A statement of ethical principles of publishing in Prospects of Pharmaceutical Sciences

The Editorial Office of Prospects in Pharmaceutical Sciences declares that as part of its duties, it complies with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Author contribution statement
To give all authors appropriate recognition of their work and assign responsibility for individual parts of the work, we have introduced a mandatory Authors Contribution Statement. The statement should briefly describe the tasks of the respective authors. Its example is available in the manuscript template.

The Journal follows ICMJE definition of authorship, based on the following 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.

Acknowledgments may be used to denote contributions to the work that do not meet the above criteria of authorship

Corresponding author
The corresponding author is responsible for contact with the Editorial Office during the entire process of submitting, reviewing, and publishing a manuscript and communicating with readers after its publication. In this sense, the corresponding author is the author who submits the manuscript to the editors of the Journal. A request to change the correspondent author may be submitted to the Editorial Office.

Conflict of interest
All financial and non-financial relationships and activities of authors, reviewers, editors, and members of the Editorial Board must be disclosed, regardless of the individual perception of the existence of a conflict of interest. The Journal strives for transparency and commits to maintaining trust in the editorial process, thus giving the reader the possibility to make their own judgment on the possible existence of conflicts of interest. Disclosure forms of the Editorial Staff and Board are available on request.

Research integrity
The Journal only publishes previously unpublished manuscripts and is not considered for publication in another journal, in whole or in part. By submitting an article to the Journal, the authors confirm the aforementioned state of affairs. If a manuscript is submitted to another journal, the Journal may accept such a manuscript only after its definitive rejection or withdrawal by the authors.

The Journal strongly opposes unfair practices such as fabricating or falsifying data and images, including deliberate deformation or manipulation. It is also unethical to submit and publish similar articles based on a single experiment.

All papers submitted to the Journal are checked for plagiarism, including self-plagiarism. Manuscripts found to be plagiarized will not be considered for publication. The Editorial Office of the Journal allows the publishing of content and results previously published in theses and doctoral dissertations, as long as it was the only form in which they appeared. The use of the content mentioned above should be noted in the manuscript and referenced accordingly.

Corrections and retractions
If an error in a published article is detected the Editorial Office should be contacted immediately. Based on the gravity of the error, a decision to make a correction or retraction of the article may be undertaken. For minor errors that do not change the direction or significance of the results or conclusions, a correction will be made. In this case, the Journal will publish a new version of the article along with the correction notice. Previous versions will still be available for the readers.

Scientific Misconduct
When scientific misconduct is alleged, or concerns are otherwise raised about the conduct or integrity of work described in submitted or published papers the Editorial Office will start an investigation. The Editor-in-chief contacts the author regarding the addressed issue asking to supply a relevant explanation. If the explanation given or evidence provided is not satisfactory and concerns are still raised author's institution, employer or other authorities may be contacted to resolve the case. 

In case of any ethical doubts, we recommend that you contact the Editorial Office directly.