Publication Ethics and Policies

SPBSRF Proceedings of Pharmaceutical Sciences, published by the Society of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Scientific Research Foundation (SPBSRF), is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics, research integrity, transparency, and responsible scholarly communication.

The Proceedings publishes conference abstracts in pharmaceutical sciences and allied disciplines, including pharmacy, botany, zoology, chemistry, biotechnology, biomedical sciences, medical sciences, and related life sciences.

All authors, Guest Editors, reviewers, conference organizers, and editorial personnel are expected to comply with the policies outlined below. These policies govern abstract submission, scientific review, acceptance, publication, correction, withdrawal, and post-publication ethical concerns.

Abstract Review and Editorial Policy

Each conference proceedings collection may be assigned a Guest Editor responsible for coordinating the scientific and editorial assessment of submitted abstracts.

The standard editorial workflow includes:

1. Submission: Abstracts are received through the designated submission system or conference organizers.
2. Preliminary screening: Submissions are checked for scope, completeness, formatting, originality, and ethical concerns.
3. Scientific assessment: The Guest Editor evaluates the abstract and may consult appropriate subject experts or reviewers.
4. Revision: Authors may be asked to address comments, clarify methods, correct errors, or improve presentation.
5. Final decision: The revised abstract is evaluated for acceptance or rejection.
6. Publication preparation: Accepted abstracts undergo copyediting, metadata preparation, and technical processing.
7. Publication: Abstracts meeting all requirements are published online with their bibliographic information and individual DOI, subject to successful DOI registration.

Editorial decisions are based on scientific relevance, originality, clarity, methodological appropriateness, ethical compliance, and suitability for the conference. Payment of a processing fee does not guarantee acceptance. All abstracts must satisfy the applicable editorial requirements before publication.

Originality, Plagiarism, and Similarity Policy

All submitted abstracts may undergo plagiarism or text-similarity screening before acceptance.

The general editorial requirement is a similarity index below 20%. However, the similarity score alone does not determine whether plagiarism has occurred. The Editorial Office considers the source, context, extent, and nature of matching text.

Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, data, images, or other material without appropriate acknowledgment; presenting another person's work as one's own; and reusing previously published material without appropriate attribution or disclosure.

Authors must ensure that their submissions are original or that previously published material is properly acknowledged. Submissions may be returned for correction, subjected to further investigation, or rejected where plagiarism or inappropriate text reuse is identified. Serious cases may lead to post-publication action or referral to the relevant institution, where appropriate.

Authorship and Author Responsibilities

Authors are responsible for the originality, accuracy, integrity, and ethical acceptability of their submitted abstracts.

By submitting an abstract, authors confirm that:

• The information presented is accurate to the best of their knowledge.
• The work does not contain fabricated, falsified, or deliberately misleading data.
• All sources and third-party materials are appropriately acknowledged.
• All listed authors have made an appropriate contribution and approved the submitted version.
• All authors agree to the submission and publication of the abstract.
• Funding sources and conflicts of interest have been disclosed.
• Necessary ethical approvals and permissions have been obtained wherever applicable.
• The submission does not infringe copyright or other legal rights.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the Editorial Office and for confirming that all co-authors have approved the final submission. Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission must be justified and may require written approval from all affected authors.

Research Integrity and Misconduct

The Proceedings does not accept research involving fabrication, falsification, deceptive manipulation, or deliberate misrepresentation of scientific findings.

Research misconduct may include:

• Fabrication of experimental data or results.
• Falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data, images, or findings.
• Deliberate misrepresentation of research methods or conclusions.
• Plagiarism or serious text recycling.
• Duplicate publication or undisclosed redundant submission.
• Inappropriate authorship practices.
• Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
• Serious violations of research ethics.

Authors must ensure that the findings and conclusions reported in their abstracts are supported by the underlying work. Where concerns arise, the Editorial Office may request clarification or supporting information and take appropriate action.

Human Research and Clinical Ethics

Research involving human participants, human biological materials, identifiable personal information, or clinical investigations must comply with applicable ethical requirements, institutional regulations, and relevant national and international standards.

Where required, authors must obtain approval from an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board before conducting the research. Informed consent must be obtained wherever applicable.

