Instructions for Authors

Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy (Sys Rev Pharm), (Print ISSN: 0975-8453, E-ISSN: 0976-2779) is a monthly Peer-review open access Journal, which publishes original research work that contributes significantly to further the scientific knowledge in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmaceutical Technology, Pharmaceutics, Biopharmaceutics, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry, Computational Chemistry and Molecular Drug Design, Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Pharmaceutical Analysis, Pharmacy Practice, Clinical and Hospital Pharmacy, Biomedical Research, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Pharmacovigilance, Pharmacoepidemiology, Pharmacoeconomics, Drug Information, Patient Counselling, Adverse Drug Reactions Monitoring, Medication Errors, Medication Optimization, Medication Therapy Management, Cell Biology, Genomics and Proteomics, Pharmacogenomics, Bioinformatics and Biotechnology of Pharmaceutical Interest) and that are of broad readership interest to users in industry, academia, and government.

Author/s is/are responsible for all statements made in their work and obtaining necessary permission to republish any previously published illustrations and/or other relevant materials. The journal’s full text is available online at sysrevpharm

Scope of the journal

The journal covers and publishes all articles related to Pharmacy subjects including some of the allied subjects. Articles with timely interest and newer research concepts will be given more preference.

This journal also publishes manuscripts related to pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacology, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacy practice, clinical, Biomedical Research, and Biomedical sciences. Other topics include all aspectsplant and animal nutrition, medical law, law and education, and the application of new analytical and study methods (including new analytical and bio-analytical techniques).

Author Ethics

1. The author is responsible for the manuscript sent to the journal and declares that the manuscript sent is the correct manuscript as the result of his own research or his thought, original as his own work, and does not manipulate data, honestly and freely plagiarism.

2. The author should inform that the manuscript submitted/submitted to the editor is a script that has never been submitted/submitted to the publisher of another journal/publication. The author should ensure that if there is any redundancy in the submission of a manuscript to another publisher, then the editor will reject the submitted manuscript.

3. The author shall indicate quotations and references obtained from the work of others and may not alter or alter the source.

4. The author will not object if the script is edited without changing the substance or main idea of writing.

5. The author must understand the ethics of scientific publications above to avoid any conflict of interest with other parties, so the script can be processed smoothly and safely.

Reviewer ethics

1. Reviewer is responsible for the review made by giving various considerations and recommendations that are clear, measurable, and comprehensive. The reviewer must respond to the manuscript within a specified time (0-4 weeks).

2. Reviewers must be honest, objective, unbiased, independent, and only in favour of scientific truth. The process of reviewing the manuscript is done professionally regardless of sex, the business side, ethnicity, religion, race, inter-group, and author's citizenship.

3. Reviewers are required to always maintain the confidentiality of script-related information and authors for personal gain.

Ethics Manager / PublisherJournal

1. Journal manager responsible for publishing articles after going through the process of editing, peer review, layout in accordance with the rules of publishing Scientific Journal.

2. Journal managers are responsible for ensuring academic freedom for editors and reviewers in performing their duties.

Editorial Policy

Authors should prepare their manuscripts submitted to the journal exactly according to the instructions given here. Manuscripts which do not follow the format and style of the journal may be returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The journal reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication so that it conforms to the formatting requirements of the journal. Manuscripts and figures are not returned to the authors, not even upon rejection of the paper.

The Editorial Process

A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy alone at that point in time and has not been published anywhere, simultaneously submitted, or already accepted for publication elsewhere. The journal expects that authors would authorize one of them to correspond with the Journal for all matters related to the manuscript. All manuscripts received are duly acknowledged. On submission, editors review all submitted manuscripts initially for suitability for formal review. Manuscripts with insufficient originality, serious scientific or technical flaws, or lack of a significant message are rejected before proceeding for formal peer-review.  Manuscripts that are unlikely to be of interest to the Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy readers are also liable to be rejected at this stage itself.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy are sent to two or more expert reviewers. During submission, the contributor is requested to provide names of two or three qualified reviewers who have had experience in the subject of the submitted manuscript, but this is not mandatory. The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the contributor/s. However, the selection of these reviewers is at the sole discretion of the editor. The journal follows a double-blind review process, wherein the reviewers and authors are unaware of each other’s identity. Every manuscript is also assigned to a member of the editorial team, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions (acceptance/ rejection/ amendments in manuscript) received from reviewers are conveyed to the corresponding author. If required, the author is requested to provide a point by point response to reviewers’ comments and submit a revised version of the manuscript. This process is repeated till reviewers and editors are satisfied with the manuscript.

