Ethics and Consent

(i)  Ethics approval

All research work involving human subjects, human materials, or human data, must have been performed as specified in the Declaration of Helsinki and must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. Thus, a statement indicating this, including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number (where appropriate) must appear in each manuscript reporting such research. Where a study has been granted an exemption from ethics approval, the exemption should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption).

Authors should follow the ICLAS guidelines on the welfare, care, and use of experimental animals. Full text of the guidelines can be found here (https://iclas.org/guidelines-for-researchers/).

The corresponding author should be ready to provide any further information and documentation to support this to the Editor on request. The Editor may contact the ethics committee for further information if necessary. A manuscript may be rejected if the Editor considers that the research has not been carried out within an appropriate ethical framework.

(ii)  Informed Consent

For all research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study should be obtained from all participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript.

(iii)  Non-experimental Studies

Field studies and other non-experimental research involving humans must also comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee.

(iv) Animal Studies

Research work involving vertebrates or any regulated invertebrates must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. The fundamental principles to adhere to are outlined in Basel Declaration while the International Council for Laboratory Animal Science (ICLAS) has also published ethical guidelines.

A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or ethical approval (including the name of the ethics committee and the reference number, as appropriate) must be included in the manuscript. If a study has been granted an exemption from requiring ethics approval, this should also be detailed in the manuscript (including the name of the ethics committee that granted the exemption and the reasons for the exemption).

For experimental studies involving client-owned animals, authors must also document informed consent from the client or owner and adherence to a high standard (best practice) of veterinary care.

Field studies and other non-experimental research on animals must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines, and where available should have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee. A statement detailing compliance with relevant guidelines and/or appropriate permissions or licences must be included in the manuscript.

(v) Research involving plants

Experimental research involving plants must comply with institutional, national, or international guidelines. Field studies should be conducted in accordance with local legislation, and the manuscript should include a statement specifying the appropriate permissions and/or licences. For each plant, the voucher specimen must be deposited in a public herbarium or other public collection providing access to deposited material, and information on the voucher specimen and who identified it must be included in the manuscript.

(vi) Consent for publication

For all manuscripts that include details, images, or videos relating to individual participants, written informed consent for the publication of these must be obtained from the participants (or their parent or legal guardian in the case of children under 16) and a statement to this effect should appear in the manuscript. If the participant has died, then consent for publication must be sought from the next of kin of the participant. The consent form must be made available to the Editor on request, and will be treated confidentially. In cases where images are entirely unidentifiable and there are no details on individuals reported within the manuscript, consent for publication of images may not be required. 

Clinical Trial Registration

We support initiatives to improve reporting of clinical trials, including prospective registration of clinical trials in suitable publicly available databases. In line with ICMJE guidelines, we require registration of all clinical trials that are reported in manuscripts submitted to this journal.

The ICMJE uses the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of a clinical trial, which is "any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes". This definition includes phase I to IV trials. The ICMJE defines health-related interventions as "any intervention used to modify a biomedical or health-related outcome" and health-related outcomes as "any biomedical or health-related measures obtained in patients or participants".

Recommended publicly available registries are available on the ICMJE website and the primary registries that participate in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. The trial registration number (TRN) and date of registration should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, we encourage retrospective registration to ensure the complete publication of all results. Further information on retrospective registration is available from the AllTrials campaign, the Public Accounts Committee and the Department of Health. For retrospectively registration, the TRN, date of registration and the words 'retrospectively registered’ should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

Registration of Systematic Reviews

We encourage the prospective registration of systematic reviews and advise authors to register their systematic reviews in a suitable registry (such as PROSPERO). For authors who have registered their systematic review, the registration number should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

Availability of Data and Materials

The Submission of a manuscript to a this journal indicates that materials described in the manuscript, including all relevant raw data, will be freely available to any scientist wishing to use them for non-commercial purposes, without breaching participant confidentiality.

