Publication Ethics

Journal of PharmTechNova (JPTN) adheres to the Principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing. This statement should be read in conjunction with the journal policies.

Ethical guidelines for the academic editors

The editors of the Journal of PharmTechNova are responsible for making the editorial decision on the submitted articles. The journal relies on the integrity and honesty of the editors to select high-quality manuscripts that conform to ethical standards and meet all the requirements. The editors of this journal must follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) “Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors”.

The editorial decisions must be made only on intellectual merit without any prejudice or bias. The editors must maintain the confidentiality of the submitted manuscripts and ensure the integrity of double-blind peer review. The editors are required to read the journal’s conflict of interest policies carefully and ensure compliance with the same.

Ethical guidelines for the reviewers

The volunteer contribution of peer reviewers is paramount to maintaining the scientific integrity and selection of high-quality articles. The peer reviewers of the journal are required to follow the COPE guidelines to the peer-reviewers and the peer-review guidelines of this journal.

The reviewers are also requested to read the journal’s conflict of interest policies carefully and ensure compliance with the same.

The reviewers are expected to maintain the confidentiality and objectivity of the double-blind peer review.

Ethical guidelines for the authors

Authors are required to fulfil the ICMJE’s definition of the authors and contributors [Link]. The ICMJE 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.

The authors should read and ensure compliance with the journal’s policies, such as:

  • Plagiarism policy
  • Conflicts of interest policy
  • Ethical approvals, patients’ rights, and informed consent
  • Corrections and retraction policy

Authors of the original research article must present accurate data and provide sufficient information and references to ensure the reproducibility of the work. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements are considered unethical behaviour and unacceptable. Authors may be asked to provide the raw/supplementary data for a paper that is under editorial review. The authors should be prepared to provide public access to these data (if practicable) and to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Redundant or duplicate submission/publication

Duplicate or redundant submission is the same manuscript (or the same data) that is submitted to different journals at the same time. International copyright laws, ethical conduct, and cost-effective use of resources require that readers can be assured that what they are reading is original (Read ICMJE recommendations). An author should not publish manuscripts that describe the same concept or present similar data, in more than one journal. Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

Our online editorial system (OJS submission system) provides an option to search the article title and keywords and provide all the related publications. Our handling editors carefully monitor all the related articles to avoid duplicate submission/publication. All such articles will be rejected immediately.

In case the editor was not aware of the violation and the article has been published, a notice of the duplicate submission and the ethical violation will be published.

Acknowledgment and funding sources

Authors should provide proper acknowledgement for the work of others. Authors should cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work.

The authors must declare all sources of funding received for the research submitted to the journal. Authors should give the names of granting agencies and grant numbers, along with a short description of each funder’s role. Only the funding related to the submitted work should be mentioned, and authors are NOT required to provide the complete list of every single grant that supports them.

Ethical guidelines for the publisher

The publisher is supposed to protect the intellectual property and copyright of the contents submitted by the authors. We respect privacy and personal data, especially for authors and peer reviewers. We work in close cooperation with the editors and peer reviewers to maintain editorial independence and to guarantee transparency and integrity in the peer-review process. This journal follows the ICMJE guidelines for journal owners and editorial freedom.

Publishing ethics issues

Monitoring: The EIC must ensure the establishment of the mechanism for monitoring and safeguarding publishing ethics. All complaints received from reviewers, authors, or anyone else should be taken into proper consideration, and appropriate action should be taken promptly.

Retraction & Corrections: Published articles will be retracted if there is clear evidence that the findings are unreliable. Retraction may result from scientific misconduct or honest error. Retracted articles remain online with a notice. We follow the COPE guidelines.

Article withdrawal: Authors may withdraw their article at any stage before publication by logging into their author homepage. Withdrawal removes the manuscript from peer review & publication process.

Submissions from editors, employees, or members of the editorial board

All submissions from editors, reviewers, or editorial board members are identified by the OJS system. Such authors are excluded from the manuscript handling process. Reviewers and handling editors must disclose conflicts of interest before submitting feedback.

Preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards

Funding agencies and sponsors should not influence authors’ findings. Editors must maintain academic integrity and be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions, and apologies when needed.

Misconduct and sanctions

Suspected breaches of publication ethics, before or after publication, should be reported to the journal. Claimants can remain anonymous. Editors will investigate, request underlying data, and may contact institutions. Violations such as duplicate submission, plagiarism, or fraudulent data will lead to rejection or retraction following COPE Retraction Guidelines.

Possible sanctions include:

  • Not allowing submission for 1–3 years
  • Prohibition from acting as an editor or reviewer
  • Reporting misconduct to the author's institutions, employers, and funding agencies

Minor or unintentional errors may be corrected by a corrigendum (author) or erratum (publisher).

Complaints and appeals

Authors & readers can submit complaints/appeals via email to editor@pharmtechnova.com. Each complaint is assigned a unique number for follow-up. If no response is received within 48 hrs, contact the associate or chief editor, mentioning the complaint number.