Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement

The International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (IJPSR) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics, transparency and integrity in scholarly publishing. The journal follows ethical publishing practices and takes necessary measures to prevent plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification, unethical authorship and other forms of publication malpractice.

All manuscripts submitted to IJPSR are expected to be original, scientifically valid and ethically approved, wherever applicable. Authors, reviewers and editors are required to follow ethical principles throughout the submission, peer-review and publication process.

Authors must ensure that the submitted manuscript has not been published previously and is not under consideration by any other journal. All authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission and must take responsibility for the accuracy and integrity of the work.

IJPSR follows a peer-review process to maintain the quality of published articles. Any ethical concern, complaint, authorship dispute, conflict of interest, plagiarism issue or post-publication error will be handled by the editorial team in accordance with journal policy and accepted publication ethics guidelines.

If ethical misconduct is identified before or after publication, IJPSR may take appropriate action, including rejection, correction, expression of concern, retraction or notification to the concerned institution or authority, depending on the seriousness of the case.

Human and Animal Ethics Policy

Research involving human participants, human samples, patient data, clinical information or animals must be conducted in accordance with applicable ethical standards and institutional guidelines.

Authors submitting manuscripts based on human or animal studies must clearly mention ethical approval details in the Materials and Methods section. The name of the Ethics Committee, Institutional Review Board, Institutional Animal Ethics Committee or relevant authority, along with approval number and date, should be provided wherever applicable.

For studies involving human participants, informed consent must be obtained from participants or their legally authorized representatives. Patient identity, personal information and confidential data must be protected. Any identifying information should be removed unless written consent for publication has been obtained.

For animal studies, authors must ensure that animal care, handling and experimental procedures were conducted according to approved ethical guidelines and with due concern for animal welfare.

Manuscripts without proper ethical approval, where required, may be returned to the authors, rejected or subjected to further editorial clarification.

External Ethical Guidelines Followed by IJPSR

The International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (IJPSR) follows internationally accepted ethical principles and publication standards to ensure transparency, integrity and responsible scholarly publishing. The journal follows and refers to the ethical principles and recommendations of recognized national and international organizations wherever applicable.

IJPSR follows the ethical principles and publication standards recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (WHO ICTRP), and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) ethical guidelines, wherever applicable to the submitted manuscript.

Authors, reviewers and editors are expected to follow these ethical standards during manuscript preparation, submission, peer review, editorial decision-making and publication.

The journal provides the following official references for ethical guidance:

Vulnerable Populations Policy

The International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (IJPSR) gives special attention to the ethical protection of vulnerable individuals, groups and communities involved in biomedical, clinical, pharmaceutical, public health or related research.

Vulnerable populations may include children, neonates, pregnant women, elderly persons, persons with mental illness or cognitive impairment, critically ill patients, economically or socially disadvantaged groups, tribal populations, prisoners, refugees, persons with disabilities, institutionalized persons, students, employees and other individuals whose to provide informed consent may be limited.

Research involving vulnerable populations must be scientifically justified and should only be conducted when the research cannot reasonably be performed in a less vulnerable population.

Authors must clearly describe the inclusion of vulnerable participants, the ethical safeguards implemented, informed consent procedures, confidentiality measures and expected benefits within the manuscript.

All such studies must receive prior approval from a recognized Ethics Committee, Institutional Review Board or competent authority before the research begins.

IJPSR may request ethics approval letters, informed consent documentation or additional clarification during manuscript processing.

Clinical Trial Policy

IJPSR follows accepted ethical and reporting standards for publication of clinical trials involving drugs, phytopharmaceuticals, herbal formulations, vaccines, biologics medical devices, diagnostic agents, interventions and other healthcare-related research involving human participants.

Clinical trials must receive prior approval from an Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board before participant enrolment.

Authors must provide ethics approval details, trial registration number, registry name and registration date wherever applicable.

Clinical trials conducted in India should be registered with the Clinical Trials Registry–India (CTRI), while international studies should be registered in a WHO Primary Registry or an ICMJE-approved registry.

Manuscripts should clearly describe study design, participant eligibility, interventions, randomization, blinding, outcome measures, statistical analysis, adverse event monitoring and ethical safeguards.

Randomized controlled trials are encouraged to follow CONSORT reporting guidelines.

Written informed consent must be obtained from all participants or their legally authorized representatives before participation.

Authorship and Contributorship Policy

Authorship should be limited to individuals who have made a significant intellectual contribution to the conception, design, execution, analysis, interpretation or writing of
the submitted manuscript.

All listed authors must approve the final version of the manuscript before submission and agree to be accountable for the accuracy, integrity and ethical compliance of the work.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and for ensuring that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript.

