Submissions

Author Guidelines

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ARS PHARMACEUTICA is a multidisciplinary scientific journal in the field of pharmaceutical sciences in the broadest sense, with special emphasis on Pharmaceutical Technology and Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacy Practice, Pharmaceutical Care, Toxicology and Radiopharmacy. It is a refereed journal that uses the system of external peer review (peer-review journal)  with knowledge of the investigated objects and methodologies used in research. It has been a pioneer in Spain in their discipline and is edited by the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Granada since 1960, continuously and on a quarterly basis.

It adopts and adheres to the publication rules laid down in the "Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals" (Vancouver style) ICMJE "International Committee of Medical Journal Editors" http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/ manuscript-preparation/ also available on the website fisterra.com http://www.fisterra.com/herramientas/recursos/vancouver/). Consequently, the manuscripts should be developed following these recommendations also comply with the instructions here details, this being essential for the development of the journal. The disregard of these instructions will inevitably produce a delay in the editorial process and the publication of the manuscript, and may also cause refusal of work. The authors should consider that compliance with the requirements Vancouver facilitates the indexing of the journal in major databases speciality journals, which entails benefiting the wider dissemination of the published works of the authors and workplaces.

SCOPE AND POLICY

ARS PHARMACEUTICA publishes original, short original papers, review articles, case reports, methodological notes, special articles and letters to the editor concerning any aspect of public health and pharmacy. All entries received are evaluated, first by the editorial committee and later by reviewers/ external/ as following the process outlined below. Entries must be original, unpublished and not under consideration by another journal for publication, the authors being the only ones responsible for the claims made in the article.

They will be considered for publication the following types of items:

Reviews: original articles are included as bibliometric studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and meta-synthesis. They should be structured into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. The maximum length of the article is 5000 words and a maximum of 10 tables and figures are allowed. They have a maximum of 100 references.  The abstract must be structured in no more than 500 words. At least 3 keywords and a maximum of 5 will be included.

Original papers: Must be structured into the following sections: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. The maximum length of the article is 3000 words and will be accepted up to a maximum of 6 tables or figures (for standards of tables and figures see below). The original works will include a structured abstract of 250 words maximum. A maximum of 35 references is recommended. Furthermore, they include at least 3 keywords and a maximum of 5.

Short originals: articles the same characteristics as the originals, but they can be published in abbreviated form for the realization of their objectives and results. The maximum text length is 1200 words, with a maximum of 2 tables or figures (for standards of tables and figures see below). The structure of this work will be the same as the original, with a structured 150 words and 15 references maximum. Furthermore, they include at least 3 keywords and a maximum of 5.

Clinical Notes: This section aims to communicate experiences of professional practice in various areas of public health and pharmacy, containing new and relevant components for professional practice. The maximum text length is 1200 words and a maximum of 2 tables or figures will be accepted. They will also have up to 10 references. It is necessary that at least 3 keywords and up to 5 texts formally structured, but must keep the narrative logic (introduction, development experience, conclusions) and include an abstract of 150 words maximum. Furthermore, they include at least 3 keywords and a maximum of 5.

Methodological notes: This section includes short articles on new analytical methods, study designs or data-gathering techniques which can be used in basic or applied research. The maximum word count is 1200 words, and up to 2 tables or figures and 10 bibliographical references are allowed. The texts do not need to have a formal structure, but the narrative should be logical (with an introduction, description of the method, practical application and conclusions). These papers must include an abstract of up to 150 words.

Letters to the Editor: This section is intended to include a priority and formally acceptable scientific review published recently in the journal, or other issues of public health and pharmacy jobs observations relevance today. The maximum length is 700 words, and a table or figure is accepted and up to 5 references. Opportunity to reply will be given to the author/s about the commented research.

Editorial: ARS PHARMACEUTICA published editorials on request of the editorial board, and may also publish the editorials previous request the author/s interested and assessment of the editorial board. All editorials are subjected to external review. Editorials used to be responsible for health issues or scientific relevance today, and do not express the official position of the editorial committee of ARS PHARMACEUTICA, unless so indicated specifically in the article.

All the editorials must be impartial and in new subjects, polemic or about which ones they are very few researchers, they must reflect different opinions.

Errata and retractions: This section is used to print corrections if mistakes are detected in articles that have already been published or retractions if some kind of fraud has been detected in the preparation or results of published research. If a manuscript is retracted, the authors and the authorities or directors of the institution they represent will be informed.