We strongly encourages that all datasets on which the conclusions of any paper rely should be available to readers. Where the datasets are not directly on the paper, the location of such datasets in public domains should be specified

Biological Materials

We strongly encourage the deposition of biological materials, such as plasmids, mutant strains, and cell lines, in established public repositories. Authors are required to check the list of known misidentified cell lines maintained by the International Cell Line Authentication Committee (ICLAC).

Software and Code

Any previously unreported software application or custom code described in the manuscript should be made available for testing by reviewers in a way that preserves their anonymity using a link to the most recent version of the software or code and a link to the archived version referenced in the manuscript. The software or code should be archived in an appropriate repository with a DOI or other unique identifier. For software in GitHub, we recommend using Zenodo.

Where the software or code implementation is not made freely available, the manuscript should not discuss the tool in any detail but focus clearly on the development of the underlying method. 

Standards of Reporting

We also strongly recommend that authors should adhere to the minimum reporting guidelines for health research hosted by the EQUATOR Network when preparing their manuscript, and the BioSharing Portal for reporting checklists for biological and biomedical research, where applicable.

We advocate complete and transparent reporting of biomedical and biological research work. You may refer to the Minimum standards of reporting checklist when reporting your research. Authors should adhere to these guidelines when drafting their manuscript, and peer reviewers will be asked to refer to these checklists when evaluating such studies.

Authors of systematic reviews should also provide a link to an additional file from the ‘methods’ section, which reproduces all details of the search strategy. An example of how a search strategy should be presented can be seen in the Cochrane Reviewers' Handbook.

Statistical Methods

Authors are advised to include complete information on the statistical methods and measures used in their research, including justification of the appropriateness of the statistical test used.  For p values, the number of tails reported (2-tailed or 1-tailed) should be specified. 

Resource Identification

For effective tracking of the key resources employed to produce the scientific findings reported in the biomedical literature, authors are advised to include a complete description of all resources to allow them to be uniquely identified. To support of the Resource Identification Initiative (RII), we advise authors to use unique Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) within their manuscript to identify their model organisms, antibodies, or tools.

Cell Line Authentication

If human cell lines are used, authors are strongly advised to include the following information in their manuscript:

(i) Source of the cell line, including when and from where it was obtained,

(ii) Cell line authentication status (recent or not) and method used,

(iii) Recent testing of the cell line for mycoplasma contamination.

Gene Nomenclature

Standardized gene nomenclature should be used throughout. Human gene symbols and names can be found in the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC) database; requests for new gene symbols should be submitted to http://www.genenames.org/cgi-bin/request and any enquiries about gene nomenclature can be directed to hgnc@genenames.org. Any alternative gene aliases that are commonly used may be reported, but should not be used alone in place of the HGNC symbol. Nomenclature committees for other species are listed at http://www.genenames.org/about/faq#otherspecies.

Reporting of Sequence Variants

We endorse the recommendations of the Human Variome Project Consortium for describing sequence variants (Human Genome Variation Society) and phenotypes (Human Phenotype Ontology).

Competing Interests

We require authors to declare all competing interests in relation to their research work. All submitted manuscripts must include a ‘competing interests’ section at the end of the manuscript listing all competing interests, whether financial or non-financial. A competing interest exists when the authors’ interpretation of data or presentation of information may be influenced by their personal or financial relationship with other people or organizations.

Where authors have no competing interests, the statement should read “The author(s) declare(s) that they have no competing interests”. 

Authorship

To give appropriate credit to each author, we require that the individual contributions of authors should be specified in the manuscript. Details of this information are provided in the Guidelines for Contributors.

Please note that an 'author' is generally considered to be someone who has made substantive intellectual contributions to a published study. Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not usually justify authorship. According to the ICMJE guidelines, to qualify as an author one should have:

(i) made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;

(ii) been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;

(iii) given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and

(iv) agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Authors should understand that removal or addition of any name of an author cannot be made after acceptance of a manuscript.

Acknowledgements

All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be listed in an ‘Acknowledgements’ section. The source of funding should also be acknowledged. For research grants, the name of the funding body and the grant number may be specified, as appropriate.

