European Journal of Biology

The journal is an open access journal and all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Except for commercial purposes, users are allowed to read, download, copy, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access.

The open access articles in the journal are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

All expenses of the journal are covered by the Istanbul University. Processing and publication are free of charge with the journal. There is no article processing charges or submission fees for any submitted or accepted articles.

Authors publishing with the journal retain the copyright to their work licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ) and grant the Publisher non-exclusive commercial right to publish the work. CC BY-NC 4.0 license permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Editor should consider publishing correction if minor errors that do not effect the results, interpretations and conclusions of the published paper are detected. Editor should consider retraction if major errors and/or misconduction that invalidate results and conclusions are detected.

Editor should consider issuing an expression of concern if there is evidence of research or publication misconduct by the authors; there is evidence that the findings are not reliable and institutions of the authors do not investigate the case or the possible investigation seems to be unfair or nonconclusive.

The guidelines of COPE and ICJME are taken into consideration regarding correction, retractions or expression of concern.

To guarantee that all papers published in the journal are maintained and permanently accessible, articles are stored in Dergipark which serves as a  national archival web site and at the same time permits LOCKSS to  collect, preserve, and serve the content.

Additionally, authors are encouraged to self-archive the final PDF version of their articles in open electronic archives with  that conform to standards of Open Archives Initiative (https://www.openarchives.org/). Authors should provide a link from the deposited version to the URL of IUPress journal website.

The journal adheres to the highest standards in research ethics and follows the principles of international research ethics as defined below. The authors are responsible for the compliance of the manuscripts with the ethical rules.

-    Principles of integrity, quality and transparency should be sustained in designing the research, reviewing the design and conducting the research.

-    The research team and participants should be fully informed about the aim, methods, possible uses and requirements of the research and risks of participation in research.

-    The confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants and the confidentiality of the respondents should be ensured. The research should be designed to protect the autonomy and dignity of the participants.

-    Research participants should participate in the research voluntarily, not under any coercion.

-    Any possible harm to participants must be avoided. The research should be planned in such a way that the participants are not at risk.

-    The independence of research must be clear; and any conflict of interest or must be disclosed.

-    In experimental studies with human subjects, written informed consent of the participants who decide to participate in the research must be obtained. In the case of children and those under wardship or with confirmed insanity, legal custodian’s assent must be obtained.

-    If the study is to be carried out in any institution or organization, approval must be obtained from this institution or organization.

-    In studies with human subject, it must be noted in the method’s section of the manuscript that the informed consent of the participants and ethics committee approval from the institution where the study has been conducted have been obtained.

The Journal takes as principle to comply with the ethical standards of World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki – Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects,  Basel Declaration and WMA Statement on Animal Use in Biomedical Research.

An approval of research protocols by the Ethics Committee in accordance with international standards mentioned above is required for experimental, clinical, and drug studies and for some case reports. If required, ethics committee reports or an equivalent official document will be requested from the authors. For manuscripts concerning experimental research on humans, a statement should be included that shows that written informed consent of patients and volunteers was obtained following a detailed explanation of the procedures that they may undergo. Information on patient consent, the name of the ethics committee, and the ethics committee approval number should also be stated in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is the authors’ responsibility to carefully protect the patients’ anonymity. For photographs that may reveal the identity of the patients, signed releases of the patient or of their legal representative should be enclosed.

The journal requires experimental research studies on vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates to comply with relevant institutional, national and/or international guidelines, and authors are advised to clearly state their compliance with relevant guidelines.For studies involving animals, it is required to obtain approval of research protocols from an ethics committee. The committee reviews protocols to ensure compliance with applicable regulations and guidelines, including the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (8th Edition, 2011), International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS), and the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals (2012). These guidelines offer comprehensive instructions on how to carry out animal research ethically and humanely and are widely acknowledged as the benchmark for such research.

Authors should provide detailed explanation of the ethical treatment of animals in their manuscripts, including measures taken to avoid pain and distress. This is crucial to ensure the humane conduct of the study and enable verification that it conforms to the relevant ethical criteria. The ARRIVE checklist is a useful tool authors can use to present this information clearly and thoroughly.

