For authors

Submission of manuscripts
Papers must be submitted to Professor Ian Bates, the Editor-in-Chief, at this email address: pharmacy.education@pharmacy.ac.uk

An electronic copy (in Microsoft Word format) of papers or articles should be submitted as a single attachment to an email. All papers must be submitted in English.

Submission of a paper to Pharmacy Education will be taken to imply that it represents original work not previously published, that it is not being considered elsewhere for publication, and that if accepted for publication it has not been, or will not be, published elsewhere in the same form, in any language, without the consent of the editors and publisher. It is a condition of acceptance by the editor of a typescript for publication that the publisher automatically acquires the copyright of the typescript throughout the world. It will also be assumed that the author has obtained all necessary permissions to include in the paper items such as: quotations, figures, tables, results of government-sponsored research, etc.

Authors should indicate if the content of any essay constitute a personal opinion or institutional policy. Replies and responses to previous communications are welcomed.

Types of contributions
The Journal will publish the following types of communications:

  • Original Research papers: connected to any field of pharmacy education and training (max 3000 words).
  • Short Descriptions: work in progress or pilot schemes (max 1000 words).  These should contain a clearly identifiable section on evaluation or assessment of the scheme.
  • Programme and Assessment Descriptions: short reports of courses, modules, programmes or assessment methods (max 1500 words). These should contain a clearly identifiable section on evaluation or quality assurance of the programme or course.
  • Country Reports: current issues in a particular country connected to any field of pharmacy education and training (max 1500 words).
  • Essays and opinions: matters of topical interest connected to educational policy or philosophy, with or without data, which aim to foster interest and provoke comment and debate on important issues (max 1000 words with no more than 10 references).

Manuscript organisation
Articles and papers should be formatted double-spaced, with margins of at least 2.5 cm. All pages should be numbered. Accurate e-mail details of the author who will check proofs and receive correspondence should also be included. Avoid embedded footnotes/headers.

  • Original Research papers
    Manuscripts should be divided into: Title page, Structured abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Figures and Tables. Please start each of these sections on a new page.
  • Short Descriptions; Programme and Assessment Descriptions; Country Reports
    Manuscripts should be divided into: Title page, Structured abstract, Introduction/Context, Description of course/module/programme/assessment method, Evaluation, Future plans/work/implementation, References, Figures, Tables. Please start each of these sections on a new page.
  • Essays and opinions
    Please include a title page. Authors should indicate if the content of an essay constitutes a personal opinion or institutional policy. Replies and responses to previous short communications are welcomed.

Title Page
This should, in addition to the title, list full addresses for all authors and the name of the department and institution in which the work was carried out. The author for correspondence should be indicated. Please provide telephone number, and an e-mail address of the author who will check proofs.

Structured abstract
Each paper requires a structured abstract which should not exceed 150 words.
For Original Research papers this should include separate sub-headings of Background, Aims, Method, Results, Conclusion.

For Short Descriptions, Programme and Assessment Descriptions or Country Reports this should include separate sub-headings of Introduction/Context, Description of course/module/programme/assessment method, Evaluation, Future plans/work/implementation.

Keywords
Three to six keywords should be listed below the abstract in alphabetical order, separated by commas. These will be used as search terms within the archives of the journal. The publisher reserves the right to change or add to these key words.

Running Heads
Authors should provide an abbreviation of the paper’s title (no more than 35 characters) for use as a running head.

Text Headings
Headings should be set over to the left-hand margin and the text should begin on the next line.

Tables
Tables should be inserted on separate pages within the file and should be consecutively numbered with roman numerals (eg Table III). Avoid the use of vertical rules in tables. Indicate in the margin where the typesetter should place tables (eg “Table III here”). Each table should have a title describing its contents. Footnotes to tables should be typed beneath it. Use symbols to refer to them.

