Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

The Sarawak Journal of Pharmacy (SJP) welcomes manuscripts on clinical pharmacy, pharmacy practice, pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoinformatics, pharmaceutics, regulatory pharmacy, public health, epidemiology, health policy, health sciences, medical laws and ethics, and traditional and complementary medicine studies worldwide. 

Please read and follow the Guidelines for Author carefully. The Editorial Office reserves the right to return the manuscript for revision when the preparation is not in accordance with the Guidelines for Author or to reject manuscripts without peer review. 

Open Access

SJP applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license or Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) licence to works we publish. Under this license, authors agree to let others distribute, remix, and build upon your work. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse these articles, as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Learn more.

General Guidelines

All contributing authors of a manuscript should include their full name, affiliation, postal address, and email on the cover page of the manuscript. One author should be identified as the corresponding author.

To ensure the quality of the submitted manuscript, authors are advised to follow the relevant reporting guidelines, such as those listed on the EQUATOR Networks (https://www.equatornetwork.org/).

Editorial Policy

These guidelines are in accordance with the Uniform Requirement for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Sarawak Journal of Pharmacy employs a plagiarism detection system. By submitting your manuscript to the Journal you accept that your manuscript may be screened for plagiarism.

Contributions to the Sarawak Journal of Pharmacy will be subjected to review at the discretion of the Editorial Office and papers accepted may be subject to editorial revision. Decisions regarding acceptability will be made on the basis of the quality of science, the contribution of the work to the field, the suitability of the work for the Journal, and the presentation of the manuscript. Contributions submitted by the Journal’s Editors and Editorial Board members are subject to the same peer review standards as papers submitted by all other authors. 

Copyright Transfer

It is our policy that all authors need to sign and submit the completed Copyright Transfer Form during the manuscript submission. 

By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). Please refer to the webpage (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode) for more details.

Ethical Guidelines

Authors should supply a conflict of interest statement with their submitted manuscript, detailing any financial or personal relationships that may bias their work, or a declaration that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Original research studies involving animals or human volunteers must include details of ethical approval. These should include:

(a) the name of the Institutional Review Board or Ethics Committee that approved the study and all protocols,
(b) the date of this approval and
(c) the number of the certification or documents which verified approval of the study.

Identifying details of patients and study participants should be omitted. If identifying information is essential for scientific purposes, or if there is any doubt about the adequacy of the anonymity protection used, the patient (or parent/guardian) must give written informed consent for publication. Authors should provide this statement of informed consent upon submission of the manuscript.

Authors are responsible to obtain any approval pertaining to the data utilising, personnel involvement, or dissemination of scientific outputs or publications, whichever is applicable, or as required by the regulating authorities in the authors’ respective countries or organisations.

Sarawak Journal of Pharmacy considers all manuscripts on the strict condition that they have not been published elsewhere, nor are they under consideration for publication elsewhere, not simultaneously submitted to another journal, or in press elsewhere.

Plagiarism is not acceptable in SJP submissions. Plagiarized content will not be considered for publication, we will follow COPE guidelines. SJP uses Turnitin to screen submitted content for originality. Each journal screens a proportion of manuscripts. We will do a follow-up investigation if the software raises any concerns.

Type of Manuscripts

Original Articles

These manuscripts cover current clinical pharmacy, pharmacy practice, pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, pharmacoeconomics, pharmacoinformatics, pharmaceutics, regulatory pharmacy, public health, epidemiology, health policy, health sciences, medical laws and ethics, and traditional and complementary medicine. 

Short Communication 

Reports of concise studies, subject to peer review and editorial policy. A report of up to 2000 words that describes particularly pertinent findings may be submitted as a rapid communication. Please note that this section is not intended for short studies per se but for findings that should be brought rapidly to the attention of the readership.

Letter to the Editor

Letters addressed to the Editor responding to a specific article published in SJP.

Review Articles

These manuscripts are comprehensive analyses of specific topics. Systematic reviews must be submitted together with a checklist and flowchart in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The checklist should be submitted as a supplementary file and the flowchart as a figure.

Protocols

These works describe verified methodologies and include study protocols that describe detailed plans for research projects.

Case Series

The journal does not accept the submission of case reports. Case Series of adequate numbers samples with statistical analyses may also be submitted for consideration.

Manuscript Organisation

Each type of manuscript has its own format. Generally, when submitting new manuscripts, authors must include the following: 

Abstract

Structured abstracts are required for all papers and should include an introduction (with objectives), methods, results, and conclusion. The approximate length is 300 words.

Keywords

Authors must provide three to six keywords that characterise the main topics of the article. Use recognised vocabularies related to the discipline discussed, such as the MeSH thesaurus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/MBrowser.html. To aid database searches, we encourage the use of synonyms for terms provided in the manuscript title.