FORMAL ASPECT OF THE MANUSCRIPT

ARS PHARMACEUTICA publishes articles written in Spanish or English. The text must be submitted using the 2 templates to create originals (Download template 1: Title Page) (Download template 2: Article Text). Only abbreviations commonly used in the field of pharmacy and public health can be used. Abbreviations should not be included in the title or abstract. The first time an abbreviation appears, it should be included in brackets after the term in full. This does not apply to units of measurement. Use of the International System of Units is preferred.

Manuscripts must be sent through the system enabled on this website (Open Journal Systems). If you already have a user account go to the login page. If you do not have a user account, you must register as a new user by completing the form on the Registration page.

During the process of sending manuscripts (Step 1: comments) please explain in 4-5 lines what is the original contribution of the work presented and its news.

Also during the submission process (Step 1) the authors' agreement will be requested with the Copyright Notice and the declaration of conflict of interests.

Only, when for justified reasons and beyond the author, it is not possible to send work through this website, can be sent to the email address ars@ugr.es.

The manuscripts are presented in the following order and structure:

First page: title, authors' names and word count:

Title of the article should adequately describe the content of the work. It will be written avoiding vague or equivocal expressions, and short, clear and informative as possible, made with the greatest number of significant terms possible (preferably from a controlled vocabulary speciality, such as the Medical Subject Headings [ MeSH]). Using acronyms, symbols and codes which are not in common use should be avoided.

Full name (name and surname in this order) of each one of the authors taking into account the signature format for indexing in international databases (see http://www.accesowok.fecyt.es/) and according to the literature signature of each author. It will be referring with Arabic numbers placed as superindex in each author to the name of/ the country/ the academic institution and the department (in this order). No need to indicate the degree or professional category of the authors. Postal address and e-mail the author for correspondence be included. It is recommended that the number of authors as does not exceed six and, if so, the need for this number of contributions is justified.

Second page: funding, thanks and conflicts of interest.

Funding.The second page should include details of all the financial and material aids provided to the study, along with the names of the organisation, agency, institution or company that provided the aid.

Thanks. The second page can also include a paragraph of thanks, where the names of people who contributed to the study but do not meet the authorship requirements can be listed.

Conflicts of interest. The authors must declare any financial or other relationships which may have influenced the way the project was run or the manuscript was prepared for publication. Conflicts of interest must be declared on the second page.

Third page: abstract and keywords.

The structured abstract will headline the following sections: Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusions. Below the keywords are included, between 3 and 5 at most, to supplement the information contained in the title and help identify the research in the bibliographic databases. For keywords equal to the list of descriptors science of health (Medical Subject Headings, MeSH) of Index Medicus Terms (: www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html available) will be used. You can consult the equivalence between the Spanish words (Descriptors in Health Sciences, MeSH) and corresponding English MeSH in the direction http://decs.bvs.br/E/homepagee.htm. Recall that this information it is present in the main bibliographic databases, and is the responsibility of the authors your spelling and grammar.

In addition, to full and accurate Spanish title, abstract (Resumen) and keywords (Palabras clave:) translation should appear.

Fourth page: main text

On the fourth page and following the main text of the manuscript is presented without the names of the authors. Originals, Original short and Reviews work must be divided into the following sections:

Introduction. This should provide details of the motivation behind the study, summing up its framework and foundations. It does not need to provide an exhaustive description of the whole topic. It should finish by clearly defining the aim of the study. References should not be included unless strictly necessary based on their relevance in relation to the study aims.

Materials and Methods. This section should include all the necessary information about the study design, procedures, measurement tools and analysis methods used. It should include enough information so that other authors can replicate the study if they wish.

In the case of experimental studies in which have used human or animal group, indicate whether they have been taken into account ethical criteria approved by the relevant committee of the center where the study was conducted and, in any case, if they have respected the agreements of the Declaration of Helsinki in its review of October 2000, prepared by the World Medical Association (http://www.wma.net/). The names or initials of people who have participated as part of the sample should not be used. When referring to chemical substances or generic name, dosage and route of administration should be indicated done.

Results. The results will be presented in a concise and clear manner, with the minimum number of tables and figures required. They should be written so that there is no unnecessary duplication or repetition of information in the text and in the figures or tables.

Discussion. This section should highlight the new and relevant aspects of the study. Authors should avoid repeating detailed information and data included in the previous sections. The discussion section should comment on the results obtained, discussing them in relation to previous studies and noting any differences or similarities. Authors should point out the strengths and constraints of the study, and comment on how these could affect the interpretation of results.

Conclusions. The conclusions should be linked to the study objectives, and statements which are not backed up by the data available should be avoided.