Manuscripts accepted for publication are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, print style, and format. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author. The corresponding author is expected to return the corrected proofs within three days. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period. The whole process of submission of the manuscript to final decision and sending and receiving proofs is completed online. To achieve faster and greater dissemination of knowledge and information, the journal publishes articles online as ‘Ahead of Print’ immediately on acceptance.

Manuscript Submission

All manuscripts can be submitted through online or you can send as an attachment at submissions@sysrevpharma.org. If you experience any problems contact the editorial office by e-mail at editor@sysrevpharma.org.

Article Processing Charges (APC) :

Once an article has been accepted for publication, any Article Processing Charges become due towards the time and resources utilized in processing the article. The submitting author assumes responsibility for the Article Processing Charges and also once a payment is processed, the journal will not issue refunds of any kind.

Average Article processing time (APT) is 65 days

Withdrawal Policy

From time to time, an author may wish to withdraw a manuscript after submitting it. Changing one’s mind is an author’s prerogative. An author is free to withdraw an article at no charge – as long as it is withdrawn within 07 days of its initial submission. However, 50% of the APC has to be paid after 7 days to withdraw an accepted article.

Cover Letter

Disclose all possible conflicts of interest (e.g., funding sources for consultancies or studies of products). A brief indication of the importance of the paper to the field of Pharmacy is helpful in gaining appropriate peer review.

Copyright Form

The contributors'  / copyright transfer form  (SEE DOWNLOAD SECTION) has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the contributors within two weeks of submission via courier, fax or email to editor@sysrevpharma.org as a scanned image. By any chance, if the author has omitted to submit the copyright while submission process it should be intimated to the editorial team within 48 hours. Else, as per the editorial policy the corresponding author would be responsible for copyright of the particular article. Print ready hard copies of the images (one set) or digital images should be sent to the journal office at the time of submitting revised manuscript. High resolution images (up to 5 MB each) can be sent by email on editor@sysrevpharma.org.

Preparation of Manuscript

Your Manuscript should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized – paper (8.5" x 11") with 1" margins on all sides. You should use 12 pt Times New Roman font.  Authors should take care over the fonts which are used in the document, including fonts within graphics. Fonts should be restricted to Times New Roman, Symbol and Zapf Dingbats.

Title:  Should be in Title Case ; The first character in each word in the title have to be capitalized.

A review paper typically should include in the following order

Abstract
Keywords
List of Contents
Abbreviations
Introduction
Review on Topic mentioned in title
Conclusion
Acknowledgements (If any)
References
Tables and/or Figures
Notes (If any)

Abstract

A brief summary of the review topic.  The abstract should include a brief introduction, a description of the hypothesis tested, the approach used to test the hypothesis, the results seen and the conclusions of the work.

Keywords

Please, write no more than six keywords. Write specific keywords. They should be written left aligned, arranged alphabetically in 12pt Times Roman, and the line must begin with the words Keywords boldfaced.  A 12pt space should separate the keywords from the affiliations.

List of Contents

A table of contents specifying the sections and subsections should be supplied.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should not be present in the title of manuscript. They can be used in the running title and text of manuscript. All abbreviations must be explained at first mention unless the term is better known as an abbreviation. Provide list of abbreviations alphabetically before starting the manuscript.

Introduction

Description of the research area, pertinent background information, and the hypotheses tested in the study should be included under this section. The introduction should provide sufficient background information such that a scientifically literate reader can understand and appreciate the experiments to be described. The introduction must include in-text citations including references to pertinent reviews and primary scientific literature. The specific aims of the project should be identified along with a rationale for the specific experiments and other work performed.

Review on Topic/Conclusion

This section should relate the results section to current understanding of the scientific problems being investigated in the field. Description of relevant references to other work/s in the field should be included here. This section also allows you to discuss the significance of your results - i.e. does the data support the hypotheses you set out to test?  This section should end with new answers/questions that arise as a result of your work.

Tables

Each table must start on a separate sheet. They should be numbered with Roman numerals according to their sequence in the text, and have a short self-explanatory heading.  Use SI units. Tables should include vertical rules, but horizontal rules should separate column headings from the content. Authors should keep in mind the page layout of the journal when designing tables. Tables that fit onto one printed page are preferred.  Detailed explanations of symbols, units, and abbreviations should follow below the table.

