Policies

About the Journal – Policies

Scope and Focus

The ACCB Journal (ACCB Journal) is an international scientific publication. It publishes original and unpublished articles, topic reviews, case studies, and brief communications in the field of biological sciences, with a special emphasis on: animal biology, plant biology, environmental sciences and sustainable development, agricultural sciences, biomedical sciences, genomics and biotechnology, and science education. Additionally, it considers other topics deemed of general interest by the Editorial Committee. The journal has been published continuously since 1988 with an annual frequency.

ACCB Journal adheres to the guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (http://publicationethics.org/), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (www.icmje.org), and the Equator Network (http://www.equator-network.org/) to ensure the quality of scientific publications, transparency, integrity, and adherence to ethical research principles.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts submitted to ACCB Journal undergo a double-blind peer review process to ensure that their selection meets the required quality and impact criteria for the scientific, professional, and academic community targeted by the journal.

The review process follows these steps:

1. Initial Editorial Review: The Editorial Committee evaluates the manuscript to determine compliance with editorial policies before proceeding to the next phase.
2. Peer Review: If the manuscript passes the initial review, it is anonymously evaluated by two external reviewers. If one reviewer rejects the manuscript while the other approves it, a third reviewer is assigned. All reviewers follow public evaluation criteria (Evaluation Form) available on the journal’s platform. The final decision (acceptance or rejection) is based on the reviewers’ evaluations and communicated to the authors.

Confidentiality

All documents under review are confidential. Reviewers must refrain from disclosing, using, or benefiting from the information in the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

Reviewers must decline review requests if they have collaborated, directly or indirectly, with the authors or if they have potential conflicts of interest.

Additionally, reviewers must inform the Editorial Committee if:

• They lack sufficient expertise in the manuscript’s specific subject area.
• They suspect plagiarism or fraud, such as substantial copying from another work or falsified data.

Review Process Timeline

• Review invitations are sent via email to reviewers. Reviewers must accept or decline the request within 5 days.
• Reviewers must submit their report and recommendations within 20 days from the request date. In addition to completing the evaluation form, they may attach additional comments in a separate document.
• The final recommendation must align with the qualitative observations made in the review.

Possible Outcomes of the Review

1. Accepted: A manuscript is approved if two blind peer reviews are positive. It may be accepted with or without modifications.
2. Not Accepted: A manuscript is rejected if two blind peer reviews are negative.
3. Accepted with Modifications: The manuscript requires content revisions that the author(s) must address before final acceptance.

Authors must provide a detailed explanation of the changes made to comply with the reviewers’ recommendations. If they disagree with any suggestions, they must justify their reasons.

All decisions regarding the manuscript are communicated to the corresponding author as quickly as possible. The timeline depends on the complexity of the topic and the availability of expert reviewers.

If the manuscript is accepted, ACCB Journal proceeds with the publication process. If rejected, the reasons for rejection, based on the peer reviewers’ evaluations, are communicated to the author.

ACCB Journal reserves the right to accept or reject submissions based on Editorial Committee recommendations and peer reviews. The journal may also suggest editorial revisions as necessary. Submission does not guarantee publication.

Publication Frequency

• Annual

Open Access Policy

This journal provides open access to its content, based on the principle that free public access to research fosters greater global knowledge exchange.

Authors are allowed to distribute their articles in pre-print, post-print, and official versions without prior permission from the journal or publisher, provided that:

• The distribution is non-commercial.
• No derivative works are created.
• The original source and authorship are properly credited.

Ethical Standards and Best Practices

ACCB Journal upholds the responsibility of promoting knowledge dissemination and transfer. The journal is committed to ensuring the ethics and quality of the articles it publishes. It follows the COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practices for publication ethics.

The Editorial Committee is responsible for publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when necessary.

Author Responsibilities

• Authors must guarantee that their articles are original and have not been previously submitted or published in another journal.
• Manuscripts must follow the journal’s submission guidelines.
• All authors must have significantly contributed to the research.
• Authors are required to make necessary revisions or correct errors as requested.

The journal performs plagiarism and self-plagiarism checks on all submitted articles. Manuscripts found to contain unethical practices will be permanently removed from the journal, whether published or not, and their authors will be permanently banned.

By accepting the journal’s terms and conditions, authors automatically agree to these sanctions, without appeal.

Editor Responsibilities

• Editors have the authority to accept or reject articles.
• Editors must ensure that they have no conflict of interest regarding the articles they evaluate.
• If errors are identified, editors will encourage the publication of corrections or retractions while maintaining reviewer anonymity.

Plagiarism Policy

ACCB Journal strictly enforces an anti-plagiarism policy. All submitted articles undergo plagiarism detection using specialized software. The final decision on whether a manuscript should be rejected due to plagiarism or fraud rests with the editor.

Publication Fees

ACCB Journal does not charge any fees for article submission or publication.

Sponsors

• Colombian Association of Biological Sciences

Contact Information

• Email:
• Physical Address:
• Office Hours:

Submission Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors must ensure that their manuscript meets the following requirements. Submissions that do not comply with these guidelines will be returned to the authors.

✔ The article is original and authored by the submitting authors.
✔ The article has not been submitted to another journal.
✔ Whenever possible, URLs or DOIs are provided for references.
✔ The article is submitted in Microsoft Word format, using Times New Roman, size 12, single-spaced, no indentation, and one-column format.
✔ The manuscript follows the submission guidelines.
✔ References are formatted according to the Vancouver style.