TRANSACTIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES
Institute of Molecular Biology, Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan
TRANSACTIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGIES
Institute of Molecular Biology, Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan
(based on Elsevier recommendations and COPE's Best Practice Guidelines (Ethical_guidelines_for_peer_reviewers) for Journal Editors).
Journal of “Transactions of the Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnologies” is committed to ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles. Conformance to standards of ethical behavior is therefore expected of all parties involved: Authors, Editors, Reviewers, and the Publisher.
In particular;
Editors: Based on the review report of the editorial review board, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript. Each editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality, making use of appropriate software to do so. Following desk review, the manuscript is forwarded blind peer review to the editorial review board that will make a recommendation to accept, reject, or modify the manuscript. The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential. The editor of “Transactions of the Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnologies” journal will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his/her own research without written consent of the author.
Authors: Authors should present an accurate account of their original research as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Manuscripts will follow the submission guidelines of the journal. (See submission guideline policies). Authors must ensure that they have written entirely original work. Authors should not submit the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently. Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in the research work. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution or interpretation of the reported study. Others who have made significant contribution must be listed as co-authors. Authors also ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript and their inclusion of names as co-authors. Authors should provide raw data related to their manuscript for editorial review and must retain such data. If at any point of time, the author(s) discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in submitted manuscript, then the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.
Reviewers: Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information. Manuscript reviewers must ensure that authors have acknowledged all sources of data used in the research. Any kind of similarity or overlap between the manuscripts under consideration or with any other published paper of which reviewer has personal knowledge must be immediately brought to the editor's notice. Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. In the event that a reviewer feels it is not possible for him/her to complete review of manuscript within stipulated time then this information must be communicated to the editor, so that the manuscript could be sent to another reviewer. On all other aspects of the reviewing process reviewer should adhere to the “COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers”.
(http://publicationethics.org/files/Ethical_guidelines_for_peer_reviewers_0.pdf)
On all other aspects of the monitoring publications ethics and malpractice the journal strictly adheres to international standards developed by: http://publicationethics.org
Transactions of the Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnologies (TIMBB)
Strict Prohibition of AI-Generated Manuscripts
Authors are strictly prohibited from using ChatGPT, or any other generative artificial intelligence tools, to write, draft, or generate the main content of manuscripts. Submissions produced in whole or in part by generative AI without human intellectual contribution are considered a violation of international publishing ethics (COPE, Elsevier, ICMJE).
All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous checks (plagiarism detection, originality screening, and peer review) to ensure compliance. Any evidence of AI-generated writing without disclosure and human oversight will result in immediate rejection or retraction.
Permitted Use (under supervision)
Authors may use AI tools only for:
Final responsibility for accuracy, originality, and interpretation lies solely with the authors.
Disclosure Requirement
All submitted manuscripts undergo rigorous checks (plagiarism detection, originality screening, and peer review) to ensure compliance. Any evidence of AI-generated writing without disclosure and human oversight will result in immediate rejection or retraction.
Prohibited Practices:
Reviewers must not upload manuscripts into AI systems to protect confidentiality. Editors may use AI for technical support (plagiarism check, formatting), but editorial decisions are human-only.
Reviewers must not upload manuscripts into AI systems to protect confidentiality. Editors may use AI for technical support (plagiarism check, formatting), but editorial decisions are human-only.
This policy will be updated regularly to reflect developments in AI technologies and international publication ethics. Authors must always consult the latest version before submission.
The journal adheres to and is guided by the principles and recommendations of the following international organizations:
These guidelines form the ethical foundation for all editorial decisions, peer review processes, and publication practices of the journal.
The Transactions of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnologies is committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in research involving human participants, human biological materials, identifiable personal data, and animals. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their research complies with all applicable international, national, and institutional ethical requirements.
All research involving human participants, human biological materials, medical records, or identifiable personal data must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki and relevant national and institutional regulations.
Before the research begins, the study protocol must be reviewed and approved by an appropriately constituted institutional review board, research ethics committee, or equivalent independent ethics body. The manuscript must clearly state:
the full name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board; the approval or protocol number; the date of approval; and confirmation that the research was conducted in accordance with the approved protocol.
If a study was granted an exemption from ethical review, the manuscript must identify the authority that granted the exemption and explain the legal or institutional basis for that decision. A statement that ethical approval was “not required” will not be accepted without an adequate and verifiable explanation.
