previously published in whole or in substantial part.
Comply with the editorial policies and author guidelines published on the journal's website.
Present data accurately, truthfully, and transparently, avoiding fabrication, falsification, or manipulation of results.
Properly acknowledge and cite all sources used. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and citation manipulation constitute grounds for immediate rejection.
Include as co-authors only those individuals who have made substantial scientific and intellectual contributions and exclude those who have not (gift or ghost authorship). All co-authors must approve the final version of the manuscript.
Disclose any financial, institutional, contractual, or personal conflicts of interest that could influence the research or its interpretation.
Explicitly declare all sources of funding and the role of funders in study design, data collection, analysis, and publication decisions.
Notify the Editorial Board immediately upon discovering a significant error in a published work and cooperate fully in issuing corrections or retractions.
Obtain all necessary permissions for the use of third-party materials (images, tables, figures) and informed consent when research involves human participants or experimental animals.
Declare compliance with all applicable ethical standards, including approvals from ethics committees, animal care and use committees, biosafety committees, and other relevant regulatory bodies.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

External reviewers participating in the peer-review process are expected to:

Evaluate manuscripts objectively, impartially, constructively, and within a reasonable timeframe, based on criteria of originality, relevance, methodological rigor, and clarity.
Maintain absolute confidentiality regarding all reviewed materials and refrain from disclosing or discussing their contents with third parties without explicit authorization from the Editorial Team.
Decline the review of manuscripts when a conflict of interest exists, including collaborative relationships, direct competition, personal relationships, or close institutional affiliations with the authors.
Support their comments and recommendations with clear arguments and relevant references, avoiding personal criticism, offensive language, or unsubstantiated judgments.
Inform the Editorial Team of any evidence of plagiarism, data manipulation, duplicate publication, or other unethical conduct detected in the manuscript.
Refrain from using information obtained through the peer-review process for personal, academic, or third-party benefit.
Notify the editor if they do not possess sufficient expertise in the manuscript’s subject area or are unable to complete the review within the established timeframe.
Refrain from using generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to review assigned manuscripts due to the confidential nature of the peer-review process.

Research and Publication Misconduct

Revista Bio Ciencias considers the following practices unacceptable:

Plagiarism: The appropriation of ideas, text, data, illustrations, methods, or results from others without proper acknowledgment, whether copied verbatim, paraphrased, or partially reproduced.
Self-plagiarism: The substantial reuse of previously published text or data without appropriate citation or authorization.
Duplicate or redundant publication: Simultaneous submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal or publication of substantially identical results in multiple venues.
Data fabrication, falsification, or manipulation: The intentional alteration, invention, or selective omission of data that distorts research findings or conclusions.
Citation manipulation: The intentional inclusion, exclusion, distortion, or invention of references to promote personal interests, increase citation metrics, or disadvantage other researchers.
Improper authorship: The inclusion of individuals who have not made substantial contributions (gift or honorary authorship) or the exclusion of contributors who have (ghost authorship).
Failure to disclose conflicts of interest.
Misuse of confidential information obtained during the editorial process.
Violations of ethical standards involving human participants, experimental animals, biological materials, biodiversity, or biosafety.

To identify such practices, the journal employs professional plagiarism-detection software and originality verification procedures for all submitted manuscripts.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Revista Bio Ciencias establishes the following guidelines regarding the use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Authors must transparently disclose the use of generative AI tools (e.g., language models, image-generation tools, or automated data-analysis systems) at any stage of the research or manuscript preparation process.
The disclosure must specify the tool used, its purpose, and the extent of its contribution within the appropriate section of the manuscript.
AI systems do not qualify for authorship because authorship requires intellectual and ethical responsibility, which can only be assumed by human individuals.
Reviewers are prohibited from using generative AI tools during manuscript evaluation due to the confidential nature of the peer-review process.
Undisclosed, inappropriate, or fraudulent use of AI may constitute ethical misconduct and may result in manuscript rejection or article retraction.

Conflicts of Interest

A conflict of interest is any financial, institutional, contractual, professional, or personal circumstance that could improperly influence the objectivity of authors, reviewers, or editors.

Authors must explicitly disclose any conflicts of interest upon manuscript submission. If no conflicts exist, this must be stated clearly.
Reviewers must decline assignments when conflicts of interest are present and notify the Editorial Team accordingly.
Editors and Editorial Board members must recuse themselves from handling manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest and delegate responsibility to another qualified editor.
The journal reserves the right to request additional information regarding potential undisclosed conflicts of interest.