Illustrations

Figures for final production should be submitted as electronic files and hard copy so that the editorial office can ensure that the output of electronic files matches the hardcopy. Please pay particular attention to the guidelines below.  The editorial office cannot undertake preparation of manuscripts and illustrations not conforming to journal style. Manuscripts of insufficient quality will be returned immediately without refereeing. A high standard of illustration (both line and photo) is an editorial priority. All illustrations should be prepared for printing to fit 80 x 240 mm (column width) or 169 mm by up to 240 mm (full page) size.  It is preferred that the full-page length is not used and that authors keep in mind that the caption will be placed underneath the figure.  In the event that full-page length is necessary for plates, captions will have to appear on adjacent pages.  Figure(s) must be numbered consecutively in the text. Compound figures with more than one micrograph or photo should be referred by a single figure reference (e.g. Figure 1), and individual parts should be labeled with capitalized letters in the lower left-hand corner.  Lettering should be of a sans-serif type (i.e. fonts without serifs such as Arial) with a minimum published size of 4.2 mm (12 pt).  Descriptive labeling in the figures should be clearly readable, and all lettering should have a minimum published size of 6 pt (2.1 mm) for labeling items on photographs or in line art is recommended and a maximum size of 10 pt is suggested.  Use a scale bar to indicate magnifications and place in the lower right corner if possible.  Computer prepared photographic images must be at a minimum of 350 dpi at the final publication size.  Lower resolution will result in pixilation and poor quality images.  These should be submitted as JPEG, TIFF or PPT files, but encapsulated postscript (EPS) format is also acceptable.

Computer drawn figures are accepted provided they are of high quality.  Please note that graphs produced by many statistic packages are rarely adequate. In particular, letter quality on axes and captions are often poor.  Such figures should be exported into an accepted graphics package and lettering rendered using a text function. Authors should note that .dot, .bmp, and .pat fills should be avoided.  Do not use postscript fill patterns as these are often based on bit map patterns that result in screening patterns during final reproduction.  When filling illustrations, use fills such as lines, tints or solids.  Line width minimum is 0.25 pt (0.09 mm). Also avoid the use of bitmap scans to render text and detail.  Text should be saved as text at a minimum text size of 6 pt (2.1 mm). Please submit line art as Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, or EPS files. These must be at a minimum resolution of 800 DPI at publication size. High resolution may be necessary where fine line detail is present.

For graphs Excel graphs are also acceptable. Note that vertical axes must all be at the same scale especially where the paper compares between them. Otherwise they should be produced as separate figures. Avoid 3D plots when presenting 2D data.

Table and Figure captions

Figure and table captions should be included at the end of the manuscript.  Figure captions/legends should include a statement at the end of each caption/legends about reproduction size (e.g. at full page width, at column width). They should be double spaced and typed in the journal format.  Explanations should be brief and authors should keep in mind that captions/legends will be placed below figures. The charges for fast-track review process would vary consistently. Besides, the mentioned charge (APC) would vary with word count, number of figures and tables.

Acknowledgements

This is a brief section crediting the people who have helped make your manuscript possible and who aided you in your work but are not part of the authorship. Please mention all applicable grants and other funding that supported your work.

Format of Manuscript

Title: 14 pt Times New Roman, bold, centered.

Author and co-authors: 12Pt Times New Roman centered, bold - author and all co-authors names in one line. The corresponding author should include an asterisk*.

Authors address: 12Pt Times New roman centered - giving each authors' affiliation (i.e. Department/Organization/Address/Place/Country/email). Followed by single line spacing.

Author for Correspondence: 10Pt Times New roman centered - giving a valid e-mail of the corresponding (main) author is a must. It should be indicated as*  followed by two line spacing.

Abstract: 12 pt Times New roman, full justification Normal - maximum 250 words

Text: 12 pt Times New roman, full justification – 1.5 line spacing between paragraphs. No indentation

Heading: Major headings (ABSTRACT, KEYWORDS, INTRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND METHODS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, REFERENCES) in upper case left-justified, 12 pt bold, Intermediate headings should be in italics, sentence case, left justified, 12 pt

Tables:

To be incorporated at the end of Manuscript

Correct- “Table 1 : Serum enzyme levels………”

Incorrect- “Table No. 1 : Serum enzyme levels………”

Figures /Graphs: Figures may be embedded in your word document but they should be created with a program that allows you to save them as gif, jpg or tiff format.

For any figures or other materials directly extracted from previously published materials, you must have written permission from the publisher of that material for reprint use. A copy of that permission release must be submitted with your article.

It is the individual author's responsibility to attain this permission.

To be incorporated at the end of the manuscript with proper labeling

Correct- “Figure 1 : Serum enzyme levels………”

Incorrect- “Figure No. 1 : Serum enzyme levels………”

Graphs: To be included from excel, it should be editable.

