Ethical Principles and Publication Policy

Pharmedicine Journal is committed to maintaining high standards of scientific integrity, transparency, and ethical publishing. The journal follows internationally accepted principles of publication ethics and takes into account the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow the ethical principles described below throughout the submission, peer-review, and publication processes.

Research Integrity and Originality

Manuscripts submitted to Pharmedicine Journal must represent original work. A manuscript must not have been previously published, in whole or in substantial part, or be under consideration by another journal at the same time.

Fabrication or falsification of data, plagiarism, inappropriate manipulation of images or research data, duplicate or redundant publication, citation manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are not acceptable.

Authors are responsible for the accuracy and integrity of all data presented in their manuscripts. The journal may request raw data, original images, ethics documentation, or other supporting materials when necessary to evaluate concerns regarding research integrity.

Authors are required to submit a similarity report generated using recognized similarity-detection software, such as iThenticate or Turnitin, during the submission process. Similarity reports are evaluated by the editorial team, and similarity percentages are not interpreted in isolation. The nature, source, and context of overlapping material are also taken into consideration.

Further information is provided in the journal's Plagiarism Policy.

Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contribution to the work. Pharmedicine Journal follows the general authorship principles recommended by the ICMJE.

Authors should have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the study; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of the data; preparation or critical revision of the manuscript; and should approve the final version submitted for publication. All authors must accept responsibility for the integrity of the work.

Individuals who contributed to the study but do not meet the criteria for authorship should be acknowledged appropriately.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that all listed authors have approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to Pharmedicine Journal.

Any request to add, remove, or change the order of authors after submission must be explained to the journal and must be approved by all authors. The Editorial Board may request additional documentation where necessary. Authorship disputes that cannot be resolved by the authors may be referred to the authors' institution(s).

Human Research

Research involving human participants, human biological materials, or identifiable human data must be conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and applicable national and institutional regulations.

Where ethical approval is required, approval must be obtained from an appropriate Ethics Committee or Institutional Review Board before the study begins. The manuscript should clearly state the name of the approving institution or committee, together with the approval number and date where available.

The journal reserves the right to request documentation of ethical approval during the editorial process.

Informed consent must be obtained from study participants where applicable. For studies involving identifiable personal information, photographs, clinical images, or case details, authors must obtain appropriate consent for publication and protect the privacy and confidentiality of participants.

If a study is exempt from formal ethical approval, the manuscript should state the reason for exemption and, where applicable, identify the authority granting the exemption.

Animal Research

Studies involving experimental animals must be conducted in accordance with applicable institutional, national, and international principles for the care and use of laboratory animals.

Where ethical approval is required, approval must be obtained from an appropriate Animal Ethics Committee before the study begins. The name of the approving committee, approval number, and relevant approval information should be stated in the manuscript.

Authors should provide sufficient information regarding animal species, experimental procedures, anesthesia or analgesia where applicable, and measures taken to minimize animal suffering.

The journal may request copies of ethical approval documents from authors.

Conflicts of Interest

All authors must disclose financial and non-financial relationships or activities that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

Potential conflicts may include, but are not limited to, employment, consultancy, stock ownership, honoraria, patents, personal or professional relationships, academic competition, or other interests relevant to the submitted work.

The existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily prevent publication; however, transparency is required.

Authors should include a Conflict of Interest statement in their manuscript. If no conflict exists, this should also be stated.

Editors and reviewers must also disclose any potential conflict of interest that could affect their impartiality and should withdraw from the evaluation of a manuscript where such a conflict exists.

Funding

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the research.

The role of the funding organization in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to submit the manuscript should be stated where relevant.

If the study received no external funding, this should be stated in the manuscript.

Responsibilities of Reviewers

Reviewers are expected to evaluate manuscripts objectively, fairly, and confidentially.

Information obtained through peer review must not be used for personal advantage or shared with third parties.

Reviewers should decline a review invitation when they lack sufficient expertise, cannot complete the review within an appropriate period, or have a personal, professional, institutional, or financial conflict of interest.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been appropriately cited and should inform the editor of any significant concerns regarding plagiarism, duplicate publication, data integrity, or other possible ethical problems.

