Official Appointment Criteria & Responsibilities for International Editors

International Journal of Pharmaceutical Creativity and Innovation (IJPCI)

The International Journal of Pharmaceutical Creativity and Innovation (IJPCI) appoints International Editors to strengthen its global academic presence, uphold scientific excellence, and promote high-quality research and innovation in pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacy practice, biotechnology, healthcare, and related disciplines.

International Editors play a vital role in maintaining the journal's scholarly standards, supporting editorial and peer-review processes, and enhancing the journal's international visibility and academic impact.

Appointment Criteria

Candidates considered for appointment as an International Editor should demonstrate appropriate academic qualifications, subject expertise, research experience, professional integrity, and the capacity to contribute meaningfully to the journal's editorial activities.

Academic Credentials

  • Possession of a Ph.D., Pharm.D., MD, M.Pharm., D.Pharm., or an equivalent doctoral or professional qualification in pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacy, biotechnology, healthcare sciences, or a related discipline.
  • Active affiliation with a recognized university, research institution, healthcare organization, pharmaceutical company, or scientific body.
  • Demonstrated academic or professional standing appropriate to the proposed editorial role.

Research and Publication Experience

  • A strong record of publications in reputable peer-reviewed national and international journals.
  • Demonstrated expertise in one or more areas relevant to the journal's scope.
  • Previous experience as a reviewer, editorial board member, guest editor, or associate editor is highly desirable.
  • Evidence of continuing scholarly activity and engagement with current developments in the relevant discipline.

Scholarly Reputation

  • Recognized contributions to pharmaceutical research, innovation, education, clinical pharmacy, biotechnology, drug development, or healthcare practice.
  • Participation in academic conferences, collaborative research projects, scientific committees, or professional leadership activities at national or international levels.
  • Professional recognition through scholarly, institutional, or professional activities may be considered.

Ethical and Professional Integrity

  • Commitment to publication ethics, transparency, confidentiality, and academic integrity.
  • No established history of plagiarism, research misconduct, falsification of data, or serious ethical violations.
  • Willingness to follow internationally accepted editorial and publishing standards.
  • Commitment to impartial editorial judgment and avoidance of discriminatory or preferential treatment.

Availability and Commitment

  • Ability to dedicate reasonable time to editorial activities.
  • Willingness to assess manuscripts and editorial matters within agreed timelines.
  • Willingness to contribute to the journal's growth, international networking, and academic development.

Responsibilities of International Editors

Editorial Guidance

  • Provide expert advice on the journal's scientific direction and scope.
  • Assist in maintaining high editorial and publication standards.
  • Support the Editor-in-Chief in strategic academic initiatives.
  • Advise on emerging research areas and developments relevant to pharmaceutical sciences.

Peer Review Support

  • Review manuscripts within their area of expertise when requested.
  • Recommend qualified, impartial, and competent reviewers.
  • Promote fair, objective, confidential, and timely peer-review practices.
  • Assist in evaluating revised manuscripts when necessary.
  • Ensure that editorial recommendations are based on scholarly merit rather than personal, institutional, commercial, or geographical considerations.

Ethical Oversight

  • Encourage compliance with research ethics and publication standards.
  • Identify and report potential ethical concerns, plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, falsification, or conflicts of interest.
  • Support the journal's commitment to research integrity and responsible publishing.
  • Refer serious ethical concerns to the Editor-in-Chief and appropriate institutional or publishing authorities when required.

Academic Promotion

  • Promote IJPCI within international academic, research, clinical, and industrial communities.
  • Encourage the submission of high-quality manuscripts from diverse geographical regions.
  • Support collaborations with universities, research institutions, and professional organizations worldwide.

Policy Advisory Role

  • Contribute to the development, review, and enhancement of editorial policies.
  • Advise on emerging trends, innovations, and advancements in pharmaceutical sciences and healthcare research.
  • Recommend strategies to improve journal quality, visibility, and indexing readiness.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions must be based on the scholarly quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, ethical compliance, and contribution of the manuscript. Editorial decisions must not be influenced by commercial interests, personal relationships, institutional pressure, author status, nationality, gender, religion, political affiliation, or other irrelevant characteristics.

The Editor-in-Chief and editorial team shall maintain appropriate separation between editorial decision-making and commercial or promotional interests. Editors shall disclose circumstances that may compromise their independence and shall recuse themselves when necessary.