Complaints and Appeals

Revista Bio Ciencias maintains procedures for handling complaints, appeals, and allegations of misconduct.

Any individual, including authors, reviewers, readers, or members of the scientific community, may submit a written complaint through the journal’s official contact channels.
The Editorial Team will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within a reasonable period and conduct a preliminary investigation in accordance with COPE recommendations.
Confidentiality of all parties involved will be maintained throughout the investigation.
Decisions resulting from the investigation will be communicated to the relevant parties and, when appropriate, publicly disclosed through corrections, retractions, or expressions of concern.
In serious or unresolved cases, the matter may be referred to appropriate authorities within the Autonomous University of Nayarit or to relevant external bodies.

Corrections, Retractions and Expressions of Concern

In accordance with COPE guidelines, Revista Bio Ciencias applies the following post-publication policies:

Corrections (Errata and Corrigenda)

Corrections will be published when objective errors are identified that do not substantially affect the validity of the results or conclusions.

Erratum: Error attributable to the journal.
Corrigendum: Error attributable to the authors.
All corrections will be linked to the original article.

Retractions

Articles will be retracted when serious errors invalidate the findings, or when substantial plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, severe ethical violations, or other forms of scientific misconduct are confirmed.

Retraction notices will remain permanently linked to the original article and may be communicated to the authors’ institutions.

Expression of Concern

An Expression of Concern may be issued when credible evidence of misconduct exists but an investigation is still ongoing.

Article Removal

In exceptional circumstances, an article may be removed from the journal website if it violates legal requirements, including defamation, privacy violations, serious public health risks, or court orders. In such cases, a public notice explaining the reasons for removal will remain available.

Removal of authors: In exceptional circumstances and with appropriate justification, the removal of one or more authors from a manuscript that is in the Articles in Press stage may be considered. Requests for author removal must be submitted formally in writing to theEditors-in-Chief and must include a detailed justification for the requested change in authorship. The request must be signed by all individuals directly involved in the manuscript, including both the author(s) requesting the change and the author(s) proposed for removal. The justification must present ethically valid and objectively verifiable reasons, such as errors in the original attribution of authorship, demonstrable lack of substantial contribution, unresolved authorship disputes, or violations of the journal's authorship criteria. Upon receipt of the request and the signed documentation, the Editorial Team will evaluate the case based on the evidence provided and may request additional information or seek independent expert advice when necessary. The final decision will be communicated in writing to the corresponding author, together with the Editorial Team's determination regarding the request.

Protection of Research Participants and Data

Research involving human participants must have received approval from an appropriate ethics committee and informed consent from participants, ensuring confidentiality and privacy.

Research involving experimental animals must comply with national and international regulations governing animal care and use and must have obtained the necessary ethical approvals.

The journal encourages transparency and data sharing. Authors are encouraged to deposit research data in open repositories and provide access information within the manuscript, while respecting confidentiality and personal data protection requirements.

Copyright and Licensing

Articles published in Revista Bio Ciencias are distributed under an open-access Creative Commons license, allowing consultation, download, copying, and reuse of content provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors.

Authors retain the moral rights to their work while granting the journal the right of first publication.

The journal does not charge submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), or publication fees, in accordance with the principles of Diamond Open Access and the National System of Scientific and Humanities Publications of Mexico.

Non-Compliance and Sanctions

Failure to comply with any provision of this Code may result in one or more of the following actions:

Immediate rejection of the manuscript.
Temporary or permanent prohibition from submitting future manuscripts to the journal.
Publication of a correction, retraction, or expression of concern.
Notification of the relevant institutions affiliated with the authors or reviewers involved.
Referral of the case to appropriate authorities within the Autonomous University of Nayarit or to competent external bodies, depending on the severity of the misconduct.

ORIGINALITY VERIFICATION AND ANTI-PLAGIARISM POLICY AND PROCEDURE

Statement of Principles

Revista Bio Ciencias is committed to academic integrity and the originality of scientific production. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, and duplicate publication are considered serious violations of publication ethics.

To ensure the quality, authenticity, and integrity of published content, the journal applies a rigorous originality verification procedure to all submitted manuscripts, in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the criteria established by the Mexican National System of Scientific and Humanities Publications (SNPCyH).

Verification Tools and Mechanisms

To detect textual similarity, Revista Bio Ciencias uses specialized originality-checking software, primarily Microsoft Editor, complemented by manual searches in academic databases and search engines (e.g., Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and others) to verify the originality of ideas, data, figures, and scientific content.

