Author Guidelines

The International Journal of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Innovation welcomes the submission of original, high-quality manuscripts that contribute to the advancement of pharmaceutical sciences, drug discovery, and healthcare innovation. Authors are encouraged to carefully read these guidelines, and to prepare their manuscript using the official IJDDPI manuscript template, before submission.

IJDDPI publishes original research articles, review articles, short communications, case reports, technical notes, perspectives, and letters to the editor in areas including, but not limited to:

•      Drug Discovery and Development

•      Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery Systems

•      Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry

•      Pharmacology and Toxicology

•      Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice

•      Pharmacognosy and Natural Products

•      Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

•      Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine

•      Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

•      Pharmaceutical Analysis

•      Regulatory Affairs

•      Pharmacovigilance

•      Herbal and Traditional Medicines

Manuscripts should be written in clear, concise English and prepared using the official IJDDPI manuscript template (IJDDPI_Manuscript_Template.docx), available for download from the journal website and from the editorial office on request. Submissions that do not follow the template's structure and formatting specifications below may be returned to the authors for reformatting before entering peer review.

Download the official manuscript template: IJDDPI_Manuscript_Template.docx  (also available on the “Submissions” page of the journal website, and attached with these guidelines).

2.1 Required Manuscript Sections

The manuscript should include, in this order:

1.      Title

2.      Author names and affiliations

3.      Corresponding author details

4.      Abstract (200–300 words)

5.      Keywords (4–8)

6.      Introduction

7.      Materials and Methods

8.      Results

9.      Discussion

10.   Conclusion

11.   Acknowledgements (if applicable)

12.   Funding Statement

13.   Conflict of Interest Statement

14.   Data Availability Statement

15.   References

2.2 Manuscript Formatting Specifications

The IJDDPI manuscript template implements the following layout, which authors must retain when preparing their submission. These specifications apply to the main manuscript file only; the title page fields (article type, title, authors, affiliations) are the only parts of the template intended to be edited before the rest of the layout is left unchanged.

Page setup

Margins: Top 1.75 cm, Bottom 1.5 cm, Left/Right 2.54 cm

Header/footer distance: Header 0.4 cm; Footer 0.2 cm

Fonts and text

Body font: Times New Roman, 10 pt, justified, single line spacing

Section headings: Times New Roman, 11 pt, bold (e.g. “1. Introduction”)

Subsection headings: Times New Roman, 10 pt, bold italic (e.g. “2.1 Study Design”)

Affiliations / corresponding author line: Times New Roman, 8.5 pt, italic, centered

Table and figure captions: Times New Roman, 8.5 pt

Page layout

Title page (page 1 header block): Single column: article type, title, authors, affiliations, and corresponding-author line, all centered

Main text (Abstract through References): Two-column layout, 0.6 cm column gap

Tables and figures: Set in a single, full-page-width column where needed for legibility; the surrounding text resumes in two columns immediately after

Running header (every page): Journal name (bold), and a second line with Volume, Issue, publication months/year, ISSN, and page range — completed by the editorial office

Footer (every page): Page number, right-aligned

Tables

•      Table captions are placed above the table (e.g. “Table 1. Summary of…”), left-aligned, 8.5 pt.

•      Header row is shaded light grey with a bottom border; the table otherwise uses only a single top border and a single bottom border (no internal vertical or horizontal rules), for a clean, booktabs-style appearance.

•      Any abbreviations used in a table should be defined in a footnote immediately below it, in 8.5 pt italic text.

•      Wide tables should be set in a full-width, single-column break rather than compressed into one of the two body columns.

Figures

•      Figures are set at full page width (single-column break) or within a single body column, whichever preserves legibility of labels and text within the figure.

•      Figure captions are placed below the figure (e.g. “Figure 1. …”), with “Figure N.” in bold followed by the descriptive caption in regular text, 8.5 pt.

•      Figures must be of publication quality (minimum 300 dpi) and cited in the text in numerical order of first appearance.

Authors who are unable to reproduce any of the above formatting directly (for example, when converting from LaTeX or another word processor) should still follow the specifications above as closely as possible; the editorial office will make final formatting adjustments at the production stage, provided the manuscript content and structure are complete.

Authors should ensure that:

•      The manuscript is original and has not been published or submitted elsewhere.

•      All authors have approved the submitted version.

