ETHICS and MALPRACTICE

Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement

BRSS is committed to the academic community and in this regard, it stands for meeting the highest standards of publication ethics, whereas publication malpractice is strictly prohibited by all possible measures.

Articles submitted for publication in BRSS are checked by iThenticate to prevent plagiarism. Articles are evaluated by blind peer-reviewed processes, and all comments from the Reviewer about the specific article are kept only between parties involved in the act of publishing: the journal editors, the authors, and the peer reviewers. For this reason, it is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behavior for stakeholders previously mentioned.

The Editor will accept and screen submissions in English from any author, regardless of gender, nationality, religious/political/sexual, etc. orientation and beliefs.

In order to achieve the highest level of objectivity and infringement of copyright in the examination process, the Editors must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript and its Author to anyone other than the corresponding Author and Reviewers (including potential). Based on the reports received from the Reviewers, the Editors have the right to accept or reject a manuscript for publication or to demand its modification. Only the manuscripts with two positive revisions could be published. Whereas the decision about one manuscript could not be made upon two required reports, an additional opinion could be requested from another Reviewer. The final selection of papers for publication and the form of publication shall rest with the Editor. Unpublished manuscripts must not be used for any purpose by Editors and must be kept strictly confidential from the third parties. The authors will be informed about the decision on their manuscript as promptly as possible. Following acceptance, a paper will normally be published in the next available issue.

Authors contributing to BRSS agree to publish their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY) License allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit, that the work is not used for commercial purposes, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear. Authors retain the copyright of their work, with first publication rights granted to BRSS. However, authors are required to transfer copyrights associated with commercial use to the Publisher.

The authors agree to the terms of this Copyright Notice, which will apply to this submission if and when it is published by this journal Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously( except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other languages, without the written consent of the Publisher.

The Editors reserve the right to edit or otherwise alter all contributions, but authors will receive proof for approval before publication Reviewers Reviewer should give his/her statement clearly and objectively, avoiding personal criticism and subjectivity.

All comments and suggestions from the Reviewer should be followed with supporting arguments. The reviewer obliges to keep all received manuscripts in strict confidentiality and must not use them for personal advantage. The appropriate acknowledgments of all sources of data within the manuscript should be certified by the Reviewer. Any similarity to published papers or doubt to plagiarism must be immediately brought to the Editor. A reviewer should inform the Editor if having any professional issues, such as falling out of the subject of the manuscript from his/her scope of research, or lack of time to make the proper examination.

Research Involving Human Subjects

When reporting on research that involves human subjects, human material, human tissues, or human data, authors must declare that the investigations were carried out following the rules of the Declaration of Helsinki of 1975 (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/), revised in 2013. According to point 23 of this declaration, approval from the local institutional review board (IRB) or other appropriate ethics committee must be obtained before undertaking the research to confirm the study meets national and international guidelines. As a minimum, a statement including the project identification code, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board must be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ of the article.

Example of an ethical statement: "All subjects gave their informed consent for inclusion before they participated in the study. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of XXX (Project identification code)."

For non-interventional studies (e.g. surveys, questionnaires, social media research), all participants must be fully informed if the anonymity is assured, why the research is being conducted, how their data will be used and if there are any risks associated. As with all research involving humans, ethical approval from an appropriate ethics committee must be obtained prior to conducting the study. If ethical approval is not required, authors must either provide an exemption from the ethics committee or are encouraged to cite the local or national legislation that indicates ethics approval is not required for this type of study. Where a study has been granted an exemption, the name of the ethics committee which provided this should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ with a full explanation regarding why ethical approval was not required.

Written informed consent for publication must be obtained from participating patients. Data relating to individual participants must be described in detail, but private information identifying participants need not be included unless the identifiable materials are of relevance to the research (for example, photographs of participants’ faces that show a particular symptom). Patients’ initials or other personal identifiers must not appear in any images. For manuscripts that include any case details, personal information, and/or images of patients, authors must obtain signed informed consent for publication from patients (or their relatives/guardians) before submitting them to BRSS. Patient details must be anonymized as far as possible, e.g., do not mention specific age, ethnicity, or occupation where they are not relevant to the conclusions. A template permission form is available on request ( at editor@bussecon.com). A blank version of the form used to obtain permission (without the patient names or signature) must be uploaded with your submission. Editors reserve the right to reject any submission that does not meet these requirements.

