Overview

Publication of an article in Indian Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Biotechnology (IJRPB) denotes that all its authors (Corresponding and Co-authors) have agreed to its content and have ensured that IJRPB public cation policies have been fully met. In the case of noncompliance of the editorial policy the article/s cannot be published in IJRPB.

1. Originality

Authors of articles (Research, review and short communication) must ensure that they do not breach copyright with any content they posted. All articles submitted to IJRPB must be original, authors should not submit the work which is already published or which is under review elsewhere.

Each and every article submitted to IJRPB is subjected to plagiarism (including self-plagiarism) check. If it is identified that the article fails to meet plagiarism test, it will be rejected and the same will be communicated to the corresponding author.

Authors who wish to reproduce a figure or table from a previous copyrighted publication are responsible for obtaining the permission of copyright holders and for clearly referencing the original source.

2. Authorship

Authorship presents credit in the name of academic, social, and financial propositions to the authors. Authorship also implies responsibility and accountability for the published work.The ICMJE (International committee of medical journal editors) recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
• Final approval of the version to be published; and
• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors bear sole responsibility for the experimental procedures adopted, results obtained and claims made in the article. It’s their responsibility to furnish their detailed professional information to the journal. It is the responsibility of the corresponding author to communicate with the journal for submission, peer review, and publication process. He is responsible to answer the editorial queries and for furnishing the details like ethical committee permissions in the case of experiments involving animals or human beings from the respective departments/ councils.

In the case of change of authorship (deletion or addition of authors), corresponding author and coauthors are required to inform the same in writing to the editor in chief within one month of publication of the article.

3. Experiments involving human or animal subjects or hazardous chemicals or procedures

The author must clearly mention in their manuscript regarding the involvement of any chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use. If the work involves the use of animal or human subjects, the author should ensure that the manuscript contains a statement that all procedures were performed in compliance with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them and it is the authors responsibility to furnish the details to the editor of the journal on request. Editor can reject the publication if the details given are not satisfactory in this regard.

4. Conflict of interest

Authors must include a ‘Conflict of interest’ statement in their manuscript. The statement provides full transparency for the referees and readers. If there are no conflicts of interests to declare, the following standard statement is added: ‘No conflicts of interests were disclosed’. A conflict of interest may be of non-financial or financial nature.
Examples may include:

• Salaried employees from various companies or research organizations. The relationship of each author should be explained clearly with the company he is working with.
• Individuals or their funding organization or employer holding (or applying for) related patents.
• Shareholders of a particular company where their findings alter the value of their investments.
• Political, religious, or ideological competing interests.

5. Acknowledgement of sources

Proper acknowledgement to the people who contributed to the work directly or indirectly can be given by authors. Authors should cite publications that have been instrumental in determining the course of the work.

6. Duties of the editorial board

These guidelines are based on existing JCHPS policies and adopting guidelines from COPE - Committee on Publication Ethics.

Publication decisions : Editor-In-Chief is the decision making authority for selection or rejection of articles for publication in IJRPB. The validation of the work in question and its importance to researchers and readers must always drive such decisions. The editor may be guided by the policies of the journal's editorial board and compelled by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may consult with other editors or reviewers in making this decision.

Unbiased decisions and review : In IJRPB, we are not subjected to any factors like religion, caste, nationality and relationship in making decisions and conducting review of articles. We strictly follow editorial ethics and policies in this regard.
The author will be unaware of the reviewer/s of his article. If necessary double blind review system will be implemented where authors and reviewers details are not exchanged between each other.

Confidentiality : The editor and any editorial staff will 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. The contents of the article will not be used by editor or editorial staff for their professional or personal benefits.

7. Duties of reviewer

Peer review plays a major role in influencing the editorial decisions. Peer review assists the editor and author in improving the quality of the article. The reviewer should maintain confidentiality of the article. Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor. Reviewer’s comments should be constructive, he should not demoralize or defame the author with his comments. Reviewer should clearly mark the discrepancies if found and communicate the same to the editor. He should complete his review with in the stipulated time and should inform regarding delays if any to the editor.

The review process is done using the Manuscript Management System. Reviewers make one of the following recommendations:

Accept As Is
Requires Minor Corrections
Requires Moderate Revision
Requires Major Revision
Submit To Another Publication Such As
Reject on grounds of (Please be specific)

The editor makes one of the following decisions:

Accept
The Manuscript Requires Improvement
Reject

Only an editor has the authority to “Accept” or “Reject” a manuscript. If a manuscript is “Accepted”, an Acceptance Certificate is issued to the author(s) and the manuscripts are processed for publication.
If a manuscript is rejected, the authors are informed of the decision and no further processing is done on the manuscript.If a manuscript requires improvement, it is sent to the author(s) with the editor’s recommendation for further revision. The editor makes a final decision on the revised to “Accept” or “Reject” the manuscript.

8. Submission of Manuscript

Authors should read the “Instruction for Authors” on the journal’s page before making a submission. Manuscript should be prepared according to the style and specifications of the journal’s policy.Authors listed on the manuscript should have met the requirements for Authorship specified above. Where possible, specify the contribution of each of the authors.

All authors should approve the final version of the manuscript prior to submission. Once a manuscript is submitted, it is therefore assumed that all authors have read and given their approval for the submission of the manuscript.

Authors should submit the signed copyright form available in the journal website along with the article. Contact information of all authors should be stated on the manuscript. Submission can be made online or through mail; authors can send their manuscripts to ijrpb@yahoo.com.

Further reading
COPE - flowcharts on Conflict of Interest.
ICMJE - Conflicts of Interest.
STM – International Ethical Principles for Scholarly Publication.
WAME - Conflict of Interest in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals.

9. Misconduct

Misconduct constitutes violation of this editorial policy, journal policies, publication ethics, or any applicable guidelines/policies specified by COPE, WAME, ICMJE, and STM. Any other activities that threaten/compromise the integrity of the research/publication process are potential misconducts. Suspected cases of misconduct will be investigated according to COPE guidelines.

10. Correction and retraction of articles

Corrections may be made to a published article with the authorization of the editor of the journal. Editors will decide the magnitude of the corrections. Minor corrections are made directly to the original article. However, in cases of major corrections, the original article will be removed from the web site and the corrected one will be uploaded in its place. A statement indicating the reason for the major change to the article will also be published. When necessary, retraction of articles will be done according to COPE retraction guidelines. Authors should approach with in one month of the publication for any corrections. Otherwise we may not be in a position to entertain corrections.

Further reading
ICMJE - Scientific Misconduct, Expressions of Concern, and Retraction.
COPE Guidelines.
COPE Flowcharts.
COPE retraction guidelines.
WAME - Publication Ethics Policies for Medical Journals.
STM - International Ethical Principles for Scholarly Publication editorial policy.