Ethics policy

Guidelines for Good Practices in Scientific Communication

Last updated: 14 November 2025

 The journal Ciência Animal Brasileira / Brazilian Animal Science (CAB) adheres to the highest ethical standards at every stage of the publication process, involving authors, editors, and reviewers. CAB follows the general guidelines established by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

We are committed to identifying and preventing the publication of manuscripts involving research misconduct or ethical violations, including but not limited to plagiarism, citation manipulation, data fabrication/falsification, lack of required permissions, and discriminatory content.

To investigate concerns and determine appropriate actions in cases involving retractions or expressions of concern, CAB follows COPE flowcharts. Investigations apply both to submitted manuscripts and to published articles. If any allegation or suspicion of misconduct arises during the editorial process, the evaluation will be suspended while the issue is investigated, and all involved parties will be notified. The evaluation process will resume only if misconduct is not confirmed. If misconduct by authors is established, the article will be removed from consideration, and the journal may, at the discretion of the Editorial Board, decline to consider future submissions from the authors. If misconduct is committed by an editor, that editor will be removed from their duties. If committed by a reviewer, the reviewer will be removed from the journal’s reviewer database.

CAB assumes responsibility for publishing corrections, clarifications, retractions, or other necessary notices. If misconduct is identified after publication, the article may require updates, corrections, retraction, or full withdrawal.

1. Ethical principles required of editors

Editorial practice and the editor’s relationship with authors, reviewers, and members of the editorial team are supported by the COPE Code of Conduct for Editors. Editors are responsible for upholding the journal’s editorial policies, overseeing the entire editorial process to ensure quality, transparency, and the prevention and identification of misconduct.

Editors are responsible for deciding which articles will be published, based on relevance, originality, and intellectual merit. These decisions must be made without regard to authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, ethnic origin, nationality, or political philosophy, and must consider legal requirements regarding defamation, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Editors must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone not involved in the editorial process. They must decline to handle manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest arising from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with authors, companies, or institutions associated with the work. Editors must select reviewers in a manner that minimizes potential conflicts of interest.

Use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies by editors: Editors and editorial staff must not upload a submitted manuscript (or any portion of it) into a generative AI tool. Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies must not be used to assist in the evaluation or decision-making process for manuscripts. Editors remain fully responsible for the editorial process, final decisions, and communication with authors.

2. Ethical principles required of authors

Authors must comply with the journal’s editorial policy and the formatting and submission guidelines. They must ensure that the submitted manuscript is original and not simultaneously under consideration or previously published elsewhere, in whole or in part. Manuscripts deposited on recognized preprint servers (e.g., bioRxiv, SciELO Preprints) are not considered prior publications by CAB.

Authors must ensure that their work is fully original and that all sources are properly cited or quoted. All manuscripts submitted to CAB are screened using plagiarism-detection software. Any form of plagiarism constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. Suspected plagiarism will be investigated, and if confirmed, one of the following actions will be taken: suspension of the editorial process for manuscripts under review, or publication of a retraction in the case of published articles.

Authorship must be limited to individuals who made significant contributions to the conception, execution, or interpretation of the study. Contributions must be disclosed at submission using the CRediT taxonomy, which includes 14 contributor roles. Contribution statements are added to the PDF of published articles. Individuals who do not meet authorship criteria must be acknowledged.

Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence the results or their interpretation. It is also the author’s responsibility to notify the Editor of any errors or inaccuracies discovered in a published article. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication under the Creative Commons license (CC-BY 4.0). After publication, authors maintain copyright and may republish the text.

Use of generative AI and AI-assisted tools by authors: Authors may use AI tools only to improve the clarity and language of the text, under human supervision, and remain fully responsible for the content. Any use must be disclosed in the manuscript and will be indicated in the published article. AI may not be used to create or alter images, including enhancing, obscuring, moving, removing, or adding elements; only basic adjustments (brightness, contrast, color) that do not alter information are permitted. The only exception is when AI is part of the research methodology, in which case the use must be described in a reproducible manner, including tool name, version, and manufacturer. Authors must follow platform-specific policies and ensure proper attribution. AI cannot be listed as an author or coauthor, as authorship requires human accountability.

3. Ethical principles required of reviewers

Reviewers must base their assessments on the merits of the work and must inform the editorial team of any conflicts of interest, personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political, or religious, that may compromise the fairness of the review. Manuscripts and review details must be treated as confidential. Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage.

Reviewers are expected to respond to review invitations within the specified timeframe, even if declining, and must meet deadlines or inform editors of possible delays. Review comments should be objective and constructive; inappropriate, racist, or discriminatory language is strictly prohibited.

Use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies by reviewers: Manuscripts must be treated as confidential documents. Reviewers must not upload a submitted manuscript or any part of it into a generative AI tool. This confidentiality requirement extends to the peer-review report, which may contain sensitive information about the manuscript and its authors. For this reason, reviewers must not upload their review reports into AI tools, even for the purpose of improving language or clarity.