Veterinary Research & Biological Products

Publication Ethics

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

Veterinary Research & Biological Products, with the respect accorded to the rules of ethics in publishing, follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines. Editorial Board Members, editor-in-chief, readers, authors, reviewers, and editors should follow these ethical policies once working with Veterinary Research & Biological Products Journal. For information on publishing and ethical guidelines, please visit http://publicationethics.org.

COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts

Publisher responsibilities

The publisher should ensure that editorial decisions on manuscript submissions are final and are only made based on professional judgment and will not be affected by any commercial interests.
The publisher should monitor the ethics of the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Board Members, Reviewers, Authors, and Readers.
Publisher is always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, and retractions involving its publications as and when needed.

Editorial responsibilities

(https://vj.areeo.ac.ir/journal/editorial.board?lang=en)

The editorial team should have the full authority to reject/accept a manuscript.
The editorial team should maintain the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts under review or until they are published.
The editorial team should preserve the anonymity of reviewers.
The editorial team should disclose and try to avoid any conflict of interest.
The editorial team should be willing to investigate plagiarism and fraudulent data issues and willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.
The editorial team (editor, managing director and editorial board) has full authority to reject or accept any article.
The editorial team must maintain the confidentiality of the content of the submitted articles until their publication.
The editor makes the final decision on whether or not to accept articles based on the opinions of the judges and editorial board members.
Due to the journal's review policy (Double-Blind), the anonymity of the judges and authors should be maintained.
The editorial team should report any conflict of interest and prevent it from occurring.
The editorial team should always monitor the issues of ethics in publishing, plagiarism and scientific violations and provide the necessary explanations if necessary.
The editorial team should not disclose the information and content of the articles to anyone other than the lead author, the reviewers and, if necessary, other editorial staff.

Reviewers’ Responsibilities

(https://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Peer%20review%20guidelines.pdf)

Confidentiality of article information must be observed in all areas. The article review process is to be done anonymously.
Reviewers should judge articles at the appropriate time and assist the editorial team in deciding whether or not to accept the article.
The referees' suggestions regarding the published articles should be submitted in the form of judging forms and in the comment section for the author and editor.
Reviewers should refrain from judging articles with conflict of interest and report any conflict of interest as soon as possible.
Reviewers' judgments about the quality and content of articles should be based on professional and objective opinions.

Authorship and Author’s Responsibility

(https://publicationethics.org/files/u7141/1999pdf13.pdf)

Authorship Criteria

To qualify as an author, contributors must meet all of the following conditions:

Contributed to the conception and design, data collection, or analysis and interpretation of data.
Drafted the manuscript or critically revised it for significant intellectual content.
Approved the final version of the manuscript to be published and agreed to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

Author’s Responsibility

Authors must adhere to the fundamental principles of academic writing and research ethics. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the journal’s formatting requirements.
Before submission, all authors must read the Guide for Authors and the Terms and Conditions for manuscript submission to this journal.
The corresponding author must confirm, through the Author Commitment Form, that all co-authors are aware of and consent to the submission of the manuscript.
All listed authors must have actively contributed to the conception, design, writing, or critical revision of the manuscript.
Authors must clearly state their institutional affiliations and acknowledge any financial or organizational support. Any potential conflicts of interest must be disclosed.
To support the peer review process, qualified authors may be invited to serve as reviewers for other submissions to this journal.
Funding sources (if any) must be explicitly stated.
Authors must promptly notify the editor if they discover errors or inaccuracies in their published work so that corrections or retractions can be issued.
All submissions are screened using plagiarism detection software (Hamyab) to prevent academic misconduct.
All sources used—whether cited directly or indirectly—must be properly acknowledged.
During submission, peer review, and publication, the corresponding author is responsible for all communication with the journal and ensuring compliance with all administrative requirements, including authorship details, ethics approvals, trial registrations, and conflict of interest declarations.
The corresponding author must respond promptly to editorial queries and cooperate with post-publication requests.
After acceptance, no new authors can be added, and changes to the first or corresponding author are not permitted.
Removal of an author requires a signed letter from the author to be removed and all remaining authors, confirming their consent.
Any change in author order after submission requires a letter signed by all authors agreeing to the change.

Changes of Authorship

The list and order of authors must be approved by all authors before submission.
Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names must be explained in writing by the corresponding author and confirmed by all other authors.
Such changes are only permitted before peer review begins and require approval by the Editor-in-Chief.

The Principles of Transparency

Study design and ethical approval

Good research should be well justified, well planned, appropriately designed, and ethically approved. To conduct research to a lower standard may constitute misconduct. The authors are responsible for the whole scientific content as well as the accuracy of the bibliographic information.

Data analysis

Data should be appropriately analyzed, but the inappropriate analysis does not necessarily amount to misconduct. Fabrication and falsification of data do constitute misconduct.

Data Availability

The Data availability statement should describe how readers can access the data supporting the conclusions of the study and clearly outline the reasons why unavailable data cannot be released. The data used to support the findings of study should be available from the corresponding author upon request.

Conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest comprise those that may not be fully apparent and which may influence the judgment of authors, reviewers, and editors. They have been described as those that, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived. They may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial. “Financial” interests may include employment, research funding, stock or share ownership, payment for lectures or travel, consultancies, and company support for staff.

Peer-review

This journal uses double-blind peer review, which means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process. To facilitate this, authors need to ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in a way that does not give away their identity. Authors have the right to communicate to the editor if they do not wish their manuscript to be reviewed by a particular reviewer because of potential conflicts of interest. No article is rejected unless negative comments are received from at least two reviewers. This process, as well as any policies related to the journal’s peer review procedures, is clearly described on the journal’s website (Peer review process).

Archiving

The plan for electronic backup and preservation of access to the journal's content (https://vj.areeo.ac.ir/?lang=en) is clearly indicated. This policy sets out the ways in which the authors of Veterinary Research & Biological Products can archive copies of their work on their own web pages, corporate web pages, and various other subject repositories.

Veterinary Research & Biological Products is an open-access license; articles can be made available immediately according to the terms of their specific Creative Common license. If an author has published an article under an Open Access license, Veterinary Research & Biological Products would encourage the author to share the Version of Record on publication as opposed to the Accepted Manuscript.

Authors may also reuse the Abstract and Citation information (e.g., Title, Author name, Publication dates) of their article anywhere at any time including social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs and Twitter, providing that where possible a link is included back to the article on the Veterinary Research & Biological Products site. Preferably, the link should be, or include, the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which can be found in the Citation information about the article online. The accepted version may be placed on: the author's website and/or the author's company/institutional repository or archive. Self-archiving of the submitted version is not subject to an embargo period.

Veterinary Research & Biological Products is now formally archived at:

Publishing schedule

Veterinary Research & Biological Products is published 4 issues per year. All the content from the beginning to the end will be available forever on Veterinary Research & Biological Products exclusive website (https://vj.areeo.ac.ir/?lang=en).

Privacy and Confidentiality

All manuscripts must be reviewed with the utmost regard for the authors' confidentiality. Authors entrust editors with the results of their scientific work and creative effort when they submit manuscripts for review, and their reputation and career may be at stake. Disclosure of confidential details during the review of an author's manuscript may be a violation of their rights. Reviewers have the right to confidentiality, which the editor must respect. If there is a suspicion of dishonesty or fraud, confidentiality may have to be breached, but it must be honored otherwise. Besides the authors and reviewers, editors are prohibited from disclosing information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the reviewing process, reviewer criticism, or ultimate fate). Requests to use the materials in legal proceedings are included in this category.

Editors must clarify to reviewers that manuscripts sent for review are privileged communications and the authors' private property. As a result, reviewers and editorial staff must respect the authors' rights by refraining from publicly discussing or appropriating the authors' work before the manuscript is published. Reviewers should not be allowed to make copies of the manuscript for their files, and they should not be allowed to share it with others except if the editor permits them. After submitting reviews, reviewers should return or destroy copies of the manuscripts. Editors should not keep copies of manuscripts that have been rejected. Without the permission of the reviewer, author, and editor, reviewer comments should not be published or otherwise made public.

Ownership and management

Razi Vaccine & Serum Research Institute

Governing Body

Veterinary Research & Biological Products has a professional editorial board, whose members are recognized experts in the subject areas included within the journal’s scope. The full names, specifications, the contact information, and affiliations of the journal’s editors are provided on the journal’s Website (https://vj.areeo.ac.ir/?lang=en).

Copyright and Licensing

The Journal of Veterinary Research and Biological Products is a fully open-access journal. All articles are made freely available on the journal’s website to all users immediately upon publication.

This journal operates under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Under this license, authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions. Readers are permitted to read, download, reuse, reprint, and copy the content of articles, provided that proper credit is given to the original authors and the source is cited.

Authors publishing in this Journal retain full copyright and publishing rights to their work without any restrictions.

Advertising

The policy of the journal is not to have advertising.

Corrections and Retractions Policy

To maintain the integrity of the academic record, the Journal of Veterinary Research and Biological Products may publish corrections or retract published articles by recognized academic and publishing ethics standards.

Corrections (Erratum):

If errors are identified in published articles that affect the interpretation of the work but do not invalidate the entire article, they may be corrected by publishing an Erratum.

The Erratum will be clearly indexed and linked to the original article, without altering the original file except for adding a prominent link to the correction.

Changes in authorship after publication are also issued through an Erratum.

Retractions:

In rare cases where the validity of a published article’s scientific content is seriously compromised, the journal may retract the article.

Retractions are carried out in compliance with the COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Retracted articles remain in the public domain, are indexed, and contain a clear notice referring to the Retraction statement.

Removal of Published Content:

In exceptional circumstances, such as proven infringement of legal rights or defamatory content, the journal may remove an article from its website and archives.

