Aim and Scope

The scientific journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" accepts for publication original research articles, short reports and reviews in the following areas of science: biological safety and biological protection; epidemiology and epizootology, microbiology, virology, mycology; veterinary biotechnology; medical biotechnology; plant biotechnology and phytopathology; molecular genetics.

The editorial board, reviewers and authors of the journal strive to comply with high standards of scientific and publication ethics: transparency of interaction between the editorial board and the authors of the journal, mandatory review of all articles submitted to the journal, free access to publications.

The purpose of the journal is to promote the development of science by integrating the results of research and practical recommendations. One of the main tasks of the journal is to summarize scientific and practical achievements in the development of electronic information resources and services, their contribution to the process of research and the solution of public policy issues aimed at improving the level of science and practice, the quality of scientific publications, the development of the system of scientific periodicals and the expansion of their presence in the international scientific and information space.

Both domestic and foreign scientists and specialists in the above-mentioned fields of science are invited to publish in the journal.

The journal is focused on the publication of previously unpublished original research articles, brief reports and reviews related to the study of biological, physico-chemical, molecular genetic properties of pathogens of human infections, domestic and wild animals, birds and plants, the development of diagnostic tools, prevention and treatment, as well as public health data, pathogenesis, epidemiology, phytopathology, statistical modeling, biosafety issues, genomics and rapid notification of new outbreaks.

The journal will be of great interest to scientists and practitioners working in the field of infectious diseases, including doctors, veterinarians, biotechnologists, agronomists, phytopathologists, wildlife workers and defenders and other specialists, faculty of medical, veterinary, biological and agricultural universities, doctoral students, undergraduates and students.

The journal is an open access publication: all users can freely and for free read, download, link and copy published materials in compliance with the norms of scientific ethics and the use of references to the authors of the work.

The journal is published in accordance with the following basic principles of editorial policy:

The editorial board of the journal is guided in its activities by the principles of professionalism, objectivity, scientific, impartiality. The authors, members of the editorial board, and the editor-in-chief of the journal bear the corresponding ethical obligations related to the preparation of a scientific publication and the dissemination of the results of research. The interaction of the editorial board with the authors is based on the principles of transparency, honesty, courtesy, fairness and objectivity.

Information openness. Information about the publishing house, editorial board, review and publication of scientific articles, and other information in accordance with the information openness of the publication are published in open access on the journal's website.

Section Policies

BIOLOGICAL SAFETY AND BIOSECURITY Editors

• Леспек Кутумбетов

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

MICROBIOLOGY Editors

• Ербол Булатов

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

MEDICAL AND VETERINARY BIOTECHNOLOGY Editors

• Куандык Жугунисов
• Азиз Наханов

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

PHYTOPATHOLOGY AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY Editors

• Akerke Maulenbay
• Аралбек Рсалиев

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Articles

Open Submissions

Indexed

Peer Reviewed

Publication Frequency

4 times a year

Open Access Policy

This is an open access journal. All articles are made freely available to readers immediatly upon publication.

Our open access policy is in accordance with the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI) definition - it means that articles have free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself.

For more information please read BOAI statement.

Archiving

The journal is published in printed and/or electronic form and is stored on the official website of the journal.biosafety.kz   

Peer-Review

All scientific articles submitted to the editorial office of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" undergo mandatory double-blind review (the reviewer does not know the authors of the manuscript, the authors of the manuscript do not know the reviewers).

1. The selection of the reviewer for the examination of the article is carried out by the editorial board on the subject of scientific work according to the direction of the journal. The review period is 2 weeks, but it can be extended at the request of the reviewer.
2. Each reviewer has the right to refuse a review if there is a clear conflict of interest affecting the perception and interpretation of the manuscript materials. Based on the results of the review of the manuscript, the reviewer makes recommendations on the further fate of the article (each decision of the reviewer is justified):

• the article is recommended for publication in this form;
• the article is recommended for publication after correcting the shortcomings noted by the reviewer;
• the article needs additional review by another specialist;
• the article cannot be published in the journal.

