Publication and Authorship

• Please follow the Vancouver style, citing references numerically in the order they appear in the text. The number of references should preferably not exceed 40 for original articles, 15 for brief reports, and 8 for case reports. For the references credited to more than 3 authors, please provide the name of the first 3 authors and represent the rest authors by the phrase “et al.”
• A statement should be included in the title page indicating any financial support the authors have received.
• The authors are not allowed to utilize verbatim text of previously published papers or manuscripts submitted elsewhere.
• Authors must sign a copyright form stating that the article is an original work, has not been published before and is not being considered for publication elsewhere in its final form either in printed or electronic formats. Multiple publications of the same research in different journals are not permitted.

Author's Responsibilities

• Active Peer Review Participation: Authors should actively participate in the peer review process, providing adequate and timely responses to reviewer comments.
• Significant Contributions: All authors must have made substantial contribution to the research and meet the authorship criteria.
• Data Integrity: Authors must certify that all data presented in the article are accurate, authentic, and verifiable.
• Corrections and Retractions: All authors are obliged to provide corrections or retractions for any errors or inaccuracies discovered in their published work.
• Copyright Compliance: If a manuscript contains any previous published image or text, it is the responsibility of the authors to obtain authorization from copyright holders. Authors are required to obtain and submit written original permission letters for all copyrighted material included in their manuscripts.

 Peer Review/Reviewers’ Responsibilities

• Reviewer comments must be fact-based and objective.
• Reviewers should have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders.
• Reviewers are encouraged to point out relevant published works that have not yet been cited in the manuscript.
• Reviewed articles must be treated with strict confidentiality.
• Reviewers should provide advice to editors, while the final decision on an article rests with the Editor-in-Chief.
• Reviewers should provide constructive feedback to improve the quality of the article.

Editorial Responsibilities

• The Editor-in-Chief has complete responsibility and authority to reject/accept an article.
• Editors should have no conflict of interest with respect to articles they evaluate.
• Upon identifying errors or inaccuracies in a published article, editors must ensure that corrections or retractions are promptly published in subsequent issues of the journal.

The anonymity of reviewers must be preserved at all times.

 Publication Ethics

• Any instances of ethical misconduct will be addressed in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE’s). (http://publicationethics.org//resources/guidelines)
• The IJCBNM adheres to the COPE flowchart  for the retraction of published articles.
• All research participants, including patients, must be thoroughly informed of the study's objectives and any potential side effects of medications or interventions. Written informed consent from the participants or their legal representatives is necessary for any such studies. The Journal reserves the right to request the related documents.
• The IJCBNM ensures that commercial considerations do not compromise intellectual and ethical standards.
• The Editors are always committed to publishing corrections and clarifications as needed.
• Plagiarism: Use of verbatim texts from other sources without acknowledgement is prohibited. All submitted content must be the original work of authors and must not be plagiarized from elsewhere. COPE’s flowcharts and guidelines will be consulted in handling any detected cases of plagiarism.
• Data Falsification/Fabrication: Falsification is the act of omitting or altering research data, materials, or processes so that the results of the research are no longer accurately reflected. Fabrication involves creating non-existent data or results and reporting them in the research. Both are perceived as fraudulent practices and seriously undermine the integrity of research. Manuscripts must be based on authentic data, and any form of data falsification or fabrication is strongly prohibited.
• Image Manipulation: The IJCBNM encourages authors to send their original images. All digital images accepted for publication will be checked for improper manipulation. No specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or added. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable as long as they are applied to the entire image and do not lead to distortion of any information in the original, including the background. In cases where inappropriate manipulation is suspected, the editors may request the original data from the authors for comparison purposes.