The journal requires the authors and all individuals taking part in the evaluation process to disclose any existing or potential conflict of interest (such as financial ties, academic commitments, personal relationships, institutional affiliations) that could unduly influence one’s responsibilities.  To disclose potential conflicts of interest, the ICMJE Potential Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form should be filled in and submitted by authors as explained in the Author Form of the journal. Cases of a potential conflict of interest are resolved  within the scope of COPE Conflict of Interest Flowcharts and ICMJE Conflict of Interest guidelines

Besides conflict of interest, all financial support received to carry out research must be declared while submitting the paper.

It is authors’ responsibility to ensure that the article is in accordance with scientific and ethical standards and rules. And authors must ensure that submitted work is original. They must certify that the manuscript has not previously been published elsewhere or is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere, in any language. Applicable copyright laws and conventions must be followed. Copyright material (e.g. tables, figures or extensive quotations) must be reproduced only with appropriate permission and acknowledgement. Any work or words of other authors, contributors, or sources must be appropriately credited and referenced.

All the authors of a submitted manuscript must have direct scientific and academic contribution to the manuscript. The author(s) of the original research articles is defined as a person who is significantly involved in “conceptualization and design of the study”, “collecting the data”, “analyzing the data”, “writing the manuscript”, “reviewing the manuscript with a critical perspective” and “planning/conducting the study of the manuscript and/or revising it”. Fund raising, data collection or supervision of the research group are not sufficient roles to be accepted as an author. The author(s) must meet all these criteria described above. The order of names in the author list of an article must be a co-decision and it must be indicated in the Copyright Agreement Form. The individuals who do not meet the authorship criteria but contributed to the study must take place in the acknowledgement section. Individuals providing technical support, assisting writing, providing a general support, providing material or financial support are examples to be indicated in acknowledgement section.

All authors must disclose all issues concerning financial relationship, conflict of interest, and competing interest that may potentially influence the results of the research or scientific judgment.

When an author discovers a significant error or inaccuracy in his/her own published paper, it is the author’s obligation to promptly cooperate with the Editor to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.

Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, sexual orientation, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors. He/She provides a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles for publication and ensures that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing.

Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication. He/She must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers. Only he has the full authority to assign a reviewer and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.

Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders. Their judgments must be objective.

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees must be ensured. In particular situations, the editor may share the review of one reviewer with other reviewers to clarify a particular point.

Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors. Editor-in-Chief provides a fair double-blind peer review of the submitted articles for publication and ensures that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential before publishing.

Editor-in-Chief is responsible for the contents and overall quality of the publication. He/She must publish errata pages or make corrections when needed.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers. Only he has the full authority to assign a reviewer and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.

Reviewers must have no conflict of interest with respect to the research, the authors and/or the research funders. Their judgments must be objective.

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees must be ensured. In particular situations, the editor may share the review of one reviewer with other reviewers to clarify a particular point.

Only those manuscripts approved by its every individual author and that were not published before in or sent to another journal, are accepted for evaluation.

Submitted manuscripts that pass preliminary control are scanned for plagiarism using iThenticate software. After plagiarism check, the eligible ones are evaluated by Editor-in-Chief for their originality, methodology, the importance of the subject covered and compliance with the journal scope.

Editor-in-Chief evaluates manuscripts for their scientific content without regard to ethnic origin, gender, citizenship, religious belief or political philosophy of the authors and ensures a fair double-blind peer review of the selected manuscripts.​
The selected manuscripts are sent to at least two national/international external referees for evaluation and publication decision is given by Editor-in-Chief upon modification by the authors in accordance with the referees’ claims.

Editor-in-Chief does not allow any conflicts of interest between the authors, editors and reviewers and is responsible for final decision for publication of the manuscripts in the Journal.

Reviewers’ judgments must be objective. Reviewers’ comments on the following aspects are expected while conducting the review.

- Does the manuscript contain new and significant information?

- Does the abstract clearly and accurately describe the content of the manuscript?

- Is the problem significant and concisely stated?

- Are the methods described comprehensively?

- Are the interpretations and consclusions justified by the results?

- Is adequate references made to other Works in the field?

- Is the language acceptable?

Reviewers must ensure that all the information related to submitted manuscripts is kept as confidential and must report to the editor if they are aware of copyright infringement and plagiarism on the author’s side.

A reviewer who feels unqualified to review the topic of a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

The editor informs the reviewers that the manuscripts are confidential information and that this is a privileged interaction. The reviewers and editorial board cannot discuss the manuscripts with other persons. The anonymity of the referees is important.