•      Ethical approval has been obtained where required.

•      Any conflicts of interest are fully disclosed.

•      All sources of financial support are acknowledged.

All submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment followed by a rigorous double-blind peer-review process conducted by independent experts. Acceptance depends on the rigour and novelty of the work and its fit with the aims of the journal.

IJDDPI follows internationally accepted standards of publication ethics. Authors must avoid plagiarism, data fabrication, data falsification, duplicate publication, and unethical research practices. Manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software before peer review.

Authors retain the copyright of their work while granting the journal the right of first publication. Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Copyright agreement after acceptance: when a manuscript is accepted for publication, the corresponding author automatically receives an email containing a personal link to sign the journal’s Copyright and Licensing Agreement online on behalf of all authors. The signed agreement is generated as a numbered PDF, emailed to the corresponding author and the editorial office, and recorded by the journal. Production of the article proceeds once the signed agreement has been received.

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure that:

•      The manuscript is complete and prepared using the official IJDDPI manuscript template, with the formatting specifications in Section 2.2 unchanged.

•      Figures and tables are of publication quality.

•      References are accurate, complete, and formatted according to the journal's reference style (Section 10).

•      Ethical approval and informed consent statements are included where applicable.

•      Funding, conflict of interest, and data availability statements have been provided.

•      A graphical abstract has been prepared and is uploaded as a separate file (mandatory).

•      An ORCID iD has been provided for every author (mandatory).

•      A plagiarism similarity report has been uploaded as a supplementary file (mandatory).

The journal publishes the following article types. All submissions first undergo editorial screening for scope, completeness, and policy compliance; unless stated otherwise below, every article type then undergoes double-anonymous peer review by at least two independent experts. Word counts refer to the main text, excluding the abstract, references, tables, and figure legends. A Turnitin or iThenticate similarity report and a graphical abstract are mandatory for all submissions.

Research Articles

Full-length reports of original, previously unpublished experimental, computational, or clinical research with sound methodology and adequate characterisation of the materials studied. Abstract up to 300 words; typically 4,000–8,000 words; up to 60 references; no limit on figures and tables provided each is necessary.

Review Articles

Comprehensive, critical, and balanced surveys of a topical area of pharmaceutical science, including systematic reviews and meta-analyses (which must follow PRISMA guidelines and state the search strategy). Abstract up to 300 words; typically 6,000–10,000 words; up to 120 references.

Short Communications

Concise reports of novel, preliminary, or negative findings whose significance warrants rapid publication. Abstract up to 200 words; up to 3,000 words; up to 30 references; a combined maximum of 4 figures and tables.

Case Reports

Reports of clinically or pharmaceutically significant cases, such as adverse drug reactions, novel therapeutic outcomes, or medication-management challenges. Reports should follow the CARE guidelines, and written informed consent from the patient (or legal guardian) is mandatory and must be stated. Abstract up to 200 words; up to 2,500 words; up to 25 references.

Technical Notes

Descriptions of new or substantially improved methods, apparatus, software, or protocols of practical value to pharmaceutical scientists, with sufficient validation data. Abstract up to 200 words; up to 3,000 words; up to 25 references.

Perspectives

Scholarly, forward-looking viewpoints on emerging scientific areas, technologies, or regulatory and policy issues. Perspectives are usually invited, but unsolicited proposals are welcome and should first be discussed with the editorial office. Abstract up to 200 words; 2,000–4,000 words; up to 40 references.

Editorials

Invited commentary from the editors or guest authorities on matters of importance to the journal’s readership. No abstract; up to 1,500 words; up to 15 references. Editorials are assessed by the editorial office and are not sent for external peer review.

Letters to the Editor

Substantiated scientific comment on articles published in the journal within the previous six months, or brief freestanding scientific correspondence. No abstract; up to 1,000 words; up to 10 references; one figure or table. Letters are subject to editorial review, and the authors of a discussed article may be invited to reply.

IJDDPI requires a valid ORCID iD for every author of a submission, not only for the corresponding author. ORCID is a free, permanent digital identifier that distinguishes each researcher from every other researcher with a similar name, and it ensures that your work is reliably attributed to you across publishers, funders and indexing services.

Authors who do not yet have an ORCID iD can register in about a minute at orcid.org/register.

