Ethics code

Revista de divulgación científica iBIO adheres to international ethics guidelines following the Royal Society of Chemistry. All employees 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. It is unethical to declare that a manuscript is your own when it has been written using artificial intelligence. The use of artificial intelligence is considered ethical only when it is for spelling and style correction or to improve writing. 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.

Complaints and cases of misconduct

General complaints and claims about bad (immoral) practices by an editor, reviewer or author will be channeled to the editorial committee for evaluation. Depending on the nature of the report, its severity and based on objective evidence, actions will be taken that may be the following:

• Deliberate violations of confidentiality, inappropriate use of privileged information or the presence of irregularities in the editorial flow by an editor will result in removal from office.
• Inappropriate use of privileged information or manipulation of the review by any reviewer will result in their removal as a reviewer from the journal.
• Submission of articles that intentionally promote reader misinformation will be punished with rejection of the article in question, in addition to the authors involved being prevented from sending new manuscripts for consideration in the journal.