Files to be uploaded separately

• Copyright Agreement Form
• Permissions obtained for previously published material if used in the present manuscript
• Title page
• Main Manuscript Document

• The title of the manuscript in English
• Abstract (250 words) in English
• Key words: 3-6 words in English
• Main article sections
• Grant Support (if exists)
• Conflict of Interest (if exists)
• Acknowledgement (if exists)
• References
• All tables, illustrations (figures) (including title, description, footnotes)

Original Articles: This is the most important type of article since it provides new information based on original research. The main text of original articles should be structured with Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, and Discussion subheadings. 

Statistical analysis to support conclusions is usually necessary. Statistical analyses must be conducted in accordance with international statistical reporting standards. Information on statistical analyses should be provided with a separate subheading under the Materials and Methods section and the statistical software that was used during the process must be specified.

Units should be prepared in accordance with the International System of Units (SI).

Short Communications: Short communication is for a concise, but independent report representing a significant contribution to Biology. Short communication is not intended to publish preliminary results. But if these results are of exceptional interest and are particularly topical and relevant will be considered for publication.

Short Communications should include an abstract and should be structed with the following subheadings: “Introduction”, “Material and Methods”, “Results and Discussion”.

Editorial Comments: Editorial comments aim to provide a brief critical commentary by reviewers with expertise or with high reputation in the topic of te research article published in the journal. Authors are selected and invited by the journal to provide such comments. Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media are not included.

Review Articles: Reviews prepared by authors who have extensive knowledge on a particular field and whose scientific background has been translated into a high volume of publications with a high citation potential are welcomed. These authors may even be invited by the journal. Reviews should describe, discuss, and evaluate the current level of knowledge of a topic in clinical practice and should guide future studies. The main text should contain Introduction, Experimental and Clinical Research Consequences, and Conclusion sections. 

Letters to the Editor: This type of manuscript discusses important parts, overlooked aspects, or lacking parts of a previously published article. Articles on subjects within the scope of the journal that might attract the readers’ attention, particularly educative cases, may also be submitted in the form of a“Letter to the Editor.”Readers can also present their comments on the published manuscripts in the form of a “Letter to the Editor.” Abstract, Keywords, and Tables, Figures, Images, and other media should not be included. The text should be unstructured. The manuscript that is being commented on must be properly cited within this manuscript.

Figures, graphics, and photographs should be submitted as separate files (JPEG format with 1200 dpi for graphic and 600 dpi for colour images) through the submission system. The files should not be embedded in a Word document or the main document. When there are figure subunits, the subunits should be labeled merged to form a single image. Each subunit should be submitted separately through the submission system. Images should be labeled (a, b, c, etc.) to indicate figure subunits. Thick and thin arrows, arrowheads, stars, asterisks, and similar marks can be used on the images to support figure legends. Like the rest of the submission, the figures too should be blind. Any information within the images that may indicate an individual or institution should be blinded. To prevent delays in the evaluation process, all submitted figures should be clear in resolution and large in size (minimum dimensions: 100 × 100 mm). Figure legends should be listed at the end of the main document.

All acronyms and abbreviations used in the manuscript should be defined at first use, both in the abstract and in the main text. The abbreviation should be provided in parentheses following the definition.

When a drug, chemical, product, hardware, or software program is mentioned within the main text, product information, including the name of the product, the producer of the product, and city and the country of the company (including the state if in USA), should be provided in parentheses in the following format: “Discovery St PET/CT scanner (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI, USA)”

All references, tables, and figures should be referred to within the main text, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text.

Limitations, drawbacks, and the shortcomings of original articles should be mentioned in the Discussion section before the conclusion paragraph.

Tables should be included in the main document, presented after the reference list, and they should be numbered consecutively in the order they are referred to within the main text. A descriptive title must be placed above the tables. Abbreviations used in the tables should be defined below the tables by footnotes (even if they are defined within the main text). Tables should be created using the“insert table” command of the word processing software and they should be arranged clearly to provide easy reading. Data presented in the tables should not be a repetition of the data presented within the main text but should be supporting the main text.

European Journal of Biology uses the AMA citation style. In the paper, you are writing, materials are cited using superscript numerals. The first reference used in a written document is listed as 1 in the reference list, and a 1 is inserted into the document immediately next to the fact, concept, or quotation being cited. If the same reference is used multiple times in one document, use the same number to refer to it throughout the document.

