Peer-review and Editorial Policies | Marine Biological Journal

PROCEDURE
of submitting, reviewing, and publishing articles
in the Marine Biological Journal

1. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1.1. Considered for publication in the Marine Biological Journal are scientific reports in Russian or English which have not been published previously and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or in proceedings of a conference, workshop, meeting, etc.).

1.2. Original materials submitted for publication in the Marine Biological Journal should meet the requirements of relevance and scientific novelty of the work, originality of the research problem and methods applied, and high scientific and applied significance of the results obtained. The manuscript should contain a concise and clear exposition of the current state of the problem under study, description of the research methods, presentation and discussion of the data obtained by the Author, and crisp conclusions. It is advisable that the text of the manuscript presented in English be proof-read by an English-speaking colleague prior to being sent to the Editorial Office.

1.3. In order to implement a coherent editorial policy, publication of custom articles, whose length is determined by the Editorial Board, on a subject preliminarily agreed with Authors is permissible.

1.4. Authors, Editors and Reviewers of the Marine Biological Journal should adhere to the journal’s ethical guidelines which are presented on the official website of the journal.

1.5. When preparing the manuscript (both in printed and in electronic versions), the Authors should follow the Guidelines for Authors of the Marine Biological Journal. Manuscripts that are not compliant with the Guidelines will not be considered.

1.6. Authors should send to the postal address IBSS, 2 Nakhimov ave., Sevastopol, 299011, Russia:

- printed version of the manuscript signed by all the Authors;

- license agreement, signed by all the Authors, meaning transfer of exclusive rights to publish and distribute the article.

Two filled copies of a form are sent. After the article is approved for publication, one of the copies is returned to Authors with the signature of a responsible person of the Editorial Board. The agreement comes into force since the article publication approval.
It is also permissible to send a scanned file of the license agreement signed by all the Authors using the e-mail address of the corresponding Author.

1.7. To an e-mail address mbj@imbr-ras.ru or through the form of registration and sending of manuscripts on the journal website Authors should send also the following files (formatted according to the requirements specified in the Guidelines for Authors):

- an electronic version of the manuscript identical to the printed one sent to the Editorial Board by post;

- graphic files of the figures;

- metadata about all the Authors of the manuscript (according to the form);

- declaration of conflict of interests (stated in free form, in accordance with the ethical guidelines adopted in the journal), if any.

1.8. Acceptance of a manuscript for publication implies the transfer of the copyright to the publisher; thereafter, the manuscript shall not be published anywhere without a permission of the Editorial Board of the journal.

1.9. The Editorial Board of the journal reserves the right to edit the text of a manuscript in agreement with the Authors.

1.10. If the manuscript is written by several authors, the co-authors entrust one of them (corresponding author) to correspond on their behalf with the editors of Marine Biological Journal regarding the reviewing the manuscript and publication of the article and make the required changes to the text of the manuscript, indicating its e-mail address in the text of the manuscript submitted. Coordination of the co-authors opinions regarding the need to make changes to the text of the manuscript is assigned by the co-authors to the corresponding author.

1.11. Authors are expected to consider the list and order of authors before submitting their manuscript. Any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should be made only before the manuscript is accepted and only if approved by the issue Editor. To request such a change, the corresponding author must send an appropriate letter to editorial e-mail, specify the reason for the change in author list, and provide written confirmation from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal, or rearrangement. In case of addition or removal of authors, this implies confirmation from the added or removed author (-s) from their e-mail address (-es). Metadata of the added authors must be sent, too. Only in exceptional cases the Editorial Board considers the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript is accepted. While the Editor considers the request, the publication of the manuscript ought to be suspended.

1.12. If the Editorial Board’s decision after the peer-review process is that the manuscript needs correction and revision, the Authors are given a three-month period to prepare a revised version of the manuscript and a reply to Reviewers (if necessary). After the expiry of this period, the article resubmitted by the Author is considered as newly submitted and will be re-reviewed.

