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In December 2020, I wrote in these pages about some big changes planned for the PJ to make it fit for the future, with the imminent launch of our new digital platform. Since then, the team has been working hard to deliver the platform on time for launch at the start of February 2021 and now it is time to encourage you to consider how you read your PJ.
We understand that our members read the PJ in different ways and appreciate that some of you are disappointed about losing the monthly print edition from March. However, we know that many of you visit the PJ website daily or weekly already and that too many print PJs never get ripped from their wrap. While the experience of flicking through a print issue is impossible to replicate, the print edition is not without its downsides. Delayed or failed deliveries, for example, are part and parcel of print despite our best efforts.
Advances in digital technology offer clever ways to add value to editorial content that print cannot provide. The new platform offers a personalised digital experience with state-of-the art capabilities and features, which present a significant improvement in our digital offering.
We can immediately serve relevant information according to your interests, location and pharmacy sector. We can include question modules that help you assimilate learning and test yourself. You can save your CPD to your account and immediately access our back catalogue of content. We can highlight other PJ articles relevant to the topic you are interested in and link to related resources across the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and beyond in ways that broaden your awareness or deepen your understanding in support of your pharmacy practice. And, of course, we have now widened your access to content even further by bringing our journals published with Oxford University Press into the membership package.
We have asked members for feedback on what would improve your experience and encourage you to visit the website more often. We will deliver on the most popular improvements that were requested, including the ability to personalise content, a simpler navigation and sign-in process, as well as a greater variety of learning content. There will be overall improved performance with faster load time for web pages and a vastly improved ability to view content on your mobile device or tablet.
For regular readers of the PJ online, you will be familiar with how the existing website works. While it represented a big improvement when it was launched in 2014, the designs now look dated and it has been some time since we have improved how the PJ site works. We have also worked to improve how advertisements impact design and user experience.
Accessing the new website should be simple for our members and readers. For members that routinely visit pharmaceutical-journal.com, you do not need to do anything. We will switch our current web address, or URL, over so visitors arrive at the new platform at the right time. Once at the new website, within the ‘my account’ section, you can detail your areas of interest, which sector you are in and have the option to sign up for our electronic newsletters to alert you to our latest content. While this is different to waiting for the post to arrive, it is the best way to keep up to date about our latest content, with breaking news alerts, daily updates and weekly and monthly round-ups.
You can expect to receive an email soon from both membership and the PJ once the new site is live and this will tell you more about using our new platform. If you do not receive an email, please contact pharmpress-support@rpharms.com for assistance.
We are delighted with the transformation of our website and we are looking forward to launching it soon. Your feedback on the site and newsletters will be essential to inform future developments and how our digital journey can continue to evolve.