How it works during submission: the corresponding author can connect their own ORCID iD directly while submitting. Each co-author entered on the submission will then receive an automated e-mail from the journal asking them to confirm their ORCID iD; the co-author must click that link and sign in to ORCID. Because this confirmation is completed by each author personally, it cannot be done on their behalf — please alert your co-authors to expect the e-mail.

Manuscripts will not be forwarded to production after acceptance until an ORCID iD is recorded for every author. Incomplete author identification is a common cause of delay at the final stage, so we ask authors to complete this promptly.

References follow a numeric (Vancouver) style. Cite sources in the text with Arabic numerals in square brackets in the order of first appearance, and list them in that same numerical order at the end of the manuscript, using the reference-list format shown in Section 2.2 and Table/Figure conventions of the manuscript template. Abbreviate journal titles in the standard Index Medicus / NLM style and include the DOI wherever available. When citing this journal, use its official abbreviation: Int. J. Drug Discov. Pharm. Innov.

In-text citations

Use Arabic numerals in square brackets, e.g. [1] or [2,3], numbered in the order in which they first appear. Reuse the same number each time a source is cited again. For a consecutive range use an en dash, e.g. [4–6]; for non-consecutive references use commas, e.g. [1,3,5]; these may be combined, e.g. [1,3,5–8]. Place the bracket before the closing punctuation of the sentence, e.g. “… improved oral bioavailability [7].”

Reference list — general rules

•      Present references as a single numbered list, in the order of first citation (not alphabetically).

•      Authors: surname followed by initials with no periods or spaces (e.g. Sharma AB); separate authors with commas. List all authors up to six; for seven or more, list the first six followed by et al.

•      Article and chapter titles: sentence case (capitalise only the first word and proper nouns); no italics or quotation marks.

•      Journal names: abbreviate in Index Medicus / NLM style. Give year;volume(issue):page range, using an en dash between page numbers.

•      Include the DOI as a full link (https://doi.org/…) whenever one exists.

Examples by source type

Journal article (up to six authors):

[1] Amidon GL, Lennernäs H, Shah VP, Crison JR. A theoretical basis for a biopharmaceutic drug classification: the correlation of in vitro drug product dissolution and in vivo bioavailability. Pharm. Res. 1995;12(3):413–20. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016212804288.

[2] Lipinski CA, Lombardo F, Dominy BW, Feeney PJ. Experimental and computational approaches to estimate solubility and permeability in drug discovery and development settings. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 1997;23(1–3):3–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-409X(96)00423-1.

Journal article (exactly six authors):

[3] Veber DF, Johnson SR, Cheng HY, Smith BR, Ward KW, Kopple KD. Molecular properties that influence the oral bioavailability of drug candidates. J. Med. Chem. 2002;45(12):2615–23. https://doi.org/10.1021/jm020017n.

Journal article (seven or more authors — use et al.):

[4] Polack FP, Thomas SJ, Kitchin N, Absalon J, Gurtman A, Lockhart S, et al. Safety and efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;383(27):2603–15. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2034577.

Review article:

[5] Mitchell MJ, Billingsley MM, Haley RM, Wechsler ME, Peppas NA, Langer R. Engineering precision nanoparticles for drug delivery. Nat. Rev. Drug Discov. 2021;20(2):101–24. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-020-0090-8.

Book (authored):

[6] Florence AT, Attwood D. Physicochemical Principles of Pharmacy: In Manufacture, Formulation and Clinical Use. 6th ed. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2016.

Book (edited):

[7] Taylor KMG, Aulton ME, editors. Aulton's Pharmaceutics: The Design and Manufacture of Medicines. 6th ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier; 2021.

Book chapter:

[8] Gaisford S. Pharmaceutical preformulation. In: Taylor KMG, Aulton ME, editors. Aulton's Pharmaceutics: The Design and Manufacture of Medicines. 6th ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier; 2021. p. 360–79.

Patent:

[9] Bell AS, Brown D, Terrett NK, inventors; Pfizer Inc, assignee. Pyrazolopyrimidinone antianginal agents. US patent 5,250,534. 1993 Oct 5.

Pharmacopoeia / official compendium:

[10] Indian Pharmacopoeia 2022. Vol. 2. Ghaziabad: Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare; 2022.

Regulatory / harmonisation guideline:

[11] International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). Stability testing of new drug substances and products Q1A(R2). Geneva: ICH; 2003.