Main Text

Long articles may need subheadings within some sections to improve clarity and readability of their content. Subheadings representing different hierarchical levels must be readily distinguished by readers, for example: 

1.Introduction

An introduction should provide a background to the study (appropriate for an international audience) and should clearly state the specific aims of the study. Please ensure that any abbreviations and all symbols used in equations are fully defined. The approximate length is 500-1000 words.

2. Materials and Methods

This section should describe the materials and methods used in sufficient detail to allow the study to be replicated. Please include details of ethical approval in this section. The approximate length is 500-1000 words.

3. Results

This section should provide detailed response rates. It is essential to include statistical analyses or other indicators to enable the assessment of the variance of replicates of the experiments. Data should not be repeated in figures and tables. The approximate length is 1000-1500 words.

4.Discussion

The discussion section should summarise the main findings of the study, followed by a critique of the strengths and limitations of the research. The results should then be discussed in the context of international published literature and the contribution made to the field. The approximate length is 1000 words.

5.Conclusions

A brief conclusion section should summarise the salient findings of the study. Authors are strongly advised to emphasise the contribution made to the field by their study in this section. The approximate length is 200 words.

6. Acknowledgments and Funding

Acknowledgments and sources of funding should be made clear in the manuscript. If the research has not been funded by any specific project grant, please include the statement: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors”

File Format

Manuscript files can be submitted as a Microsoft Word document (.doc or .docx) and should not be locked or protected.

Language

Manuscripts must be written and submitted in English (UK). Authors whose first language is not English are recommended to engage a native speaker or company that provides professional English editing services to proofread their manuscript before submission. Please note that the use of a language editing service is not a requirement for publication in the journal and does not imply that the article will be selected for peer review or accepted. However, manuscripts that fail to meet a satisfactory standard of English will be rejected.

Length

Manuscripts can be any length. There are no restrictions on word count, number of figures, or amount of supporting information.

We encourage you to present and discuss your findings concisely. The pages and lines of the manuscript must be numbered.

Font

Authors should use Times New Roman, font 12, with double spacing.

Tables and Figures

All tables and figures must be numbered sequentially and in the order in which they are mentioned in the text. Tables/ Figures must have brief descriptive titles/captions and are constructed in MS Word or in an editable version. Each table/ figure legend, in paragraph form, should briefly describe the content and define any abbreviations used. The journal does not accept tables that are embedded in the text as an image. 

Tips on constructing tables/ graphs:

• Ensure that the table, including titles and footnotes, is explanatory enough to be understandable without any text reference.
• Make the table as orderly, logical, and simple as possible.
• For footnotes, use superscript lowercase letters, e.g. a mean (SD); b analysis of variance. Assign footnote letters in alphabetical order from left to right and from top to bottom.
• Expanded abbreviations are typically presented below the footnotes. Abbreviations defined in the text must be redefined if used in a table, as this practice allows the table to stand alone.
• Graphs must have clearly labelled axes. A key may be included if appropriate.
• Provide the highest quality figure format possible, in the format of .JPEG, .PNG, .TIFF

Authors are urged to be succinct, to use the minimum number of tables and figures necessary, and to avoid repetition of information between these two media. 

Equations

We recommend using Microsoft's Insert→Equation function. Avoid using MathType, Equation Editor, or the Insert→Equation function to insert single variables (e.g., “a² + b² = c²”), Greek or other symbols (e.g., β, Δ, or ′ [prime]), or mathematical operators (e.g., x, ≥, or  ±) in running text. Wherever possible, insert single symbols as normal text with the correct Unicode (hex) values. 

Abbreviations

Define abbreviations upon first appearance in the text and in the abstract with each parenthesis. Do not use non-standard abbreviations unless they appear at least three times in the text. Keep abbreviations to a minimum.

Reference Style

The journal uses the Vancouver reference style. All citations in the text must appear in the reference list and vice versa. The authors advised using a citation manager.

Authors may also refer to the sample articles from past issues or may use the template provided.

Reviewing process

SJP offers double-blind peer review to reduce bias by allowing reviewers to judge the manuscript based on content alone, unbiased by knowledge of who the authors are. During the submission process you’ll be asked to indicate any specific editors or reviewers who should not review your manuscript. We will respect your request so long as it does not interfere with the objective and thorough assessment of the submission.

Contacts for Author Queries:

Editorial Office (for submission queries and papers under review): srwkjpharmacy@gmail.com

Copyright Notice

Copyright Transfer

It is our policy that all authors need to sign and submit the completed Copyright Transfer Form during the manuscript submission. 

By exercising the Licensed Rights (defined below), You accept and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License ("Public License"). Please refer to the webpage (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode) for more details.