Getting your article published

Submitting an idea

Most of the content in The Pharmaceutical Journal is specially commissioned, although we welcome unsolicited submissions depending on their suitability for our audience and how they fit into our commissioning plans.

If you have ideas for articles, please contact the relevant editor using the email addresses below, including your name, affiliation and an outline of the piece you wish to write. Information on the types of article we publish and their requirements can be found here.

An editor will then contact you with a final decision on whether to commission your piece, and if suitable, a word count, deadline and the section it will appear in the journal or website.

Writing your article

Please refer to the requirements the commissioning editor details in your brief in order to complete your article. There are general requirements set out here for each article type.

If you are struggling to complete the article as requested, please do not hesitate to contact your commissioning editor to discuss how to proceed.

Please refer to the guidelines below when preparing your article.

Article types

See list of article types.

Figures and tables

Summary figures and tables and boxes are useful, and we encourage their use in all article types.

Figures and tables should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. All abbreviations used within them should be defined in the legend. Please ensure that scale bars are included in figures where appropriate (i.e. photomicrographs).

Symbols, arrows or letters used in photomicrographs should contrast with the background. Please explain internal scale and identify the method of staining in photomicrographs.

You must number all tables (e.g., table 1, table 2, table 3) and reference them in the text. You must place all tables at the end of the main text. Tables should be in an editable format, and not embedded as an image file.

If figures and tables have been previously published elsewhere, these must be credited appropriately, and we expect authors to gain appropriate permissions prior to publication. Please contact the editor directly if you require help or assistance in obtaining permissions, as these may be able to be obtained on your behalf.

Pharmaceutical Press, the publisher of the Pharmaceutical Journal, is a signatory of the STM Permissions Guidelines, which may lower any permissions fees.

References

All references should be in the Vancouver style of referencing.

Authors should avoid citing a personal communication unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case include the nature and source of the cited information, using a term or terms to indicate clearly that no corresponding citation is in the reference list.

Authors can cite journal articles that have been submitted and accepted for publication that have yet to be published; however, unpublished data that have not been accepted for publication are not to be cited in the reference list.

For detailed information on our reference style and formatting, see ‘How to write a reference list’.