Pharma Research takes all allegations of research and publication misconduct seriously and handles them using the flowcharts of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

What counts as misconduct

  • Plagiarism, including self-plagiarism and duplicate publication
  • Fabrication or falsification of data or images
  • Undeclared conflicts of interest
  • Authorship disputes, ghost or gift authorship
  • Manipulation of peer review or citations
  • Research done without the required ethical approval

How allegations are handled

Concerns can be raised by anyone, in confidence, at Info@s-epub.in. The editor reviews the evidence, asks the authors to respond and, where needed, contacts their institution.

Possible sanctions

  • Rejection of the manuscript, or a correction, expression of concern or retraction of a published article
  • A ban on submissions from the authors for a set period
  • Notifying the authors' institution or funder