Collaboration rules

THEME AND SCOPE OF THE JOURNAL

Revista de divulgación científica iBIO is an independent publication of scientific and technological dissemination, which aims to bring knowledge and new developments to high school, undergraduate or graduate students interested in areas of biotechnology and bioprocesses. It receives contributions from all branches of biotechnology and bioprocesses, as well as related sciences, where high-quality and multidisciplinary scientific and technical popularization articles are welcome. The journal also receives original articles from applied sciences that describe new and significant developments that are applicable to the solution of bioengineering problems. The journal is published every four months, with national and international projection.

The concepts and opinions expressed in the articles are the exclusive responsibility of their author(s); At no time do they compromise the guidelines and policies of Revista de divulgación científica iBIO, the editorial committee or its members.

The journal receives only original and unpublished works; that is, they have not been previously published in any printed, electronic or digital media of any type and are not simultaneously being considered for publication in any other media. In the letter accompanying the submitted work, the authors must certify the originality and unpublished nature of the work, and the exclusivity of its submission to Revista de divulgación científica iBIO. The journal will use the available tools (plagiarism detection software) to avoid misuse of information and plagiarism of published works. This action will be drastically sanctioned according to the ethical commitments of the authors. Authors must cite publications that have influenced the development of their own work. Fraudulent or deliberately inaccurate claims constitute unethical and unacceptable behavior.

The journal receives short manuscripts written in both Spanish and English. Collaborations are received from technicians, researchers, administrators, students, representatives of scientific-based companies, popularizers and scientific journalists from any national or international institution. The editors will consider articles for publication based on their current relevance to biotechnology and bioprocesses, their contribution to the dissemination of scientific work, and their ability to communicate in a brief, clear, and understandable manner for an audience at the high school, college, and postgraduate levels. Papers are accepted for publication based on a rigorous review process for their scientific and communication quality, and are subject to a peer review process.

Works are accepted according to the criteria established for each of the available sections:

Hot Science: Revolves around a topic that is current and attractive to the journal's audience. The most recent advances in biotechnology or bioprocesses at a national or international level are described.

How does it work?: The objective of this section is to take the reader to delve deeper into the fundamentals of some technique, technology, process, equipment, among others, but in a simple and accessible way for all audiences. On many occasions we are on the technological horizon, but we do not know exactly how they work. Western blot, sequencing, spectroscopy, diagnostic tests, etc. These are some of the topics that could arise.

Art in science and engineering:  This section seeks to show artistic expressions based on elements of biotechnology or bioprocesses. The aim is to find the meeting point that shows the beauty of biotechnology and bioengineering applications. These can be images from microscopy, microbiology, histology, spectrophotometry, colorful samples and preparations, numerical simulations, equations and graphs, among other experimental and theoretical results, or even prose, stories, painting or scientific illustration.

Now what?: This section describes the work or academic experience of graduates of scientific careers, it seeks to be a guide or motivation for students who have not yet completed their studies or who doubt what to do or whether to direct their training towards academia or industry. This section can also describe the challenges, difficulties, indecisions, and strokes of luck that can be suffered as a recent graduate.

Notable scientists:  This section narrates the life and scientific work of great researchers, the difficulties they faced during their scientific work, their motivations and their achievements. They serve as an example to follow for many future researchers, they seek to inspire and highlight the human side. The works or lives of people who were not recognized at the time or who were not given sufficient visibility may also be included.

Networks: This section is specially created to promote the generation of scientific or student networks for communication between the different sectors where biotechnology or bioprocesses are located. It is sought that institutions, societies, organizations, magazines or individuals representing any of the above, write about research, dissemination or application of biotechnology that they carry out.

Make awareness: This section seeks to raise awareness regarding a current or future problem, related to biotechnology or bioprocesses, that has an impact on the areas of health, environment or society. 

Bioentrepreneurships: Section intended to publicize scientific and technological-based projects that are or have been brought to the productive sector. It seeks to exemplify the process that a scientifically based product or service follows from the laboratory to commercialization. Likewise, the objective of this section is to describe the work of already consolidated companies within the field of biotechnology.

Microbugs: This section describes the particularities and curiosities about a particular microorganism, mentioning its applications and biotechnological potential. This includes bacteria, yeast, fungi, animal and plant cells, or even viruses.

Time capsules: Historical events relevant to modern-day biotechnology or bioprocesses are briefly described here. Likewise, in this section prospective views on current issues can be addressed.

RULES FOR AUTHORS

1. Presentation of the articles

Articles are received in Spanish or English, well written in simple (non-technical) language, free of spelling and grammatical errors.

