Publication Ethics

International Journal of Pharmaceutics and Drug Analysis is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the publication of research papers, reviews, mini-reviews, Short communications, and case studies.

Section A: Author's Responsibilities

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

1. The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
2. The submission file is in Open Office, Microsoft Word, RTF, or WordPerfect document file format.
3. Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
4. Manuscripts should be written as per instructions provided in the Authors Guidelines section and accompanied by a cover letter stating the originality and significance of the submitted manuscripts.
5. The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines, which is found in About the Journal.
6. Numbers of Authors: Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study.
7. If at any point,  the author(s) discovers a  significant error in the submitted manuscript,  then the error or inaccuracy must be reported to the editor.
8. The authors should ensure that they have written entirely original works, and if the authors have used the work and/or words of others that this has been appropriately cited or quoted.
9. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
10. Proper acknowledgment of the work of others must always be given. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.
11. If the work involves chemicals, procedures, or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the author must clearly identify these in the manuscript.

Section B: Reviewers' responsibilities

1. Reviewers should keep all information regarding papers confidential and treat them as privileged information.
2. Reviews should be conducted objectively, with no personal criticism of the author.
3. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.
4. Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors.
5. Reviewers should also call to the Editor in Chief's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.
6. Reviewers should not review 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 papers.

Section C: Editorial Staff’s responsibilities

1. The editor is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published.
2. 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.
3. An editor at any time evaluates manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.
4. The editor and any editorial staff 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.
5. Disclosure and conflicts of interest: 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.

Section D: Publisher’s Responsibilities

Maintain Relationship

To maintain the relationship with editors and parties involved in the publication and should support the editorial decisions and should work in the way to achieve the publication goal set by the editor.

Maintain confidentiality

To maintain the confidentiality of the author and his/her research work.

Maintain the policies

To promote and encourage policies regarding journal ethics, authorship, editorial independence, conflict of interest, research funding, review system, and process.

Corrections, Retractions, Republication, and errors

To publish corrections, clarification, retractions whenever required. The publication should be done on a timely basis to achieve timeliness of the publishing schedule of the journal.

Honest errors are a part of science and publishing and require publication of a correction when they are detected. So Correction, Retractions, Republication, and errors are handled as per standards prescribed by ICMJE

What to do in a case of Redundant publication

• Suspected redundant publication in a submitted manuscript (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/01A_Redundant_Submitted.pdf )
• Suspected redundant publication in a published article (http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/01B_Redundant_Published.pdf )

What to do in a case of suspect plagiarism

• Suspected plagiarism in a submitted manuscript ( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/02A_Plagiarism_Submitted.pdf)
• Suspected plagiarism in a published article ( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/02B_Plagiarism_Published.pdf )

What to do in a case of fabricated data

• Suspected fabricated data in a submitted manuscript 
  ( http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Flowchart%20Fabricated%20A%20revised%20May%202011.pdf )
• Suspected fabricated data in a published article (http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Flowchart%20Fabricated%20B%20revised.pdf )

If Changes in authorship 

The corresponding author requests addition of an extra author before publication 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04A_Author_Add_Submitted.pdf ) 

Corresponding author requests removal of the author before publication 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04B_Author_Remove_Submitted.pdf ) 

Request for addition of extra author after publication 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04C_Author_Add_Published.pdf ) 

Request for removal of the author after publication 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04D_Author_Remove_Published.pdf ) 

Suspected guest, ghost, or gift authorship 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04E_Author_Ghost_Guest_Gift.pdf ) 

Advice on how to spot authorship problems 
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/04F_How_to_spot_author_problems.pdf ) 

What to do if a reviewer suspects a case of an undisclosed conflict of interest (CoI) in a submitted manuscript
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/05A_CoI_Submitted.pdf ) 

What to do if a reader suspects a case of an undisclosed conflict of interest (CoI) in a published article
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/05B_CoI_Published.pdf ) 

What to do if case an ethical problem with a submitted manuscript
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/06_Ethics_Submitted.pdf ) 

What to do in the case of a reviewer has appropriated an author’s idea or data
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u2/07_Reviewer_misconduct.pdf ) 

How COPE handles complaints against editors
( http://publicationethics.org/files/u7140/Flowchart%20Complaints%20revised%20Apr%2012.pdf )