Research and Publication Ethics
Development & Reproduction adhere to the editorial principles outlined below, which have been devised to ensure the accurate, timely, fair and ethical publication of scientific papers. Regulations not listed below comply with the guidelines set by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE, https://publicationethics.org).
Policies
Development & Reproduction is committed to maintaining the integrity of the published record and to publishing the most objective and unbiased scientific information possible. Please visit our homepage (http://www.ksdb.org).
The Office of Research Integrity defines research misconduct as: 'fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism in proposing, performing, or reviewing research, or in reporting research results.' Should a suspicion or allegation of scientific misconduct or fraudulent research be raised for the journal's attention concerning a manuscript submitted for review, Development & Reproduction reserves the right to raise these concerns with a sponsoring or funding institution or other appropriate authority for investigation. In the handling and resolution of such cases, we follow publishing guidance and recommendations.
Authorship
The Development & Reproduction follows the recommendations for authorship by the ICMJE, 2017 (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). Authorship credit should be based on 1) Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND 2) Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND 3) Final approval of the version to be published; AND 4) Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Authors should meet conditions of 1, 2, 3, and 4. In addition, an author should be accountable for the parts of the work he or she has done and should be able to identify which co-authors are responsible for specific other parts of the work. Authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their coauthors. All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship, and all who meet the four criteria should be identified as authors. Those who do not meet all four criteria should be acknowledged as contributors not be authors. These authorship criteria are intended to reserve the status of authorship for those who deserve credit and can take responsibility for the work. The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #2 or 3. Therefore, all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the opportunity to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval of the manuscript.
A corresponding author should be designated when there are two or more authors. The corresponding author is primarily responsible for all issues to the editor and audience.
Author Contributions
An author is someone who has made significant and substantial contributions to a study. This should include conception, design, execution and interpretation of the findings being published, and drafting and revising the article. Papers must be submitted with the agreement of all authors, and all authors should give final approval of the version to be published.Those who have made other contributions to the work, such as by providing reagents or assisting with the writing, should be listed in the Acknowledgements, and their role or involvement outlined.
Development & Reproduction requires that the independent contributions of each author be stated (for primary research papers). Such statements can designate those authors who developed the concepts or approach, performed experiments or data analysis, and prepared or edited the manuscript prior to submission.
Financial or Competing Interests Disclosure
A competing or conflict of interest is anything that might inappropriately influence (bias), or which might be perceived to interfere with, the full and objective presentation, review or publication of research findings or review-type material. Competing interests can be financial, professional or personal, and can be held by authors, their employers, sponsors of the work, reviewers, Editors and editorial staff. Having a competing interest does not imply wrongdoing.
Development & Reproduction is committed to publishing the most objective and unbiased scientific information possible. As such, we ask that all participants in the publication process disclose all relationships that could be viewed as potential competing interests. Questions regarding financial or competing interests should be addressed to the editorial office (ksdbpub@naver.com).
Author Competing Interests
If any author included on a manuscript has financial, personal or professional associations that could be perceived as interfering with the objectivity of their scientific judgment, this must be clearly stated in a disclosure statement with the original submission of their work. Authors should provide detailed information about current relationships extending beyond those listed on the title (address) page of their manuscript, as well as any anticipated for the foreseeable future. Competing interests held by an author's employer (e.g. academic institution, company, etc.) or the financial sponsor of the work presented should also be declared.Development & Reproduction requires complete disclosure of relevant relationships and requests that authors err on the side of disclosure in the event of uncertainty. Such associations include (but are not limited to) patents, consultancy, paid employment/affiliation, stock ownership, board membership, gifts received, research grants, relationships with Editors, membership in a lobbying organization, role as an expert witness, membership of a government advisory board, and relationships with organizations or funding groups. Authors must include information regarding the provider of financial and material support of their research in the Acknowledgements. This statement should include authors' grant support, funding sources, and the provision of equipment and supplies.
The disclosure statement will be published at the end of the main text. Authors without financial or competing interests should explicitly assert this and the statement "No competing interests declared" will be published. Editors may choose to use competing interest statements as a basis for editorial decisions, but we do not reject papers simply because a conflict has been disclosed. However, failure to provide financial or competing interests disclosures in the original submission may delay its evaluation and review.
Reviewer Competing Interests
Unbiased independent critical assessment has a key place in scholarly publication. Reviewers should declare any association with authors of a paper. They should also disclose any financial or professional associations that could be perceived as interfering with the objectivity of their scientific assessment of a paper. If a reviewer feels they cannot referee a paper because of such a competing interest, they should tell the Editor of the paper so that the Editor can decide whether a potential conflict should exclude them.
Where reasonable, authors can exclude reviewers with perceived competing interests from refereeing their paper, but should be prepared to provide additional information to support such a request, should the Editor concerned require it. The Editors will respect these requests provided that they do not interfere with the objective and thorough assessment of an article.