Articles must contain between 9,000 and 10,000 total characters for the sections: Hot Science, How does it work?, Networks, Raise awareness, Bioentrepreneurship and Microbugs. For the Art in Science and Engineering, What Now?, Notable Scientists, and Time Capsules sections, the total character count should be between 4,500 and 5,000. The length of the text does not include references, titles, author information, keywords, abstract or figure captions.

2. Sending files

The submission of the works will be done through the OJS platform, the author must refrain from sending articles to the editor or to the journal's email.

The files that must be attached are:

Cover letter: Including, without technicalities, the complete title of the work in a maximum of six words and optionally a subtitle composed of a maximum of eight words. Names and surnames of each author accompanied by their institutional affiliation, if applicable. A maximum of three authors are accepted for long sections (between 9,000 and 10,000 total characters), and two for short sections (between 4,500 and 5,000 total characters). Include the email address of the corresponding author. It must also contain a summary of a maximum of 100 words about the manuscript submitted for consideration to the journal, as well as three keywords that describe the content of the manuscript. Finally, it must suggest the degree of specialization required by the audience to which the manuscript is directed: Hogh-school, undergraduate, Postgraduate.

Letter of originality: the letter must certify the originality and unpublished nature of the work and the exclusivity of its submission to Revista de divulgación científica iBIO, and in it the authors undertake not to withdraw the article or present it to another magazine before having received a notification from the Editor or Editor-in-Chief informing them that the article has not been admitted for publication. This letter must also include the full title of the work, the names and surnames of the authors of the work. This letter must be signed by all authors of the manuscript.

Article in Word format: Including, without technicalities, the complete title of the work in a maximum of six words and optionally a subtitle composed of a maximum of eight words. It must also contain a summary of a maximum of 100 words about the manuscript submitted for consideration to the journal, as well as three keywords that describe the content of the manuscript. It must contain, according to the section of the chosen journal, the number of total characters in the body of the manuscript and incorporate the tables and figures necessary for its understanding. There must be at least 1 image cited in the text, without copyright or referenced, with its respective caption, which supports the understanding of the manuscript. At the end, the references consulted must be summarized, which must be a minimum of two and a maximum of seven. In-text citations should be placed with a number in square brackets, for example: [1]. At the end of the text, the bibliography must be written in a numbered list between brackets, in APA format and including the DOI identifier.

Figures: The original files of each of the images or any type of graphics used in the article must be sent separately, as well as between two and three additional images, in jpg, png or jpeg format, with a minimum resolution of 300 ppi.

3. Article structure

Works must have the following structure and meet the following requirements:

Title. The title must clearly, accurately and concisely represent the content of the work. If possible, the title should not use abbreviations or acronyms.

Authors. The full first name, middle initial (if applicable), and first last name of each author should be included, in that order. If an author is accustomed to using both surnames in literature, they should be joined by a hyphen. Consecutive items in the author list must be separated by commas. Numbers inserted as superscripts at the end of each author's last name should be used to later indicate their affiliation. One of the authors must be identified as the corresponding author by the symbol * (asterisk) placed as the second superscript at the end of their last name. This author is responsible for all communications with the Editor-in-Chief of the journal and is the one to whom readers of the journal should direct their concerns and comments.

Affiliations. The full name of the institution to which each author is affiliated must be specified (without acronyms). In the case of authors affiliated with universities, the name of the academic unit, school or department must be followed by the name of the university, city and country. In the case of authors affiliated with companies, the name of the department, division or section must be given first, followed by the name of the company, city and country. Affiliations are listed preceded by the number that was inserted as a superscript at the end of each author's last name. Academic titles or positions or positions held by the authors should not be included. The email address of the corresponding author must be included preceded by the * symbol.

Abstract. It must establish the scope and purpose of the work by giving a clear and concise description (maximum 100 words) of the main themes and conclusions of the work. It must be preceded by the word Abstract.

Keywords. A maximum of three keywords must be chosen. These are listed preceded by the Keywords label. Consecutive items in the keyword list must be separated by commas, starting with a capital letter. Each item in the keyword list can consist of a maximum of 4 words including prepositions.

Main text. The main text of the work must be made up of four parts, not numbered: Introduction, Development, Conclusions, Bibliographic references, in that order. Works divided into sections and subsections are accepted, according to the needs of the author(s) for correct communication of the content. In this case, a title must be included for each of these sections with the corresponding Arabic numeral (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5). The use of footers to make annotations to the main text is not permitted.