Minor Author-Initiated Corrections:

Minor post-publication corrections that do not alter the study’s results or conclusions may be submitted by the authors in the form of comments on the published article, subject to editorial approval.

Possible Misconducts

Data Fabrication and Falsification

Data fabrication and falsification mean the researcher did not really carry out the study, but made-up data or results and had recorded or reported the fabricated information. Data falsification means the researcher did the experiment, but manipulated, changed, or omitted data or results from the research findings.

Duplicate Publication

Duplicate publication occurs when two or more papers, without full cross-referencing, share essentially the same hypotheses, data, discussion points, and conclusions.

Citation Manipulation

Excessive citations in a submitted manuscript that do not contribute to the scholarly content of the article and were included solely to increase citations to a given author's work or articles published in a particular journal are referred to as citation manipulation. This is a form of scientific misconduct since it misrepresents the importance of the specific work and publication in which it appears.

Simultaneous Submission

Simultaneous submission occurs when a manuscript (or substantial sections from a manuscript) is submitted to a journal when it is already under consideration by another journal.

Redundant Publications

Redundant publications involve the inappropriate division of study outcomes into several articles, most often consequent to the desire to pad academic vitae.

Improper Author Contribution or Attribution

All listed authors must have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript and approved all its claims. Don’t forget to list everyone who made a significant scientific contribution, including students and laboratory technicians.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is intentionally using someone else’s ideas or other original material as if they were one's own. Copying even one sentence from someone else’s manuscript, or even one of your own that has previously been published, without proper citation, is considered by Veterinary Research & Biological Products as plagiarism. All manuscripts under review or published with Veterinary Research & Biological Products are subject to screening using plagiarism prevention software. Thus, plagiarism is a serious violation of publication ethics. The authors are expected to check their manuscripts for plagiarism before submission. Additionally, the Hamyab similarity checking system is used to assess the originality of submissions.

If plagiarism is detected during peer review, the submission can be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we reserve the right, as necessary, to issue a correction or retract the article. We reserve the right to notify the institutions of authors about the plagiarism that was found before or after publication.

Process for identification of and dealing with allegations of research misconduct

Editor-in-Chief takes reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, including plagiarism, citation manipulation, and data falsification/fabrication, among others.

The first action of the journal Editor is to inform the Editorial Office of Veterinary Research & Biological Products by supplying copies of the relevant material and a draft letter to the corresponding author, asking for an explanation in a nonjudgmental manner.

If the author’s explanation is unacceptable and it seems that serious unethical conduct has taken place, the matter is referred to the Publication Committee via the Editorial Office. After deliberation, the Committee will decide whether the case is sufficiently serious to warrant a ban on future submissions.

If the infraction is less severe, the Editor, upon the advice of the Publication Committee, sends the author a letter of reprimand and reminds the author of Veterinary Research & Biological Products publication policies; if the manuscript has been published, the Editor may request the author to publish an apology in the journal to correct the record.

Notification will be sent to the corresponding author, and any work by the author responsible for the violation or any work these persons coauthored that is under review by Veterinary Research & Biological Products will be rejected immediately.

The authors are prohibited from serving on the Veterinary Research & Biological Products editorial board and serving as a reviewer for.

Veterinary Research & Biological Products reserves the right to take further actions.

In serious cases of fraud that result in retraction of the article, a retraction notice will be published in the journal and will be linked to the article in the online version. The online version will also be marked “retracted” with the retraction date.

Complaint and Appeal Policy and Procedure

https://publicationethics.org/appeals

Upon receiving a complaint, the complainant will receive an acknowledgment confirming that appropriate action will be taken within three working days (excluding the date of receipt). The journal’s handling team will initiate the investigation process under the guidance of the Editor-in-Chief. Once the investigation is complete, a meeting will be held to review the case and prepare a detailed report. The final decision will be communicated to the complainant via the email address provided. All complaints will be handled respectfully, confidentially, and without delay.

To address concerns raised by editors or reviewers, you must provide substantial evidence or new information to support your case. If your manuscript is rejected, you may consider submitting it to another journal. Editorial board decisions are based on unbiased reviewer feedback and are generally final and non-negotiable. However, if you believe the decision is unjustified and have valid grounds to appeal, follow these steps:

Clearly outline your concerns and the reasons for disagreeing with the decision.

Provide additional materials or data that may assist the editorial team in reconsidering the decision.

If you believe the reviewers misinterpreted your manuscript, explain why and include supporting evidence.

Present any evidence of potential conflicts of interest that may have influenced the review process.

Editors will consider only one appeal per article. Upon receiving an appeal, the editorial team may consult the reviewers and other relevant editors involved in the manuscript’s evaluation. The editorial board’s final decision regarding the appeal will be communicated to the author, which may include rejecting the article, requesting additional peer reviews, or inviting revisions to the manuscript.

COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts

Veterinary Research & Biological Products is committed to following and applying the guidelines and flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) in its reviewing and publishing process and issues. For more information on COPE’s Guidelines & Flowcharts, please see: (https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts-new/translations).