The abstract should include a concise ethical statement identifying the approving committee and approval or reference number, where applicable. Authors must protect participant confidentiality and avoid disclosing identifying information without appropriate authorization. Clinical trials and other regulated studies must comply with applicable registration and reporting requirements.

Animal Research Ethics

Research involving animals must comply with applicable animal welfare legislation, institutional requirements, and recognized standards for the ethical care and use of laboratory animals.

Authors must obtain approval from the appropriate animal ethics committee before commencing regulated animal experiments, wherever required. The abstract should provide the relevant committee name and approval or reference number, where applicable. Studies involving serious ethical deficiencies may be rejected.

Conflict of Interest Policy

Authors, Guest Editors, reviewers, and editorial personnel must disclose financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could influence, or reasonably appear to influence, their work or editorial decisions.

Potential conflicts include employment, consultancy, research grants, patents, commercial interests, personal relationships, and competing institutional affiliations.

Where no conflict exists, authors may use the following statement:

“The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

Guest Editors and reviewers must disclose relevant conflicts and should not participate in decisions where their impartiality may reasonably be questioned.

Funding and Acknowledgments Policy

Authors must disclose all relevant financial support associated with their research, including grants, institutional funding, commercial sponsorship, or other support.

Where applicable, the funding statement should identify the funding organization, grant number, and role of the funder.

If no external funding was received, authors may state:

“No external funding was received for this work.”

Acknowledgments may identify individuals, institutions, laboratories, or organizations that contributed to the work but do not qualify for authorship. Authors should obtain permission where appropriate before acknowledging identifiable individuals or disclosing non-public contributions.

Responsibilities of Guest Editors and Reviewers

Guest Editors and reviewers must conduct their duties objectively, confidentially, and without discrimination.

They are expected to:

• Evaluate submissions fairly and on scientific merit.
• Maintain the confidentiality of unpublished material.
• Disclose conflicts of interest.
• Avoid using unpublished information for personal or professional advantage.
• Identify potential plagiarism, research misconduct, or ethical concerns.
• Provide constructive and relevant feedback.
• Avoid decisions influenced by personal, financial, or institutional relationships.

Guest Editors and reviewers must not disclose submission details to unauthorized individuals or use confidential information outside the review process.

Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are based on the scientific quality, relevance, integrity, and ethical acceptability of submissions. Conference organizers, sponsors, authors, and other interested parties must not improperly influence editorial decisions. Financial contributions, sponsorship arrangements, and processing-fee payments do not confer a right to publication.

The Editor-in-Chief and authorized editorial personnel are responsible for ensuring that the Proceedings' editorial and ethical standards are applied consistently.

Copyright and Licensing Policy

Authors must ensure that they hold the necessary rights to submit their abstracts and any accompanying graphical abstracts, figures, tables, or other materials. Third-party material must be appropriately attributed, and permission must be obtained where required.

The applicable publication agreement and licensing terms will govern the rights granted to SPBSRF for publishing, displaying, distributing, and archiving accepted abstracts. The Proceedings' applicable open-access license should be clearly identified on the website and on published abstract pages.

Open Access Policy

SPBSRF Proceedings of Pharmaceutical Sciences follows an open-access publication model under which published abstracts are made freely accessible online, subject to the applicable copyright and licensing terms.

Open access is intended to facilitate scientific communication, academic discovery, citation, and knowledge dissemination. Authors and readers must comply with the applicable license when reusing or distributing published content.

DOI and Publication Metadata Policy

Each accepted abstract selected for publication is intended to receive an individual Digital Object Identifier (DOI), subject to completion of publication requirements and successful DOI registration.

The DOI should resolve to the dedicated landing page for the respective abstract. Bibliographic metadata should accurately identify the authors, title, conference, proceedings publication, publication date, and other applicable details.

DOI assignment facilitates persistent identification and citation but does not itself establish scientific validity or guarantee indexing in any particular database. The Proceedings aims to maintain accurate metadata and stable landing pages for published abstracts.

