Ethical Guidelines for Research and Publication

Chapter 1. General ethical principles

Article 1. Objective

The Objective of this ethical Guidelines is to provide the basic principles and directions for ethical practices required to ensure ethics and academic integrity in research.

Article 2. Truth in Research & Statement

① The research ranging from designing the research to reporting of results should be conducted accurately and truthfully.

② The opinion based on the scientific evidence should be objectively stated.

Chapter 2. Responsibilities of Authors

Article 1. Research Misconduct

① Authors should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation. Authors should describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.

② Research Misconduct include the following:
    - Any falsification of research results
    - Any fabrication of research results
    - Any plagiarism by incorporating someone else's research content, including results, without the author's permission
      and referencing its source.

③ Any misconduct discovered after publication should be governed by the Research Ethics Committee in AJBC.

④ Authors who wish to involve minors (age under 19) or their family members (spouse, offspring, relatives as far as fourth, and so on)(hereafter, “people with personal connections”) in their research including when they publish or present papers, should clearly demonstrate the contribution to the research and to the manuscript writing process from those people who are personally connected to.

⑤ When submitting a co-author paper with personal connections, authors should submit 'Pre-release Form for Co-authoring a Publication with People with Personal Connection'.

Article 2. Citation and Acknowledgements of Sources

① When Author uses manuscripts or words of others, the original is been appropriately cited or author accurately reflects individuals' contributions to the manuscript

② Proper acknowledgment of manuscript of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately, as in conversation, correspondence, or discussion with third parties, must not be used or reported without explicit written permission from the source. Information obtained in the course of confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications, must not be used without the explicit written permission of the author of the work involved in these services.

Article 3. Duplicate Publications

① Authors should adhere to publication requirements that Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

② No part of the accepted manuscript should be duplicated in any other scientific journal without the permission of the Editorial Board.

Article 4. Conflict of Interest Statement

① The corresponding author must inform the editor of any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the authors’ interpretation of the data.

② Sources of funding applicable to the study should be explicitly stated.

Chapter 3. Responsibilities of Reviewers & Editors

Article 1. Responsibilities of Reviewers

① Reviewers should evaluate the manuscripts objectively and fairly.

② Results of the review should be explained in detail without words that might insult the authors.

③ Reviewers should not use the content of the manuscript for any purpose other the purpose of review.

Article 2. Responsibilities of Editors

① Editors should monitor and safeguard Ethical Guidelines for Research and Publication.

② Editors should not disclose any information related to the manuscript review.

③ Editors maintain responsibility and authority.
    - to reject and accept articles
    - to avoid any conflict of interest with respect to articles they reject or accept
    - to promote publication of corrections or retractions when errors are found
    - to preserve the anonymity of reviewers.

Chapter 4. The Research Ethics Committee.

(hereinafter called "the Committee")

Article 1. Composition of the Committee

① The Committee consist of three standing directors dissociated from the interests or more, including the editor in chief.

② The Committee members should be appointed from the standing directors by the chairman of AJBC, the President of the Committee is elected by the committee from among its members.

③ The President of the Committee should invite One or more external specialist in the Committee.

Article 2. Responsibility and Authority of the Committee

① The Committee should review the ethical standards which authors, reviewers, editors are to follow and take necessary action.

② The Committee meeting can take place upon request of the President of the Committee or at least two committee members.

③ The Committee meeting can be called by a majority of members, and a decision is made by a two-thirds vote of the members present.

Article 3. Request for Deliberations

① Anyone concerned with AJBC can request, in writing or via email, the deliberations of the Committee on whether a specific member’s conduct violates research ethics or not. Any request for deliberation of the Committee should be made in real name.

② It is identical with the request for deliberation that the president or the member of the Committee recognize ethics violation.

③ The President of the Committee should hold the meeting within 10 days after receipt of the request for deliberation or recognition of violating fact.

Article 4. Process of Deliberation and Notice of Results

① The Committee can call for the attendance of the applicant for deliberation, the individual alleged to be in violation and any witness. Interviews and relevant data presentation can be also requested, if necessary.

② If the alleged person neither shows up nor presents any data without reasonable reasons, the legally effective certification, the Committee assumes that the person accepts the allegation of violating ethics standards.

③ The Committee should review the research methods and results being involved in violation in a fair and in-depth manner before making a decision on whether an ethic violation occurred or not.

④ Either the alleged person or the applicant can present their responses to the results or have a chance to explain their reasons.

⑤ If ethics violation occurred, the Committee can propose a disciplinary action or a sanction against the person who committed violation to the CEO of the person’s workplace.

⑥ The Committee can propose a disciplinary action or a sanction against the person who reported falsified or untruthful information to the Committee, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to the CEO of the person’s workplace.

⑦ The Committee members should not announce or disclose anything related to the alleged person or the deliberation process to a third party.

⑧ The Committee should complete the deliberation for any case within three months after receipt of the request for deliberation and notify the involved individuals in writing of the results within two weeks after the deliberation.

Article 5. Content of Sanction

After notifying the results on identified violation of ethics standards, the Committee should impose the following sanctions, wholly or partially, for a specific period in accordance with the vote result.

① Cancel the publication of the respective manuscript and announcement on website

② No acceptance of the manuscript from the person who committed an ethics violation for the next five years

③ Deprive of his or her membership

④ Notify the CEO of his or her workplace of the violation

⑤ Report the violation to the police

Article 6. Re-deliberation

① Either the alleged person or the applicant can appeal for re-deliberation in writing, within 10 days after receiving the deliberation results.

② The Committee should decide whether it will hold re-deliberation by a majority vote within 60 days after receipt of the appeal.

Article 7. Education for Members

AJBC should provide education in public on the code of ethics at least once a year.

Chapter 5. Respect for Human & Animal

Article 1. General principle

We should respect the life, property, dignity and privacy of others and shoud not violate or infringe their rights. At the same time, researchers, reviewers, editors must treat people fairly regardless of race, religion, gender, disability, age and nationality.

Article 2. Human subject

① Any study including human subjects or human data must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). For further information on investigations involving human material, please refer to the principles in the Declaration of Helsinki.

② Articles where human subjects can be identified in descriptions, photographs or pedigrees must be accompanied by a signed statement of informed consent to publish (in print and online) the descriptions, photographs and pedigrees from each subject who can be identified.

③ Copies of written informed consent documents should be kept for studies on human subjects. For clinical studies of human subjects, a certificate, agreement, or approval by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the author’s institution is required. If necessary, the editor or reviewers may request copies of these documents to resolve questions about IRB approval and study conduct.

Article 3. Animal subject

① Animal experiments should also be reviewed by an appropriate committee (IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and use Committee) for the care and the use of animals.

② Studies involving pathogens requiring a high degree of biosafety should pass review of a relevant committee (IBC: Institutional Biosafety Committee).

Chapter 6 Gender Innovation Regulations

Article 1 (Research Subjects or Research Methods)

① In the case of cell experiments, animal experiments, or clinical research (all studies involving humans), sex indicating biological differences and gender indicating mental or cultural distinctions must be distinguished.

② Researchers must report the sex, gender, or both of the study participants, and the sex of the animal or cell. It should also describe the methods used to determine sex and gender.

③ In the case of research with only one gender, justifiable grounds must be reasonably presented in the manuscript.

Appendix

These guidelines were enacted on November 11, 2007.

These guidelines went into effect on January 1, 2016.

These guidelines were revised in May 01, 2021.