Editor and Editorial Staff Competing Interests
Editors who make final editorial decisions on articles must have no financial, personal or professional involvement with the manuscript under consideration. If a potential bias exists, they should recuse themselves from handling the paper. Editors will base decisions on the importance of the work and not on its effect on the journal's commercial success.
Editors are asked to disclose their potential competing interests, and Editorial staff member are not permitted to use information gained through working with manuscripts for private gain.
Confidentiality
Editors and reviewers are expected to treat articles they handle confidentially. Editors and reviewers must not disclose information about manuscripts (including their receipt, content, status in the publishing process, reviewer feedback and final decision) to anyone, other than the authors. They should not use knowledge of the work before its publication to further their own interests. Reviewers also have the right to confidentiality; they will remain anonymous and their comments will not be published.
In situations where a reviewer wishes to co-review an article with a junior member of their laboratory, they must abide by the same rules of confidentiality and publishing ethics, and be named as a co-reviewer on submission of the review to the journal. Sharing manuscript details with lab members as a whole or with colleagues outside of the lab for reviewing purposes is not permitted.
Objectivity and Fair Play
An Editor will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
Integrity of the Scientific Record
The Company of Biologists will take all necessary steps to maintain the accuracy and quality of the papers appearing in Development & Reproduction. To this end, Development & Reproduction will publish correspondence about papers and publish Errata and Corrigenda when appropriate. In cases of serious error or scientific misconduct, it may be necessary to ask authors to retract their papers or to impose retraction upon them.Should an author discern a significant error or inaccuracy in the published article, they are responsible for notifying Development & Reproduction’s Executive Editor or publisher, and should work together with the Executive Editor to retract or correct the paper. If the Executive Editor 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 Executive Editor 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 publisher 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.
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 Journal's Editor in Chief or Executive Editor 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.
Should an author discern a significant error or inaccuracy in the published article, they are responsible for notifying Development & Reproduction's Executive Editor or publisher, and should work together with the Executive Editor to retract or correct the paper. If the Executive Editor 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 Executive Editor of the correctness of the original paper.
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).
Deposition of manuscripts prior to submission on community pre-print servers, or of conference presentations online, will not be considered prior publication and will not compromise potential publication in Development. Versions of a manuscript that have altered as a result of the peer review process may not be deposited. Authors should provide details of the deposition in the cover letter accompanying manuscript submission.
When submitting, 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" (see www.wame.org - the World Association of Medical Editors web site). It is considered a dishonest and unacceptable practice. By submitting an article, authors are thereby asserting that their work is entirely original and that others' work or text has been appropriately cited or attributed. Self-plagiarism (reusing one's own work) without citation is also unethical. Development & Reproduction uses Similarity Check software to avoid plagiarism.
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. 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, Development & Reproduction will ask for the original data to be supplied, and, if necessary, may revoke acceptance of the article.
Resource Sharing
By publishing in Development & Reproduction, authors imply that they will make available to their qualified academic colleagues, in a timely manner and with minimal restrictions, the 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. Deposition of models or tools in repositories is strongly encouraged for all articles.
Concerns regarding Resource sharing should be sent to the editorial office of Development & Reproduction.
Experimental Subjects
For research involving live vertebrates and higher invertebrates, experiments must comply with all relevant institutional and national animal welfare laws, guidelines and policies, as should the care and use of experimental animals. 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 work involving human eggs or embryos, any financial recompense to donors must be declared. In the case of human participants, informed consent must have been obtained, and authors must submit a statement from the ethics committee or institutional review board indicating approval of the research and must name the committee(s) that have approved any experiments involving human subjects or human tissue in the Materials and Methods section of their paper, and include with their submission a statement to confirm that informed consent was obtained from all subjects or tissue donors. All clinical investigation must have been conducted according to the principles expressed in the Declaration of Helsinki.
Selection and Description of Participants
Ensure correct use of the terms sex (when reporting biological factors) and gender (identity, psychosocial or cultural factors), and, unless inappropriate, report the sex and/or gender of study participants, the sex of animals or cells, and describe the methods used to determine sex and gender. If the study was done involving an exclusive population, for example in only one sex, authors should justify why, except in obvious cases (e.g., prostate cancer). Authors should define how they determined race or ethnicity and justify their relevance.
Maintain Permanence of Published Record
Preservation of electronic versions of articles in a permanent archive is an essential component of today's publishing. The Korean Society of Developmental Biology has adopted the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) system to enable accurate citation and stable online availability of our published articles (see www.doi.org).
Version Control
All versions of scholarly articles will remain available once published. When multiple versions of the same article are available, Development & Reproduction will ensure that these articles are clearly labelled with the date of publication, and version number or type. The print version of our journals is considered to be the journal of record.