Journal Overview
International Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences (IJAPS), ISSN 2394-7446 (Online), is a peer-reviewed, open access journal publishing original research that advances pharmacy and the pharmaceutical sciences. It provides a platform for researchers, academicians, clinicians and industry professionals in India and worldwide.
IJAPS follows double-blind peer review and the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Aim & Scope
IJAPS publishes work across drug discovery, design, formulation, analysis, evaluation and clinical use, from laboratory research to clinical and regulatory studies, including:
- Pharmaceutics, novel drug delivery and pharmaceutical technology
- Pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry, bioinformatics and molecular drug design
- Pharmaceutical analysis and quality assurance
- Pharmacology, toxicology, biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics
- Pharmacognosy, phytochemistry and natural products
- Pharmacy practice, clinical and hospital pharmacy
- Regulatory affairs
- Pharmaceutical biotechnology, genomics, proteomics and pharmacogenomics
Article types
- Research Articles – original experimental or clinical investigations
- Review Articles – narrative and systematic reviews, including meta-analyses
- Short Communications – brief reports of significant preliminary findings
- Case Reports – clinical observations of diagnostic, therapeutic or adverse-event interest
- Commentaries & Letters – short critical responses to published work or emerging issues
Publication Frequency
IJAPS is currently published bimonthly. From Volume 9 (2027), the journal will be published quarterly, with four issues per volume: January–March, April–June, July–September and October–December. Manuscripts are accepted throughout the year, and accepted articles appear in the next available issue.
Peer Review Policy
IJAPS follows a double-blind peer review process: the identities of authors are concealed from reviewers, and the identities of reviewers are concealed from authors. Every research article, review and case report is assessed by at least two independent reviewers. A first decision is targeted within 6 weeks of submission.
Review process
- Technical check (within 7 days): scope, formatting, completeness of files and similarity check.
- Anonymisation: authors submit a separate title page (names, affiliations, corresponding author, declarations) and an anonymised manuscript without author names, affiliations, acknowledgements or self-identifying citations.
- Editor assessment: the Editor-in-Chief or a Section Editor assesses originality and relevance and may decline out-of-scope work without review.
- Review: at least two subject experts, not from the authors’ institution, are invited and asked to respond within 3 weeks.
- Decision: accept, minor revision, major revision or reject. When reviewers disagree, a third reviewer may be invited.
- Revision: authors return revisions within 2 weeks (minor) or 4 weeks (major) with a point-by-point response.
- Publication: accepted articles are copy-edited, typeset, proofread by the corresponding author and published in the next issue.
Responsibilities
- Reviewers keep manuscripts confidential, do not use their content or upload them to AI tools, declare conflicts of interest and give constructive, evidence-based comments.
- Editors decide on scientific merit alone. Manuscripts authored by an editorial board member, or by colleagues or students from the Editor-in-Chief’s own institution, are handled by another editor with no conflict of interest.
- Authors may suggest up to 3 reviewers without conflicts of interest and may request exclusions; the editor is not bound by these suggestions.
Open Access & Licence
IJAPS is a fully open access journal. All articles are freely available to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search and link to immediately upon publication, without subscription or registration, in line with the Budapest Open Access Initiative definition of open access.
Copyright and licence
Authors retain the copyright of their articles. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited, a link to the licence is given, and any changes are indicated.
The CC BY 4.0 licence applies to articles published from Volume 8, Issue 4 (2026) onwards. Earlier articles remain freely available under the open access terms in place at the time of their publication.
Article Processing Charges (APC)
IJAPS does not charge any submission fee. An article processing charge is payable only after a manuscript has been accepted for publication, following peer review.
| Corresponding author | APC per article |
|---|
| Indian authors | ₹5,000 (inclusive of all taxes) |
| International authors | US$150 |
| Submission fee | None |
Waivers
- Full waiver for corresponding authors from low-income countries (World Bank classification).
- 50% waiver when the first author is an undergraduate or postgraduate student, on submission of an institutional letter.
- Full or partial waiver on request for authors without funding; requests are made at the time of submission and decided by the Editor-in-Chief.
Waiver requests and payment status have no influence on editorial decisions; editors and reviewers handling a manuscript are not informed of them.
Plagiarism & Publication Ethics
IJAPS follows the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Every manuscript is checked with similarity-detection software before peer review and again before publication. Plagiarism in any form – copying text, data, figures or ideas without acknowledgement, self-plagiarism, or text disguised through paraphrasing tools – is unacceptable.
Similarity limits
| Overall similarity (excluding references and quoted methods) | Action |
|---|
| Up to 15%, with no single source above 5% | Proceeds to peer review |
| 15–25%, or one source above 5% | Returned to authors for revision before review |
| Above 25%, or any copied paragraph, figure or table | Rejected |
A low score alone does not clear a manuscript. Text altered by paraphrasing tools (“tortured phrases”) is treated as plagiarism.
Other ethical requirements
- Duplicate submission: a manuscript must not be published or under consideration elsewhere; authors confirm this in the cover letter.
- Use of AI tools: AI tools cannot be authors. Any use of generative AI in preparing the manuscript must be declared, and authors remain responsible for its accuracy. AI-generated or AI-altered images and data are not permitted.
- Authorship: all listed authors must have contributed substantially and approved the final version. Changes after submission require the written consent of all authors.
- Ethics approval and consent: human studies require Institutional Ethics Committee approval and informed consent; case reports require written patient consent; animal studies require Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) approval under CCSEA guidelines. Approval numbers must be stated.
- Data and image integrity: fabrication, falsification or inappropriate manipulation of data or images is misconduct.
- Conflicts of interest and funding must be declared by all authors.
When misconduct is found
Before publication, the manuscript is rejected and the authors’ institution may be informed. After publication, IJAPS publishes a correction, an expression of concern or a retraction notice following COPE guidance. Retracted articles remain online, clearly marked “Retracted”, with the reason.
Publisher
Dr. K. Naga Raju
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, International Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Sciences
Pedaparimi Post, Thullur Mandal, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh – 522236, India
Email: ijapseditor@gmail.com
