1 | AIM AND SCOPE
Journal of Fisheries publishes original research, reviews and short communication dealing with aquatic systems (ponds, wetlands, freshwater and marine systems) and their boundaries, including the impact of human activities on these systems. The coverage ranges from molecular-level mechanistic studies to investigations at the whole ecosystem scale, including fish biology and ecology. The journal also publishes multidisciplinary articles including studies examining interactions among biological, chemical, physical, hydrological and societal processes. In addition, Journal of Fisheries welcomes submission related to open water fisheries management and post-harvest technologies of fish and other aquatic animals / plants.

2 | JOURNAL OF FISHERIES AT A GLANCE

  • ISSN: 2311-3111 (Online) and 2311-729X (Print)
  • Year of launching: December, 2013
  • Editor-in-Chief: Professor Martyn C. Lucas (Durham University, UK) and Professor M. Nazrul Islam (University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh)
  • Journal policy: Open Access, Peer Reviewed, Online First!
  • Journal issues: 3 issues in a year (April, August, and December), accepted article is published online as Online First! and will be included to the contents of the upcoming issue
  • DOI prefix: 10.17017
  • Journal owner: BdFISH
  • Web: journal.bdfish.org

 

3 | JOURNAL ABSTRACTING / INDEXING

  • CAB Abstracts
  • CAB Global Health
  • Chemical Abstract Service (CAS)
  • COBISS+
  • Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
  • Google Scholar
  • JournalSeek
  • JournalTOCs
  • Norwegian Scientific Index
  • Web of Science Core Collection (Emerging Sources Citation Index)
  • WorldCat

4 | PEER-REVIEW POLICY
Journal of Fisheries is a double blind peer reviewed journal.
4.1 Initial submission
After submission, Editorial Assistant will checks the paper’s composition and arrangement against the JFish’s Author Guidelines to make sure it includes the required sections and stylisations. The quality of the paper is not assessed at this point. If a manuscript passes this stage it will be forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief (EIC) / Executive Editor / Senior Editor / Associate Editor checks that the paper is appropriate for the journal and is sufficiently original and interesting. If not, the paper may be rejected without being reviewed any further. If the manuscript is accepted at this level, an Editor of appropriate expertise will be assigned as the Handling Editor.

4.2 Peer-Review stage
At this state, the Handling Editor will read the manuscript and if s/he finds it to be technically sound and scientifically valid, it will be sent to two reviewers for in depth review. Based on their reports, the Handling Editor will recommend a decision on the manuscript to the EIC / Executive Editor. However, an additional review by a third reviewer may be carried out if it becomes difficult to reach a decision from the comments made by initial reviewers (1st and 2nd reviewers).

4.3 Decision after review
Four types of decisions can be yielded this time after in depth review-
Accepted (with no change of manuscript)
Accepted after minor correction
Accepted after major correction
Rejected

4.4 Revisions
In cases where the referees or Editorial Board Member has requested changes to the manuscript, the corresponding author will be invited to prepare a revision. The decision letter will specify a deadline, usually two months, for submission of a revised manuscript. Once resubmitted, the manuscript may then be sent back to the original referees or to new referees, at the Editorial Board Member's discretion.

4.5 Final submission and acceptance
When all editorial issues are resolved, the manuscript will be formally accepted for publication. The received date stated on the paper will be the date on which the original submission passed our standard quality control checks, which are based on the journal's submission criteria. The accepted date stated on the paper will be the date on which the EIC / Executive Editor sent the acceptance letter.

4.6 Appeals and complaints
Authors may ask the Editorial Board to reconsider a rejection decision. Only one appeal is permitted for each manuscript, and appeals can only take place after peer review. Final decisions on appeals will be made by the EIC / Executive Editor / Handling Editor.

 

5 | COPYRIGHT POLICY / OPEN ACCESS STATEMENT

Journal of Fisheries articles are published OA under a CC-BY NC SA (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license). Under Creative Commons licenses, authors retain copyright of their articles. The CC BY NC SA license allows researchers to distribute and use data from the original source provided it is distributed free of cost for non-commercial purposes with adequate credits to the original author.
In instances where authors are not allowed to retain copyright to their own article (where the author is a US Government employee for example), authors should contact the Editorial Office before submitting their article so we can advise as to whether their non-standard copyright request can be accommodated.