Non – editable graphs will not be accepted.

All text should be fully justified. Please put all primary section titles in UPPER CASE letters and subheading in both Upper and Lower Case letters. Do not number your titles (for example, 1.0 Introduction; 2.0 Background). Do not use the tab key to indent blocks of text such as paragraphs of quotes or lists because the page layout program overrides your left margin with its own, and the tabs end up in mid-sentence.

References:

Reference List: Author/Authors- References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text (not in alphabetic order).Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals in superscript with square bracket after the punctuation marks.

References cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure. Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus. The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus. Use complete name of the journal for non-indexed journals. Avoid using abstracts as references. Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as "unpublished observations" with written permission from the source. Avoid citing a "personal communication" unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text. The commonly cited types of references are shown here, for other types of references such as newspaper items please refer to ICMJE Guidelines (http://www.icmje.org or http://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html).

In-text citation examples-

Correct / Acceptable Format

Natural products have proven to be a great source of new biologically active compounds. Thus, in an effort to discover new lead anti-malarial compounds, several research group screen plant extracts to detect secondary metabolites with relevant biological activities that could served as templates for the development of new drugs. Flavonoids have been isolated and characterized from many medicinal plants used in malaria endemic areas.10 However, controversial data have been obtained regarding their antiplasmodial activity, probably because of their structural diversity.11-13 More recently, several flavonoids have been isolated from Artemisia   afra14,16 and Artemisia indica,17-20 two plants related to Artemisia annua, the famous traditional Chinese medicinal plant from which artemisinin is isolated.

JOURNAL REFERENCES [Vancouver Style]
1. Single/Multiple Authors

Halpern SD,  Ubel PA,  Caplan AL.  Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med.  2002 Jul 25;347(4): 284-7.

2.More than six authors

Rose ME, Huerbin MB, Melick J, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Regulation of interstitial excitatory amino acid concentrations after cortical contusion injury. Brain Res. 2002; 935(1-2): 40-6.

3. Organization as Author

Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group. Hypertension, insulin, and proinsulin in participants with impaired glucose tolerance. Hypertension. 2002; 40(5): 679-86.

4. Unknown Author

21st century heart solution may have a sting in the tail. BMJ. 2002; 325(7357): 184-5.

5. Journal article on the Internet

Abood S. Quality improvement initiative in nursing homes: the ANA acts in an advisory role. Am J Nurs [serial on the Internet]. 2002 Jun [cited 2002 Aug 12]; 102(6): [about 3 p.]. Available from: http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2002/june/Wawatch.htm

Note: Plant/Micro organisms, in-vivo, in-vitro should be in italics.

6. Personal author(s)

Murray PR, Rosenthal KS, Kobayashi GS, Pfaller MA. Medical microbiology. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby; 2002.

7. Editor(s), compiler(s) as author

Gilstrap LC 3rd, Cunningham FG, VanDorsten JP, editors. Operative obstetrics. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002.

8. Author(s) and editor(s)

Breedlove GK, Schorfheide AM. Adolescent pregnancy. 2nd ed. Wieczorek RR, editor. White Plains (NY): March of Dimes Education Services; 2001.

9. Organization(s) as author

Royal Adelaide Hospital; University of Adelaide, Department of Clinical Nursing. Compendium of nursing research and practice development, 1999-2000. Adelaide (Australia): Adelaide University; 2001.

10. Chapter in a book

Meltzer PS, Kallioniemi A, Trent JM. Chromosome alterations in human solid tumors. In: Vogelstein B, Kinzler KW, editors. The genetic basis of human cancer. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2002. p. 93-113.

11. Conference proceedings

Harnden P, Joffe JK, Jones WG, editors. Germ cell tumours V. Proceedings of the 5th Germ Cell Tumour Conference; 2001 Sep 13-15; Leeds, UK. New York: Springer; 2002.

12. Thesis

N. Khoshakhlagh. The compositions of volatile fractions of Peganum harmala seeds and its smoke. Pharm. D. Thesis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. (2002).

13. WEBSITES

Website information

Cancer-Pain.org [homepage on the Internet]. New York: Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc.; c2000-01 [updated 2002 May 16; cited 2002 Jul 9]. Available from: http://www.cancer-pain.org/.

Acknowledgements

All messages and reviews sent electronically will be acknowledged electronically upon receipt.

Syst Rev Pharm

Queries: editor@sysrevpharma.org

Submission: submissions@sysrevpharma.org