Authors must confirm that freely given, informed consent to participate was obtained from all research participants before their inclusion in the study. When participants are minors, unable to provide consent, or belong to a vulnerable population, consent must be obtained from a parent, legal guardian, or legally authorised representative, together with the participant’s assent where appropriate.
The manuscript must include an informed consent statement. If a research ethics committee has approved a waiver of informed consent, the name of the committee, the reason for the waiver, and the relevant approval information must be provided.
Participation in research must be voluntary. Participants must be informed of the purpose of the study, the procedures involved, potential risks and benefits, how their information will be used, and their right to withdraw without penalty.
Privacy, Confidentiality, and Consent for Publication
Authors must protect the privacy, confidentiality, and dignity of research participants. Personal identifiers and unnecessary identifying information must be removed from manuscripts, images, tables, supplementary files, and datasets.
Where a manuscript contains identifiable information—including names, photographs, videos, pedigrees, detailed case histories, or other materials from which an individual could reasonably be identified—authors must obtain explicit written consent for publication from the participant or the participant’s legally authorised representative.
Consent to participate in research does not automatically constitute consent to publish identifiable information. The Editorial Office may request evidence of consent but will not publish or retain confidential documentation longer than necessary.
Research involving animals must be conducted in accordance with applicable institutional, national, and international standards governing animal welfare and the ethical use of animals in scientific research.
Before the study begins, the research protocol must be reviewed and approved by an institutional animal care and use committee, animal ethics committee, or equivalent competent authority. The manuscript must clearly state:
the full name of the approving committee; the approval or protocol number; the date of approval; and the relevant national, institutional, or international guidelines followed.
Authors must describe the species, strain, sex, age, source, housing conditions, experimental procedures, anaesthesia, analgesia, and methods of euthanasia, where applicable. They must also explain the measures taken to minimise pain, distress, fear, lasting harm, and unnecessary animal use.
Animal research should follow the principles of the 3R s:
Replacement: using scientifically appropriate alternatives to animals whenever possible; Reduction: using the minimum number of animals necessary to obtain reliable results; and Refinement: modifying procedures to minimise suffering and improve animal welfare.
Authors are strongly encouraged to prepare reports of animal studies in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines. Humane endpoints must be established where appropriate, and any unexpected adverse events must be reported transparently.
Field Studies and Research Involving Protected Species
Studies involving wildlife, protected species, endangered species, or specimens collected from natural environments must comply with applicable conservation laws and regulations. Authors must provide details of all required collection, transport, access, and research permits, including the issuing authority and permit number.
Research must not endanger populations, habitats, ecosystems, or biodiversity. Where relevant, authors must demonstrate compliance with regulations governing access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use.
Research involving human tissues, cells, genetic materials, or biobank samples must comply with applicable ethical, legal, and institutional requirements. Authors must provide information concerning ethics approval, informed consent, sample provenance, permitted secondary use, and relevant biobank or repository governance.
For established human cell lines, authors must identify the source and provide evidence of authentication where appropriate. The use of misidentified, contaminated, or unethically obtained biological materials is not acceptable.
The Editorial Office reserves the right to request copies of ethics approvals, consent forms, animal welfare approvals, permits, protocol documentation, or other supporting records at any stage of the submission, peer-review, or post-publication process.
Providing false, misleading, incomplete, or unverifiable ethical information constitutes a serious breach of publication ethics. Approval by an ethics committee does not prevent the editors from rejecting a study if its design or conduct raises significant ethical concerns.
Manuscripts that do not comply with these requirements may be returned to the authors, rejected, or withdrawn from consideration. If an ethical violation is discovered after publication, the journal may issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction, as appropriate.
Suspected ethical misconduct may be reported to the authors’ institutions, ethics committees, research funders, regulatory authorities, or other relevant organisations. Such cases will be handled in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policies and the guidance of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
All interventional clinical trials must be prospectively registered in a publicly accessible clinical trial registry recognised by the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP) or in ClinicalTrials.gov before the enrolment of the first participant.
The trial registration number and the name of the registry must be included at the end of the abstract and in the Methods section of the manuscript. Authors must ensure that the registered protocol, primary and secondary outcomes, participant eligibility criteria, intervention details, recruitment status, and study completion information are accurate and consistent with the submitted manuscript.
