Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia and publishes original research reports, systematic review, meta-analysis, and invited review articles and case studies. A comprehensive communication might be considered for publication. We welcome submissions in the areas of basic and clinical anatomy and histology; which cover the study of morphology, histotechniques, neuroscience, anthropology, medical genetics, embryology, kinesiology, medical education, and other related fields of medicine and health sciences, particularly from South-East Asia, although papers from other regions could be given special consideration.

Section Policies

RESEARCH

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

LITERATURE REVIEW

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

CASE REPORT

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

Submitted manuscript will be subjected to a double-blind peer-reviewing to assess the originality of the topic and its contribution to the body of science, soundness of theory and methodology, analysis coherences, and communicability to the readers. 

The double-blind peer review process means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from each other throughout the review process. The review process is done by at least 2 independent peer-reviewers. The whole  process takes approximately 10-12 weeks. 

Publication Frequency

Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) is published twice a year in January and July. 

Open Access Policy

This journal retains copyright but provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

This journal  (p-ISSN:0215-8833; e-ISSN:2716-0920) is licensed under  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...  

Plagiarism Statement

Any submitted manuscript must be free from plagiarism. Also, it must be passing the Turnitin screening at the grade of less than 20% with no similarity of more than 10 words in a sentence. Any manuscript that does not meet this requirement must be revised by its authors prior to the re-submission. Authors must obtain permission to reproduce any copyright material, and include an acknowledgement of the source in their article. Authors must be aware that the unreferenced use of the published and unpublished ideas, writing or illustrations of others, from whatever source (including research grant applications), or submission of a complete paper under 'new' authorship in the same or a different language, constitutes plagiarism.

 

Publication Ethics

The ethical rules of conduct are established by all parties involved in the publication of articles in this journal, including the authors, the editor-in-chief, the editorial board, peer-reviewer as well as publisher. This statement is adopted under Committe on Publication Ethics (COPE).

Duties of Authors

1. Reporting Manuscript’s Standards

Authors must present an accurate account of the original article (research, review, or case report) performed as well as an objective discussion. A manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to permit others to replicate the work. Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification, or inappropriate data manipulation. Review articles should be accurate, objective, and comprehensive. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable. The author(s) must state any funding sources (if applicable), conflict of interests, and submit, along with the manuscript, the ethical clearance for original research report, or signed informed consent for study participation and publication from the patient(s) and/or the legal guardian(s) for the case study articles.

Manuscripts should follow the submission guidelines of the journal. Authors are also encouraged to apply acceptable checklists in this journal i.e., CASP, COREQ, CHEERS, CROSS, ENTREQ, GRADE-CERQual, GRIPP2, PRISMA (2020), PRISMA-ScR, SRQR, STROBE, TIDieR-PHP, and TRIPOD.

2. Originality and Plagiarism

Authors must ensure that submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere. The manuscript should not be submitted concurrently to more than one publication unless the editors have agreed to co-publication. Relevant previous work and publications, both by other researchers and the authors’ own, should be properly acknowledged and referenced.

Please be advised that all manuscripts submitted to the Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) will be screened for plagiarism/duplication. Authors are required to paraphrase all reference citations in their own words. This is to prevent any misunderstandings regarding plagiarism. In the case where a particular citation would lose its original meaning and essence if paraphrasing is attempted, the Journal requires authors to enclose the citation in quotation marks (“ ”) to indicate that it is a direct quote from the source. However, excessive use of such quotation marks is discouraged and should be utilized only when absolutely necessary. Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) adopts a zero-tolerance toward plagiarism. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in the outright rejection of manuscripts without peer review, and appropriate action will be taken.

3. Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study together with the manuscript for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable.

4. Duplicate and Redundant Publications (Dual Submission)

Authors must avoid duplicate publications. Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Multiple publications arising from a single research project should be clearly identified as such and the primary publication should be referenced.

Submissions that are identical (or substantially similar) to previously published, or accepted for publication, or that have been submitted in parallel to other conferences are NOT appropriate for submission to Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) and violate our dual submission policy. If the author(s) are in doubt, particularly in the case of material that has been posted on a website, the author(s) may proceed with the submission but include a copy of the relevant previously published work or work under consideration by other journals. Near-duplicate submissions or multiple submissions with an excessive amount of overlap in their text or technical content are NOT acceptable. The editors reserve the right to reject immediately all submissions which they deem to be excessively similar and by the same authors. Such “shotgun submissions” are unacceptable, unfair to authors who submit single original papers, and place an additional strain on the review process.

5. Acknowledgement of Sources

Authors should acknowledge all sources of data used in the research and cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given.

6. Authorship of the Paper

The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting. Authors ensure that all the authors have seen and agreed to the submitted version of the manuscript. Others who have made significant contributions must be listed as co-authors. Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.

7. Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

Authors have to clearly disclose any financial or other substantive conflicts of interest that might be supposed to influence the results or interpretation of manuscripts. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

8. Fundamental Errors in Published Works

In case the author discovers an error or inaccuracy in their submitted manuscript, the author should promptly notify the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with the editor to correct the paper.

9. Hazards and Human or Animal Subjects

The author should clearly identify in the manuscript if the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use. If the work involves the use of animals or human participants, the authors should ensure that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants. The privacy rights of human participants must always be observed.

