Editorial Policy and Standards

Formulating the journal policy for the Bangladesh Journal of Microbiology, which has a long-standing history since 1978, involves several critical aspects to ensure its relevance, integrity, and contribution to the scientific community. All the actors of BJM, authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial team are expected to fully adhere to our policy regarding publication ethics and malpractice, and respect the following statements:

Editorial Board Responsibilities

  1. The Chief Editor of BJM is responsible for deciding which submitted articles are accepted for publication. The Editorial Board must maintain confidentiality regarding all information related to manuscripts submitted by authors.
  2. The content of any published manuscript does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Editorial Board of BJM.

Policies for Handling Scientific Misconduct

  1. In cases of scientific misconduct—such as plagiarism, authorship abuse, falsification or fabrication of results, or duplicate publication—within submitted or published manuscripts, a formal written complaint must be submitted to the Chief Editor. The complaint should include relevant evidence and supporting documents.
  2. The Chief Editor will investigate the issue, either confidentially or by disclosing the identities of those involved, as deemed appropriate.
  3. The Chief Editor may also form a Misconduct Investigation Committee (MIC) from among the Associate Editors to further examine the case. The MIC will take appropriate measures and provide a recommendation to the Chief Editor for resolving the issue within a specified time frame.
  4. If the misconduct is confirmed, the Chief Editor will issue a retraction letter to the corresponding author, remove the article from the journal’s online version, and deactivate the associated DOI.

 Reviewer’s Responsibilities

  1. Confidentiality: All manuscripts received for review are to be treated as confidential. Reviewers must not disclose or discuss the manuscript's content with anyone unless explicitly authorized by the editor.
  2. Conflict of Interest: Reviewers should not have any conflict of interest regarding the research, the authors, or the research funding reported in the manuscript. If a conflict exists, reviewers must recuse themselves from the review process.
  3. Objective Assessment: Reviews should be conducted impartially. Criticisms should focus on the work and not the author. Reviewers must express their professional opinions clearly, backed by sound reasoning.
  4. Timely Response: If a reviewer is unable to complete the review within the stipulated time, they must promptly inform the editor. This will allow the manuscript to be reassigned to another reviewer.

Author’s responsibilities

  1. Plagiarism: Authors must ensure their manuscript is free from any form of plagiarism, as plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior. If plagiarism is detected, the Associate Editor handling the manuscript has the right to reject it or return it for necessary corrections.
  2. Originality and Multiple Submissions: Authors must ensure the manuscript is original and has not been submitted elsewhere. Concurrent submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal is considered unethical and is strictly prohibited.
  3. Authorship Criteria: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the study. All individuals listed as authors must meet the authorship criteria set by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For more detail please see http://www.icmje.org/. The corresponding author must ensure that:
    • All co-authors have made appropriate contributions.
    • No inappropriate authors are included.
    • All co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission.
  1. Errors and Corrections: If an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in the submitted manuscript, they must promptly notify the editor. If an error is reported by a third party, it is the author’s responsibility to retract or correct the paper or provide evidence of the correctness of the original work.
  1. Reviewer Recommendations: Reviewers recommended by the authors should not be colleagues from the same institution or co-authors of any published paper within the past five years.
  2. Intellectual Property and Permissions: The authors guarantee that:
  • The manuscript does not infringe upon intellectual property rights or require licenses or payments to third parties.
  • Any previously published or licensed content included has the necessary written permissions.
  • The manuscript contains no fabricated or manipulated data or other forms of scientific misconduct.
  • Nothing in the manuscript is defamatory, violates privacy, or infringes on the rights or confidentiality of any person or entity.
  • Informed consent has been obtained for all research participants.
  1. Manuscript Retraction: The Editorial Board reserves the right to retract a published manuscript or issue corrections if necessary, based on legal, editorial, or research integrity considerations.
  2. Authorship Changes: Changes to the authorship (e.g., adding or removing authors) or the order of authors will not be allowed after the manuscript has been accepted.
  3. Submission Authorization: The corresponding author must have the authority on behalf of all authors to submit the manuscript and communicate with the Editorial Team of BJM. This also applies to submissions by any government or institutional entity.
  4. Legal Cooperation: The authors agree to cooperate fully with the Editorial Board regarding any legal actions that may arise from the publication of the manuscript.
  5. Ethical Compliance: The ethical standards of BJM are based on the Ethical Code of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) <https://publicationethics.org/>.

Transfer of Copyright

BJM accepts manuscripts that have not been previously published and are not under consideration for publication in any other print or electronic media. By submitting a manuscript, the authors agree to transfer the copyright to BJM using the prescribed copyright transfer form, upon acceptance of the manuscript.

Human and Animal Rights

When reporting experiments involving human subjects, authors must state whether the procedures adhered to the ethical standards set by the responsible institutional or national committee on human experimentation, in alignment with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Every manuscript subjected to institutional research ethics committee approval, must submit the copy of the approval letter during submission.

Statement of Informed Consent

Patients have a right to privacy that must not be violated without their informed consent. Identifying details, including names, initials, or hospital numbers, should not be published in descriptions, photographs, or pedigrees unless they are crucial for scientific purposes, and written informed consent has been obtained from the patient (or their parent/guardian).

Authors must disclose the identities of individuals who provide writing assistance and the sources of funding for this assistance. Identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. While complete anonymity can be difficult to achieve, informed consent should be obtained when there is any uncertainty. For instance, masking only the eye region in patient photographs is insufficient to ensure anonymity.

If identifying characteristics are altered to protect anonymity (e.g., in genetic pedigrees), authors must ensure that these changes do not distort the scientific content. Editors should also acknowledge such alterations.