Policy for Conflict of Interest
The Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (PJPS) defines and outlines the guidelines for conflict
of interest as follows:
“Conflicts of interest” refer to situations where hidden agendas may exist that are not immediately
apparent and could influence the opinions of authors, editors, and reviewers. These have been defined as
such that a reasonable reader would feel deceived or misled if exposed later. They could be personal,
financial, commercial, political, and academic. Research funding, ownership of shares or stocks, payment
for travel or lectures, consultancies, company support for staff, and employment are all part of the
“Financial” interests.
1.Authors
It is the authors' responsibility to report any conflicts of interest related to their research. The
conflict of interest might be due to personal relationships, political or academic commitments,
institutional obligations, or financial interests, which could impact the outcome of their work. All
authors should complete an undertaking form (available on the PJPS website) and submit it along with the
article.
Publisher/Journal’s action: Before the acknowledgment section, the statement of conflict of interest should be mentioned in every article. If there are no conflicts, the following statement should be included: “The authors declare no conflict of interest.”
2. Reviewers
The reviewers should declare any financial, academic, personal, professional, religious, or political
conflict of interest. It should also include whether the reviewers have any joint grants or
collaborations (within the past 3 years) with the authors or if they are employed in the same
organization.
Publisher/Journal’s action: The reviewers should be asked if they have any conflict of interest with the authors or the content of the manuscript. The review process will not be initiated in case of any conflict of interest
3. Editors
Editors should not make any editorial decisions if they have a close family member as an author or have
a financial, religious, political, or organizational conflict of interest with the content of the
manuscript or authors. Editors who make final decisions about manuscripts should withdraw themselves
from editorial decisions if they have any conflict of interest with the content of the manuscript or the
authors.