Figures
Figures should be inserted on separate pages within the file and should be consecutively numbered with Arabic numerals (eg Figure 3). Indicate in the margin where the typesetter should place tables (eg “Figure 3 here”). Each figure should have a title. Footnotes to figure should be typed beneath it. Use symbols to refer to them.

Illustrations
Illustrations should not be inserted into the text but provided on separate pages within the file. All illustrations and charts should be consecutively numbered (e.g. Figure 1). Any photographs should be included separately or scanned into a separate file and included with the manuscript file. All figures should have a caption to make interpretation possible without reference to the text. Captions should include keys to symbols.

Preparation of Figures
The quality of figures, drawings, and photographs must be of a high enough standard for reproduction. All figures must be in electronic format. Obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources is the responsibility of the author.  Clearly label each figure with an acknowledgement, reproduction permission and title.

References
Reference citations are based on the Harvard style of referencing. References should be alphabetised at the end of the manuscript text, in the following formats:

  • Books: Kozlowski, L. T., Henningfield, J. E., & Brigham, J. (2001). Cigarettes, nicotine, and health. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Edited book chapter: Weinstein, N. (2001). Smokers’ recognition of their vulnerability to harm. In P. Slovic (Ed.), Smoking: Risk, perception, & policy (pp. 81-96). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Journal article: Perkins, K. A., Donny, E., & Caggiula, A. R. (1999). Sex differences in nicotine effects and self-administration: review of human and animal evidence. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 1, 301-315.

Please avoid excessive referencing. Only papers that have been published or are in press may be cited; abstracts, unpublished data and personal communications should not be included in the reference list but may be included in the text. Obtaining permission to quote personal communications and unpublished data from the cited author is the responsibility of the author.

Footnotes
Authors are encouraged to minimise the use of footnotes. A footnote may include the designation of a corresponding author of a paper, current address information for an author (if different from that shown in the affiliation), and traditional footnote content. Information concerning funding of research should appear in a separate Acknowledgements section at the end of the paper, not as a footnote. Acknowledgements of the assistance of colleagues or similar notes of appreciation also properly belong in an Acknowledgements section, not in the footnotes.

Footnotes should be indicated in the text by the following symbols: * (asterisk or star), † (a dagger), ‡ (double dagger), ¶ (paragraph mark), § (section mark). || (parallels), # (number sign). Do not use numerals for footnote call-outs as they may be mistaken for bibliographic reference call-outs or exponents. Type each footnote at the bottom of the typescript page on which its text call-out appears. Footnotes within a table should be indicated by the same symbols listed above. Reinitialise symbol sequence within tables. Type footnotes to a table directly beneath the table.

Authorship contribution
Contributions must be substantial in order to warrant authorship. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. All other contributors should be listed in the acknowledgements.

Electronic proofs
When proofs are ready, corresponding authors will receive email notification. Hard copies of proofs will not be mailed. To avoid delays in publication, corrections to proofs must be returned within 48 hours, by electronic transmittal.

Ethics and consent
When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983. Do not use patient’s names, initials or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. Papers including clinical trials must be conducted with approval by the local human subject committee. Identifying information should not be published in written descriptions, photographs and pedigrees, unless the information is essential for scientific purposes and the patient (or parent or guardian) gives written informed consent for publication. Informed consent for this purpose requires that the patient be shown the manuscript to be published.

Disclosures of potential conflict of interest
Authors of research articles should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangements they may have with a company whose product is pertinent to the manuscript or with a company making a competing product. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, a disclosure statement will appear in the Journal.

The intent of this policy is not to prevent authors with these relationships from publishing work, but rather to adopt transparency such that readers can make objective judgements on conclusions drawn.

Copyright
It is a condition of the publication that authors vest or license copyright in their articles, including abstracts, in FIP. This enables us to ensure full copyright protection and to disseminate the article, and the journal, to the widest possible readership in print and electronic formats as appropriate. Authors may, of course, use the material elsewhere after publication providing that prior permission is obtained from FIP. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources.