1. All articles are freely available and immediately accessible online upon publication.
2. Readers can study, download and/or print Open Access articles without any cost.

Submission of a manuscript to the respective journals implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the Covering Letter or the Terms and Conditions. It is a condition of publication that manuscripts submitted to a journal have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere.

• Authors can self-archive post prints of their published articles.
• Authors can reproduce derivative works of the article for educational purposes and distribute its copies.

A preprint is an early version of an article that has not yet been accepted for publication in a journal.

Articles submitted to a journal which have not been published and will not be simultaneously submitted elsewhere for publication can be considered for publication. Preprints are usually deposited on the author's own web page in an institutional repository, or on a preprint server. However, they are not considered as ahead-of-print or early access publications.

Preprint archiving on any recognized, non-profit preprint server is entirely supported and encouraged by the BSP. Preprints deposited in designated preprint repositories at the same time as, or before, submission to a journal are not considered as prior, citable publications by the Bentham Journals.

Financial contributions and any potential conflict of interest must be clearly acknowledged under the heading ‘Conflict of Interest’. Authors must list the source(s) of funding for the study. This should be done for each author. For more details, please visit: Conflict of Interest

Bentham Open maintains the confidentiality of the submitted manuscript and its content. The editors are advised not to disclose any information on submitted manuscripts before their publication.

The peer review of a manuscript is a confidential process. Bentham follows a double-blind peer review process where the identities of both the reviewer and author are kept undisclosed to each other, ensuring anonymity and maintaining confidentiality throughout the entire review procedure.

Reviewers should keep the whole process completely confidential. They should consult the EIC/senior editor and take permission before consulting another colleague for help in the peer-review of the submitted manuscript.

Reviewers should not disclose any information whatsoever to anyone before the publication of the manuscript.

Bentham Open follows the double-blind peer review procedure for submissions of all manuscripts to its journals.

All submitted articles are subjected to an extensive peer review in consultation with members of the journal’s editorial board and independent external referees (usually two reviewers). All manuscripts/chapters are assessed rapidly and the decision based on all the peer reviewers' comments, taken by the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, is then conveyed to the author(s).

Submissions from the Editor-in-Chief/Co-Editor/ Editorial Board Members will undergo independent peer review and will be submitted to another Editor for his decision on acceptance. For further details, please visit complete guidelines at: https://openmicrobiologyjournal.com/peer-review-workflow.php

Since the use of AI technology has increased, it has brought its own challenges regarding the originality of the review of submitted manuscripts. Bentham Open has been striving to improve its policies accordingly. With time, we will continue to update our policies to support our reviewers, authors, and editors.

The quality of the peer review of submitted articles has been our top priority. The reviewers are advised not to use AI technologies or any other related assisting resources to generate review reports that could compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the reports.

All efforts are made to expedite the peer review process for a timely publication.

Authors have the choice to publish a wide range of articles in a Bentham Open journal e.g., short communications, full-length research and review articles, systematic reviews, editorials, perspectives, letters to the editor, commentaries as well as supplements, and case studies.

All clinical investigations must be conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki principles. For all those manuscripts where the studies involve human participants, formal review and approval by an appropriate institutional review board or ethics committee are required.

• Research Involving Animals

  For research involving animals, the authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the standards set forth in the eighth edition of “Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals” ( https://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/guide-for-the-care-and-use-of-laboratory-animals_prepub.pdf published by the National Academy of Sciences, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C.). Research work on animals should be carried out in accordance with the NC3Rs ARRIVE Guidelines. For in vivo experiments, visit https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines

  Authors must clearly state the name of the approval committee, highlighting that legal and ethical approval were obtained prior to initiation of the research work carried out on animals, and that the experiments were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations stated below.

  • US authors should cite compliance with the US National Research Council's "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals"
  • The US Public Health Service's "Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" and "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals"
  • UK authors should conform to UK legislation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 Amendment Regulations (SI 2012/3039).
  • European authors outside the UK should conform to Directive 2010/63/EU.
  • Research in animals must adhere to the ethical guidelines of the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS).
  • The manuscript must clearly include a declaration of compliance with relevant guidelines (e.g. the revised Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in the UK and Directive 2010/63/EU in Europe) and/or relevant permissions or licenses obtained by the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Ethics Approval Exemption:

If a study is exempted from ethics approval, authors must indicate the reasons for exemption in the ethical statement.

Following is an example of Ethical Statements:

"This study involving animal subjects is exempted from ethics approval for [specific reasons]. The exemption was evaluated and authorized by [Full name of ethics committee], ensuring adherence to ethical standards”.

Client-Owned Animals:

Client-owned animals (non-commercially available animals such as pets or livestock) should be studied exercising best practices in veterinary care. Authors must confirm that the owner(s) (or their legal representatives) have provided written consent for this purpose.

Following is an example of Ethical Statements:

"The animal study was evaluated and authorized by [Full name of the ethics committee]. The owners provided written informed consent for their animals' involvement in this study, ensuring ethical treatment and compliance with standards."

International Standards and 3Rs Principle:

Studies involving animals must comply with internationally accepted standards and adhere to the 3Rs principles (Replace, Reduce, Refine).

• Replace: Whenever possible, replace animals with alternatives.
• Reduce: Reducing the number of animals used and
• Refine: Refining experimental settings can reduce animal damage.

Authors are encouraged to follow the ARRIVE guidelines (Reporting in Vivo Experiments) for reporting experiments involving live animals.

An example of Ethical Statements:

"This study adheres to internationally accepted standards for animal research, following the 3Rs principle. The ARRIVE guidelines were employed for reporting experiments involving live animals, promoting ethical research practices."

Euthanasia Protocols:

Studies on euthanasia, including chloral hydrate, ether, and chloroform overdose, are severely discouraged. Authors should include an in-depth description of any anesthetic, surgical, or euthanasia procedures conducted throughout the study.

If the experimental details explained in the study violate the standard animal research procedure, editors may seek extra documentation, such as approval forms and relevant literature citations.

All experimental research on plants (either cultivated or wild) must comply with international guidelines. The manuscript must clearly include a declaration of compliance of field studies with relevant guidelines and/or relevant permissions or licenses obtained by the IUCN Policy Statement on Research Involving Species at Risk of Extinction and the Convention on the Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Any unusual risks associated with the use of any chemicals, procedures, or equipment used in the work must be explicitly stated by the author in the manuscript, preferably in both the materials and methods section and the declaration section. For more information, visit The World Medical Association (https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/public-health/chemicals)

We strive to promote gender and sex equity in research and adhere to the guidelines of Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) to ensure inclusivity and rigor of the work. All authors submitting research papers are required to follow the Sex and Gender Equity in Research (SAGER) guidelines. These guidelines are intended to encourage the inclusion of sex and gender considerations in research in order to improve the rigor and relevance of our publications.

The SAGER guidelines for reporting sex and gender information in methodology or study design, data analysis, results, and interpretation of findings are strongly encouraged. Authors of review articles are advised to address the methods used for selecting, locating, extracting, and synthesizing data; systematic reviews are required to do so.

Compliance with the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (www.icmje.org) is recommended, in accordance with the patient’s consent for research or participation in a study for Bentham Publication as per the applicable laws and regulations regarding the privacy and/or security of personal information, including, but not limited to, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 ("HIPAA") and other U.S. federal and state laws relating to confidentiality and security of personally distinguishable evidence, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 and member state implementing legislation, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, India's Information Technology Act and related Privacy Rules, (together "Data Protection and Privacy Laws").