3. If the review contains recommendations for correcting and finalizing the article, the editorial board sends the text of the review to the author with a proposal to take them into account when preparing a new version of the article or to refute them in a reasoned way (partially or completely). The revision of the article should not take more than 1 month from the date of sending an e-mail to the authors about the need for changes. The article modified by the author is re-sent for review.
4. If the authors refuse to finalize the materials, they must notify the editorial board in writing of their refusal to publish the article. If the authors do not return the revised version after 1 month from the date of sending the review, even if there is no information from the authors with a refusal to finalize the article, the editorial board removes it from the register. In such situations, an appropriate notification is sent to the authors about the withdrawal of the manuscript from registration due to the expiration of the time allotted for revision.
5. If the author and reviewers have unresolved contradictions regarding the manuscript, the editorial board has the right to send the manuscript for additional review. In conflict situations, the decision is made by the editor-in-chief at a meeting of the editorial board.
6. The decision to refuse publication of the manuscript is made at the meeting of the editorial board in accordance with the recommendations of the reviewers and the execution of the minutes of the meeting. An article not recommended for publication by the decision of the editorial board is not accepted for reconsideration. A message about the refusal to publish is sent to the author by e-mail.
7. After the editorial board of the journal makes a decision on the admission of the article for publication, the editorial board informs the author about it and specifies the publication dates.
8. The presence of a positive review is not a sufficient reason for the publication of the article. The final decision on publication is made by the editorial board. In conflict situations, the decision is made by the editor-in-chief.
9. The original reviews are kept in the editorial office of the journal for 3 years.

Publishing Ethics

The Editorial Board of the scientific journal carries out its activities according to the international ethical rules of scientific publications, detailed by the Committee on Ethics of Scientific Publications (Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) (https://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct), Great Britain, Elsevier Publishers (Netherlands), as well as the Declaration "Ethical Principles of Scientific Publications" developed by the Association of Scientific Editors and Publishers (ASEP), Russian Federation (https://rasep.ru/sovet-po-etike/declaratsiya) based on the control of the publication placement process, as well as minimizing the risks of unfair practices associated with the publication of works.

The journal supports and uses the principles formulated by a third–party organization or organizations (WAKE, Helsinki Declaration), which include the following indicators:

- guidelines for authors on the design of the article, including the use of transliteration methods for the design of the list of references;

– search engine;

– the contents of the issue for the last twelve months and an archive of the numbers of previous years with access to the content;

– contact information;

– online system for submitting and reviewing articles;

The journal has a certificate from the joint-stock company "National Center for State Scientific and Technical Expertise" on compliance with the basic publishing standards for the design of articles according to GOST 7.5.-98 "Journals, collections, information publications. Publishing design of published materials", and GOST 7.1.-2003 "Bibliographic record. Bibliographic description. General requirements and rules of compilation."

Duties of editors

Decision about publication

The Editorial Board of the scientific journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" is responsible for making a decision on publication. The reliability of the work in question and its scientific significance should always be the basis of the decision to publish. The Editorial Board is obliged to be guided by the policy of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology", being limited by current legal requirements regarding libel, copyright, legality and plagiarism.

The Editorial Board may confer with reviewers (or officials of the Scientific Community) during the decision-making on publication.

Decency

The editorial board should evaluate the intellectual content of manuscripts regardless of race, gender, religious views, origin, citizenship or political preferences of the authors.

Privacy

The Editorial Board of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" is obliged not to disclose information about the accepted manuscript to all persons, except for the authors, reviewers, other scientific consultants and the publisher.

Disclosure policy and conflicts of interest

Unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts cannot be used in personal research without the written consent of the author. Information or ideas obtained during the review and related to possible benefits should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.

Members of the editorial board should recuse themselves from reviewing manuscripts (namely, request the editor-in-chief, deputy editor-in-chief or cooperate with other members of the editorial board when reviewing the work for decision-making) in case of conflicts of interest due to competitive, joint and other interactions and relationships with authors and organizations associated with the manuscript.

Responsibilities of reviewers

Influence on the decisions of the editorial board

Reviewing helps the editor to make a decision about publication and through appropriate interaction with the authors can also help the author to improve the quality of the work. The publisher shares the point of view that all scientists who want to contribute to the publication are obliged to do substantial work on reviewing the manuscript.

Sense of duty

Any selected reviewer who feels insufficiently qualified to review the manuscript or does not have enough time to complete the work quickly should notify the editor of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" and ask to be excluded from the review process of the corresponding manuscript.

Privacy

Any manuscript received for review should be treated as a confidential document. This work cannot be opened and discussed with any persons who do not have the authority to do so from the editor.

Requirements for the manuscript and objectivity

The reviewer is obliged to give an objective assessment. Personal criticism of the author is unacceptable. Reviewers should clearly and argumentatively express their opinion.

