Peer Review Guideline

Before you accept or decline an invitation to review, consider the following questions:

  • Does the article match your area of expertise? Only accept the review invitation if you are confident that you can provide a high-quality evaluation.

  • Do you have a potential conflict of interest? If yes, disclose it to the editor when responding to the invitation.

  • Do you have sufficient time? Reviewing requires considerable effort—ensure that you are able to complete the review within the given deadline before committing.

Respond to the invitation as soon as you can – delay in your decision slows down the review process, whether you agree to review or not. If you decline the invitation, provide suggestions for alternative reviewers.

Review Comment
Your review will help the editor decide whether or not to publish the article. Giving your overall opinion and general observations of the article is essential. Your comments should be courteous and constructive, and should not include any personal remarks or personal details including your name.

Providing insight into any deficiencies is important. You should explain and support your judgement so that both editors and authors are able to fully understand the reasoning behind your comments. You should indicate whether your comments are your own opinion or are reflected by the data.

Reviewer Checklist

  • Give your main impressions of the article, including whether it is novel and interesting, whether it has a sufficient impact, and whether it contributes to the existing knowledge base.

  • Provide specific comments and suggestions, including aspects related to layout and format, title, abstract, introduction, methodology, statistical analysis, results, conclusion/discussion, language use, and references.

  • If you suspect plagiarism, fraud, or other ethical issues, report your concerns to the editor with as much detail as possible. Refer to the Publication Ethics page of GEN BINOX: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Biologi or the COPE guidelines for further guidance.

  • In accordance with COPE guidelines, treat all manuscripts as confidential documents. Do not share the manuscript, review content, or any related information with others without permission from the editors and authors, both during and after the review process.

  • Any recommendation for authors to cite the reviewer’s work (or that of their colleagues) must be based solely on valid scientific reasons, not for the purpose of increasing citation counts or enhancing visibility.

The use of generative AI-assisted technologies in the journal peer review process
When a researcher is invited to review another researcher’s paper, the manuscript must be treated as a confidential document. Reviewers should not upload a submitted manuscript or any part of it into a generative AI tool as this may violate the authors’ confidentiality and proprietary rights and, where the paper contains personally identifiable information, may breach data privacy rights.

This confidentiality requirement extends to the peer review report, as it may contain confidential information about the manuscript and/or the authors. For this reason, reviewers should not upload their peer review report into an AI tool, even if it is just for the purpose of improving language and readability.

Peer review is at the heart of the scientific ecosystem and GEN BINOX: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Biologi abides by the highest standards of integrity in this process. Reviewing a scientific manuscript implies responsibilities that can only be attributed to humans. Generative AI or AI-assisted technologies should not be used by reviewers to assist in the scientific review of a paper as the critical thinking and original assessment needed for peer review is outside of the scope of this technology and there is a risk that the technology will generate incorrect, incomplete or biased conclusions about the manuscript. The reviewer is responsible and accountable for the content of the review report.

GEN BINOX: Jurnal Ilmiah Pendidikan Biologi AI author policy states that authors are allowed to use generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the manuscript preparation process before submission, but only with appropriate oversight and disclosure, as per our instructions in Author Guidelines, Template, and Publication Ethics & AI Policies. Reviewers can find such disclosure at the bottom of the paper in a separate section before the list of references.

The final decision
GEN BINOX Editor ultimately decides whether to accept or reject the article. The editor will weigh all views and may call for a third opinion or ask the author for a revised paper before making a decision.