Policy

Policy

Peer Review Policy

All submitted manuscripts undergo an initial editorial evaluation to verify their originality, thematic relevance, scientific quality, compliance with the editorial guidelines, and adherence to the ethical principles of Revista Bio Ciencias.

Manuscripts that meet the criteria of this preliminary evaluation are submitted to a double-blind peer review process involving at least two specialists external to the authors' affiliated institutions. During this stage, manuscripts may remain under review for up to six months, as the review period depends on the availability of qualified reviewers.

To ensure the impartiality and objectivity of the peer-review process, selected reviewers must be free of any conflicts of interest with the authors. Consequently, individuals who have been co-authors, have maintained scientific collaborations, participated in joint research projects, or co-authored publications with any of the manuscript's authors within the previous three (3) years are not eligible to serve as reviewers. Likewise, reviewers must decline an invitation to review if personal, professional, institutional, financial, or any other circumstances exist that could compromise the independence and objectivity of their evaluation.

The identities of both the authors and reviewers remain confidential throughout the review process. If reviewers' recommendations differ substantially, the manuscript may be assigned to a third reviewer or submitted to the Editorial Board for a final decision.

Possible editorial decisions are:

  • Accepted
  • Accepted with revisions
  • Rejected

The editorial decision is communicated exclusively to the corresponding author, who is granted a period of three weeks to submit the revised manuscript together with a detailed Response to Reviewers document.

Upon receipt of the revised manuscript and the Response to Reviewers document, the Editorial Team evaluates the revisions within approximately two weeks. Following this assessment, one of the following editorial decisions will be issued:

  • All comments addressed: Preliminary acceptance.
  • Partially addressed: Additional revisions required.
  • Not addressed: Rejected.

Once a manuscript receives preliminary acceptance, the Editorial Team will request the final Spanish and English versions. Authors are granted three weeks to submit both language versions.

After both versions have been received, the manuscript enters the editorial production process, including copyediting, language editing, and verification of compliance with APA Style. Upon successful completion of these stages, the manuscript receives final acceptance and is published in the Articles in Press section.

While in the Articles in Press stage, the manuscript has an assigned DOI and may be formally cited. It will remain at this stage until the final typesetting and layout processes are completed, prior to publication as the Version of Record.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) POLICY

General Principles and Scope

Revista Bio Ciencias recognizes the potential of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and computational data-processing tools to assist scientific communication and research. However, their use must always comply with the principles of academic integrity, transparency, accountability, and scientific rigor. This policy applies to all participants in the editorial process, including authors, reviewers, and members of the Editorial Team, and is aligned with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the criteria of the Mexican National System of Scientific and Humanities Publications (SNPCyH).

AI Cannot Be an Author

In accordance with international publishing standards, Artificial Intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors or co-authors of a manuscript. Authorship requires the capacity to assume legal, ethical, and intellectual responsibility for published content, which can only be exercised by natural persons. Likewise, AI systems must not be cited as the original source of scientific ideas, hypotheses, interpretations, or conclusions.

Conditions for Author Use

Authors may use generative AI tools and Machine Learning models under the following conditions of responsible use.

Acceptable Uses:

  • Language Assistance: AI tools may be used to improve grammar, spelling, clarity, readability, and translation of manuscripts.
  • Bioinformatics and Cheminformatics Applications: AI algorithms and Machine Learning models may be used for: processing spectroscopic data (NMR, mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, etc.), three-dimensional structure prediction (e.g., AlphaFold-like models for proteins or metabolites), molecular modeling and docking studies, chemical and biological data mining, and drug discovery and design.
  • Condition: Authors must validate AI-generated predictions using experimental evidence or established computational methods and remain fully responsible for the interpretation and reporting of results.
  • Literature Exploration: AI tools may be used for preliminary literature mapping, reference discovery, and bibliographic exploration, provided that all references are independently verified by the authors before submission (avoid IA allucination).

Unacceptable Uses and Limitations:

  • Generation of core scientific content: AI must not draft the hypotheses, experimental design, scientific discussion, or conclusions of the study. Critical thinking and the interpretation of results must be exclusively human.
  • Manipulation of experimental data and spectra: It is strictly prohibited to use AI to generate, “smooth,” “complete,” or alter peaks in experimental spectra (NMR, EM, UV-Vis), chromatograms, electrophoresis gels, or microscopy images. Any image or signal processing must be limited to global linear adjustments that are methodologically justifiable.
  • Concealment of the predictive nature: It is not permitted to present results from AI predictive models (e.g., a predicted molecular structure or a biological activity estimated by algorithms) as if they were empirical experimental findings without proper clarification.
  • Fabrication of references: It is not permitted to include bibliographic references generated by AI without verifying their existence and accuracy.

Disclosure Requirements

To ensure traceability and transparency, authors are required to disclose the use of AI tools in their manuscript.