Disclosure policy and conflicts of interest

Unpublished data obtained from submitted manuscripts cannot be used in personal research. Information or ideas obtained during the review and related to possible benefits should be kept confidential and not used for personal gain.

Reviewers should not participate in the review of manuscripts in case of conflicts of interest due to competitive, joint and other interactions and relationships with any of the authors and organizations associated with the submitted work.

Responsibilities of authors

Requirements for manuscripts

Authors of original scientific papers should provide reliable research results. The data underlying the work must be presented accurately. The work should contain enough details and bibliographic references for possible reproduction. False or knowingly erroneous statements are perceived as unethical behavior and unacceptable.

Reviews and scientific articles should also be accurate and objective, the editorial board's point of view should be clearly indicated.

Requirements for the design of articles for authors are presented at the link: journal.biosafety.kz

Data access and storage

The authors may be asked for raw data relevant to the manuscript for review. Authors should be ready to provide open access to this kind of information (according to the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if feasible, and in any case be ready to save this data for an adequate period of time after publication.

Originality and plagiarism

Authors should make sure that the work is completely original and, in case of using the works or statements of other authors, should provide appropriate bibliographic references or excerpts.

Plagiarism can exist in many forms, from presenting someone else's work as an author's work to copying or paraphrasing essential parts of someone else's work (without attribution) and to claiming one's own rights to the results of someone else's research. Plagiarism in all forms is unethical and unacceptable.

The Editorial Board of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology", when reviewing an article, can check the material using the Anti-Plagiarism system. In case of detection of numerous borrowings, the editorial board acts in accordance with the COPE rules.

Authorship of the publication

The authors of the publication can only be persons who have made a significant contribution to the formation of the idea of the work, the development, execution or interpretation of the presented research. All those who have made significant contributions should be designated as co-authors. In cases where research participants have made a significant contribution in a particular direction in a research project, they should be listed as persons who have made a significant contribution to this study.

The author must make sure that all participants who have made a significant contribution to the study are presented as co-authors and those who did not participate in the study are not listed as co-authors, that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the work and agreed to submit it for publication.

Risks, as well as people and animals that are the objects of research

If the work involves the use of chemical products, procedures or equipment, during the operation of which any unusual risk is possible, the author should clearly indicate this in the manuscript.

If the work involves the participation of animals or humans as objects of research, the authors should make sure that the manuscript indicates that all stages of the study comply with the legislation and regulatory documents of research organizations, as well as approved by the relevant committees.

Disclosure policy and conflicts of interest

All authors are required to disclose in their manuscripts financial or other existing conflicts of interest that may be perceived as having influenced the results or conclusions presented in the work.

Responsibilities of the Publishing House

The publisher must follow the principles and procedures that facilitate the performance of ethical duties by editors, reviewers and authors of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" in accordance with these requirements.

The publishing house should support the editors of the journal "Biosafety and Biotechnology" in considering claims to the ethical aspects of the published materials and help to interact with other journals and/or publishers, if this contributes to the fulfillment of the duties of the editors.

The publisher should promote good research practices and implement industry standards in order to improve ethical guidelines, withdrawal procedures and error correction.

The publisher must provide appropriate specialized legal support (opinion or advice) if necessary.

Founder

• Research Institute of Biological Safety Problems

Author fees

Publication in "Biosafety and Biotechnology" is free of charge for all the authors.

The journal doesn't have any Article processing charges.

The journal doesn't have any Article submission charges.

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in a reviewer’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage.

Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.

Plagiarism detection

"Biosafety and Biotechnology" use native russian-language plagiarism detection software Antiplagiat to screen the submissions. If plagiarism is identified, the COPE guidelines on plagiarism will be followed.

Preprint and postprint Policy

Prior to acceptance and publication in "Biosafety and Biotechnology", authors may make their submissions available as preprints on personal or public websites.

As part of submission process, authors are required to confirm that the submission has not been previously published, nor has been submitted. After a manuscript has been published in "Biosafety and Biotechnology" we suggest that the link to the article on journal's website is used when the article is shared on personal or public websites.

Glossary (by SHERPA)

Revenue Sources

The publication of the journal is financed by the funds of the parent organization, at the expense of the publisher, publication of advertising materials, publication of reprints, article processment charges.

Indexing

The journal is indexed by the Kazakhstan citation database of JSC "National Center for State Scientific and Technical Expertise" (NCSSTE), as well as in the Crossref database.