Equations. It is possible to include equations in the manuscripts, as long as they are absolutely necessary for understanding the text. These should appear centered with respect to the main text. Consecutive Arabic numerals (written in parentheses near the right margin) should be used to label the equations, which are cited in the main text using the word equation abbreviated as Eq. and followed by the Arabic numeral in parentheses. If possible, a uniform format should be used for all equations in the article, writing the variables in italics, the subscripts and superscripts of the variables in normal font, and the vectors and tensors in bold font. The meaning and units to be used for all variables or symbols that appear in equations must be given immediately after the equation in which they are used for the first time.

Quantities. For all numerical quantities reported in the main text of the work and in equations, tables, and figures, the comma should be used to separate thousands and the period should be used to indicate decimal figures. All numbers equal to or less than ten must be written in letters, larger amounts can be written in numbers.

Bibliographic references. Within the body of the article, references should be placed with numbers and in brackets. Citations are inserted using Arabic numbers in parentheses in consecutive order, in order of mention (if the same work is mentioned for the second time, the Arabic number given to said work the first time will be used). If there are more than two authors, et al is abbreviated. (and others). For example: “…in several works the relationship between a person's weight and the manifestation of metabolic syndrome has been studied [1,2,3]. The most convincing results are reported by Juan et al., finding a direct correlation between BMI and the frequency of high blood pressure [1].”

In the references section, the sources cited in the text should be listed, starting with the same number in square brackets used there, followed by the corresponding reference. For references the APA citation system must be used, including (if applicable or available) the DOI identifier. Authors should carefully check that all citations in the text of the article appear in the bibliographic reference list. Only bibliographic references that were cited in the main text of the work, in the tables or figures should appear in the list. That is, other references should not appear on the list even if they have been consulted by the authors for the preparation of the work. References are included in numerical order. Only the first word of the title should be capitalized. The titles of the works are cited in their original language.

Tables. The tables must be included within the main text of the work, ordered according to the order of citation in the main text. The header of each table must include the word Table followed by the corresponding consecutive Arabic numeral, and a brief description of the content of the table. The heading must be written in TNR font, in italics and font size 9. The columns of the table must have headings. Only horizontal lines should be used to separate table entries. Vertical lines should not be used to separate table columns. If a table footer is needed, it must be written in TNR font and font size 8. The information given in the figures must not be duplicated in the tables.

Figures. All the figures (or photographs) cited in the manuscript must be included within the main text of the work, ordered according to the order of citation in the main text. The caption or label of each figure must include the word Figure followed by the corresponding consecutive Arabic number, and a brief description of the content of the figure. Color figures are accepted. Figures should also be included independently of the main text as original images in png, jpe or jpeg format with a sufficiently high resolution such that readability is not sacrificed when the size of the figures is adjusted during the editing process. A resolution of at least 300 ppi is recommended.

Additional images that are not cited in the body of the manuscript are only uploaded separately in png, jpg or jpeg format in a minimum quality of 300ppi.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to indicate that their submission meets all of the following elements:

The submission has not been previously published or submitted for consideration by any other journal (or an explanation has been provided in the Comments to the Editor).

It is verified that the length of the manuscript and the number of authors admitted are in accordance with the section for which the submission is made.

Attached is the letter of originality signed by all authors, which declares that the submission is original (unpublished) and is within the scope of the journal.

The figures and tables cited are included in the main text and are also attached separately in png, jpg or jpeg format in a minimum quality of 300ppi. Additional images that are not cited in the body of the manuscript are only uploaded separately in png, jpg or jpeg format in a minimum quality of 300ppi.

You have read and accepted each and every one of the conditions published for:

1. Stages of the manuscript review process.
2. Cases of controversy.
3. Possible results of the editorial process.
4. Participation of external evaluators.
5. Copyright notice.
6. Privacy statement.
7. Code of ethics.

EDITORIAL MANAGEMENT

About Revista de divulgación científica iBIO

Revista de divulgación científica iBIO is an independent magazine, without relations of dependency or accountability to any public or private national or international institution. The journal is managed by a group of volunteers belonging to different branches of biotechnology and bioprocesses with experience in their respective fields and independent institutional affiliations to the journal. The magazine is edited by Jessica Sánchez Vargas, independently of any national or international public or private institution.

Funding sources

There are no sources of financing external to the magazine or financial relationship with any national or international public or private institution.

Publication fee

The journal does not charge a fee for processing or publishing manuscripts received.