 

6 | PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

Publication ethics and publication malpractice statement of Journal of Fisheries is primarily based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics 2011).

6.1 Editors' responsibilities

6.1.1 Publication decisions
The Editor is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The Editor will evaluate manuscripts without regard to the authors' race, sexual orientation, gender, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy. The decision will be based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its relevance to the journal's scope. Legal requirements regarding copyright infringement, plagiarism and other related issues should also be considered.

6.1.2 Confidentiality
The Editor and any member of the Editorial Team must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

6.1.3 Disclosure and conflicts of interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted paper will not be used by the Editor or the members of the Editorial Team for their own research purposes.

 

6.2 Reviewers' responsibilities

6.2.1 Contribution to editorial decisions
The peer-reviewing process assists the Editor and the Editorial Team in making editorial decisions and may also serve the author in improving the paper.

6.2.2 Promptness
Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the Editor and withdraw from the review process.

6.2.3 Confidentiality
Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed to or discussed with others except as authorized by the Editor.

6.2.4 Standards of objectivity
Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author should be avoided. They should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

6.2.5 Acknowledgement of sources
Reviewers should identify cases in which relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section. They should point out whether observations or arguments derived from other publications are accompanied by the respective source.

6.2.6 Disclosure and conflict of interest
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and should not be 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 associated with the papers.

 

6.3 Authors' duties

6.3.1 Reporting standards
Authors of original research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance. Underlying data should be represented accurately in the manuscript. A manuscript should contain sufficient detail and references to allow others to replicate the research. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements constitute unethical behaviour and are unacceptable.

6.3.1 Data access and retention
Under special circumstances authors may be asked to provide the raw data of their study for Editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable. In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication, provided that the confidentiality of the participants can be protected and legal rights concerning proprietary data do not preclude their release.

6.3.2 Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication
In general, papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Manuscripts which have been published as copyrighted material elsewhere cannot be submitted.

6.3.3 Originality, plagiarism and acknowledgement of sources
Authors will submit only entirely original works, and will appropriately cite or quote the work and/or words of others. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work should also be cited.

 

7 | ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGE (APC)

There is no APC for articles undergone regular publication process. However, we offer “Accelerated Publication” option to our authors if time is critical for them. With Accelerated Publication option, authors can speed up the peer review process without sacrificing quality.

We offer two Accelerated Publication options:

  1. Accelerated Publication option A: 25–35 days from submission to online publication*
  2. Accelerated Publication option B: 45–50 days from submission to online publication*

*Timelines rely on authors making revisions and returning required paperwork on schedule.
However, following fees are applicable for manuscripts processed with Accelerated Publication option.

  • Publish in 25–35 days from submission (Cost per article: $600 / €575 / £500 / INR 50000 / BDT 50000)
  • Publish in 45–50 days from submission (Cost per article: $500 / €475 / £400 / INR 40000 / BDT 40000)

Please note that the acceptance of articles is driven entirely by editorial considerations and independent peer review, ensuring the highest standards are maintained.

Authors are only charged if their paper is accepted; there is no charge for using the service if the paper is rejected. We reserve the right to a partial charge if the author withdraws their paper.
If you decide to take advantages of Accelerated Publication option, submit your manuscript online following standard submission process and send an email to the editorial office (editor.jfish@gmail.com) with “accelerated publication [A] or [B]: Your manuscript title” in the subject line.

Special discount for students: Student-led papers are eligible for a 50% discount. Please note that this discount does not apply to papers with joint or equal first authorship. To access this offer, please contact the Editorial Office at editor.jfish@gmail.com, providing proof of the student’s identity (ideally a student ID card) at the time of requesting accelerated publication options.

 

8 | PLAGIARISM POLICY
All the submitted manuscripts will be checked for possible plagiarism using standard software (e.g. iThenticate) by the Editorial Assistant during the Initial Submission stage. No manuscript exceeding a text similarity of 15% will be considered for possible the publication in Journal of Fisheries.

9 | REPOSITORY POLICY
Authors are free to deposit their manuscript / papers of any version (i.e. submitted, accepted or published) in an institutional or other repository of their choice.