Similarity reports are considered support tools only. The final interpretation of the results and all editorial decisions remain the exclusive responsibility of the Editorial Team, which performs a contextual and qualitative assessment of all detected similarities.

Stages of Application

Originality screening is conducted at three key stages of the editorial process:

Initial Screening (Preliminary Review): Immediately after manuscript submission and before peer review.
Post-Review Verification: After peer-review reports have been received and before final acceptance, to ensure that revisions have not introduced non-original content.
Pre-Publication Verification: Once the article has been typeset and prepared for publication, a final review of metadata, abstracts, references, and article content is conducted.

Similarity Thresholds and Exclusions

A similarity report does not automatically constitute evidence of plagiarism. Revista Bio Ciencias considers the following parameters during the evaluation process:

Acceptable Overall Similarity Index: An overall similarity score below 15–20% of the manuscript text, excluding references, is generally considered acceptable.
Individual Sources: No single source (excluding references) should account for more than 5–10% of the manuscript content.
Exclusions Applied During Similarity Analysis: The following elements may be excluded from similarity calculations:
- Reference lists and bibliographies.
- Properly quoted and cited passages.
- Matches shorter than 1% of the document or fewer than five consecutive words.
Special Considerations for Scientific Articles: In biological, health, and agricultural sciences, the Materials and Methods section often contains standardized technical terminology. Therefore, the Editorial Team will manually evaluate such sections to avoid penalizing legitimate use of scientific nomenclature and standard methodological descriptions, provided that entire sections are not copied from previously published works.

Procedures for Similarity and Plagiarism Cases

When a similarity report identifies significant overlap or when potential misconduct is detected through manual review, the following graduated procedure is applied.

Level 1: Moderate Similarity or Inadequate Paraphrasing (15%–25%)

Situation: The manuscript presents a moderate similarity score, primarily resulting from poorly integrated citations, inadequate paraphrasing, or methodological similarities. No evidence of intellectual theft is identified.
Action: The manuscript is returned to the authors during the editorial review stage.
Resolution: Authors are requested to revise the overlapping sections, improve paraphrasing, and ensure proper citation of sources. The revised manuscript will undergo a new originality screening upon resubmission.

Level 2: Partial Plagiarism or High Similarity (25%–40%)

Situation: Substantial portions of text have been copied from one or more sources without appropriate attribution, or the manuscript contains significant self-plagiarism through the reuse of previously published material without citation.
Action: The manuscript is rejected during the initial editorial evaluation.
Resolution: The corresponding author is notified in writing and provided with a summary of the findings. Upon request, a detailed report may also be supplied.

Level 3: Confirmed Plagiarism, Fabrication, or Duplicate Publication (>40% Similarity or Plagiarism of Ideas/Data)

Situation: The manuscript contains literal copying of results, central ideas, figures, tables, datasets, or substantial portions of text from other authors; unauthorized translations of previously published articles; duplicate publication; or simultaneous submission to multiple journals.
Action: The manuscript is immediately rejected without further consideration.
Resolution:
- Formal notification is sent to the corresponding author and all co-authors.
- The authors may be restricted from submitting future manuscripts to Revista Bio Ciencias.
- If the manuscript has already been published or has reached an advanced production stage, retraction procedures will be initiated in accordance with the journal’s Code of Ethics.
- The case may be reported to the authors’ affiliated institutions, and, when appropriate, the corresponding COPE flowchart procedures will be followed.

Authors’ Rights and Appeals

Revista Bio Ciencias guarantees authors the right to respond to allegations of misconduct.

In Level 2 and Level 3 cases, authors have ten (10) business days from the date of notification to submit a formal written appeal to the Editorial Board, including evidence supporting original authorship, permissions for reuse, or documentation demonstrating potential errors in the similarity-detection process.

After reviewing all evidence, the Editorial Board will issue a final decision.

Confidentiality

All information related to similarity reports, investigations of suspected misconduct, and communications with authors will be treated with strict confidentiality.

Such information will be shared only with individuals and institutions directly involved in resolving the case, including members of the Editorial Team, institutional ethics committees, and, when necessary, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The journal is committed to protecting the rights of all parties involved while ensuring the integrity of the scientific record.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY

General Principles and Scope

Revista Bio Ciencias recognizes the potential of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and computational data-processing tools to assist scientific communication and research. However, their use must always comply with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, accountability, and scientific rigor. This policy applies to all participants in the editorial process, including authors, reviewers, and members of the Editorial Team, and is aligned with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the criteria of the Mexican National System of Scientific and Humanities Publications (SNPCyH).

