Policy for Conflict of Interest
Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences definition and guidelines of conflict of interest are as follows: “Conflicts of interest” refers to situations where there may be hidden agendas that are not immediately obvious and could influence the opinions of the 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.
Role of Participants
1.Authors
It is the responsibility of the authors to report any conflict of interest related to their research. The conflict of interest might be due to personal relationships, political, academic commitments, institutional obligations, or financial which might impact the outcome of their work. All authors should fill out a declaration form and submit it 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 if 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
• Peer reviewers should disclose any conflicts of interest they may have (ask the publisher for
clarification if in doubt) and be well-versed in the subject matter to evaluate the paper thoroughly.
Additional details regarding conflicting interests are available on the PJPS Website.
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. If they do, they should be removed from the review process
3. Editors
AutEditors 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.
Publisher/Journal’s action: 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 authors.