You may refer to our sample form and provide an appropriate form after consulting with your affiliated institution. For the purposes of publishing in BRSS, a consent, permission, or release form should include unlimited permission for publication in all formats (including print, electronic, and online), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including translations and derived works), and in other works and products under open access license. To respect patients’ and any other individual’s privacy, please do not send signed forms. The journal reserves the right to ask authors to provide signed forms if necessary.

If the study reports research involving vulnerable groups, an additional check may be performed. The submitted manuscript will be scrutinized by the editorial office and upon request, documentary evidence (blank consent forms and any related discussion documents from the ethics board) must be supplied. Additionally, when studies describe groups by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, disease, etc., an explanation regarding why such categorization was needed must be clearly stated in the article.

Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Animals in Research

The editors will require that the benefits potentially derived from any research causing harm to animals are significant in relation to any cost endured by animals and that procedures followed are unlikely to cause offense to the majority of readers. Authors should particularly ensure that their research complies with the commonly-accepted '3Rs' [1]:

1. Replacement of animals by alternatives wherever possible,
2. Reduction in number of animals used, and
3. Refinement of experimental conditions and procedures to minimize the harm to animals.

Authors must include details on housing, husbandry and pain management in their manuscript.

For further guidance authors should refer to the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Used in Scientific Procedures [2], American Association for Laboratory Animal Science [3] or European Animal Research Association [4].

If national legislation requires it, studies involving vertebrates or higher invertebrates must only be carried out after obtaining approval from the appropriate ethics committee. As a minimum, the project identification code, date of approval, and name of the ethics committee or institutional review board should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’. Research procedures must be carried out in accordance with national and institutional regulations. Statements on animal welfare should confirm that the study complied with all relevant legislation. Clinical studies involving animals and interventions outside of routine care require ethics committee oversight as per the American Veterinary Medical Association. If the study involved client-owned animals, informed client consent must be obtained and certified in the manuscript report of the research. Owners must be fully informed if there are any risks associated with the procedures and that the research will be published. If available, a high standard of veterinary care must be provided. Authors are responsible for the correctness of the statements provided in the manuscript.

If ethical approval is not required by national laws, authors must provide an exemption from the ethics committee, if one is available. Where a study has been granted an exemption, the name of the ethics committee that provided this should be stated in Section ‘Institutional Review Board Statement’ with a full explanation on why the ethical approval was not required.

If no animal ethics committee is available to review applications, authors should be aware that the ethics of their research will be evaluated by reviewers and editors. Authors should provide a statement justifying the work from an ethical perspective, using the same utilitarian framework that is used by ethics committees. Authors may be asked to provide this even if they have received ethical approval.

BRSS endorses the ARRIVE guidelines (arriveguidelines.org/) for reporting experiments using live animals. Authors and reviewers must use the ARRIVE guidelines as a checklist, which can be found at https://arriveguidelines.org/sites/arrive/files/documents/ARRIVE%20Compliance%20Questionnaire.pdf. Editors reserve the right to ask for the checklist and to reject submissions that do not adhere to these guidelines, to reject submissions based on ethical or animal welfare concerns or if the procedure described does not appear to be justified by the value of the work presented.

1. NSW Department of Primary Industries and Animal Research Review Panel. Three Rs. Available online: https://www.animalethics.org.au/three-rs
2. Home Office. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientific Purposes. Available online: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388535/CoPanimalsWeb.pdf
3. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. The Scientific Basis for Regulation of Animal Care and Use. Available online: https://www.aalas.org/about-aalas/position-papers/scientific-basis-for-regulation-of-animal-care-and-use
4. European Animal Research Association. EU regulations on animal research. Available online: https://www.eara.eu/animal-research-law