2. PROCEDURE OF REVIEWING MANUSCRIPTS SUBMITTED TO THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL

2.1. The Editorial Board sends submitted manuscripts of scientific reports for peer review to obtain independent opinions on the scientific level of the manuscripts. For each manuscript the Editorial Board invites two Reviewers who are experts in the subject matter and have academic degrees of PhD or D. Sc. Reviewers should not be employees of the same organization where the Authors of the reviewed manuscript work. The peer review is double-blind: information about the authorship of the manuscript under review is not sent to Reviewers, and information about the Reviewers is not reported to the Authors. Submitted brief reports are sent by the Editorial Board for peer review to one Reviewer; the reviewing is also blind.

Manuscripts prepared for the Historical Chronicles, Chronicle and Information, and Reviews sections are not reviewed, and decision on publication of these manuscripts is made by the Editorial Board.

2.2. The Reviewer should review a submitted article within three weeks of its receipt and send the report or a reasoned refusal from reviewing to the Editorial Board.

2.3. Guided by the editorial policy, the declaration of publication ethics in the Marine Biological Journal, and the scientific level of the article, the Reviewer must give an overall assessment of the manuscript and, on the basis of his/her assessment, a reasoned recommendation of acceptance, revision or rejection of the manuscript.

The Reviewer's comments should contain exact wording that gives the Author and the Editorial Board clear ideas about the Reviewer's opinion on the degree to which the manuscript meets the requirements of the journal and on ways to eliminate identified inconsistencies and shortcomings of the manuscript.

The review form (download .doc).

2.4. If one negative review has been received, the Editorial Board sends the manuscript for an additional ("arbitral") reviewing. In case of receiving two negative opinions of Reviewers, the Editorial Board at its meeting decides to reject the manuscript, about which the Authors are notified on behalf of the Editor-in-Chief of the Marine Biological Journal with an enclosed copy of the reviews and the decision of the Editorial Board.

3. PROCEDURE OF PUBLISHING ARTICLES IN THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL

3.1. After completion of the peer review process, the manuscript along with the received reviews and copyright transfer agreement is considered at a meeting of the Editorial Board.

3.2. If there is disagreement over publication of the submitted manuscript among the members of the Editorial Board, the question of recommendation of its publication is resolved by a simple majority of votes in an open voting (in case of the same number of votes in favor and against, the vote of the Editor-in-Chief is decisive). The quorum for the decision is 50 % + one vote of the total number of the Editorial Board members.

3.3. The Editorial Board has the right to refuse publication of a manuscript on grounds of the negative reviews received, unfitness of the subject matter of the manuscript to the scope of the journal, and the unsatisfactory quality of the presentation of the materials submitted.

3.4. Abstracts of the manuscripts that have successfully been peer reviewed are sent by the responsible secretary of the Editorial Board for publishing and subsequent free viewing and download on the official website of “Marine Biological Journal” under the heading “Accepted for the publication manuscripts /just accepted”

3.5. The next issue of the journal is compiled from the manuscripts that have successfully been peer reviewed and approved by the Editorial Board by the publishing editor appointed by the Editorial Board and the responsible secretary of the Editorial Board.

As a rule, manuscripts for a current issue of the journal are selected in the order of receipt of the final version (after all improvements). Scientific articles of graduate students may be published out of turn.

3.6. After the approval of a list of articles in a current issue of the journal by the Editorial Board, the journal issue is presented by the Editor-in-Chief at a meeting of the Academic Council of IBSS.

3.7. After the approval of the contents of a current issue and recommendation of its printing by the decision of the Academic Council of IBSS, the issue of the journal is published in a printed version.

3.8. Article text files for the next issue (in the original layout of the printed version and Russian-language texts fully translated into English) are published for free viewing and download on the official website of “Marine Biological Journal” under the headings “Current issue” and “Issues”

3.9. There is no publication fee nor are there any royalty payments for Authors. An Author (a team of authors) who has published an article in an issue of the Marine Biological Journal is given one copy of this printed journal issue free of charge.