 Responsibilities of Editors

Editors are responsible for ensuring that editorial decisions are based on scientific quality, originality, relevance to the journal, methodological soundness, and ethical integrity.

Editorial decisions must not be influenced by the authors' nationality, institutional affiliation, gender, religious or political beliefs, or other characteristics unrelated to the scientific content of the manuscript.

Editors must protect the confidentiality of submitted manuscripts and reviewer identities in accordance with the journal's double-blind peer-review policy.

Editors must not participate in the evaluation of manuscripts where they have a conflict of interest.

Manuscripts submitted by the Editor-in-Chief, editors, Editorial Board members, or individuals closely associated with the journal are subject to the same peer-review standards as other submissions. Such manuscripts are assigned to an independent editor, and the author concerned has no involvement in reviewer selection or the editorial decision.

Data and Image Integrity

Data presented in a manuscript should accurately represent the original research findings.

Images must not be manipulated in a way that could alter or misrepresent their scientific meaning. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or other image properties should, where necessary, be applied consistently and should not obscure, remove, or introduce information.

Editors may request original, unprocessed images or underlying research data when concerns about data or image integrity arise.

Authors should retain original research data for an appropriate period after publication and make relevant data available to editors when reasonably required to investigate questions regarding the published work.

 Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit the same manuscript simultaneously to more than one journal.

Publication of substantially the same data or findings in more than one article without appropriate disclosure, justification, and citation is not acceptable.

Authors must inform the editor of closely related manuscripts that have been published, accepted, or are under consideration elsewhere when these manuscripts may overlap with the submitted work.

Secondary publication may be considered only where it is ethically and scientifically justified, appropriately acknowledged, and consistent with accepted publication standards.

Suspected Research or Publication Misconduct

When concerns regarding possible research or publication misconduct arise, the journal will evaluate the matter fairly and confidentially.

Authors may be asked to provide explanations, original data, ethics documentation, or other supporting information.

Where serious concerns cannot be resolved through correspondence with the authors, the journal may contact the relevant institution, ethics committee, research integrity office, funding organization, or other appropriate authority in accordance with established publication ethics procedures.

The journal distinguishes between honest error and research misconduct and will take action proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the concern.

Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

Pharmedicine Journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the published scholarly record.

When an error that does not invalidate the main findings of an article is identified after publication, the journal may publish a correction, corrigendum, or erratum, as appropriate.

An Expression of Concern may be issued where substantial concerns have been raised about a published article but the available evidence is not yet sufficient to reach a final conclusion.

An article may be retracted when there is clear evidence that its findings are unreliable because of serious error or misconduct, plagiarism, redundant publication, unethical research, or other circumstances that substantially undermine the integrity of the work.

Retraction notices will clearly state the reason for the retraction and will be linked to the original article. The original article will normally remain accessible as part of the scholarly record but will be clearly identified as retracted.

The journal follows internationally accepted publication ethics principles when considering corrections, expressions of concern, and retractions.

Confidentiality

Manuscripts submitted to Pharmedicine Journal are treated as confidential documents.

Editors, reviewers, and journal staff must not disclose information concerning a submitted manuscript to anyone other than individuals directly involved in the editorial and peer-review process, except where disclosure is required as part of an investigation into possible misconduct.

Unpublished information obtained through editorial evaluation or peer review must not be used for personal research or advantage.

Appeals and Complaints

Authors may appeal an editorial decision when they believe that a significant factual error, misunderstanding, procedural problem, or inappropriate bias affected the decision.

Appeals should provide a clear scientific or procedural justification and will be evaluated independently where appropriate.

Complaints concerning editorial procedures, reviewer conduct, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, or other aspects of the journal's publication process may be submitted to the journal through its official contact address.

Further information on appeals and complaints is provided in the journal's Peer Review Policy.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made independently of the publisher and are based on the scientific and ethical merits of the submitted work.

The publisher does not influence decisions regarding acceptance or rejection of individual manuscripts.

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for maintaining the scientific quality, editorial integrity, and ethical standards of Pharmedicine Journal.