Case study
Bringing author communication, support requests, and editorial interactions into a more structured workflow.
Customer
Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Industry
Academic Publishing / Pharmaceutical Sciences
Established
1988
Publisher
Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Karachi
Technology partner
Helpneer
Primary use case
Author Support & Editorial Communication
The Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Karachi.
The journal has been publishing since 1988 and serves researchers, academics, clinicians, and professionals in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences worldwide.
With a large international readership and a growing volume of manuscript submissions, author communication and editorial support are an important part of the overall publishing experience. PJPS needed a more structured way to support the people interacting with its digital publishing ecosystem.
For an academic journal, the publishing journey involves much more than submitting a manuscript.
At the same time, the editorial team needs to manage these interactions without allowing repetitive questions and individual requests to become difficult to track.
PJPS already provides extensive author information and submission guidance covering manuscript structure, submission requirements, publication systems, fees, review processes, and editorial policies. But documentation alone cannot handle every individual question.
How can PJPS make it easier for authors to get help — while creating a more structured support workflow for the editorial team?
PJPS serves an international research community, so its support experience needs to work for users interacting with the journal from different countries, institutions, and stages of the publishing process.
Helpneer provided a dedicated communication and support layer around the journal’s digital experience. Instead of relying only on static information or scattered communication channels, PJPS could offer a direct path for users who needed assistance.
The goal was simple: make it easier for authors to ask for help, and easier for the team to manage those requests.
A conversational support layer built around the journal’s existing documentation and submission system.
Helpneer gave PJPS a direct channel through which authors and website visitors can reach the team — particularly useful for questions not fully answered by existing documentation.
The author journey runs from discovering the journal through to publication. PJPS already documents many of these stages; Helpneer adds a conversational support layer around that journey, making support part of publishing rather than a separate process.
Some requests require editorial review, technical investigation, additional information, coordination with another team member, or follow-up with the author. Ticketing turns these conversations into structured support requests.
As an international journal grows, support interactions become difficult to manage through scattered communication. A centralised environment creates visibility around open requests, ongoing conversations, follow-ups, resolved issues, and overall support activity.
For researchers, small points of friction become frustrating during submission and publication. PJPS’s author guidelines are comprehensive — covering manuscript structure, figures, references, ethical statements, funding, and conflicts of interest.
Helpneer complements that documentation with a human support path. It does not replace the guidelines; it makes them more accessible.
The journal’s submission system provides author login, reviewer login, article tracking, milestone tracking, editorial communication, and revision workflows. Helpneer handles the support conversations that surround those processes.
The separation is clear: the submission system manages the publishing workflow, and Helpneer manages the support conversation around it.
Helpneer helped PJPS create a more structured layer around author and editorial support.
Authors have a direct way to communicate when they need assistance.
Conversations convert into structured tickets when further action is required.
The team manages ongoing conversations and requests from a centralised environment.
A clearer path to assistance when documentation does not fully answer a question.
A structured workflow for managing increasing communication volume as submissions grow.
AI can help answer repetitive questions while complex requests reach the right human team.
One of the key benefits for PJPS is the connection between self-service information and human assistance.
Together these create a more complete support journey — documentation for what is already written down, and conversation for everything else.
Support happened around the edges of the publishing workflow.
Support now has a structured home of its own.
Authors have a more direct path to help when they need clarification.
Conversations become trackable support requests when additional action is required.
The support team has a unified environment for managing author conversations.
Authors do not have to rely exclusively on documentation for individual questions.
The workflow evolves as PJPS serves a growing international research community.
AI can assist with repetitive questions while editorial matters stay with the right team.
For a scholarly journal, the author experience is part of the publication experience. The relationship begins when a researcher discovers the journal and continues through submission, review, revision, acceptance, and publication.
As PJPS expands its international reach and digital publishing operations, the number and variety of author interactions will grow. A scalable support model helps the journal maintain a consistent experience while reducing manual coordination.
The objective is not to replace the editorial team. It is to help the team spend more time on meaningful editorial work while making routine support interactions easier to manage.
Authors ask.
PJPS responds.
Helpneer connects the conversation.
Helpneer gives editorial and support teams one place to manage author conversations, tickets, and AI-assisted support.