Codon Publications encourage the best standards of publication ethics and take all possible measures against publication malpractices. The Codon Publications as a publisher takes its duties of responsibility for all stages of publishing seriously.

These guidelines are fully consistent with the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice Guidelines and the COPE Code of Conduct. More details can be found at the following link: https://publicationethics.org

Editor responsibilities

Composition: The editorial team consists of an editor-in-chief, co-editor-in-chief, associate editors and an editorial board. The editorial team is selected based on qualifications, experience in the field and willingness to complete assigned tasks, not on gender, nationality, religion, ethnicity or any other personal attributes.

Term: The term of the editorial team is three years, which may be extended to a second term.

Qualifications: Anyone with appropriate qualifications (MBBS, MD, PhD or other relevant qualifications), experience in the field of the journal, and willing to complete any assigned tasks on time are welcome to join the editorial board.

Open-minded play

The editor should assess manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the submitted authors. Editors´ decision to accept or reject a paper for publication should be grounded only on the paper´s standing, originality and clarity, and the study´s relevance to the aim of the journal.

Confidentiality

Editor and any editorial staff must not reveal any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher. Editors will confirm that material submitted remains confidential while in the editorial process.

Peer Review Process

All submitted manuscripts will undergo a three-step review process: preliminary check, plagiarism check, and expert peer review. 

Preliminary check: All submitted manuscripts will be reviewed by the journal’s editorial office for compliance with guidelines for the preparation of articles. Articles that do not comply with the guidelines will be sent back to the authors. 

Plagiarism check:  Articles that are in compliance with the guidelines will be subjected to plagiarism check. We work with CrossRef to use iThenticate to detect plagiarism. iThenticate gives a 'similarity index', which is the word-by-word copying of materials from previously published literature. We use a similarity index to make a decision. Even if the original source was cited, articles with more than 10% similarity index will be returned to the authors without peer review for re-writing. For articles with a similarity index between 1-10%, we follow the guidelines of COPE on text recycling to make a decision. Articles that pass the plagiarism check will be reviewed by experts in the field. 

Selection of reviewers: The Chief Editor of the journal will find appropriate experts to review the manuscripts. Authors are required to suggest three potential reviewers; however, there is no guarantee that these reviewers will be invited to review. Potential reviewers will be personally contacted by the editorial staff to seek expression of interest to review the paper. The email will contain the details of the authors and the abstract. Also, the reviewers will be asked to disclose a conflict of interest. If the reviewers agree to review, and if there is no potential conflict of interest, they will receive the official invitation from the journal containing the link to access the manuscript.  

Peer review and reviewer responsibilities: The reviewers will remain anonymous. Reviewers are expected to keep the manuscript confidential, provide an unbiased scientific opinion of the manuscript, and declare any conflict of interest. Also, reviewers are expected to submit their comments within the indicated time frame. 

Criteria for assessing original articles: 

• Does the manuscript require language editing?
• Does the abstract convey the major theme of the paper?
• Does the introduction describe the rationale for the study in the context of the available literature?
• Where relevant, have appropriate ethics approval, and informed consent been obtained?
• Are the methods adequately described?
• Is the number of samples, number of repeats, equipment, and chemicals used clearly mentioned?
• Is the catalog number of antibodies mentioned?
• Are statistical methods clearly stated?
• Is the discussion well-balanced in light of the available literature and the research findings?
• Is conflict of interest stated?

Criteria for assessing review articles: 

• Does the manuscript require language editing?
• Does the abstract convey the major theme of the article?
• Does the article comprehensively and critically evaluate an existing problem in the context of the available literature?
• If relevant does the article suggest a possible solution to the problem?
• Is conflict of interest stated? 

Editorial decision: Based on the comments of the reviewers, a decision will be made either to accept the manuscript without any changes, give authors an opportunity to revise and resubmit, or reject. The corresponding author will be notified of the decision. 

If the authors choose to revise and resubmit, the manuscript will be evaluated by the original reviewers or the editor-in-chief to verify if the original comments of the reviewers have been adequately addressed. If the authors have adequately addressed the original comments, the reviewers are not allowed to raise new comments. Depending upon the evaluation, the manuscript will be either accepted or returned to the authors for further clarification. If the paper is accepted, it will be published online. If rejected, it is final, and no further appeal is possible.

Special issues: Any member of the editorial team can initiate special issues and invite articles with the publisher’s consent. 

Promoting the journal: The editorial members are encouraged to promote the journal among their peers and at scientific conferences. For example, they can inform the library of their institution that this is an open-access journal and that the contents are freely available. Also, they can provide a link to the journal on their websites and social media pages.

Reviewer responsibilities

Reviewers are required to keep the manuscript confidential, provide an unbiased scientific opinion of the manuscript, and declare any conflict of interest. Also, reviewers are expected to submit their comments within the indicated time frame. 

Criteria for assessing original articles: 

• Does the manuscript require language editing?
• Does the abstract convey the major theme of the paper?
• Does the introduction describe the rationale for the study in the context of the available literature?
• Where relevant, have appropriate ethics approval, and informed consent been obtained?
• Are the methods adequately described?
• Is the number of samples, number of repeats, equipment, and chemicals used clearly mentioned?
• Is the catalog number of antibodies mentioned?
• Are statistical methods clearly stated?
• Is the discussion well-balanced in light of the available literature and the research findings?
• Is conflict of interest stated?

Criteria for assessing review articles: 

• Does the manuscript require language editing?
• Does the abstract convey the major theme of the article?
• Does the article comprehensively and critically evaluate an existing problem in the context of the available literature?
• If relevant does the article suggest a possible solution to the problem?
• Is conflict of interest stated? 

 

Author’s Responsibilities

Authorship: According to the ICMJE recommendations, all who meet the following four criteria should be identified as authors:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Adherence to guidelines: The authors should strictly adhere to the manuscript preparation guidelines, and be aware of the peer-review process.

Permission and copyright: Where relevant, it is the responsibility of the authors to obtain permission from copyright holders, and to ensure that the use of images, data, and illustrations in the manuscripts do not violate copyright laws. If a copyright violation in any of the published articles is brought to our attention, we will notify the corresponding author. It is the responsibility of the author(s) to settle issues with the copyright holder.

Research and data integrity: The authors are responsible for ensuring the research was conducted in an ethical manner, data were collected and analyzed by employing appropriate scientific methods, and interpreted accurately. If required, the authors should produce raw data to the reviewers.

Acknowledgments: Where relevant, the authors should acknowledge their colleagues and sources of funding that made their research possible.

Conflict of interest: It is mandatory that authors should declare any conflicts of interest that are pertinent to their manuscript.