Any change in authorship after submission, including addition, deletion or change in author order, must be supported by a valid reason and written consent from all authors. The final decision regarding authorship changes rests with the editorial team.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors must include a Conflict of Interest statement in every manuscript. If no conflict exists, authors should clearly state:

Conflicts of interest may include financial support, employment, consultancy, honorarium, stock ownership, paid expert testimony, patent applications, personal relationships, academic competition or any other circumstance that may influence
impartiality.

Disclosure of conflicts of interest does not necessarily prevent publication, but allows transparent evaluation of the manuscript and helps maintain trust in the scientific
publication process.

Plagiarism Policy

The International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (IJPSR) is committed to maintaining originality, academic integrity and ethical standards in all published content. The journal does not accept plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification, unethical authorship or any form of research misconduct.

Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, data, figures, tables, images or other material from published or unpublished sources without proper citation, acknowledgement or permission. It also includes paraphrasing another author’s work without credit, using previously published work without disclosure and submitting the same or substantially similar manuscript to more than one journal.

All manuscripts submitted to IJPSR may be checked for plagiarism and textual similarity using plagiarism detection tools, manual review and editorial assessment. Similarity reports are used as supporting tools, while the final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief or editorial team.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that submitted work is original, properly referenced and not under consideration elsewhere. Previous publication, conference presentation, thesis or preprint status should be disclosed during submission.

If plagiarism is detected before publication, the manuscript may be returned, revised or rejected. If detected after publication, IJPSR may issue a correction, expression of concern or retraction depending on the seriousness of the violation.

Research Misconduct Policy

IJPSR does not support or knowingly permit research misconduct in any form. Research misconduct includes plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate submission, duplicate publication, citation manipulation, image manipulation, unethical research practices, authorship manipulation and misrepresentation of research findings.

Allegations of research misconduct received from reviewers, editors, readers, authors or third parties will be investigated by the editorial team. The Editor-in-Chief may seek clarification from the concerned author(s) and consult reviewers, editorial board members or independent experts where necessary.

Authors will be given an opportunity to respond to allegations and provide supporting documentation or clarification. If misconduct is confirmed, IJPSR may take appropriate editorial action.

If allegations are not substantiated, the manuscript or published article will continue through the normal editorial and publication process.

Complaints and Appeals Policy

Complaints regarding editorial decisions, the peer-review process or ethical concerns may be formally submitted to the Editor-in-Chief via email.

All complaints will be handled fairly, confidentially and without bias. Authors may appeal editorial decisions by providing valid justifications and supporting evidence for reconsideration.

IJPSR is committed to resolving complaints and appeals in a transparent and impartial manner. The final decision after review will rest with the Editor-in-Chief or the editorial team.

Retraction, Correction and Expression of Concern Policy

IJPSR is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scholarly record. When errors, ethical concerns or research misconduct are identified in published articles, the journal may issue a correction, clarification, expression of concern or retraction depending on the nature and seriousness of the issue.

Corrections may be published for honest errors that do not invalidate the overall findings, including mistakes in author information, figures, tables, references or data presentation.

An expression of concern may be issued when serious questions arise regarding the reliability or ethics of a published article while an investigation is still ongoing.

Retractions may be issued in cases of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, duplicate publication, unethical research, image manipulation, authorship fraud or other issues that invalidate the reliability of the published work.

Retracted articles will remain part of the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as retracted, with the reason for retraction stated whenever appropriate.

Data Sharing and Reproducibility Policy

IJPSR encourages transparency, reproducibility and responsible reporting of research data. Authors should maintain accurate records of raw data, experimental observations, statistical analyses and supporting information related to their submitted manuscripts.

Authors may be requested to provide raw data or supporting documentation during peer review or after publication to verify research findings. Failure to provide requested information without valid justification may raise ethical concerns and influence editorial decisions.

Research methods should be described clearly and in sufficient detail to enable verification and reproducibility by other researchers.

Where appropriate, authors are encouraged to include a Data Availability Statement indicating whether data are available upon request, included within the article, deposited in a public repository or restricted due to ethical, legal or confidentiality requirements.

IJPSR supports responsible data sharing while respecting patient confidentiality, intellectual property rights, institutional policies and ethical obligations.

AI / Generative AI Policy

IJPSR recognizes that Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), chatbots and AI-assisted writing tools are increasingly being used in academic writing and research communication. The journal permits responsible and transparent use of these tools only for limited purposes such as language improvement, grammar correction, formatting assistance and technical editing.

AI tools must not replace the intellectual contribution, scientific judgment, originality or accountability of human authors. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity and ethical compliance of all submitted content, including any material prepared or improved using AI tools.

AI tools, chatbots or software cannot be listed as authors or co-authors because authorship requires responsibility, accountability, approval of the final manuscript and the ability to respond to questions regarding the work.

If AI-assisted tools are used during manuscript preparation, authors must disclose the name of the tool and explain its purpose. AI must not be used to fabricate data, generate false references, manipulate images, create misleading results or conceal plagiarism.