Example:

Finding treatments for breast cancer is a major goal for scientists.^1,2 Some classes of drugs show more promise than others. Gradishar evaluated taxanes as a class.³ Other scientists have investigated individual drugs within this class, including Andre and Zielinski ² and Joensuu and Gligorov. ⁴ Mita et al's investigation of cabazitaxel ⁵ seems to indicate a new role for this class of drugs.

While citing publications, preference should be given to the latest, most up to date publications. If an ahead of print publication is cited, the DOI number should be provided. Authors are responsible for the accuracy of references. Journal titles should be abbreviated in accordance with the journal abbreviations in Index Medicus/ MEDLINE/PubMed. When there are six or fewer authors, all authors should be listed. If there are seven or more authors, the first six authors should be listed followed by“et al.”

At the end of the document, include a reference list with full citations to each item. The reference styles for different types of publications are presented in the following examples.

Print journal article with six or fewer authors: 

Kayalar O, Oztay F, Ongen HG. Gastrin-releasing peptide induces fibrotic response in MRC5s and proliferation in A549s. Cell Commun Signal. 2020;18(1):96-107.

Kazerouni NN, Currier RJ, Hodgkinson C, Goldman S, Lorey F, Roberson M. Ancillary benefits of prenatal maternal serum screening achieved in the California program. Prenat Diagn. 2010;30 (10):981-987.

Print journal article with more than six authors:

Baba Y, Yoshida N, Kinoshita K, et al. Clinical and prognostic features of patients with esophageal cancer and multiple primary cancers: A retrospective single-institution study. Ann Surg. 2018;267(3):478-483.

Online journal article:

Florez H, Martinez R, Chakra W, Strickman-Stein M, Levis S. Outdoor exercise reduces the risk of hypovitaminosis D in the obese. J Steroid Biochem Mol Bio. 2007;103(3-5):679-681. doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2006.12.032.

Journal article with no named author or group name:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Licensure of a meningococcal conjugate vaccine (Menveo) and guidance for use-Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2010;59(9):273

Book:

Brownson RC. Evidence-based Public Health. 2nd ed. New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press; 2011.

Book Chapter:

Guyton JL, Crockarell JR. Fractures of acetabulum and pelvis. In: Canale ST, ed. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 10th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby, Inc; 2003:2939-2984.

Webpage:

Fast facts. National Osteoporosis Foundation website. http://www.nof.org/osteoporosis/diseasefacts.htm. Accessed August 27, 2007.

Official organization report published on a webpage:

Office of Women's Health, California Department of Public Health. California Adolescent Health 2009. http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Pubs/OWH-AdolHealthReport09.pdf. Accessed January 5, 2011.

Conference Proceedings: 

Fritz TC, Soni MG. Use of dietary supplements in sports drinks: Consumption and safety determinations for regulatory compliance. Poster presented at: Annual International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference and Expo; June 16-18, 2005; New Orleans, LA.

Thesis: 

Yildirim M. The determination of effective long non-coding RNA on human pulmonary fibrosis in an in vitro model. Istanbul University, Science Institute, Master Thesis, 2018.

Ensure that the following items are present:

●    Cover letter to the editor

ü    The category of the manuscript

ü    Confirming that “the paper is not under consideration for publication in another journal”.

ü    Including disclosure of any commercial or financial involvement.

ü    Confirming that the statistical design of the research article is reviewed.

ü    Confirming that last control for fluent English was done.

ü    Confirming that journal policies detailed in Information for Authors have been reviewed.

ü    Confirming that the references cited in the text and listed in the references section are in line with AMA.

●    Copyright Agreement Form

●    Permission of previously published copyrighted material if used in the present manuscript

●    Title page

ü    The category of the manuscript

ü    The title of the manuscript

ü    All authors’ names and affiliations (institution, faculty/department, city, country), e-mail addresses

ü    Corresponding author’s email address, full postal address, telephone and fax number

ü    ORCIDs of all authors.

●    Main Manuscript Document

ü    The title of the manuscript

ü    Abstract (250 words)

ü    Key words: 3 to 6 words

ü    Main article sections

ü    Grant support (if exists)

ü    Conflict of interest (if exists)

ü    Acknowledgement (if exists)

ü    References

ü    All tables, illustrations (figures) (including title, description, footnotes)