  • Location: The disclosure must be included in a specific section titled “Use of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Tools” (located at the end of the Materials and Methods section, as well as in the Conflict of Interest section).
  • Content of the Disclosure (Data Analysis): If AI models were used for spectroscopic analysis, structure prediction, or cheminformatics, authors must provide the name of the software or algorithm, the version, the training or configuration parameters used, and clearly specify that the results are the product of an AI-assisted predictive model.
  • Content of the statement (Writing): The authors must specify the name of the tool (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, etc.), the developer, the version or model used, and a detailed description of how it was used (e.g., “[Tool XYZ] was used for the initial translation of the draft into English”).

If no AI tools were used, authors must include an explicit statement indicating:

“The authors declare that they did not use generative artificial intelligence tools or machine learning models in the creation or analysis of data for this manuscript.”

Conditions for Reviewer Use

The peer-review process at Revista Bio Ciencias is governed by strict confidentiality requirements.

  • Restrictions on AI Use During Peer Review: Reviewers must not upload unpublished manuscripts, datasets, figures, molecular structures, spectroscopic data, or any confidential material into publicly accessible AI systems for evaluation, summarization, translation, or report generation.

Such actions constitute a serious breach of confidentiality and intellectual property rights.

Handling Cases of Undeclared or Improper Use

The Editorial Team will verify compliance with this policy through:

  • Manual and technical review during the editorial evaluation (with special emphasis on the consistency of spectroscopic data and computational models).
  • Use of AI-generated text detection tools as a support, not as a definitive verdict.

Sanctions:

  • Failure to Disclose: If the use of undeclared AI is detected (even if the use was acceptable, such as solely for style correction or the use of standard AI-based cheminformatics software) during the preliminary review, the manuscript will be put on hold and returned to the authors so they can make the appropriate disclosure before proceeding with the process.
  • Improper or fraudulent use: If it is detected that AI was used to fabricate spectroscopic data, alter scientific images, present computational predictions as empirical data, or generate substantial text without supervision, this will be considered a serious breach of editorial ethics. The manuscript will be rejected immediately, and the journal’s Code of Ethics protocols for addressing misconduct will be activated, which may include notifying the authors’ affiliated institutions and permanently barring them from publishing in the journal.

Publication License

Articles published in Revista Bio Ciencias are distributed under an open-access Creative Commons license, allowing consultation, download, copying, and reuse of content provided appropriate credit is given to the original authors.

Authors retain the moral rights to their work while granting the journal the right of first publication.

The journal does not charge submission fees, article processing charges (APCs), or publication fees, in accordance with the principles of Diamond Open Access and the National System of Scientific and Humanities Publications of Mexico.

Digital Preservation and Metadata Policy

Revista Bio Ciencias, published by the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit (UAN) through the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, considers digital preservation a permanent commitment and responsibility shared by all personnel involved in its editorial management. This policy is not regarded as a secondary technical measure but rather as an essential guarantee for the long-term safeguarding of the intellectual content of officially published electronic archival documents.

The Editorial Board implements a coordinated set of procedures, infrastructures, and international standards to ensure that each information resource maintains five fundamental attributes over time: integrity, authenticity, immutability, originality, reliability, and accessibility.

Preservation Infrastructure and Technological Framework

To achieve maximum resilience against technological obsolescence and ensure a distributed preservation ecosystem, Revista Bio Ciencias incorporates the following components into its preservation strategy:

  • Open Journal Systems (OJS): The journal uses Open Journal Systems (OJS) as its centralized institutional editorial management platform, providing efficient administration of editorial workflows, metadata, and structured storage of published content.
  • Digital Object Identifier (DOI): Each published article is assigned a persistent Digital Object Identifier (DOI) through Crossref. This permanent identifier ensures that article links and web locations remain functional and accessible over time.

Information Backup and Preservation Strategy

The journal maintains a security protocol designed to ensure comprehensive storage and protection of data both within and outside the infrastructure of the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit, according to the following operational criteria.

2.1 Geographically Distributed Storage

  • External Backup Copies: The Editorial Board performs a complete backup of the journal on a regular basis using external physical storage media. These backup copies are stored in a geographic location separate from both the primary and secondary servers, providing protection against natural disasters, infrastructure failures, or regional contingencies.

2.2 Local and Operational Preservation Management

Editorial Workstation Storage

Manuscripts and editorial files are systematically organized and maintained on dedicated journal workstations as well as on the Editor-in-Chief’s computer. Documents are preserved in both editable formats (e.g., Microsoft Word) and dissemination formats (PDF) to facilitate long-term preservation and efficient management.

  • Periodic Backup Procedures: Regular backups of local storage devices are performed using dedicated external storage units, ensuring continuous access to published content and minimizing the risk of data loss due to hardware failures.
  • Institutional Email Traceability: The journal's institutional email accounts serve as a secondary operational backup environment, preserving a complete historical record of communications, peer-review reports, editorial decisions, and interactions with authors.

