Editorial Policies

Details of the Editorial Policy

The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Therapeutics (JMCT) is committed to maintaining the highest standards of editorial quality, transparency, fairness, and research integrity. The journal follows internationally recognized principles of scholarly publishing and strives to ensure that all editorial decisions are made objectively, independently, and without discrimination. These Editorial Policies provide the framework for manuscript handling, editorial decision-making, ethical oversight, and communication among authors, reviewers, editors, and readers.

JMCT's editorial practices are informed by internationally accepted recommendations and best practices for scholarly publishing, including principles and recommendations developed by leading organizations dedicated to publication ethics, research integrity, and responsible editorial practice.

1. Editorial Independence

All editorial decisions are made independently by the editorial team based solely on the scientific quality, originality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, and relevance of submitted manuscripts to the journal's aims and scope. Editorial decisions are not influenced by commercial interests, advertising, sponsorship, institutional affiliation, nationality, race, gender, political beliefs, or religious background.

The Editor-in-Chief has overall responsibility for the editorial content of the journal and for maintaining editorial independence throughout the publication process.

2. Editorial Responsibilities

Editors are responsible for ensuring that submitted manuscripts receive fair, objective, timely, and confidential evaluation. Editorial responsibilities include assessing manuscripts for suitability, selecting appropriate reviewers, monitoring the peer-review process, making editorial decisions, and maintaining the scientific quality and integrity of published articles.

• Evaluate manuscripts fairly and objectively.
• Assess the scientific and methodological quality of submitted research.
• Maintain confidentiality throughout the editorial process.
• Select qualified and independent reviewers.
• Identify and manage potential conflicts of interest.
• Promote ethical and responsible publishing practices.
• Correct the scholarly record when necessary.

3. Editorial Decision-Making

Editorial decisions are based primarily on the scientific merit of a manuscript. Editors evaluate submissions according to their originality, significance, methodological quality, validity of experimental or computational approaches, ethical compliance, clarity of presentation, and relevance to the aims and scope of JMCT.

For manuscripts involving medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, computational drug design, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, or therapeutic research, editors may consider the appropriateness of the methodology, reproducibility of the reported work, validity of experimental or computational interpretation, and the extent to which conclusions are supported by the available evidence.

Recommendations provided by peer reviewers are carefully considered; however, the final publication decision rests solely with the Editor-in-Chief or the designated Handling Editor.

Possible editorial decisions include:

• Accept
• Minor Revision
• Major Revision
• Reject

4. Confidentiality

Editors, reviewers, and Editorial Office staff must treat all submitted manuscripts and associated materials as confidential documents. Information obtained during the editorial and peer-review process must not be disclosed to anyone other than individuals directly involved in the evaluation and publication of the manuscript.

Unpublished data, ideas, methods, chemical structures, computational results, or findings contained in submitted manuscripts must not be used for personal research, professional advantage, or any other purpose without the explicit written permission of the authors.

5. Conflicts of Interest for Editors

Editors must disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest that could influence the editorial handling of a manuscript. If an editor has a personal, professional, financial, institutional, or collaborative relationship with any of the authors, or has another conflict that may compromise impartiality, the editor must withdraw from the editorial process. In such cases, responsibility for the manuscript will be assigned to another qualified editor.

JMCT is committed to ensuring that editorial decisions remain fair, objective, transparent, and free from inappropriate influence.

6. Editorial Integrity

The Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Therapeutics is committed to preserving the integrity of the scholarly record. Editors are expected to promote honesty, transparency, accountability, reproducibility, and ethical publishing practices throughout the editorial process. Editorial decisions are made without bias and are guided by scientific merit and adherence to the journal's policies.

Editors will take appropriate action whenever concerns arise regarding publication ethics, research misconduct, plagiarism, duplicate publication, inappropriate image manipulation, data fabrication, data falsification, authorship issues, citation manipulation, or other violations of accepted scholarly standards.

7. Research Misconduct

JMCT does not tolerate any form of research or publication misconduct. Allegations of plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, unethical research practices, authorship disputes, citation manipulation, or other forms of research misconduct will be investigated carefully and confidentially.

For manuscripts involving experimental or computational drug discovery, inappropriate manipulation or selective presentation of chemical, biological, pharmacological, computational, or statistical data may also constitute research misconduct.

Where misconduct is confirmed, the journal may reject the manuscript, publish a correction or retraction, notify the relevant institution or funding body, and take any other appropriate editorial action necessary to protect the integrity of the scientific record.

8. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

JMCT is committed to providing an inclusive, respectful, and equitable publishing environment. Editorial decisions are made without discrimination based on nationality, ethnicity, race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, institutional affiliation, or geographic location.

The journal welcomes submissions from researchers worldwide and values diversity in scientific perspectives, research disciplines, authorship, peer review, and editorial participation.

9. Post-Publication Responsibilities

The journal is committed to maintaining the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of the published scientific record. When errors, concerns, or potential ethical issues are identified after publication, the Editorial Office will assess the matter and, where appropriate, publish corrections, expressions of concern, retractions, or other appropriate editorial notices.

Authors, reviewers, readers, institutions, and other members of the scientific community are encouraged to report concerns regarding published articles to the Editorial Office. Reported concerns will be evaluated fairly and confidentially.

10. Policy Review and Updates

The Editorial Policies of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and Therapeutics are reviewed periodically to reflect developments in scholarly publishing, publication ethics, research integrity, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, computational research, and international best practices.

The journal reserves the right to revise these policies when necessary to maintain high standards of editorial quality, transparency, research integrity, and responsible publishing. Updated policies become effective upon publication on the journal website unless otherwise stated.