Term of Appointment

  • The appointment is honorary and academic in nature.
  • The standard appointment term is two (2) to three (3) years, subject to renewal based on performance and mutual agreement.
  • Appointment renewal may be considered based on editorial contributions, professional conduct, and continued engagement with the journal.
  • Unless otherwise specified in a written appointment agreement, no financial remuneration is associated with this position.
  • The journal may periodically review editorial-board composition to maintain appropriate subject expertise and geographical diversity.

Conflict of Interest

International Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest related to manuscript handling, editorial decisions, research collaborations, financial interests, institutional affiliations, personal relationships, or other circumstances that could reasonably affect impartial judgment.

  • Editors must recuse themselves from reviewing or making decisions on manuscripts where a conflict of interest exists.
  • Editors must not use confidential manuscript information for personal, institutional, commercial, or research advantage.
  • Conflicts should be disclosed promptly to the Editor-in-Chief.
  • Where necessary, an independent editor shall be appointed to handle the affected manuscript.

Reviewer Appointment Criteria

IJPCI appoints reviewers based on subject expertise, research competence, professional integrity, independence, and availability. Reviewer selection should support a fair, objective, confidential, and timely peer-review process.

  • Reviewers should possess relevant academic qualifications and demonstrated expertise in the subject area of the manuscript.
  • Reviewers should have appropriate research or professional experience in the relevant pharmaceutical, healthcare, scientific, or interdisciplinary field.
  • Reviewers should have sufficient familiarity with research methodology and scholarly publication standards.
  • Reviewers should be capable of providing independent, constructive, evidence-based assessments.
  • Reviewers should have no significant conflict of interest with the authors, institutions, research sponsors, or subject matter of the manuscript.
  • Reviewer identity and institutional affiliation should be reasonably verifiable by the editorial office.
  • Reviewers must not be selected solely because of personal relationships, commercial relationships, or expected favorable recommendations.
  • The journal may maintain a geographically and institutionally diverse reviewer pool.

Responsibilities of Peer Reviewers

Confidentiality

  • Reviewers must treat manuscripts and all associated materials as confidential documents.
  • Unpublished manuscript content must not be shared with unauthorized persons.
  • Reviewers must not use unpublished information for personal research, commercial advantage, or other benefit.

Objectivity and Fairness

  • Reviews must be objective, professional, constructive, and supported by appropriate scholarly reasoning.
  • Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate.
  • Reviewers should evaluate the manuscript rather than the reputation, nationality, institution, gender, or personal characteristics of the authors.
  • Reviewers should identify significant methodological, ethical, interpretive, or evidentiary concerns.

Conflict of Interest

  • Reviewers must disclose actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.
  • Reviewers should decline assignments where personal, professional, financial, competitive, or collaborative relationships could compromise impartiality.
  • Reviewers must not attempt to influence authors toward unnecessary citation of the reviewer's own publications.

Timeliness

  • Reviewers should accept assignments only when they can complete them within the requested period.
  • If additional time is required, reviewers should inform the editorial office promptly.
  • If a reviewer lacks sufficient expertise to evaluate the manuscript, the assignment should be declined.

Research Integrity Alerts

  • Reviewers should alert the editor to suspected plagiarism, substantial similarity, duplicate publication, fabricated data, manipulated results, inappropriate image manipulation, or other potential research-integrity concerns.
  • Reviewers should not independently investigate or contact the authors regarding suspected misconduct unless specifically instructed by the editorial office.

Editorial and Reviewer Confidentiality & Secrecy Declaration

Every International Editor, Editorial Board Member, Guest Editor, Academic Editor, Reviewer, and other person granted access to confidential manuscript information is expected to maintain strict confidentiality throughout and after the editorial process.

Confidentiality Oath

“I solemnly undertake that all manuscripts, research data, reviewer reports, editorial communications, author information, unpublished findings, intellectual property, and other confidential materials made available to me in connection with the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Creativity and Innovation (IJPCI) shall be treated as strictly confidential.

I shall use such information solely for the legitimate purpose of editorial assessment or peer review. I shall not disclose, reproduce, distribute, download for unauthorized use, publish, transmit, discuss, or otherwise make confidential information available to any unauthorized individual or organization.

I shall not use unpublished ideas, methods, results, data, figures, concepts, or other information obtained through the editorial or peer-review process for my own research, publication, commercial activity, institutional advantage, or personal benefit without appropriate authorization and, where applicable, permission from the rightful authors.

I shall immediately inform the Editor-in-Chief or designated editorial authority if I become aware of a confidentiality breach, unauthorized access, conflict of interest, suspected manipulation of peer review, or other matter that could compromise the integrity of the editorial process.