Any involvement of scientific (medical) writers or anyone else who assisted with the preparation of the manuscript content should be acknowledged as described in the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) guidelines.   

Duplicate publication

Any manuscript submitted to this journal for review must be original and the manuscript, or substantial parts of it, must not be under consideration by any other journal. Generally, the manuscript must not already have been formally published in any journal or in any other citable form.  If the abstract of the manuscript has been published previously, the same title earlier published must not be used. In any case where there is the potential for overlap or duplication, we require transparency of authors. Authors are expected to declare any potentially overlapping publications on submission and any overlapping publications should be cited. Articles “in press” and unpublished work should not be cited.

We do not accept plagiarised work and we take seriously all cases of publication misconduct. Any suspected cases of covert duplicate manuscript submission will be handled as outlined in the COPE guidelines and we endorses the policies of ICMJE guidelines in relation to overlapping publications.

Corrections and Retractions

On rare occasions, it may be necessary for us to publish corrections to, or retractions of, articles published in this journal, in order to maintain the integrity of the academic record.

Correction or retraction of any published article will be made by publishing an Erratum or a Retraction article and adding a prominent link to the Erratum/Retraction article. For PDF files of retracted articles, the word “Retracted” will be marked clearly on the article. It is only in the exceptional event where that material is considered to infringe certain rights or is defamatory, that we may have to remove it from our site and archive sites. We follow follow the COPE guidelines. 

Appeals and Complaints

All authors reserve the right to appeal or complain against editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted to us. We adhere to COPE guidelines in respect of appeals to editorial decisions and complaints.

 

Data Sharing Policy Statement

 

The Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research (TJNPR) is dedicated to advancing transparency and reproducibility in natural product research, ethnopharmacology, and pharmaceutical sciences. This Data Sharing Policy fully complies with the COPE Guidelines on Data Sharing Statements and ICMJE Recommendations.

All original research articles submitted on or after November 1, 2025, must include a Data Availability Statement (DAS) placed after Acknowledgments and before References. Authors are required to deposit research data in a public repository prior to submission, ensuring data are FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).

Required DAS Examples:

• Fully available: "All data are included in this article [and Supplementary files]."
• Repository: "Data are available in Zenodo at [DOI/URL]."
• Restricted: "Data available on request from corresponding author due to [privacy/ethical reasons]."
• Not applicable: "No new data were generated."

Recommended Repositories: Zenodo (general), PubChem (chemistry), Figshare (pharmacology).

Exceptions for human/animal subjects, proprietary, or security-sensitive data are permitted with justification in the DAS.

Enforcement: Manuscripts lacking a DAS will be returned. Reviewers will verify availability; non-compliance may result in corrections or retraction per COPE protocols.

 

Publication Timelines for Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research (TJNPR)

TJNPR strives to provide clear information on publication timelines to support informed decision-making by authors. TJNPR is committed to "rapid review and publication" as a monthly open-access journal,

 

• Submission to First Decision:

• Initial editorial appraisal occurs promptly (typically 1–7 days for desk rejection or advancement).
• Peer review: At least two independent, anonymous reviewers are invited, with a target of 14 days (2 weeks) per reviewer to submit reports. Extensions are granted if needed to ensure thorough evaluation.
• Estimated Average: 14–30 days overall, depending on reviewer availability. ·  Submission to Final Decision (Acceptance):

• Revisions: Authors receive up to 14 days for minor/major changes per round (extendable to 28 days/4 weeks), with the number of rounds varying by manuscript complexity (usually 1–2).
• Editorial synthesis of reviewer feedback and final approval follow revisions.
• Estimated Average: 30–60 days for straightforward submissions; up to 90+ days with multiple revisions. Post-revision, galley proofs are sent for quick author corrections (within 7–10 days).

