Correction of errors in the scientific record

Should an author discern a significant error or inaccuracy in the published article, they are responsible for notifying JEB’s Editor-in-Chief, and should work together with the Editor-in-Chief to retract or correct the paper. If the Editor-in-Chief or the publisher learn that a published article contains a significant error, the author will be asked to correct, or possibly retract, the paper or assist verification by the Editor-in-Chief of the correctness of the original paper.

Errata and corrigenda

Should an error appear in a published article that affects scientific meaning or author credibility but does not affect the overall results and conclusions of the paper, our policy is to publish a correction in print and online in the next available issue of the journal. If an error is introduced by the publishing staff during the editing and/or proofing stages, the journal takes responsibility and a correction is published as an Erratum, with appropriate apologies to authors and readers. If an error is introduced by the authors, the correction is published as a Corrigendum and the author is required to pay all costs associated with the correction (currently £200).

Retractions

Should a paper contain one or more significant errors or inaccuracies that change some or all of the results or conclusions described therein, the entire paper should be retracted. The word ‘retraction’ will be used in the title of the retraction to ensure that it is picked up by indexing systems. The Editor-in-Chief will request an explanation from the author(s) as to how the errors or inaccuracies occurred, and if they are not satisfied with the response they will ask the employers of the authors or some other appropriate body to investigate, and particularly to consider the possibility of fraudulent behaviour. The Editor-in-Chief will make all reasonable attempts to ensure that such an investigation is carried out with due diligence.

Disclaimer

Responsibility for (1) the accuracy of statements of fact, (2) the authenticity of scientific findings or observations, (3) expressions of scientific or other opinion and (4) any other material published in the journal rests solely with the author(s) of the article in which such statements, etc., appear. No responsibility for such matters is assumed by the journal or its owners, publishers, reviewers or staff.

Redundant or concurrent publication

Research manuscripts that describe work already published elsewhere will not be considered. The submission of the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently is also considered to be unethical practice. This does not prevent journals from considering articles that have been rejected by other journals or that were not previously published in full (e.g. abstracts or posters presented at scientific meetings).

By submitting a research article to JEB, the authors undertake that it has not been published previously (this generally includes posting the article on a preprint server) and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

At submission, authors should declare any previous submissions or reports that might be regarded as redundant or duplicate publication. Copies of any such related articles should be included with the submitted manuscript to assist editorial decision making.

If redundant publication is attempted or occurs, editorial action will be taken, including probable rejection or publication of a notice of redundant or duplicate publication.

Originality and plagiarism

Plagiarism is “the use of others’ published and unpublished ideas or words (or other intellectual property) without attribution or permission, and presenting them as new and original rather than derived from an existing source” (according to the World Association of Medical Editors). It is considered a dishonest and unacceptable practice. The words of others can be taken directly from another source in the form of a quotation, using appropriate punctuation and attribution. However, cut-and-pasting sentences or long passages of text in a manner that suggests they are your own is not permitted, even if the original source is cited. By submitting an article, authors are thereby asserting that their work is entirely original and that any previously published text or content has been appropriately cited. Self-plagiarism (reusing one's own work) is also considered unethical. For information on reproducing and attributing figures and other content from other publications in JEB, please see our rights and permissions page.

Image manipulation

Adjustment of digital images with computer software is acceptable. However, the final image must remain representative of the original data, and the corresponding author will be asked to confirm this at submission. Unacceptable manipulations include the addition, alteration or removal of a particular feature of an image, and splicing of multiple images to suggest they represent a single field in a micrograph or gel (any grouping of images from different gels, fields or exposures must be clearly identified in the figure caption and should be obvious from the arrangement of the figure, e.g. by using dividing lines or separate figure parts). Adjustments applied to the whole image are generally acceptable if no specific feature of the original data is obscured as a consequence. If evidence of such inappropriate manipulation is detected, JEB will ask for the original data to be supplied, and, if necessary, may revoke acceptance of the article.

Resource sharing

By publishing in JEB, authors imply that they will make available to their qualified academic colleagues, in a timely manner and with minimal restrictions, materials or specialized reagents (for example, antibodies or DNA probes) needed to duplicate their research results. All manuscripts should describe in the Materials and methods section how the reagents or resources can be obtained or accessed for research purposes.

Experimental subjects

JEB encourages researchers working with animals to follow the recently released ARRIVE guidelines when preparing their studies for publication.

JEB does not allow the publication of papers describing experimental procedures that may reasonably be presumed to have inflicted unnecessary pain, discomfort or disturbance of normal health on living animals. Manuscripts will only be accepted if: (1) it is clear that the advances made in physiological knowledge justified the procedures; (2) appropriate anaesthetic and surgical procedures were followed; (3) adequate steps were taken to ensure that animals did not suffer unnecessarily at any stage of the experiment.

Care and use of experimental animals must comply with all relevant local animal welfare laws, guidelines and policies. The corresponding author will be asked to confirm this at submission, and a statement confirming that experiments conform to the relevant regulatory standards is required in the Materials and methods section of the paper. For research involving human subjects or human tissue, authors must name the committee(s) that approved the experiments in the Materials and methods section of the paper and include with their submission a statement to confirm that informed consent was obtained from all subjects or tissue donors.

Reagents

Note that by publishing in this journal, authors imply that they will make available specialized reagents (for example, antibodies or DNA probes) to other scientists in the field who require them for bona fide purposes.

Microarray data

Microarray data must be made available for reviewers and editors at the time of manuscript submission in a MIAME-compliant and widely accessible format. Please do not submit large raw and/or analysed microarray data files as supplementary data to the journal. Instead, please submit them to either the Gene Expression Omnibus or ArrayExpress repositories and supply the journal with an accession number and any necessary passwords to enable the reviewers and editors of a manuscript to access the data. Microarray data files of 5 Mb or less can be submitted to the journal as supplementary material. We also require that microarray data be submitted to either of these repositories at or before acceptance of a paper for publication, with accession numbers made available before publication.

Sequence data

Sequences must be submitted to the EMBL Database Library or GenBank, with a release date corresponding to the date of publication. Protein sequences that have been determined by direct sequencing of the protein must be submitted to SWISS-PROT at the EBI. All accession numbers should be included in the manuscript. Experimental data should be submitted to the appropriate databases, with a release date corresponding to the date of publication.