It is the responsibility of the author to ensure that:

• Patient's names, initials, or hospital numbers must not be mentioned anywhere in the manuscript (including figures).
• Authors are responsible for obtaining patient’s consent-to-disclose form for all recognizable photographs, videos, or any other information or personal detail that may be published in the journal, in derivative works, or on the journal’s website.
• The consent-to-disclose form should indicate specific use (publication in the medical literature in print and online, with the understanding that patients and the public will have access) of the patient's information and any images in figures or videos, and must contain the patient's signature or that of a legal guardian along with a statement that the patient or legal guardian has been offered the opportunity to review the recognizable personal data of the patient in the manuscript prior to publication. In case of children, consent should be obtained from the parent or the legal guardian.
• In case of not obtaining consent, concealing the identity through eye bars or blurring the face would not be acceptable.
• A specific declaration of all above mentioned other similar approvals and consent-to-disclose forms must be made in the copyright letter and a stand-alone paragraph at the end of the article, especially in the case of human studies, where the inclusion of a statement regarding obtaining the written informed consent from each subject or subject's guardian is a must. The original forms should be retained by the guarantor or the corresponding author. The editors, however, may request to provide the original forms by fax or email.
• All such case reports should be followed by proper consent prior to publishing.

Editors may request the authors to provide documentation for a formal review and recommendation from the institutional review board or ethics committee, responsible for any oversight of the study. The editors reserve the right to reject manuscripts that do not comply with the above-mentioned requirements. The author will be held responsible for false statements or failure to fulfill the above-mentioned requirements.

Anonymous images, that do not identify the individual directly or indirectly, such as through any identifying marks or text, do not require formal consent, for example, x-rays, ultrasound images, pathology slides or laparoscopic images.

The editorial decisions are not reverted. However, authors who think that their manuscript was rejected due to some misunderstanding may seek an explanation for the decision in the form of an appeal. Appeals must give sound reasoning and compelling evidence against the criticism raised in the rejection letter. A difference of opinion as to the interest, novelty, or suitability of the manuscript for the journal will not be considered as an appeal. The editor-in-chief and other relevant editors will consider the appeal and their decision will be deemed final. Acceptance of the manuscript is not guaranteed, even if the journal agrees to reconsider the manuscript, and the reconsideration process may involve previous or new reviewers or editors and substantive revision.

Authors who intend to make a complaint should consult the editor-in-chief of the concerned journal. Complaints to the publisher may be emailed at info@benthamopen.net

Plagiarism means copying or paraphrasing another writer’s content, be it a text, a result or an observation, and stating it as one’s own, without citing a reference to the original source. Therefore, authors should acknowledge and cite references to the work of other scientists in their manuscripts. The author should ensure that all the sources are authentic and that there is no discrepancy in the content of the manuscript.

Bentham Open is vigilant in checking and identifying the primary sources of the data within the content by using the iThenticate software to detect instances of overlapping and similarity of text in submitted manuscripts. iThenticate software verifies the content against a database of periodicals, materials on the Internet, and a comprehensive article database. The software generates a similarity report in percentage that matches the article in process and the published material. This similarity is further scrutinized for suspected plagiarism according to the publisher’s Editorial Policies. The generated report comprises the overall percentage of the content reused.

To secure the scholarly integrity of every article, Bentham Open publishes post-publication notices. The authors of the published articles, or those who have submitted the manuscripts with false information, such as fabricated supporting data or images, may incur sanctions, and their papers will be retracted. For further details, please visit the complete guidelines by clicking here

Bentham Open is committed to disseminating research and scholarly publications as widely as possible. In this respect, it supports the principle that 'the results of research that have been publicly funded should be freely accessible in the public domain’ and therefore it encourages researchers to make their research available through open access (OA).

Open-access publishing is not free of cost. To facilitate open access, Bentham Open journals partly defray the expenses of peer review, journal production, and online hosting and archiving from authors and their research sponsors by charging a publication fee for each article they publish. The fee varies by journal. Prices are clearly displayed on our Article Processing Charges (APC) page.

