Top five articles from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s research journals

In 2025, a total of 377 articles were published in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) four research journals — a 25% increase on 2024 — and covered topics ranging from the development of new drugs to treat cancer and kidney disease to pharmacists’ independent prescribing, combating antimicrobial resistance, decreasing the environment impact of medicines and increasing transparency around pharmaceutical health systems. Published in partnership with Oxford University Press, the content from 2025 highlighted the global nature and wide scope of research being conducted on the science and practice of pharmacy.

Research journals perform a critical function of maintaining and preserving a scientific record, in addition to disseminating the latest research to advance the field. All profits that the RPS earns from our research journals contributes solely to the funding of the RPS’s mission to put pharmacy at the forefront of patient care.

Here are the highlights from each of the four journals.

International Journal of Pharmacy Practice

The highlight of 2025 has been the publication of a special themed collection on the topical and timely issue of ‘Climate, nature and pollution crises — how more sustainable medicines use can make a difference’, a collection of recent research on the practices pharmacists can adopt to ensure sustainable medicine use. The other themes published in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice (IJPP) in 2025 focused on medication safety and adherence, as well as pharmacy education and workforce development.

IJPP considers and publishes high-quality pharmacy practice research, specifically as it relates to any aspect of the medication use process.

The following are the top five most popular articles published in IJPP in 2025. The list showcases the international reach of the journal, as well as diversity of topics of interest to the pharmacy practice community:

1. ‘A scoping review of evidence of community pharmacist independent prescribing for common clinical conditions: beyond protocol prescribing’, Laura Karim et al.;
2. ‘Standardization of terms in paediatric pharmacy practice research: a call for action’, Shamala Balan;
3. ‘Exploring community pharmacy services in Gulf Cooperation Council countries: a scoping review’, Solafa M W Noorsaeed et al.;
4. ‘Knowledge, attitude, and practice about the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals among hospital pharmacists in Spain: a cross-sectional survey’, Saioa Domingo-Echaburu et al.;
5. ‘Legal requirements for pharmacist supervision in the UK’, David Henry Reissner.

Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research

This year, the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (JPHSR) published its first themed collection on ‘Transparency and accountability in pharmaceutical and health systems’, which covered recent research on the governance, accountability, advertising and anti-corruption efforts in pharmaceutical services worldwide. 

JPHSR considers research submissions related to policy, management, governance, financing and delivery of pharmaceutical services, particularly on large scale national/multinational issues.

Here are the top five most popular articles published in JPHSR in 2025:

1. ‘Rethinking corruption: a decolonial inquiry into the intersection of historical systems and anti-corruption efforts’, Nana Koomson et al.;
2. ‘Incremental therapeutic value of FDA-designated breakthrough drugs based on ratings from four international organizations: a cross-sectional study’, Elizaveta Borisova et al.;
3. ‘Rebuilding trust in public health: countering medical disinformation as a democratic value in the digital age’, Nathalie Sonnac et al.;
4. ‘Trust, transparency, and accountability in health and pharmaceutical systems’, Alison Thompson;
5. ‘Reimbursement recommendations before and after adoption of application fees by the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health: a cross-sectional study‘, Joel Lexchin.

Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology

2025 marked the 25th anniversary of David Jones’s editorial leadership of the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (JPP), which is being celebrated with a soon to be launched special themed collection, with papers submitted exclusively by its prestigious editorial board. JPP publishes high-impact pharmaceutical sciences research on pharmacology, pharmaceutics and drugs from natural sources.

The following are the top five most popular articles published in JPP in 2025:

1. ‘The potential applications of nanocomposites in 3D-printed drug delivery systems’, Marwan Algellay et al.;
2. ‘Exploring the potential of vaginal drug delivery: innovations, efficacy, and therapeutic prospects’, Eva Sanchez Armengol et al.;
3. ‘Repurposing the familiar: Future treatment options against chronic kidney disease’, Rohan Bhadange et al.;
4. ‘Mechanisms and potential roles of active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease’, Xilin Wu et al.;
5. ‘Integrated metabolomics and network pharmacology analysis to reveal the mechanisms of naringin against atherosclerosis’, Gaoning Zhang et al.

RPS Pharmacy & Pharmacology Reports

RPS Pharmacy & Pharmacology Reports (RPSPPR) welcomed a new editor-in-chief, Catherine Sherwin, discipline lead for clinical pharmacology at the University of Western Australia and deputy editor-in-chief Gary Moss, senior lecturer in pharmaceutics at Keele University on 1 August 2025. We thank the inaugural editor-in-chief Dionysius Douroumis, professor in pharmaceutical technology and process engineering at the University of Greenwich, for his service during the launch phase of the journal. 

RPSPPR is a gold open-access journal that publishes all rigorous research advancing the pharmaceutical sciences.

The following are the top five most popular articles published in RPSPPR in 2025:

1. ‘Baphia longipedicellata exhibits antidiabetic, antioxidant, and hepatoprotective activities: in vitro and in vivo studies’, Farouk A Oladoja et al.;
2. ‘Progress in the production of nanocrystals through miniaturized milling methods’, Adriparna Paul et al.;
3. ‘Potential drug interactions with nirmatrelvir/ritonavir in critically ill patients with COVID-19: a retrospective observational study’, Dominik Jarczak et al.;
4. ‘Lysosome-mediated cytotoxicity in breast cancer subtype cells treated with doxorubicin’, Rachel E Nicoletto et al.;
5. ‘Drug-related problems, adverse drug reactions, and drug–drug interactions as a result of a pandemic that took us by surprise: COVID-19 in Mexico’, Ivo Heyerdahl-Viau et al.

Current calls for paper

In 2026, the RPS journals will continue to highlight topical issues of interest to the pharmacy community via themed collections. IJPP and JPHSR are currently welcoming submissions on the following topics:

• Preventing harm: pharmacists’ role in substance use disorder prevention and treatment;
• Transforming pharmacy practice with artificial intelligence-enabled solutions;
• Antimicrobial resistance: a global public health threat;
• The evolving role of AI in health research and policy related to pharmaceuticals.

We thank the editors-in-chief, associate editors, editorial boards and guest editors for curating submissions to the journals, maintaining the rigorous peer-review standards and being ambassadors for the journals. Most importantly, we are privileged to serve the pharmacy research community and thank you for submitting, reviewing, reading and citing the RPS research journals. 

We look forward to your continued support in 2026.