IJBS has adopted the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts” (URM), submitted to biomedical journals, produced and updated by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). For details regarding URM, visit www.icmje.org. We will incorporate the URM into the IJBS review and publication process.

Steps taken to process submitted manuscript and review criteria for acceptance or rejection;

1. Once a manuscript is uploaded through the IJBS online process and passes the submission process, it will receive a ID #.
2. The corresponding author and others will be notified for the submission.
3. An assigned Editorial Staff will review check for ALL of the requirements for submission have been completed. These include: a Conflict of Interest Statement from ALL authors; the manuscript has clearly demonstrated and full-filled regulatory and compliance requirements for Human Subject Approval (IRB); Animal Care Approval (IACUC); and other special or exceptional requirements depending on the research.
4. Once the above steps are verified and found to be acceptable, the Editor-In-Chief and the Managing Editor will assign the manuscript to an Senior or an Associate Editor, who will contact three appropriate reviewers.
5. The Corresponding Author will be notified on the assignment status and will be given an approximate time that may be required to complete the first review.
6. All reviewers will be required to sign off a Conflict of Interest Statement and requested to complete the review within 4-6 weeks of initial submission.
7. The review criteria will be based on highest standards mandated by IJBS and according to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors’ uniform requirements for manuscripts.
8. All efforts will be made by the Editorial Staff and Senior Editors, Editor-In-Chief to ensure that all submissions undergo fair and timely review.
9. The review process will comprise of specific evaluation criteria and the reviewers will be asked to complete the form and provide appropriate judgment with numerical scores. The review criteria will examine factors such as: Originality; Novelty; Impact – does it move the field forward; Technical Approach or Research Strategy is it sound?; .
10. A Reviewer Form will be filled to assess technical and scientific merits of the work, give detailed and specific comments, including grammar and spelling check to improve the quality.
11. Questions will be answered by editors: How is this scientific significance likely to change over the next 5 years? Does the paper discuss novel or unpublished work?
    
    
    1. Check for scientific rationale and if the study is hypothesis driven. Make sure that the reasoning and methodology is coherent.
    2. The authors must demonstrate that the study is in compliance with regulatory agencies and ethical requirements.
    3. Could use a plagiarism scanning tool to avoid unintended re-use of copyrighted material.
    4. Make sure that manuscript is edited by a native-speaker if English is not the author’s first language.
    5. Confirm compliance with the journal’s presentation requirements.
    6. Confirm that files are in common file formats and are not excessively large.
       
       
12. Then a score from 1 to 5 will be assigned for an article:
    
    
    1. Being rejection
    2. Reject and resubmit
    3. Accepted with major revisions;
    4. Accepted with minor revisions;
    5. Accept without Changes.

The evaluation process usually takes 1-3 weeks. Submitted papers are accepted for publication after a positive opinion of the independent reviewers. Majority opinion of peer reviewers will guide the final decision of the chief editor in acceptance or rejection of the manuscript according to its scientific significance and its novelty of finding. The associate editors will assist editors-in-chief by suggesting the final decision.

If two or more editors recommend rejection, then we will inform the author on the outcome and will attach the review forms with detailed explanation from IJBS editors. If there is only one rejection out of four editors, IJBS will send all the reviews to the corresponding author and request to submit a revised manuscript. Once the revised manuscript is submitted – making sure that all of the reviewer concerns were addressed, the manuscript will be sent back to the original reviewers for their comments and recommendations for approval or further revision. Finally, at the discretion of the Editors-in-chief, the manuscript may be accepted, returned for revision or rejection.

Once an article has been accepted for publication, the manuscripts will be sent to desk editor for language check and typeset. PDF proofs that are generated in the process will help authors to approve editing and layout.

Editorial decisions are based not just on technical merit of the work, but also on other factors such as the priority for publication and the relevance to the Journal's general readership. All papers are judged in relation to other submissions currently under consideration. Rebuttals to rejected manuscripts are strongly discouraged and requests for resubmission of rejected manuscripts are generally not granted.

Definition of authorship: All authors listed in a paper submitted to IJBS must have contributed substantially to the work, as defined in more detail below. It is the corresponding author who takes responsibility for obtaining permission from all coauthors for the submission of any version of the paper and for any changes in authorship. When submitting the paper, the corresponding author is encouraged to indicate, via an editorial note on the title page, the specific contributions of all authors.