The following special discounts are offered to authors and editorial board members:

• Authors from Bentham Open Member Institutes are entitled to up to a 20% discount on their article processing fees.
• All editors and editorial board members of Bentham Open journals are entitled to publish their articles free of charge.
• Waivers and additional discount requests are decided on the basis of the author's country of origin and the quality of the submitted article. Editors and reviewers have no knowledge of whether authors are able to pay; decisions to publish are only based on meeting the editorial criteria.
• Bentham Open does not impose submission charges.

Once the paper is accepted for publication, the author will receive an electronic invoice via email.

Bentham Open offers a discount of 50% on the publication fee for manuscripts of all corresponding authors who reside in countries that are categorized as low-income economies by the World Bank. To see if you qualify for the discount, please refer to the complete list of these countries by clicking here

Authors and readers are encouraged to notify the editor-in-chief if they discover errors in published content, authors’ names and affiliations or if they have concerns over the legitimacy of a publication. In such cases, Bentham Open will publish an erratum or a corrigendum, in consultation with the editor-in-chief and authors of the article to, replace or retract the article.

Articles in press (articles that have been accepted for publication or published as E-pub ahead of schedule but which have not been formally published with volume / issue / page information) that include errors, or are determined to violate the publishing ethics guidelines, such as multiple submissions, fake claims of authorship, plagiarism, fraudulent use of data or the like, may be “withdrawn” from the journal. Withdrawal means that the files of the article are removed and replaced with a PDF, stating that the article has been withdrawn from the journal in accordance with the editorial policies of Bentham Open.

If published manuscripts with the information of volume/issue/page number, are found to violate professional ethical codes in their content, such as plagiarism, excess similarity with some other article, fraudulent use of data, etc., then such manuscripts are retracted. Any decision to issue a retraction notice for an article will be taken in accordance with the COPE guidelines available at: https://publicationethics.org/files/retraction-guidelines-cope.pdf.

• A retraction note entitled “Retraction: [article title]” (for example Retraction: ABC experiment involving XYZ species) is published in the paginated part of the next scheduled issue of the journal and is also listed in the table of contents.
• The retraction note is approved by the editor-in-chief of the concerned journal.
• A link to the original article is displayed in the online (electronic) version.
• A screen containing the note of retraction appears before the electronic version of the article present on the website. On the screen, a link to the complete retracted article is present to access and view the article.
• The link/webpage of the original article remains unchanged, however a downloadable PDF document in the form of a shaded watermark is available, referring that the article has been retracted.

CONCURRENT PUBLICATION/SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSION It is a condition for manuscript publication that manuscripts submitted to the Bentham journals have not been previously published and will not be simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. Plagiarism is strictly forbidden, and by submitting the article for publication the authors agree that the publishers have the legal right to take appropriate action against the authors if plagiarism or fabricated information is discovered.

Abstracts and posters of conferences, results presented at meetings (for example, to inform investigators or participants about findings), results databases (data without interpretation, discussion, context or conclusions in the form of tables and text to describe data/information, where this is not easily presented in tabular form) are not considered prior to publication.

To maintain the integrity of scientific research, Bentham Open carries out investigations regarding the concerns raised by authors and/or readers. However, authors are always provided a chance to respond to all complaints/ comments. We may require reviewers to go over the original data and consult with experts involved, in order to solve and conclude the investigation.

Post Publication Discussions may be published online after review and are usually accompanied by a response from the original authors. For more details, please visit: Post-Publication Discussions and Corrections.

Responsibility for the content published by Bentham Open in any of its journals, including any opinions expressed therein, rests exclusively with the author(s) of that content. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Bentham Open (on behalf of its employees and editorial board members) disclaims the responsibility for any and all injury and/or damage, financial or otherwise, to persons or property, resulting directly or indirectly from any ideas, methods, instructions or products (including errors in the same) referred to the content of any of Bentham Open journals. Any dispute arising, including any claim, shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the United Arab Emirates, as applied in Sharjah.