Bioethics policy

Studies involving animals and humans 

For research manuscripts reporting experiments on living vertebrates and / or higher invertebrates, the correspondent author must confirm that all experiments were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and rules. The manuscript should include a statement indicating the institutional and / or licensing committee approving the experiments, including any relevant details. Gender and other characteristics of animals that may affect results should be described. Details of housing and livestock should be included if they can affect experimental results. All animal experiments must comply with ARRIVE guidelines and be conducted in accordance with the EU Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

For a study in which people are participants, authors must identify a committee approving the study, ensure that the work has been carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Helsinki Declaration) and include in your manuscript a statement confirming that informed consent was obtained from all participants (recommendations for obtaining informed consent).

 

Clinical trial registration

Prospective clinical trials should be registered prior to the registration of patients or in a similar public store (trials in which the main purpose is to determine pharmacokinetics are excluded.)

 

Human biological samples

To describe human biological samples, we recommend that you refer to the BRISQ reporting guidelines (reporting on biological samples to improve the quality of the study) and ensure that at least level 1 characteristics are provided (link).

 

Publication of images of participants in human subject research

When publishing identifiable images of study participants, authors should include a statement in the published article confirming that they have received informed consent to publish the images. All reasonable measures should be taken to protect the anonymity of the patient. Black stripes above the eyes are not an acceptable means of anonymization. In some cases, we may insist on obtaining evidence of the informed consent of the authors. Images without appropriate consent will be removed from the publication.

 

Studies involving human embryos, gametes, and stem cells

Manuscripts reporting experiments involving the use of human embryos and gametes, human embryonic stem cells and related materials, as well as the clinical use of stem cells, should include confirmation that all experiments have been performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and the rules.

The manuscript should include an ethical statement that identifies the institutional and / or licensing committees that approve the experiments and describe any relevant details. A statement of ethics should also confirm that informed consent has been obtained from all recipients and / or donors of cells or tissues, where necessary, and describe the conditions of donation of research materials, such as human embryos or gametes. The editors may request copies of approved and edited consent documents.

 

Experiments involving plants or microorganisms

Experiments with plants or microorganisms taken from outside the country of the authors should have been carried out with special permission.

 

Botanical identity. 

For each cultivated medicinal plant, its botanical identity must be established and documented - scientific name (variety, species, subspecies / variety, author and family). The common name (if any) must also be indicated in the local and English languages. If necessary, other relevant information should also be indicated, including the name of the cultivar, its ecotype, chemotype and phenotype.

For cultivated plant varieties available for sale, you must specify its name, as well as the supplier. In the case of collection, breeding, distribution and cultivation of landrace in a particular region, the line should be described with its local name, indicating the sources of origin of the seed, plant or sprout material.

 

Selection of medicinal plants. 

Where appropriate, the species or botanical species that are selected for cultivation should correspond to those indicated in the national pharmacopoeia or recommended by other authoritative national documents of the country of the final consumer. In the absence of such national documents, the selection of species or botanical varieties should be based on the pharmacopoeia or other authoritative documents of other countries. In the case when medicinal plants are considered for the first time, samples or botanical varieties selected for cultivation should be defined and documented as raw materials used or described in traditional medicine of the country of origin.

 

Experimental data

Analytical data should be statistically processed using appropriate programs.

When establishing the structure of substances, the authors must provide sufficient experimental information, in particular, the available 1H and 13C NMR spectra, and X-ray crystalline structural determinations are necessary for metal complexes.

The author is responsible for presenting the correct chemical nomenclature and terminology.

An accurate description of each data set should be provided, which is shown and should include the number of biological repeats, the number of experiments performed, and a description and use of appropriate statistical methods. To verify the significance of differences in results, appropriate statistical methods should be used. The term “significant” should not be used unless a statistical analysis has been performed and the probability value used to determine significance (usually p-value) should be indicated. Manuscripts submitted without evidence of reproducibility will be rejected without formal review.

 

Applications and additional materials 

Authors who wish to publish electronic supplementary materials to their article (Excel files, images, audio and video files) can send these files along with the manuscript.