All advertising and sponsorship agreements are required to conform to advertising guidelines. These guidelines have been established by the Advertising Integrity Board (AIB) and are reviewed annually. Members of the AIB include the Editor-in-Chief, representatives from the Advisory and Editorial Boards, and an external expert.

The current Advertising Policy requires the following:

1. Decisions on the acceptance (or rejection) of all advertisements and commercially sponsored publications will be rendered separately from and independent of editorial decisions.
2. Advertisers and sponsors are not permitted either to control or exert influence over any users' search results on the Bio-protocol website, nor may advertising be associated with keyword or search topics. Bio-protocol may not endorse any of the product advertising on its website. Nor may it promote any commercial products owned by a sponsor in Bio-protocol publications.
3. The published content of Bio-protocol is determined solely by the Bio-protocol Editorial Board. Bio-protocol will not publish editorial content that is commercial or "advertorial" in nature. If any products used in a protocol were paid for or donated by a company, authors are required to disclose this in their conflicts of interest statements, which are listed in the "Competing interests" section of each published protocol article. Bio-protocol Editors will review the "Competing interests" section and reject the publication of any protocol that has the appearance of being designed as an advertising vehicle for the product used in the research.
4. Bio-protocol accepts advertising solely on products or services that are related to life sciences research. It does not accept advertising for cars, travel, financial services, nutraceuticals, or other products and services not directly tied to life sciences research.
5. Advertising may not be designed in any way such that it could be confused with editorial content. Advertisements or sponsored areas of the site must be labeled as such, with the advertiser and the sponsoring organizations clearly identified.
6. The AIB reserves the right to reject or remove at any time any advertisement it deems inappropriate.
7. Advertising for products may not make any product claims for utility or efficacy that have not been demonstrated in reputable, independent literature or that cannot be demonstrated.
8. Please direct any concerns or complaints about advertising to: ad_board@bio-protocol.org. The AIB will respond to the concerns or complaints within 5 working days of receipt.

Policy reviewed by the Advertising Integrity Board and updated as of January 03, 2024