Stages of the manuscript review process

The entire process will be conducted in compliance with the ethics code published by Revista de divulgación científica iBIO. Once the manuscript is received, it will be subjected to a plagiarism analysis using the ithenticate software (www.ithenticate.com). If paragraphs are found identical to already published material, the manuscript will be rejected, although this does not prevent the authors from resubmitting their corrected manuscript. Once this first filter has been passed, a section editor will be assigned who will be in charge of conducting the academic peer review process. Once the reviewers' comments are received, the section editor will make a decision, which will be communicated to the corresponding author. If the manuscript requires major corrections, it will be subjected to a new peer review process. While when only minor corrections are required, the section editor will evaluate whether or not the manuscript satisfactorily complies with the requested changes. Authors will have a maximum of two weeks to send the corrected version of their work so that it will be considered for immediate publication. If the time exceeds these two weeks, the manuscript will be postponed to the next edition. The decision to reject a job is final and unappealable. If the manuscript is approved, galley proofs of the manuscript are prepared. The galleys will be sent to the authors for review, who will have a maximum period of 72 hours to send their response. Once the galley proofs have been corrected, the work is published. Each volume of the magazine is put into circulation in the last 5 days of validity of the previous volume in circulation.

Controversy cases

Peer review is considered a suggestion and not a determining factor in the editorial decision process. That is, the opinions of the reviewers help the editorial committee make a decision about the manuscript. In the event that there are contradictory opinions among the reviewers, the section editor can discuss the case in the plenary session of the editorial committee to make a collegiate decision. This plenary session meets regularly to evaluate the performance of the magazine's editorial work and resolve cases of controversy.

Possible results of the editorial process

After the evaluation process, the possible editorial decisions are as follows:

• Rejected manuscript.
• The manuscript requires major revisions.
• The manuscript requires minor revisions.
• The manuscript is acceptable for publication.

Participation of external evaluators

The entire review process will be conducted in compliance with the ethics code published by Revista de divulgación científica iBIO.

The manuscripts of the sections Hot Science, How does it work?, Art in science and engineering, Notable scientists, Networks, Raising awareness, Bioentrepreneurship, Microbugs and Time capsules will be submitted to review by academic peers, who are chosen from outside the institution(s) of the author(s) of the manuscript. These reviewers will be consolidated experts in the field of knowledge of the manuscript and will have a maximum period of three weeks to submit their review.

The manuscripts of the section Now what? They will be subject to internal review by members of the journal's editorial committee.

Copyright notice

When submitting your article for consideration in the journal, the author(s) must attach the  originality letter, which must be returned with a handwritten signature (digital or scanned).

The author(s) of any collaboration submitted to Revista de divulgación científica iBIO for its publication, will assume full responsibility for the contents and all legal requirements for the protection of copyright, as well as any controversy, being relieved of everything that this involves the iBIO publishing group.

Self-archiving or depositing of works in their post-publication version (editorial version) is permitted in any personal, institutional or thematic repository, as well as social or scientific networks. The above applies from the moment of publication of the article in question on the website of Revista de divulgación científica iBIO.

Licensing under which you publish the contents:
Attribution - Non-Commercial - No Derivative Work (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Privacy statement

Names and email addresses entered in this journal will be used exclusively for the purposes set out in this journal and will not be provided to third parties or for use for other purposes.

Code of ethics

Revista de divulgación científica iBIO adheres to international ethics guidelines following  Royal Society of Chemistry. All parties are expected to carry out their work in accordance with the following codes of conduct.

Authors: They are responsible for verifying the objectivity, clarity and accuracy of the information contained in their manuscript. The manuscript must be original in terms of content and presentation; translation or copying of the content and presentation of already published articles is not admissible. In addition, the words and results of other authors' reports must be correctly cited. Verbatim copying of sentences or paragraphs is considered unethical and classified as plagiarism, which is not acceptable. Authors must refrain from submitting the same manuscript simultaneously to different journals. Communication with editors and responses to reviewer comments should be written in a neutral and objective tone.

Reviewers: They must review the assigned manuscripts in a critical and objective manner, with the intention of contributing constructively to the improvement of the evaluated works. Points of view must be supported by arguments and communicated to the editor and authors in a neutral and objective tone. Every manuscript received must be treated as a confidential document, regardless of its acceptance or rejection. It is not acceptable to share the documentation with anyone and for any reason. Additionally, any documents exchanged during the review process should not be used for personal gain. Any potential conflict of interest for the review of a manuscript must be reported to the editor.

Editors: They must evaluate the manuscripts objectively for the quality and originality of their content. The choice of reviewers should be based on the field of expertise and level of preparation of the candidates, without favoritism. Care must be taken to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest between a reviewer and the authors of the manuscript. Total confidentiality of all manuscripts and documents arising from the review process is essential, maintaining the anonymity of the reviewers. Editors should refrain from handling manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest. They must also report the reviewers' comments to the authors without any distortion or modification. It is your responsibility to avoid exchanges with authors or reviewers that could alter the outcome of the review process. Finally, they must inform the authors of any decision regarding their manuscript, as well as the reasons supporting it.

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