Publication Ethics

The Editorial Board of the African Journal of Biological Sciences expects that authors will observe the highest standards with respect to publication ethics. Some of the following practices are unacceptable, according to COPE instructions:

1. fabrication or falsification of data,

2. plagiarism, including duplicate publication of the authors' own work in whole or in part,

3. Misappropriation of the work of others such as omission of qualified authors,

4. Withholding information of relevance to assess possible conflicts of interest (e.g. financial support), etc.

Allegations of unethical conduct will be discussed initially with the corresponding author. In the event of an unresolved dispute, the matter may be referred to the author's institution and funding agencies for investigation and adjudication. 

Any submission from the Editor-in-Chief or a member of the journal’s Editorial Board receives the same objective and unbiased evaluation as submissions from any other author. This is achieved by assigning any manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief or an Editorial Board member to an impartial member of the Editorial Board, who oversees the assessment process and makes the decision. Editors, including the Editor-in-Chief, are automatically blinded to all aspects of the review process.

Editors, including the Editor-in-Chief reserve the right to decline submissions suspected of plagiarism at any point during the assessment process and will retract articles found to violate plagiarism guidelines after publication. In addition, the Journal reserves the right to report any suspicion of plagiarism to the senior author's institution. 

Animal ethics and welfare

Authors must adhere to international guidelines and standards (http://www.animalethics.org.au) for the ethical use of animals in research, the legal requirements of the country in which the work was carried out, and any institutional guidelines. Authors should state (within the Methods section) the name of the local and/or national body that grants approval for the use of animals in research and the reference number for animal ethics approval of the protocols applied in the work. 
If ethical considerations arose in the course of the study, the author should describe in the manuscript how those considerations were addressed. In exceptional cases, where unresolved ethical questions remain, the manuscript may be sent to appropriate experts in the ethical use of animals in research for additional refereeing. In such cases, the decision as to whether the manuscript is accepted for publication remains with the journal Handling Editor or, in the final instance, the Editor-in-Chief.

Conflict of interest

At the point of submission, the journal’s policy requires that each author reveals any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated - including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition. When considering whether you should declare a conflicting interest or connection please consider answering the following question:

Is there any arrangement that would embarrass you or any of your co-authors if it was to emerge after publication and you had not declared it? 
As an integral part of the online submission process, Corresponding Authors are required to confirm whether they or their co-authors have any conflicts of interest to declare and to provide details of these. If the Corresponding Author is unable to confirm this information on behalf of all co-authors, the authors in question will then be required to submit a completed Conflict of Interest form to the Editorial Office. It is the Corresponding Author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors adhere to this policy. If the manuscript is published, Conflict of Interest information will be communicated in a statement in the published papers.