I acknowledge that this confidentiality obligation continues after completion of my editorial appointment or review assignment and remains applicable to unpublished material unless the information has lawfully entered the public domain or the journal has expressly authorized its disclosure.

Protection of Intellectual Property and Unpublished Research

  • Editors and reviewers must respect the intellectual property rights of authors.
  • Unpublished research ideas, methodologies, datasets, figures, tables, algorithms, formulations, experimental designs, and findings must not be appropriated or reused without authorization.
  • Confidential manuscript materials must not be uploaded to external artificial intelligence systems, commercial platforms, databases, or other third-party services unless expressly authorized by the journal and consistent with applicable confidentiality requirements.
  • Editors and reviewers must take reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to manuscript materials.

Artificial Intelligence and AI-Assisted Editorial Activities

IJPCI recognizes that artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies may support aspects of scholarly communication. Their use must remain consistent with confidentiality, research integrity, transparency, authorship responsibility, and editorial independence.

  • AI systems must not be treated as authors, editors, or independent decision-makers.
  • Editors and reviewers remain personally responsible for editorial judgments and review recommendations.
  • Confidential manuscripts should not be entered into external AI systems where such use could expose unpublished content or personal information.
  • Any permitted use of AI-assisted tools should comply with the journal's current AI policy and applicable publisher or institutional requirements.
  • AI-generated material must not be used to fabricate evidence, citations, reviewer reports, research findings, or editorial decisions.

Research Ethics and Publication Integrity

IJPCI is committed to responsible scholarly publishing and expects authors, editors, reviewers, and editorial staff to uphold high standards of research integrity.

  • Research involving human participants should receive appropriate ethical approval where required.
  • Research involving animals should comply with applicable ethical and institutional requirements.
  • Authors must report research honestly and transparently.
  • Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate image manipulation, and other forms of research misconduct are prohibited.
  • Authorship should reflect genuine scholarly contribution.
  • Conflicts of interest and funding sources should be disclosed appropriately.
  • Potential ethical concerns may be investigated through appropriate editorial and institutional procedures.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

The journal shall maintain a transparent process for receiving and assessing allegations relating to research or publication misconduct. Concerns may involve plagiarism, fabricated or falsified data, duplicate publication, unethical research, authorship disputes, peer-review manipulation, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other serious breaches of scholarly integrity.

  • Allegations should be reviewed objectively and confidentially.
  • The journal may request explanations, supporting documentation, or institutional clarification where appropriate.
  • Where necessary, the journal may communicate with relevant institutions or other responsible authorities.
  • Appropriate editorial actions may include correction, expression of concern, retraction, rejection, reviewer reassignment, or other proportionate measures.
  • All actions should be based on available evidence and established scholarly publishing procedures.

Termination of Appointment

The journal reserves the right to revoke or discontinue the appointment of an International Editor, Editorial Board Member, or Reviewer in cases including, but not limited to:

  • Proven ethical misconduct or serious violation of publication ethics.
  • Breach of confidentiality.
  • Failure to fulfill editorial responsibilities over an extended period without reasonable explanation.
  • Conflict of interest that compromises editorial independence.
  • Peer-review manipulation or unauthorized disclosure of manuscripts.
  • Actions that may materially damage the reputation, integrity, or credibility of the journal.
  • Providing false or misleading academic credentials.
  • Misuse of confidential information or intellectual property.

The decision regarding termination of appointment shall rest with the Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher, subject to appropriate internal review and documentation.

Complaints, Appeals and Editorial Disputes

The journal shall maintain appropriate procedures for handling complaints and appeals concerning editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, authorship, conflicts of interest, and editorial conduct.

  • Complaints should be submitted through the official editorial communication channel.
  • Complaints should be handled confidentially and objectively.
  • Editorial decisions may be reconsidered where substantial procedural or factual concerns are demonstrated.
  • Persons directly involved in a complaint should not be responsible for resolving their own conflict.
  • The journal may seek independent expert or institutional advice where necessary.

Commitment to Excellence

International Editors are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic professionalism, scientific integrity, and ethical publishing. Through their expertise and leadership, they contribute significantly to advancing the mission of IJPCI as a trusted international platform for innovative pharmaceutical and healthcare research.

The journal is committed to maintaining transparent editorial policies, a clearly described peer-review process, responsible research and publication practices, appropriate confidentiality safeguards, editorial independence, and continuous improvement of scholarly quality.

The journal's policies are intended to support internationally recognized scholarly publishing principles and may be updated periodically to reflect developments in research integrity, publication ethics, peer review, digital publishing, artificial intelligence, and applicable professional standards.