AI Cannot Be an Author

In accordance with international publishing standards, Artificial Intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of a manuscript. Authorship requires the capacity to assume legal, ethical, and intellectual responsibility for published content, which can only be exercised by natural persons. Likewise, AI systems must not be cited as the original source of scientific ideas, hypotheses, interpretations, or conclusions.

Conditions for Author Use

Authors may use generative AI tools and Machine Learning models under the following conditions of responsible use.

Acceptable Uses:

Language Assistance: AI tools may be used to improve grammar, spelling, clarity, readability, and translation of manuscripts.
Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics Applications: AI algorithms and Machine Learning models may be used for: processing spectroscopic data (NMR, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, etc.), three-dimensional structure prediction (e.g., AlphaFold-like models for proteins or metabolites), molecular modeling and docking studies, chemical and biological data mining, and drug discovery and design.
Condition: Authors must validate AI-generated predictions using experimental evidence or established computational methods and remain fully responsible for the interpretation and reporting of results.
Literature Exploration: AI tools may be used for preliminary literature mapping, reference discovery, and bibliographic exploration, provided that all references are independently verified by the authors before submission (avoid IA allucination).

Unacceptable Uses and Limitations:

Generation of core scientific content: AI must not draft the hypotheses, experimental design, scientific discussion, or conclusions of the study. Critical thinking and the interpretation of results must be exclusively human.
Manipulation of experimental data and spectra: It is strictly prohibited to use AI to generate, “smooth,” “complete,” or alter peaks in experimental spectra (NMR, EM, UV-Vis), chromatograms, electrophoresis gels, or microscopy images. Any image or signal processing must be limited to global linear adjustments that are methodologically justifiable.
Concealment of the predictive nature: It is not permitted to present results from AI predictive models (e.g., a predicted molecular structure or a biological activity estimated by algorithms) as if they were empirical experimental findings without proper clarification.
Fabrication of references: It is not permitted to include bibliographic references generated by AI without verifying their existence and accuracy.

Disclosure Requirements

To ensure traceability and transparency, authors are required to disclose the use of AI tools in their manuscript.

Location: The disclosure must be included in a specific section titled “Use of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Tools” (located at the end of the Materials and Methods section, as well as in the Conflict of Interest section).
Content of the Disclosure (Data Analysis): If AI models were used for spectroscopic analysis, structure prediction, or cheminformatics, authors must provide the name of the software or algorithm, the version, the training or configuration parameters used, and clearly specify that the results are the product of an AI-assisted predictive model.
Content of the statement (Writing): The authors must specify the name of the tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc.), the developer, the version or model used, and a detailed description of how it was used (e.g., “[Tool XYZ] was used for the initial translation of the draft into English”).

If no AI tools were used, authors must include an explicit statement indicating:

“The authors declare that they did not use generative artificial intelligence tools or machine learning models in the creation or analysis of data for this manuscript.”

Conditions for Reviewer Use

The peer-review process at Revista Bio Ciencias is governed by strict confidentiality requirements.

Restrictions on AI Use During Peer Review: Reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, datasets, figures, molecular structures, spectroscopic data, or any confidential material into publicly accessible AI systems for evaluation, summarization, translation, or report generation.

Such actions constitute a serious breach of confidentiality and intellectual property rights.

Handling Cases of Undeclared or Improper Use

The Editorial Team will verify compliance with this policy through:

Manual and technical review during the editorial evaluation (with special emphasis on the consistency of spectroscopic data and computational models).
Use of AI-generated text detection tools as a support, not as a definitive verdict.

Sanctions:

Failure to Disclose: If the use of undeclared AI is detected (even if the use was acceptable, such as solely for style correction or the use of standard AI-based cheminformatics software) during the preliminary review, the manuscript will be put on hold and returned to the authors so they can make the appropriate disclosure before proceeding with the process.
Improper or fraudulent use: If it is detected that AI was used to fabricate spectroscopic data, alter scientific images, present computational predictions as empirical data, or generate substantial text without supervision, this will be considered a serious breach of editorial ethics. The manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the journal’s Code of Ethics protocols for addressing misconduct will be activated, which may include notifying the authors’ affiliated institutions and permanently barring them from publishing in the journal.