Retrospective registration will normally not be accepted. In exceptional circumstances, authors must provide a detailed explanation for delayed registration. The editors reserve the right to reject a clinical trial that was not registered prospectively or where significant unexplained discrepancies exist between the registry record, study protocol, and submitted manuscript.
This policy is based on the ICMJE Recommendations for Clinical Trial Registration:
Authors must prepare manuscripts in accordance with internationally recognised reporting guidelines appropriate to the study design. Applicable reporting standards may include:
Where applicable, authors must submit the relevant completed reporting checklist and flow diagram together with the manuscript. These documents may be used during editorial assessment and peer review.
The Editorial Office may return manuscripts that do not provide sufficient methodological information to evaluate the reliability, reproducibility, transparency, and ethical conduct of the research.
Relevant reporting guidelines are available from the following official sources:
Research involving genetically modified organisms, pathogenic microorganisms, infectious agents, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acids, toxins, hazardous biological materials, or other potentially harmful substances must comply with all applicable institutional, national, and international biosafety and biosecurity requirements.
Authors must obtain all necessary institutional approvals, authorisations, and permits before commencing the research. The manuscript must identify the relevant approving institutional biosafety committee or competent regulatory authority and provide the approval or permit number and date where applicable.
Experimental procedures must be performed in facilities operating at an appropriate biosafety level and by personnel possessing suitable training, qualifications, and authorisation. Authors must describe the containment measures, safety precautions, and risk-management procedures necessary to demonstrate the safe and responsible conduct of the research.
Authors should provide sufficient methodological information to permit scientific evaluation and reproducibility. However, they must not disclose operational details where such disclosure could create an unreasonable risk to human health, animal health, agriculture, biodiversity, public safety, national security, or the environment.
The Editorial Office reserves the right to request supporting documentation, seek independent expert advice, require amendments to the manuscript, or refuse publication of research that presents unacceptable biosafety or biosecurity risks.
Authors must disclose whether their research, data, methods, materials, technologies, or findings could reasonably be used for both beneficial and harmful purposes. This includes research that may increase the pathogenicity, transmissibility, host range, environmental persistence, resistance to preventive or therapeutic interventions, or harmful effects of a biological agent.
Potential dual-use concerns must be declared in the cover letter and at the time of manuscript submission. Authors must also disclose any institutional or governmental assessment of the research as dual-use research of concern.
Where a potential concern is identified, the editors may seek independent advice from suitably qualified experts, institutional biosafety committees, or relevant regulatory authorities. The journal may request modifications, restrict the disclosure of specific methodological details, delay publication pending further assessment, or decline publication when the potential risks outweigh the scientific and public benefits.
Authors must not include unnecessary operational details that could directly facilitate the misuse of biological agents, experimental procedures, data, or technologies. Any editorial restriction will be applied carefully and proportionately to preserve scientific integrity and transparency while protecting public health, safety, security, and the environment.
Human genetic, genomic, and other potentially identifiable biological data must be collected, processed, stored, shared, and published in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation, institutional requirements, ethics approvals, and the terms of participants’ informed consent.
Authors must recognise that apparently anonymised genetic or genomic information may permit the re-identification of individuals when combined with other available data. Direct identifiers must be removed, access to sensitive datasets must be appropriately controlled, and unnecessary individual-level information must not be included in manuscripts, supplementary files, or publicly accessible repositories.
Authors must clearly describe how participant privacy, confidentiality, and data security were protected. Where applicable, the manuscript must specify whether participants consented to the storage, secondary use, international transfer, and sharing of their biological samples or genetic and genomic data.
Where data are deposited in a controlled-access repository, the manuscript must identify the repository, accession number or persistent identifier, and applicable access conditions. Authors must confirm that data sharing is consistent with participants’ informed consent, ethics committee approval, and applicable legal requirements.
The Editorial Office may request evidence of ethics approval, informed consent, data-use authorisation, repository permission, or other supporting documentation where necessary.
All applicable manuscripts must contain a separate section titled “Ethics Statements” before the References. Depending on the nature and design of the research, this section must include the following information:
Statements that are genuinely not relevant to a study may be marked “Not applicable.” However, authors must not use this designation to avoid disclosing information required for the ethical evaluation of the research.
The Editorial Office may request supporting evidence for any declaration. False, misleading, incomplete, or unverifiable ethical statements constitute a serious breach of publication ethics and may result in rejection, withdrawal, correction, expression of concern, retraction, or notification of the authors’ institutions and other competent authorities.