AJPTR
Tue, 19 Mar 2024

ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

(based on Elsevier recommendations and COPE ‘s Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors)

American Journal of PharmTech Research (AJPTR) is a peer-reviewed journal committed to ensuring the highest standards of publication ethics. All members involved in the act of publishing (editors, authors, reviewers and the publisher) have to agree upon standards of ethical behavior. We state the following principles of Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics – COPE (available at http://publicationethics.org/).

 

DUTIES OF EDITORS

 

Fair practice

The editor should examine manuscripts for their intellectual and novel content without regards to race, gender, nationality, political philosophy or religious faith of the author.

 

Confidentiality

Information about the submitted manuscript should not be disclosed by editorial board to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewer, editorial advisor, potential reviewer as appropriate.

 

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Editors and editorial board members must not use unpublished manuscript for their own research without the written consent of author. Research ideas or information obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage and must be kept confidential. Editor must not entertain manuscripts which have conflict of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or connection with company or institute etc. Editors must rescue themselves from considering such manuscripts.

 

Publication decisions

The editor of a peer-reviewed journal American Journal of PharmTech Research is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published. 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 constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may confer with other editors or reviewers in making this decision. 

 

Involvement and cooperation in investigations

An editor should take reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper, in conjunction with the publisher (or society). Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies, and if the complaint is upheld, the publication of a correction, retraction, expression of concern, or other note, as may be relevant. Every reported act of unethical publishing behavior must be looked into, even if it is discovered years after publication. 

 

RESPONSIBILITY OF REVIEWERS

 

Purpose of peer review

The peer review process is a crucial component in helping the editor and/or editorial board reach editorial or publishing decisions and may also serve the author in improving the quality of the submission.

 

Promptness

The selected reviewer who feels unqualified to review the manuscript should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process. 

 

Confidentiality

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. 

 

Disclosure and conflicts of interest

Editors and editorial board members must not use unpublished manuscript for their own research without the written consent of author. Research ideas or information obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage and must be kept confidential. Editor must not entertain manuscripts which have conflict of interest resulting from collaborative, competitive, or connection with company or institute etc. Editors must rescue themselves from considering such manuscripts.

 

Standards of objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments. 

 

Acknowledgement of sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor's attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge. 

 

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE AUTHOR

 

Reporting standards

Authors submitting reports of original research should present an adequate amount of the research work performed along with objective, discussion of its significance. Important data should be reported accurately in the paper. Author should provide sufficient details and references to permit others to replicate the work and push boundaries of research
 

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data, if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication. 
 

Originality and plagiarism

The authors should submit entirely original work. Plagiarism is unauthorized use of the language and thoughts of another author and presentation of them as one’s own. Authors are requested not to encourage such unethical practice. Author must use citation to document all ideas and significant information that are not their own.


Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication

An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. Submitting the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable. In general, an author should not submit for consideration in another journal a previously published paper. Publication of some kinds of articles (e.g. clinical guidelines, translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided certain conditions are met. The authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication. 


Acknowledgement of sources

Author should acknowledge work of others that have been influential in their research by citation of reference. Information produced in course of confidential services should not be used without permission of the author.


Authorship of the paper

Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. 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. 


Hazards and human or animal subjects

In research work involving procedures, chemicals or instruments that cause hazards inherent in their use should be clearly mentioned in the manuscript. Use of animal or human subjects should be done with prior permission from ethical committee and should be mentioned in manuscript.


Disclosure and conflicts of interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed. Examples of potential conflicts of interest which should be disclosed include employment, consultancies, stock ownership, honoraria, paid expert testimony, patent applications/registrations, and grants or other funding. Potential conflicts of interest should be disclosed at the earliest stage possible. 


Fundamental errors in published works

If an author discovers a major error or inaccuracy in his published work, it is the author’s obligation to notify the editor. If the author discovers a major error or inaccuracy in the published work from third party, it is authors obligation to correct or retract the paper.