Commitment
Therapeutics, Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology (TPCT), its editors and its publisher, Editura R.P. SRL, are committed to the integrity of the scientific record. The journal follows the Core Practices of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). Allegations of misconduct are handled according to COPE flowcharts, whether they concern published or unpublished work.
Duties of the editors
Editors evaluate manuscripts solely on their scientific merit, relevance and compliance with the journal’s policies, without regard to the authors’ race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnic origin, citizenship, political views or institutional affiliation. Editors treat submitted manuscripts as confidential, do not use unpublished material for their own research, recuse themselves from manuscripts in which they have a competing interest, and are responsible for deciding which manuscripts are published. Editors act on credible allegations of misconduct, publish corrections, retractions and expressions of concern when warranted, and give authors the right to respond.
Duties of reviewers
Reviewers assist the editors in reaching decisions and help authors improve their work. They must keep manuscripts confidential, declare competing interests and decline when conflicted, review objectively and constructively, point out relevant published work not cited, alert the editors to substantial similarity with other published work, and never use material from a manuscript for personal advantage. Reviewers must not delegate the review or upload manuscript content to third-party tools, including generative artificial-intelligence services.
Duties of authors
Authors must present an accurate account of the work performed and an objective discussion of its significance, with sufficient detail and references to permit replication. Authors must ensure that the work is original, that all sources are properly cited, that text, data and images are not fabricated, falsified or manipulated, and that the manuscript is not under consideration elsewhere. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, duplicate or redundant publication and “salami” publication are unacceptable.
All authors must have contributed substantially, approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for the work (ICMJE authorship criteria); contributions are described using the Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT). Individuals who do not meet authorship criteria are named in the Acknowledgements with their permission. Changes to authorship after submission require written agreement from all authors and an explanation to the editor. Authors must disclose all financial and non-financial competing interests and all sources of funding, including the funder’s role, and must notify the editor promptly of any significant error in their published work.
Research involving humans and animals
Research on human participants must comply with the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee; the committee name and approval number are stated in the Methods. Informed consent must be obtained from participants and, for case reports and any identifiable material, written consent to publish must be obtained and stated in the article. Clinical trials must be registered in a public registry before enrolment of the first participant (ICMJE policy) and the registration number given in the abstract. Animal studies must follow the ARRIVE guidelines and national legislation, with ethics approval stated.
Reporting standards
Authors follow the relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guideline (CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, CARE for case reports, ARRIVE for animal research, SPIRIT for protocols) and submit the corresponding checklist.
Plagiarism screening
All submissions are screened for text similarity with published work before review. Manuscripts with unacceptable overlap are rejected or returned; confirmed plagiarism in published work leads to retraction and notification of the authors’ institutions.
Competing interests and funding
Every article carries a Competing interests statement and a Funding statement, even when there is nothing to declare. Editors and reviewers declare competing interests on every manuscript they handle. Commercial relationships between any author’s employer and the journal’s publisher or its partners are declared, and such manuscripts are assigned to an unconnected editor.
Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern
The journal follows the COPE Retraction Guidelines. Honest errors are corrected by a linked Correction notice; work whose findings are unreliable because of misconduct or honest error, redundant publication, plagiarism or unethical research is retracted with a signed Retraction notice that remains linked to the original article, which stays online marked “Retracted”. Expressions of Concern are published while an investigation is pending. Articles are never silently removed or altered. Full details are on the Editorial Policies page.
Complaints, appeals and allegations of misconduct
Complaints about the editorial process, decisions or the conduct of editors, reviewers or authors are addressed to the Editor-in-Chief at office@therapeutics.ro; complaints about the Editor-in-Chief are addressed to the President of the Romanian Society of Pharmacology. Allegations are investigated confidentially following COPE flowcharts; those concerned are invited to respond; institutions are informed when warranted; outcomes are recorded and, where appropriate, published.
Post-publication discussion
The journal welcomes letters to the editor and comments on published work and gives authors the opportunity to respond.
Advertising and marketing
Advertising is accepted only under the journal’s Advertising and sponsorship policy: it is kept separate from editorial content, clearly identified as such, and never influences editorial decisions. The journal does not send unsolicited marketing to authors.