Duplicate Submission and Prior Publication Policy

Authors must disclose relevant prior publication or presentation of substantially similar work. Submitting substantially identical abstracts to multiple proceedings collections without appropriate disclosure may constitute duplicate publication or redundant dissemination. Where substantial overlap is identified, the Editorial Office may request an explanation, require revisions, or reject the submission, depending on the circumstances.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical acceptability of their submitted abstracts, including content prepared with artificial intelligence tools. AI tools must not be used to fabricate data, invent references, misrepresent research findings, create deceptive images, or conceal plagiarism or other misconduct.

Where AI tools make a substantive contribution to abstract preparation, authors should disclose their use when required by the conference instructions or the Editorial Office. AI tools cannot be listed as authors because they cannot accept responsibility for the work. Authors must verify AI-assisted text, references, calculations, and scientific claims before submission.

Processing Charges Policy

A nominal abstract processing fee may apply to each accepted abstract. The applicable fee may be paid by the author or the conference organizer, as specified for the relevant conference. Processing fees must be completed before publication, unless an alternative arrangement has been approved by the Editorial Office.

Payment does not guarantee acceptance. Editorial decisions remain independent of payment and are based on the applicable scientific and ethical requirements. The applicable processing fee and any waiver or refund conditions should be communicated clearly before submission or registration.

Corrections, Withdrawals, and Retractions

The Proceedings aims to maintain an accurate and transparent scholarly record. Before publication, authors may request withdrawal of an abstract by contacting the Editorial Office. Withdrawal requests are subject to editorial review and may require confirmation from the corresponding author or other affected authors.

After publication, significant errors or ethical concerns will be assessed individually. Depending on the circumstances, the Proceedings may issue a correction, editorial notice, expression of concern, or retraction.

Retraction may be considered in cases involving serious research misconduct, substantial plagiarism, duplicate publication, major errors that invalidate the findings, or significant ethical violations.

Where an abstract is retracted, its DOI and original record should generally remain accessible with a clear retraction notice. Removal of a published record without an explanatory notice will normally be avoided except where legally or otherwise exceptionally necessary.

Handling Allegations of Misconduct

Credible allegations of plagiarism, data fabrication, falsification, authorship misconduct, undisclosed conflicts of interest, or other ethical violations will be assessed by the Editorial Office.

The process may include preliminary evaluation, requesting explanations from the relevant parties, reviewing available evidence, consulting the Guest Editor or subject experts, and contacting relevant institutions where justified.

Possible actions include requesting corrections, rejecting a submission, suspending publication, issuing a post-publication notice, retracting an abstract, or referring the matter to the relevant institution. All parties will be treated fairly, and confidentiality will be maintained to the extent reasonably possible.

Archiving and Digital Preservation Policy

The Proceedings aims to maintain published abstracts, bibliographic metadata, DOI information, and associated publication records as permanent scholarly resources. Appropriate digital archiving and preservation measures may be used to support long-term accessibility. Authors should not assume that DOI registration alone guarantees digital preservation. The Editorial Office will seek to maintain stable access to published records and their associated metadata.

Privacy Policy

Personal information collected during submission, review, publication, or communication may include author names, institutional affiliations, email addresses, ORCID identifiers, reviewer information, and editorial correspondence. Such information is used for legitimate editorial, publication, and conference-related purposes. It should not be sold or used for unrelated commercial purposes. Personal information will be handled in accordance with applicable privacy requirements and the publisher's privacy practices.

Disclaimer

The scientific opinions, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in individual abstracts are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily represent the views of SPBSRF, the Editor-in-Chief, Guest Editors, reviewers, or conference organizers.

Publication of an abstract does not constitute endorsement of the findings, products, procedures, or claims described therein. Conference abstracts may contain preliminary findings and should be interpreted in light of the information and limitations presented.

Policy Updates

SPBSRF Proceedings of Pharmaceutical Sciences may revise these policies periodically to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, research ethics, applicable legal requirements, and recognized publication standards. Authors, Guest Editors, reviewers, and conference organizers are expected to comply with the policies applicable to their submissions and proceedings collections.

Contact

For questions or concerns relating to publication ethics, research integrity, corrections, or other editorial matters, please contact the Editorial Office of SPBSRF Proceedings of Pharmaceutical Sciences, published by the Society of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Scientific Research Foundation (SPBSRF).

Email: spbsrf@gmail.com