General editorial policies

Applied Biofilm Science (ABS) is dedicated to maintaining transparency, reproducibility, and rigorous ethical standards in scientific publishing. All authors, reviewers, and editors are required to adhere to the following core policies.

1. Data Availability and Sharing

To foster reproducibility and accelerate advancements in biofilm research, ABS requires authors to make the data underlying their findings accessible to the scientific community.

  • Data Availability Statement: All manuscripts must include a "Data Availability Statement" before the reference list. This statement must explicitly describe where the data supporting the results can be found.

  • Public Repositories: We strongly encourage authors to deposit large datasets into recognized, publicly accessible repositories prior to publication.

    • Sequence Data: Genomic, transcriptomic, and microbiome sequencing data must be deposited in repositories such as NCBI (GenBank/SRA), the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), or the DDBJ, with accession numbers provided in the text.

    • Images and Datasets: High-resolution microscopy, biofilm quantification datasets, and code should be deposited in general-purpose repositories (e.g., Figshare, Zenodo, Dryad) that issue permanent Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs).

  • Data on Request: If data cannot be publicly shared due to ethical or legal restrictions (e.g., patient privacy or proprietary industrial formulations), this must be clearly stated and justified in the Data Availability Statement.

2. Conflicts of Interest (Competing Interests)

To ensure the objectivity and integrity of the peer-review process, all participants must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could be perceived to influence the research or its evaluation.

  • Authors: Must declare any financial interests (e.g., funding, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, patents related to anti-biofilm technologies) or non-financial interests (e.g., personal or professional relationships) that could influence the work. If none exist, authors must state: "The authors declare no conflicts of interest."

  • Reviewers: Must decline the invitation to review a manuscript if they have collaborated with the authors recently, share an institutional affiliation, or possess a direct financial interest in the research outcomes.

  • Editors: Will recuse themselves from handling manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest. In such cases, the manuscript will be reassigned to another member of the editorial board.

3. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models

Applied Biofilm Science recognizes the evolving role of AI in scientific research while upholding the principle of human accountability.

  • Authorship: Artificial Intelligence tools (such as ChatGPT, Claude, or other large language models) cannot take public responsibility for the integrity of a scientific paper. Therefore, AI tools cannot be listed as authors.

  • Disclosure: If authors use AI tools to assist with drafting the manuscript text, translating content, writing code, or analyzing data, they must transparently disclose the name of the tool, its version, and how it was used in the Materials and Methods or Acknowledgments section.

  • Responsibility: Authors remain entirely responsible for all content produced with the assistance of AI, including the accuracy of the data, the absence of plagiarism, and the validity of citations.

4. Corrections, Retractions, and Post-Publication Issues

In accordance with COPE guidelines, the journal is committed to correcting the scientific record when necessary.

  • Corrections (Errata/Corrigenda): A Correction will be published if a significant error is discovered that affects the scientific record, the integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors (e.g., a mislabeled figure or a missing author), provided the underlying science remains sound.

  • Retractions: An article may be retracted if the core findings are found to be highly unreliable. This includes cases of scientific misconduct (e.g., data fabrication, image manipulation, severe plagiarism) as well as honest but catastrophic experimental errors. Retracted articles remain on the journal's website but are clearly watermarked as "RETRACTED."

  • Editorial Expressions of Concern: The Editor-in-Chief may issue an Expression of Concern if serious allegations are raised regarding an article and an institutional investigation is pending or inconclusive.

5. Archiving and Digital Preservation

To guarantee that the scientific record remains permanently accessible regardless of the journal's future status, Applied Biofilm Science ensures long-term digital preservation.

  • PKP Preservation Network: As a journal utilizing Open Journal Systems (OJS), all published content is automatically deposited into the PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN).

  • LOCKSS/CLOCKSS: The journal is configured to enable LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) and CLOCKSS systems to create decentralized, distributed archives among participating libraries worldwide.