Editorial Board: the BIOJ editorial board is made up of recognised experts in the field. The full names and affiliations of members are provided on the journal’s web site at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialteam/. The contact information for the editorial office is given at: https://www.bioj-online.com/contact/.
Authors and Authors responsibilities: BIOJ gives detailed information for authors on the journal’s webpage at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/submissions/. This page gives information about how publication fees are covered and the timeline, including the peer review process, and includes a checklist where authors are required to declare that the submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal. Information on how to submit the required reference list is at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/submissions/#References. Information of authorship is given on the journal’s webpages at https://www.bioj-online.com/about/authorship/, including the requirement that all authors have significantly contributed to the research. Authors are required to give information about competing interests and any funding, with information on this given on the journal’s webpages at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialpolicies/#competing-interests-funding-and-ethics. Authors are also obliged to work with BIOJ in provide retractions or corrections of mistakes, as detailed at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialpolicies/#corrections-and-retractions
Peer-review process: BIOJ describes the double-blind peer review process on the journal’s website at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/research-integrity/ and at https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialpolicies/. Advice as to how to ensure a submitted manuscript is fully anonymised is given at: https://www.bioj-online.com/help/view/editorial/topic/000044/. The journal editors ensure that selected peer reviewers are experts in the relevant field with no conflicting interests, and that confidentiality is maintained throughout the peer review process.
Publication ethics: All BIOJ submissions undergo plagiarism checking before acceptance. BIOJ gives information ethics and dealing with misconduct on the journal webpages at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialpolicies/ and follows the COPE guidelines. BIOJ and the publisher White Rose University Press are always willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed. The policy on amendments, corrections retraction and withdrawal is on the BIOJ website at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/editorialpolicies/#corrections-and-retractions
Human and Animal Rights and consent (if applicable): Research involving human subjects, human material, or human data, must have been performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee and the authors should include a separate section within manuscript (rather than in the main body of the article) detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymised whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian).
All Case Reports should also be accompanied by a completed Case Report Consent Form regarding the patient's consent to publish the article (and any accompanying images).
Experiments using animals must follow national standards of care. For further information, click here.
Copyright and access: BIOJ is an open access journal, and displays information about this policy and the associated licencing information on the journal’s website at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/research-integrity/; https://www.bioj-online.com/about/submissions/; and https://www.bioj-online.com/about/#open-access-policy. This last page also states that the articles are made freely available to readers.
Archiving: BIOJ gives its archiving policy on the journal’s website at https://www.bioj-online.com/about/#archiving-policy, and uses the CLOCKSS and LOCKSS archiving systems to create permanent archives for the purposes of preservation and restoration.
Ownership and management: BIOJ is the journal of the British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BIOS). This information is given on the journal’s web site and https://www.bioj-online.com/about/.
The web site: The BIOJ web site (including the text that it contains) demonstrates that care has been taken to ensure high ethical and professional standards, displaying all relevant policies, process, and information, and linking out to external sources of information such as the website for the COPE guidelines.
Publishing schedule: BIOJ publishes content in a continuous annual volume, with a new volume. Information on publication frequency is given on the website at: https://www.bioj-online.com/about/#publication-frequency
Name of the journal: The British and Irish Orthoptic Society (BIOS) released the first edition of BIOJ in 1939. This is a unique journal name, which should not be easily confused by with other journal(s) or that mislead potential authors and readers about the journal’s origin or association with other journals.