10. Subject consent forms

Subjects have a right to privacy that should not be infringed without informed consent. Identifying details (written or photographic) should be omitted if they are not essential, but subject data should never be altered or falsified in an attempt to attain anonymity. Complete anonymity is difficult to achieve, and a consent form should be obtained if there is any doubt. For example, masking the eye region in photographs of subjects is inadequate protection of anonymity. When informed consent has been obtained, it should be indicated in the published article.

11. Ethics committee approval

Authors must sign a declaration that the research was conducted within the guidelines below and under the terms of all relevant local legislation. The Editors reserve the right to judge the appropriateness of the use and treatment of humans or animals in experiments for publication in the journal.

a. Human experiments

All work must be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Papers describing experimental work on human participants which carries a risk of harm must include (1) a statement that the experiments were conducted with the understanding and the consent of each participant, and (2) a statement that the responsible, ethical committee has approved the experiments.

b. Animal experiments

In papers describing experiments on living animals, include (1) a full description of any anesthetic and surgical procedure used, and (2) evidence that all possible steps were taken to avoid animals' suffering at each stage of the experiment. In experiments involving the use of muscle relaxants, describe the precautions taken to ensure adequate anesthesia. Experiments on isolated tissues: Indicate precisely how you obtained the donor tissue. The NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals gives guidelines for the acquisition and care of animals.

12. Clinical trials and behavioural evaluations

Authors reporting results of randomized controlled trials should include with their submission a complete checklist from the CONSORT statement. For behavioral and public health evaluations involving non-randomized designs, authors should include with their submission a complete checklist from the TREND statement, see Am J Public Health 2004; 94:361-366.

13. Registration of clinical trials

Clinical registration of the trial in a public registry is required. Registration of a trial must be at or before the enrollment of participants. This policy, in concert with that of the ICMJE, applies to clinical trials starting enrollment after 1 July 2005. For trials beginning enrollment before this date, the journal will require registration by 13 September 2005. We will use the definition proposed by the ICMJE of a 'clinical trial as a research project that prospectively assigns human subjects to intervention or comparison groups to study a cause and effect relationship between a medical intervention and a health outcome' (see N Engl J Med 2004; 364:911). Studies such as phase 1 trials will be exempt. The editors do not advocate one particular registry but require that the registry be utilized to meet the criteria set out in the statement of policy of the ICMJE. Thus, the registry must include an identifying number of the trial, a description of the intervention(s), comparison(s) investigated, hypothesis, primary and secondary outcome measures, eligibility and exclusion criteria, dates of start, anticipated follow-up, and closure, number of subjects, funding source, and contact information for the principal investigator.

Duties of Editor

1. Publication Decisions

Based on the review report of the editorial board, the editor can accept, reject, or request modifications to the manuscript. Editors have to ensure the quality of the material they publish and maintain the integrity of the published record.

2. Review of Manuscripts

The editor must ensure that each manuscript is initially evaluated by the editor for originality. Editors should critically assess the ethical conduct of studies in humans and animals. The editor should organize and use peer review fairly and wisely. Editors should explain their peer review processes in the information for authors and also indicate which parts of the journal are peer-reviewed. Editors should use appropriate peer reviewers for papers that are considered for publication by selecting people with sufficient expertise and avoiding those with conflicts of interest.

3. Fair Play

An important part of the responsibility to make fair and unbiased decisions is the upholding of the principle of editorial independence and integrity. The editor must ensure that each manuscript received by the journal is reviewed for its intellectual content without regard to sex, gender, race, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

4. Confidentiality

The editor must ensure that information regarding manuscripts submitted by the authors is kept confidential. Editors should critically assess any potential breaches of data protection and patient confidentiality. Editors and editorial staff will not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher.

5. Disclosure and conflicts of interest

The editor of the Journal will not use unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript for his own research without written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained by editors as a result of handling the manuscript will be kept confidential and not used for their personal advantage. 

Duties of Reviewers

Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) applies a double-blind peer-review process. The peer-review is done by at least two independent reviewers who have no conflict of interest.

1. Confidentiality

Information regarding manuscripts submitted by authors should be kept confidential and be treated as privileged information. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.

2. Contribution to editorial decisions

Peer review assists editors in making editorial decisions and, through editorial communications with authors, may assist authors in improving the manuscripts. Peer review is a heart of a scientific endeavor.

3. Standards of objectivity

Review of submitted manuscripts must be done objectively and the reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. The reviewers should be constructive in their reviews and provide feedback that will help the authors to improve their manuscript.

4. Promptness

The reviewers should respond in a reasonable time frame. Any invited reviewer who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should immediately notify the editors and decline the invitation to review so that alternative reviewers can be contacted.

5. Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that is an observation, derivation, or argument that has been reported in previous publications should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also notify the editors of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other manuscript (published or unpublished) of which they have personal knowledge.

6. Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Article Processing Charge

No charges are applied to submission, article processing, peer-reviewing, and publication of the article.  

Repository Policy

Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) allows authors to deposit versions of their work. All of published articles in Majalah Biomorfologi (Biomorphology Journal) are deposited in LOCKSS, Dimension and  Portal Garuda repository.