• Submission to Publication:

• Accepted articles are immediately assigned a DOI and published online
• Formal inclusion in a monthly issue follows

 

TJNPR Complaints Process Statement

 

The Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research (TJNPR) values author feedback and is dedicated to resolving concerns promptly and fairly, in full alignment with the COPE Guidelines on Complaints and Appeals. Authors may submit complaints regarding editorial processes (e.g., delays, bias), peer review fairness, publication errors, ethical issues, or journal operations. Frivolous complaints may be dismissed, but all valid concerns receive thorough investigation to uphold integrity in natural product research.

Complaints Process:

1. Submission: Within 30 days of the issue, email a clear description with evidence (e.g., emails, manuscript details) to Prof. Abiodun Falodun, Editor-in-Chief.
2. Acknowledgment: Receipt confirmed within 7 days.
3. Investigation: The Editor-in-Chief appoints an independent Complaints Committee (2–3 Editorial Board members uninvolved in the case) to review within 30 days, consulting parties as needed.
4. Resolution: Outcomes include apologies, corrections, process improvements, or escalation to COPE if unresolved. Final decisions are binding and documented.
5. Confidentiality: All proceedings remain private to protect reputations.

Contact: Prof. Abiodun Falodun, Editor-in-Chief Email: editor.tjnpr@gmail.com

Authors should note that No fees apply. For urgent matters, include "COMPLAINT" in the subject line. This will enable the Editor-in-Chief respond urgently.

 

 

 

TJNPR Policy on Corrections, Expressions of Concern, and Retractions

The Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research (TJNPR) upholds the scientific record's integrity through transparent handling of post-publication issues, fully aligned with COPE Retraction Guidelines and flowcharts for Corrections and Expressions of Concern.

These include:

• Corrections: Minor errors (e.g., typos, figure labels) not affecting conclusions.
• Expression of Concern (EOC): Notice for serious issues under investigation (e.g., suspected plagiarism).
• Retractions: For invalidated findings due to misconduct, errors, or duplicates.

Step by Step process

1. Submission: Email evidence to editor.tjnpr@gmail.om within 30 days.
2. Review: Editor-in-Chief assesses within 7 days; committee investigates within 30–60 days.
3. Decision: Editorial Board approves per COPE; appeals to Prof. Abiodun Falodun within 30 days.
4. Implementation: Notices published online/in next issue; CrossMark updates metadata.

Contact: Prof. Abiodun Falodun, Editor-in-Chief Email: editor.tjnpr@gmail.com

 

Role of a Section Editor for the Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research in Compliance with COPE

The role of a section editor for the Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research (TJNPR), in compliance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, involves managing the editorial process for a specific section of the journal while adhering to ethical standards to ensure integrity, fairness, and transparency in scholarly publishing. Below is a detailed description of the role, tailored to the context of TJNPR and aligned with COPE’s Core Practices and Code of Conduct.