Website / online document:

[12] World Health Organization. WHO model list of essential medicines – 23rd list [Internet]. Geneva: WHO; 2023 [cited 2026 Jul 7]. Available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-MHP-HPS-EML-2023.02.

Other source types (follow the same pattern)

•      Conference paper: [n] Author AA, Author BB. Title of the paper. In: Proceedings of the <Conference Name>; <Year Mon Day>; <City, Country>. Place: Publisher; Year. p. <pages>.

•      Thesis / dissertation: [n] Author AA. Title of thesis [PhD thesis]. City: University; Year.

•      Preprint: [n] Author AA, Author BB. Title of the preprint. ChemRxiv [Preprint]. Year [cited Year Mon Day]. Available from: https://doi.org/<preprint DOI>.

•      Dataset: [n] Author AA. Title of dataset [dataset]. Repository name; Year. https://doi.org/<dataset DOI>.

•      Software: [n] Author AA. Software name (version) [software]. Publisher/host; Year. Available from: <URL>.

Automatic formatting (reference managers)

Authors using Zotero, Mendeley, or Papers can format their reference list automatically in this style. Download the IJDDPI style file and add it to your reference manager: ijddpi.csl (Citation Style Language). In Zotero: Settings → Cite → Styles → + and select the downloaded file, then choose “International Journal of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Innovation”. In Mendeley Reference Manager: Settings → Citation Styles → add.

What to avoid

•      Do not list “personal communications” or unpublished data in the numbered references; mention them parenthetically in the text if essential.

•      Avoid secondary citations (“cited in…”); always cite the original source.

•      Do not mix numeric and author–date styles within a manuscript.

Along with the manuscript, authors must upload a Turnitin (or equivalent) similarity report generated for the submitted version, as a supplementary file. The report should show less than 10% overall similarity (references and standard phrases excluded) — see the journal’s Plagiarism Policy for full details. Manuscripts submitted without a similarity report will be returned without review.

A graphical abstract is compulsory for all submitted manuscripts. It must be uploaded as a separate file at the time of submission. The graphical abstract should be a single, self-explanatory image that summarises the main findings or central message of the work, allowing readers to quickly grasp the essence of the article.

•      Format: TIFF, JPEG, or PNG at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (editable PowerPoint files are also accepted).

•      Recommended size: approximately 1200 × 800 pixels (landscape, width-to-height ratio about 3:2). The graphical abstract is displayed as a thumbnail next to your article on the journal website, so it must remain clear and legible at small display sizes.

•      Content: original artwork with clear labelling and minimal text; it should not simply reproduce a figure from the manuscript.

Manuscripts submitted without a graphical abstract will be returned to the authors before entering the review process.

Every manuscript receives a manuscript ID, which is quoted in the submission acknowledgement e-mail sent to all listed authors. There are two ways to see where your paper stands at any time:

•      Your dashboard — full detail. Log in and open My Submissions. This shows the current stage of each of your manuscripts along with the files you uploaded, editor correspondence, decision letters, and the place to upload revisions.

•      Quick check — no login needed. Use the Track Your Submission page and enter the manuscript ID together with an e-mail address listed as an author on that manuscript.

The statuses you may see are:

•      With the editorial office — initial editorial checks (scope, formatting, similarity report and graphical abstract) before reviewers are invited.

•      Under peer review — the manuscript is with the reviewers.

•      Revisions requested or Resubmit for review — action is needed from you; upload the revised manuscript from your dashboard.

•      Accepted — in copyediting — the manuscript has been accepted and the text is being copyedited.

•      In production — the manuscript is being typeset; proofs will be sent to you for approval.

•      Published — the article is live on the journal website.

•      Declined — the manuscript was not accepted; the decision letter was e-mailed to the authors.

All authors listed on a submission are e-mailed when the manuscript is received and again whenever an editorial decision is recorded, so no author has to rely on the corresponding author for news. In keeping with the journal’s double-anonymous review policy, reviewer identities, the number of reviewers and individual review progress are confidential and are not disclosed to authors at any stage. If you need information that these pages do not provide, write to editor@ijddpi.com quoting your manuscript ID.

For submission-related queries, please contact the Editorial Office:

Email: editor@ijddpi.com

Thank you for choosing the International Journal of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Innovation for the publication of your research.