Publications Ethics and Plagiarism Policy

Allegations of misconduct, conflict management regarding authorship and contributions, complaints and appeals, post-publishing, intellectual property, conflict of interests, data and reproducibility, ethical oversight, and other issues related to ethical good practice will be addressed according to Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines.

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Misconduct Allegations

Misconduct includes plagiarism, redundant publishing, and falsification of data.

Suspected misconduct identified at any stage of manuscript evaluation will be investigated; if confirmed, the submission will be rejected. 

Any suspicions reported after publication will be investigated; if confirmed, the article will be withdrawn and a letter of retraction will be published.

Authors should send any disagreements, complaints or appeals to the Editor-in-Chief.

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Plagiarism

To prevent plagiarism, manuscripts submitted to PFB are checked twice for originality: during the initial process and again after technical approval.

PFB considers plagiarism to include  redundant publishing (partial or full reproduction of  a previously published text), text recycling (sections of the same text appear in multiple publications by the same author without attribution of authorship, also known as self-plagiarism), and using literal or paraphrased excerpts without citation.

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Conflict of interests

A conflict of interest is considered to be anything that might compromise the impartiality of manuscript evaluation.

Authors, editors and reviewers must declare any conflict of interest.

Authors should declare any potential conflicts in the cover letter.

Editors should report any potential conflicts to the Editorial Committee.

Reviewers must declare any conflict of interest to the Editor immediately after accessing the manuscript, interrupting the evaluation process.

 

Examples of conflict of interest:

Personal or academic: relationships of friendship or kinship, competition and/or hostility between parties.

Institutional: when the publication process may be facilitated or complicated depending on the institution where the study was conducted.

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Genetic Heritage or Associated Traditional Knowledge 

For studies conducted in Brazil involving genetic heritage or associated traditional knowledge, the cover letter must state that the manuscript is in compliance with the Brazilian Biodiversity Law (13.123/2015 – Access and Benefits Sharing of Genetic Heritage and Associated Traditional Knowledge).

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Confidentiality

Reviewers, editors and members of the editorial team shall keep the information contained in submitted manuscripts confidential, even after evaluation is complete.

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Updated November 21st, 2024