About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology invites research articles, short communication, and reviews describing new findings/phenomena of biological sciences in tropical regions, specifically in the following subjects, but not limited to biotechnology, biodiversity, microbiology, botany, zoology, biosystematics, ecology, and environmental sciences.

Peer Review Process

The review process of the submitted manuscript will follow the following steps:

  1. The manuscript is first evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief and can be declined if it lacks strong scientific merit and does not fit into the journal's scope. 
  2. Editor-in-Chief will assign a handling Editor to further examine the manuscript for any indications of plagiarism and study misconduct.
  3. The manuscript will be sent by the Editor to at least two independent reviewers. The review will be conducted in the Double-Blind Review process. (Review process takes two weeks till two months, based on the reviewer).
  4. The author (s) must make a revision process as soon as possible. The decision of the revised manuscript will be evaluated based on the reviewer's recommendation from among several possibilities: published directly, need a minor revision, require a major revision, and rejected.
  5. The Editor-in-Chief of Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology has the right to decide which manuscripts submitted to the journal should be published.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

Publication Frequency

Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology is published triannually in April, August, and December.

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

Repository Policy

Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology allows author(s) to deposit all versions of their work in an institutional or subject repository. This policy sets out how Biotropika authors can self-archive versions of their work on their web pages, on institutional web pages, and in another repository.

This policy applies to submitted (author original), author-accepted manuscripts, or published versions. All of the published articles in Biotropika are deposited in the Portal Garuda repository.

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism, copying of ideas, text, data, and other creative works without proper citation is a serious violation. Plagiarism screening will be conducted by the Editorial Board using Turnitin software. Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology defines plagiarism as a case in which a paper reproduces another work with at least 10% similarity and without citation. The author(s) will be asked a chance for rebuttal if evidence of plagiarism is found before/after acceptance or after the publication of the paper. If the arguments are not found to be satisfactory, the manuscript will be drawn back and the author(s) sanctioned from publishing papers for a period to be determined by the responsible Editor(s).

Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

This statement clarifies the ethical behavior of all parties involved in the act of publishing an article in our journals, including the authors, the editors, the peer-reviewers, and the publisher. This statement is based on Copes's Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors.

Duties of author(s)

Sources: http://www.publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf

  1. Authorship of the paper: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the reported study. If there are other participants who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors.
  2. Originality and plagiarism: The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if there were the work and/or words of others, so it has been appropriately cited.
  3. Multiple, redundant or concurrent publications: The authors should not submit the same manuscripts in more than one journal or primary publication.
  4. Acknowledgement of sources: Proper acknowledgement to others is always written.
  5. Disclosure and conflicts of interest: The authors must include disclosure of all relationships to prevent a potential conflict of interest.
  6. Fundamental errors in published works: When the authors discover a significant error or their own published work, they have to notify and be cooperated to the journal editor or publisher to retract or correct the paper.
  7. Reporting standards: The Authors should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion.
  8. Hazards and human or animal subjects: If the work involves unusual hazards inherent and/or the use of animal or human subjects, so the authors have to state and write it clearly in their paper.
  9. Use of patient images or case details: Studies on patients or volunteers require ethics committee approval and it should be documented in the paper.

Duties of Editor(s)

  1. Publication decisions: The editor(s) may be guided by the policies of the journal's Editorial Board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.
  2. Fair play: The editor(s) should evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
  3. Confidentiality: The editor(s) must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.
  4. Acknowledgement of sources: Proper acknowledgement to others is always written.
  5. Disclosure and conflicts of interest: The editors should require all contributors to disclose relevant competing interests and publish corrections if competing interests are revealed after publication. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor's own research without the express written consent of the author. If needed, other appropriate action should be taken, such as the publication of a retraction or expression of concern.
  6. Journal self-citation: The editor(s) should direct authors to relevant literature as part of the peer review process, however, this should never extend to blanket instructions to cite individual journals
  7. Involvement and cooperation in investigations: Every reported act of unethical publishing behaviour must be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. The editor of the journal should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper, in conjunction with the publisher (or society).

Duties of Reviewer(s) 

Sources: http://www.publicationethics.org/files/u2/Best_Practice.pdf

  1. Contribution to editorial decisions: Peer review assists the editors in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper.
  2. Promptness: Any selected peer reviewer who feels unqualified to peer review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
  3. Confidentiality: Any manuscripts received for peer review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
  4. Standards of objectivity: Peer reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
  5. Acknowledgement of sources: Peer reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
  6. Journal self-citation: The editor(s) should direct authors to relevant literature as part of the peer review process, however, this should never extend to blanket instructions to cite individual journals.
  7. Disclosure and conflict of interest: Peer 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 manuscripts. 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.

Retraction

The papers published in the Biotropika: Journal of Tropical Biology will be considered to retract in the publication if:

  1. They have clear evidence that the findings are unreliable, either as a result of misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or honest error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error)
  2. The findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper crossreferencing, permission, or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication)
  3. It constitutes plagiarism
  4. It reports unethical research

The mechanism of retraction follows the Retraction Guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) which can be accessed at Retraction guidelines

Reference Management

Manuscripts are written by using standard citation application (Mendeley), available in the following link:

https://csl.mendeley.com/styles/489185471/biotropika-journal-of-tropical-biology23 

The recent research/ review articles (the last ten years) are strongly suggested to be used as references (more or less 80% of the cited references).

Journal History

Previous Chief in Editors:
1. Drs. Sofy Permana, M.Sc.,D.Sc.
2. Prof. Muhaimin Rifa`i, S.Si., Ph.D.Med.Sc.
3. Dian Siswanto, Ph.D.
4. Yoga Dwi Jatmiko, S.Si., M.App.Sc., Ph.D.