Join Us

Join the IJDDPI Team

The International Journal of Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Innovation invites qualified academics, researchers, and industry scientists in the pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences to join us as Associate Editors, Assistant Editors, Section Editors, Guest Editors, Editorial Board Members, and Peer Reviewers.

Publishing with us? The article processing charge is fully waived for the journal's first year — publication is completely free of charge.

Editorial Roles

Members of the editorial team handle manuscripts within their expertise, guide editorial decisions, and uphold the journal's scientific and ethical standards. All editorial appointments are confirmed by the Editorial Office and carry a numbered Certificate of Appointment.

  • Associate Editor — a senior editor who independently manages the peer review of assigned manuscripts and recommends editorial decisions.
  • Assistant Editor — supports the editorial process, handling assigned manuscripts through peer review under the guidance of the senior editors.
  • Section Editor — oversees submissions within a specific subject section of the journal.
  • Guest Editor — leads a special issue or thematic collection (typically by invitation).

Applicants for editorial roles should hold a doctoral degree (Ph.D., Pharm.D., M.D.) or equivalent in the pharmaceutical or biomedical sciences, a strong record of peer-reviewed publications, and preferably prior editorial or peer-review experience, together with a commitment to follow COPE publication-ethics guidelines.

Join as an Editorial Board Member

Editorial Board Members guide the scientific direction of the journal, handle manuscripts within their expertise, and uphold the journal's standards. Applicants should have:

  • A doctoral degree (Ph.D., Pharm.D., M.D.) or equivalent in pharmaceutical sciences, medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, or a related discipline
  • A strong record of publications in peer-reviewed international journals
  • Prior editorial or substantial peer-review experience (preferred)
  • Commitment to handle assigned manuscripts promptly and to follow COPE publication-ethics guidelines

Join as a Peer Reviewer

Peer reviewers are the backbone of the journal's quality. Reviewers should hold at least a postgraduate degree in a relevant discipline, with demonstrable research experience in the areas they wish to review. Reviewer contributions are formally acknowledged, and active reviewers receive a reviewer certificate from the editorial office. Active reviewers and editorial team members also earn APC waivers on their own submissions — see the Article Processing Charge policy.

You may also register directly on this site and select the “Reviewer” role during registration.

Application Form

We email you a 6-digit code to confirm this address is yours. The application cannot be submitted until it is verified.
Editorial Terms of Appointment — please read before applying

These terms apply to everyone who joins the IJDDPI editorial team or reviewer panel — Associate Editors, Assistant Editors, Section Editors, Guest Editors, Editorial Board Members, and Peer Reviewers. Ticking the box below records your acceptance of them, together with the date and time. Clauses marked (editorial roles) do not apply to Peer Reviewers.

1. Nature of the appointment

All positions on the IJDDPI editorial team and reviewer panel are honorary and voluntary. They are not salaried, carry no financial consideration, and create no employment, agency, or partnership relationship between you and IJDDPI or Aloka Publications. Editorial appointments are made for a term of two years from the date the Editorial Office confirms them, renewable by mutual consent.

2. What we ask of you

  • Handle manuscripts assigned to you within your area of expertise, at a volume consistent with the journal's submission flow and your own availability. (editorial roles)
  • Assign at least two qualified, independent reviewers to each manuscript you handle, none of whom has an undisclosed association with the authors. (editorial roles)
  • Base your recommendation (Accept / Minor Revision / Major Revision / Reject) on the reviewer reports and your own reading of the manuscript. (editorial roles)
  • Provide objective, constructive, evidence-based assessments within the agreed time, and tell the Editorial Office promptly if you cannot meet a deadline or must decline an assignment, so the manuscript can be reassigned.
  • Uphold the journal's double-anonymous review model, taking care not to compromise author or reviewer anonymity.
  • Promote the journal within your professional network to encourage high-quality submissions.

Indicative timelines. Initial screening of an assigned manuscript for scope and basic quality within five days; a decision recommendation within forty-five days of the reviewer reports being complete. Reviewers are asked to return their report within the period stated in the invitation.

3. Confidentiality and ethics

By accepting an appointment you agree to:

  • treat all submitted manuscripts, reviewer identities, reviewer reports, and internal editorial discussions as strictly confidential, both during and after your term;
  • not use unpublished material or information obtained in an editorial or review capacity for your own or any third party's advantage before publication;
  • declare any conflict of interest — personal, financial, institutional, or competitive — immediately, and recuse yourself from the affected manuscript (see the Conflict of Interest policy);
  • not upload a manuscript, or any part of one, into a generative AI tool, and not delegate editorial or review judgement to an automated system (see the AI Policy); and
  • refer any suspected plagiarism, data fabrication, image manipulation, duplicate submission, or other misconduct to the Editorial Office, for handling under COPE guidance and the journal's Publication Ethics policy.

4. Your own submissions

You are welcome to submit your own work to IJDDPI. Any manuscript you author or co-author is handled independently by an editor with no conflict of interest, and you are excluded from all editorial processes, correspondence, and records relating to it. Membership of the editorial team or reviewer panel confers no expectation whatsoever that your manuscript will be accepted.

5. Recognition

  • Public listing (editorial roles). Your name, position, affiliation, area of expertise and, where you provide them, your ORCID and Google Scholar links and contact email are published on the journal's Editorial Team page. By accepting these terms you consent to this publication. You may ask the Editorial Office to amend or remove your listing at any time. Peer reviewers are not listed publicly.
  • Certificates. Editorial appointments carry a numbered Certificate of Appointment, issued when the appointment is confirmed. Reviewers receive a numbered Certificate of Reviewing on completion of each review. A certificate of service, signed on behalf of the publisher, is available on request annually for tenure or promotion files. We are a publisher and can issue certificates in our own name only; institutional letters can be issued only by your own institution.
  • APC waivers. Serving Editorial Board Members and Section Editors are entitled to one full APC waiver per calendar year; reviewers earn a 50% discount at five completed reviews and a full waiver at ten. In each case the waiver applies to one manuscript on which you are the corresponding author, is personal and non-transferable, is valid for twelve months from the date earned, cannot be combined with other discounts, must be claimed at the time of submission, and applies only to a manuscript accepted through the journal's standard double-anonymous peer review. Full terms are on the Article Processing Charge page.

6. Data we hold about you

The Editorial Office stores the details you provide on this form (name, email, affiliation, qualification, expertise, ORCID/Scopus and Google Scholar links, and your message), together with the date, time, and network address at which you accepted these terms, for the purpose of administering your appointment and demonstrating that the journal's ethical obligations were communicated to you. If your application is approved, an account is created for you on this site. You may ask the Editorial Office at any time for a copy of what we hold, or for it to be corrected or deleted.

7. Ending the appointment

Either you or the journal may end the appointment at any time by written notice, with thirty days' notice where practicable so that manuscripts in progress can be reassigned. An editorial appointment lapses automatically at the end of its term unless it is renewed. The Editorial Office may also end an appointment where a member has been unreachable or inactive over an extended period, or where these terms have been breached. On lapse or termination your public listing is removed, and the confidentiality obligations in section 3 continue to apply.

8. Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated as the journal's policies develop. Serving members are notified of material changes by email. Questions should be sent to the Editorial Office at editor@ijddpi.com.

Version 1.0 — 1 August 2026. A copy of these terms is sent to you with the outcome of your application.