1. Editorial Oversight and Decision-Making:
• Oversee the peer-review process for manuscripts submitted to the assigned section of TJNPR, which focuses on natural product research, including areas like phytochemistry, pharmacology, ethnobotany, and related fields.
• Evaluate submissions for scientific rigor, originality, and relevance to TJNPR’s scope (e.g., natural product discovery, characterization, and applications), ensuring alignment with the journal’s mission to advance research in tropical natural products.
• Make informed editorial decisions (acceptance, revision, or rejection) based on peer-review feedback, in collaboration with reviewers and the editor-in-chief, ensuring decisions are merit-based and free from bias or external pressures (COPE Core Practice: Editorial Decisions).
2. Upholding Ethical Standards:
• Adhere to COPE’s ethical guidelines to maintain integrity in the editorial process, addressing issues such as plagiarism, data falsification, image manipulation, or redundant publication, which are particularly critical in natural product research where data authenticity is paramount.
• Manage conflicts of interest by ensuring authors, reviewers, and themselves disclose any financial, personal, or professional relationships that could influence decisions (e.g., affiliations with pharmaceutical companies or competing research groups) (COPE Core Practice: Conflicts of Interest).
• Verify that manuscripts comply with ethical research standards, such as obtaining ethical approvals for studies involving human subjects, animals, or plant-derived materials from tropical regions, respecting biodiversity regulations (e.g., Nagoya Protocol).
3. Peer-Review Management:
• Select qualified reviewers with expertise in natural product research, ensuring they are independent and free from conflicts of interest (e.g., avoiding reviewers from the same institution or with prior collaborations with authors).
• Ensure the peer-review process is double-blind (as is common in many scientific journals, including TJNPR), confidential, and constructive, protecting reviewer anonymity and author privacy (COPE Core Practice: Peer Review).
• Provide reviewers with clear guidelines specific to TJNPR’s standards, such as evaluating the quality of phytochemical analyses, pharmacological data, or ethnobotanical methodologies, and monitor for unethical reviewer behavior.
4. Handling Misconduct and Complaints:
• Investigate allegations of misconduct (e.g., plagiarism, falsified bioassay results, or undeclared authorship contributions) using COPE’s flowcharts and guidelines, ensuring fair and systematic resolution.
• Respond promptly to complaints from authors, reviewers, or readers, maintaining open communication and escalating complex issues to the editor-in-chief or TJNPR’s editorial board as needed (COPE Core Practice: Complaints and Appeals).
• Issue retractions, corrections, or expressions of concern transparently if errors or misconduct are confirmed, following COPE’s retraction guidelines to maintain the journal’s credibility.
5. Promoting Diversity and Fairness:
• Foster inclusivity by ensuring editorial processes are free from discrimination based on race, gender, ethnicity, or geographic location, which is especially relevant for TJNPR given its focus on tropical regions and contributions from diverse global researchers.
• Encourage diversity in reviewer selection, including experts from tropical countries where natural product research is prominent, to reflect the journal’s international scope (COPE Core Practice: Journal Policies).
6. Ensuring Compliance with Journal and COPE Policies:
• Ensure manuscripts adhere to TJNPR’s submission guidelines, including proper reporting of experimental methods (e.g., plant identification, chemical characterization, or bioactivity assays) and compliance with ethical standards for research involving biological resources.
• Verify that authors provide accurate declarations, such as funding sources, competing interests, or adherence to ethical guidelines for harvesting natural products in tropical ecosystems.
• Stay informed about COPE’s best practices and TJNPR’s editorial policies, applying them consistently to uphold the journal’s reputation in natural product research.
7. Collaboration and Communication:
• Work closely with the editor-in-chief, other section editors, and the TJNPR editorial board to ensure consistency in editorial standards across sections, such as medicinal chemistry, pharmacognosy, or bioactive compounds.
• Communicate professionally with authors and reviewers, providing constructive feedback on submissions and addressing queries promptly, especially for researchers from tropical regions who may face language or resource barriers.
• Contribute to discussions on TJNPR’s editorial policies, such as open-access practices, data-sharing requirements, or strategies to enhance the journal’s impact in natural product research.
8. Record-Keeping and Transparency:
• Maintain accurate records of editorial decisions, peer reviews, and communications to ensure accountability and facilitate audits or investigations if needed.
• Ensure published articles include proper metadata (e.g., author contributions, funding details, and ethical statements) as required by TJNPR and COPE’s transparency standards.
• Promote open science practices, such as encouraging authors to share raw data (e.g., spectroscopic data for natural products) in compliance with TJNPR’s data-sharing policies, where applicable.

Alignment with COPE Core Practices

Section editors for TJNPR must align their work with COPE’s Core Practices, including:

• Ensuring robust, unbiased peer review tailored to the interdisciplinary nature of natural product research.
• Addressing misconduct allegations systematically, using COPE flowcharts (e.g., for suspected plagiarism in phytochemical studies or authorship disputes).
• Maintaining confidentiality in the peer-review process, protecting sensitive data related to novel compounds or traditional knowledge.
• Promoting transparency in authorship, funding, and ethical compliance, particularly for research involving indigenous or tropical resources.
• Handling complaints and appeals fairly, ensuring due process for all parties.