Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statement Guidelines

Editorial Duties and Responsibilities

The following terms represent the IJPS essential ethical elements of publication that are mainly based on Committee On Publication Ethics (COPE) which should be taken into account by all parties that involved in the publication process.

- Publication Decisions

The editorial board is the first point of contact for the IJPS for considering all types of manuscripts submitted to the journal. Manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated according to their scientific value, research integrity, language, plagiarism, and the consensus ethical considerations. The editorial board may reject a submitted manuscript without a formal peer review if the board considers it to be inadequate for publication or it is out of the journal scope.

- Confidentiality

The information in the submitted manuscripts are treated with high degree of confidentiality and would not be disclosed to anyone outside the concerned parties involved in the publication process.

- Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest

It is not permitted for the chief or the members of the editorial board to use any information stated in the unpublished documents or papers for their own scientific researches except by having a written permission from the original author of the research.

- Peer Reviewing

The editorial board is obliged to give an unbiased consideration to each manuscript submitted for publication. The board will judge each manuscript professionally without any discrimination related to race, religion, nationality, sex, seniority, and/or institutional affiliation of the authors. The editorial board will select reviewers who have adequate and relevant expertise in field of the manuscript research. The selection reviewers from other institutes will also considers any conflict of interest that could occur with the authors of the manuscript.

-Editor as an author in his own journal

If the Editor members want to publish their articles in Iraqi Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (IJPS). The process will have another associate editor handle the peer review procedure independently of the editor. Also, the editors are not involved in the peer review and editorial decision-making process for their own articles. The review process is made transparent and as rigorous as possible.

Duties of Reviewers

-Contribution to Editorial Decisions

Reviewers are expected to promptly assist the editorial board in the peer reviewing for improving the quality of the manuscripts. The editorial board panel is committed to giving the reviewers the regulations, standards, and the level of originality of the documents and papers accepted for publications in the journal. The editorial board panel is also committed to not to disclosing the names of the reviewers.

- Promptness

  It is necessary for the selected reviewers to notify the editorial board panel of their  apology for  reviewing as soon as possible.

- Managing Time and Workload 

The reviewers should manage to complete the review process and respond to the edits in a timely manner and within time allocated to ensure a swift and smooth publication process for manuscripts meeting the journal publication criteria. On the other hand, fast response by the reviewers will help in fast decisions.

-Confidentiality

The reviewer expected to maintain a high degree of confidentiality to the manuscript submitted and would not disclose any information regarding the manuscript to anyone outside the concerned parties involved in the publication process.

-Standards of Objectivity
The objective criteria in reviewing are a must and the personal judgement about authors is not allowed and disregarded. The review must be reinforced by clear opinions and scientific arguments and, it must be in accordance with the journal’s regulations and approved criteria of “publication terms”.

-Identifying and Evaluating Resources

Reviewers are required to evaluate the sources of information cited in the manuscript with scrutiny. Any information that appeared to be similar (plagiarized) or overlapped significantly with an existing work (published or unpublished) that belong to others, should be reported to the editorial board for further action to be taken by the board.

-Reviewer Feedback

The reviewers are expected to provide their edits and comments in a constructive and unbiased manner using a clear language. The reviewers’ written feedback should also avoid any personal criticism and offensive language that may deter the peer review process and harm the scientific community.

- Acknowledgement of Sources

Reviewers must notify the editorial board panel by the non-compliance of the author with the standards of publication in the journal. Additionally,  they should make sure of the aptness of the references  as well as the correct referencing (references should match in the body and bibliography). It must be ensured that the views and arguments presented do not belong to other researches. Reviewers must notify the editor in case there is similarity or overlap between their manuscript submitted to the journal and any other published researches.

- Disclosure Conflicts of Interest

Reviewers should disqualify themselves from revising a manuscript if they feel a potential conflict of interest. Reviewers are not allowed to use or modify any of the information of the manuscript under revision for the purpose of serving their own interests. Also, the reviewers are not allowed to contact the author(s) of the manuscript directly without any prior permission from the journal officials. 

Duties of Authors

-Reporting Standards

The authors are the cornerstone of a good publication. The IJPS editorial board expects the authors to submit only original research. The authors are also obliged to present their work with sufficient details and proper referencing. Raw data, other documents, and resources used in building up manuscripts should be retained by the authors as part of good documentation practice and transparency required. These raw data and documents might be requested by the editorial board to clarify some issues that might arise during the publication process and to exclude any potential data fabrication and falsification.

-Avoiding Parallel Publication 

The author(s) are not allowed to submit their manuscript to IJPS if they have already submitted the same manuscript to other journal and being still in process in the other journal. This may to lead to duplication in publication and a big confusion to the scientific community. Such practice is considered highly unethical and would result in unnecessary waste of time to the editors and reviewers.

- Authorship  

The manuscript authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution and intellectual input to the research submitted to the journal, including design, performance, interpretation of the reported study, and writing the manuscript. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the manuscript but without intellectual input should only be recognized in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Also, one of the authors should be selected as the corresponding author to communicate with the journal and approve the final version of the manuscript for publication in the IJPS.

- Disclosure Conflicts of Interest

All authors should disclose any conflicts of interest that may be appeared to influence the results or interpretation of the work of the manuscript.

- Fundamental Errors in Published Work

The authors should notify the editor or the publisher in case of any misstatements appeared in the body of their manuscripts to do the necessary correction in the in pre-print form.

-Hazards and Human/Animal Subjects

Any work that involves the use of human subjects, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to make sure that the work does not pose any risk or threat to the human subjects and the work should be approved by institutional ethical committee. A declaration form for author is provided in this link   click here .If the work involves the use of animals, the research must be carried out according to the consensus ethics relating to the use of these animals in the scientific work and approved by institutional ethical committee.  The author(s) are also obligated to sign on their responsibility of taking these ethics into account while conducting research on animal subjects. A declaration form for author click here