Digital Preservation Metadata Scheme

Structured metadata constitute the methodological foundation that enables the journal’s scientific production to remain discoverable, retrievable, and interpretable over time. All articles published by Revista Bio Ciencias include the following mandatory metadata elements:

  • Authorship and Affiliation: Full names of all authors, institutional affiliations, and internationally recognized ORCID identifiers.
  • Titles and Abstracts: The complete article title and structured abstract in both the original language and English. The journal may provide formal support for translation when required.
  • Keywords: Conceptual descriptors selected preferably from recognized controlled vocabularies or specialized thesauri, provided in both the original language and English.
  • Publication and Chronological Data: Official journal title, volume, issue, year of publication, page range (or unique article identifier), and official online publication date.
  • Correspondence Information: Updated institutional contact information and email address of the corresponding author.
  • Rights and Licensing Information: Statement of the applicable Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 Unported) and the journal’s immediate open access policy.

Scientific Indexing as a Decentralized Preservation Mechanism

As a complementary component of its visibility and preservation strategy, the presence of Revista Bio Ciencias content across multiple international scholarly platforms substantially reduces the risk of information loss due to changes in local technological infrastructure.

The journal is currently indexed in:

  • Web of Science (WoS) – Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online)
  • DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals )

This broad distribution of metadata and scholarly records ensures that research published by the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit remains discoverable and accessible to the global scientific community, regardless of future technical modifications to the journal’s primary website or hosting infrastructure.

Self-Archiving Policy

Revista Bio Ciencias, published by the Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit (UAN), is an Open Access journal committed to the unrestricted dissemination of scientific knowledge. To ensure the widest possible visibility, impact, and preservation of published research, the following Self-Archiving Policy is established in accordance with Creative Commons licenses and the principles of the Open Science movement.

This policy allows authors to self-archive their work in institutional repositories, subject-specific repositories, and personal or professional websites under the following conditions:

Permitted Versions of the Article

The journal allows the self-archiving of different versions of an article, while prioritizing transparency and recognition of the final version of record:

  • Accepted Version (In Press / Accepted Manuscript): Authors may self-archive the version of the manuscript that has successfully completed peer review and has been accepted for publication. This version may already have a DOI assigned but has not yet undergone the journal’s final formatting, typesetting, or layout process.
  • Published Version: The journal authorizes and encourages the self-archiving of the final publisher-formatted version (PDF). This is the preferred version for dissemination, as it preserves the editorial integrity of the published work.

Embargo Periods

Consistent with the journal’s commitment to immediate and free access to scientific research:

  • Embargo Period: Revista Bio Ciencias does not impose embargo periods. Therefore, self-archiving may be carried out immediately after official publication.
  • Availability: All permitted versions (Accepted Manuscript and Published Version) may be publicly shared and self-archived immediately upon acceptance or publication, without any temporal restrictions.

Dissemination Conditions

To ensure proper self-archiving in institutional repositories, disciplinary repositories (PubMed Central, arXiv), or academic networking platforms (e.g., ResearchGate, Academia.edu), authors must comply with the following requirements:

  • Citation of the Original Source: Authors must clearly indicate that the article was originally published in Revista Bio Ciencias, including the name of the publishing institution (Universidad Autónoma de Nayarit).
  • Permanent Link (DOI): The complete bibliographic citation and the permanent DOI (Digital Object Identifier) link must be included. If a DOI is unavailable, authors must provide the official URL of the article on the journal’s website.
  • License Terms: The dissemination of the article must comply with the terms of the license under which the journal publishes its content. End users may download, share, and adapt the work provided that appropriate credit is given to the original source and that the material is not used for commercial purposes.

By encouraging the self-archiving of the Published Version (Version of Record), Revista Bio Ciencias seeks to enhance the visibility of published research, increase authors' citation rates, and ensure unrestricted access to scientific knowledge for the global academic community.

This policy promotes editorial best practices that prevent duplication and ambiguity in scholarly publishing while facilitating the widest possible dissemination and accessibility of scientific knowledge.

Open science policy

Open Science practices promote the democratization of scientific knowledge, reproducibility, transparency, and global collaboration. In alignment with these principles, Revista Bio Ciencias has adopted the following practices:

  • Self-archiving and preservation in open repositories.
  • Use of interoperable electronic publishing formats such as XML-JATS.
  • Open data policies and the availability of research materials.
  • Adoption of a continuous publication model.

Open Access

Revista Bio Ciencias operates under the Open Access publishing model:

  • Readers: Readers have immediate, free, and permanent access to all published content without economic barriers or registration requirements.
  • Authors: The journal does not charge article processing charges (APCs), submission fees, or publication fees. All editorial and publishing costs are fully supported by the publishing institution.

Licensing: All content published in Revista Bio Ciencias is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits third parties to share, copy, distribute, reproduce, adapt, and build upon the published work in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and to the first publication in Revista Bio Ciencias.