References: References should be labelled with superscript Arabic numerals. They should be numbered consecutively according to the order in which they appear in the text, tables and figures. When a quote is next to a punctuation mark, the numerical reference should appear before the punctuation mark in superscript (e.g. "...unlike previous studies^6-9, the results show..."). In any case, the instructions contained in the templates must be followed to create originals (Download template 1: Title Page) (Download template 2: Article Text). Personal correspondence and manuscripts not accepted for publication must not appear in the bibliography, but they can be cited in brackets in the body of the text. Only references relevant to the text should be cited.

In the reference section appointments numbered in sequential order the following be included in the manuscript.

ARS PHARMACEUTICA follows the style of the references proposed in the Uniform Requirements of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors under the rules of the US National Library of Medicine (available an exhaustive list of styles references for all types of documents http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine/). These rules allow some variations. To facilitate the development of the references should be consulted those rules and follow the examples given below, which are based precisely on the Vancouver rules for areas of Biomedicine and Health Sciences accessible at HTTP: //www.icmje .org.

The journal abbreviations approved by the US National Library of Medicine for Medline/PubMed should be used. These are available at www.ncbi. nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=journals. If a journal is not included in Medline/PubMed, the whole, unabbreviated name should be used. Authors must check quotes against the original documents. When indicating the first and last pages of a reference, authors must include all the digits in the page number (e.g. 34-39, and not 34-9; 136-141 and not 136-41).

ARS PHARMACEUTICA recommends the following style conventions for referencing the most commonly used documents:

Journals
García AM. Amigos de Ars Pharmaceutica. Ars Pharm. 2011;52(3):49-50. If there are 6 authors or fewer, all of their names should be provided. If there are more than 6, only the first 3 names should be given followed by "et al".

Below are some examples for different types of source:

1. Original article: Malakouti SK, Foroughan M, Nojomi M, Ghalebandi MF, Zandi T. Sleep patterns, sleep disturbances and sleepiness in retired Iranian elders. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2009; 24(11):1201-1208

2. Corporate author: EPIC Group of Spain. Relative validity and reproducibility of a diet history questionnaire in Spain. I. Foods. Int J Epidemiol. 1997;26 Suppl 1:91-99.

3. NAuthor's name not provided: Preferiría dormir en la misma cama que mis sueños. Gac Sanit. 2008;22:292.

4. SJournal supplements: Palma Pérez S, Delgado Rodríguez M. Consideraciones prácticas acerca de la detección del sesgo de publicación. Gac Sanit. 2006;20(Suppl 3):10-16.

5. Issue with no volume: Jané E. Sistemas de salud y desarrollo. Quadern CAPS. 1999;(28):7-16.

Books and other monographs: General notes: The total number of pages in the book, followed by "p", should be provided after the year of publication:
Pascua M. Metodología bioestadística para médicos y oficiales sanitarios. 2ª ed. Madrid: Editorial Paz Montalvo; 1974. 622 p.

6. Personal author(s): Regidor E, Gutiérrez-Fisac JL, Rodríguez C. Diferencias y desigualdades en salud en España. Madrid: Ediciones Díaz de Santos; 1994. 277 p.

7. Editor(s) or compiler(s) as author(s): Martínez-Navarro F, Antó JM, Castellanos PL, et al, editores. Salud pública. Madrid: McGraw-Hill-Interamericana; 1998. 915 p.

8. Book chapter: Porta MS, Hartzema AG. The contribution of epidemiology to the study of drugs. En: Hartzema AG, Porta MS, Tilson HH, editores. Pharmacoepidemiology. 2ª ed. Cincinnati: Harvey Whitney Books Company; 1991. p. 2-17.

9. Conference papers: Sanz-Aguado MA. La epidemiología y la estadística. En: Sánchez-Cantalejo E, editor. Libro de Ponencias del V Encuentro Marcelino Pascua; 16 junio 1995; Granada, España. Granada: Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública; 1996. p. 35-44.

10. Doctoral theses and dissertations: Ballester F. Contaminación atmosférica, temperatura y mortalidad: estudio en la ciudad de Valencia [tesis doctoral]. Alicante: Universitat d'Alacant; 1995.

11. Scientific or technical report: Almazán C, Borrás JM, De la Puente ML, et al. Aproximación a la utilización de la mamografía de cribado en dos regiones sanitarias. Barcelona: Agència d'Avaluació de Tecnologia Mèdica, Departament de Sanitat i Seguretat Social; 1995. Informe técnico N.º: IN95001.

Other published works

12. Newspaper article: Sampedro J, Salvador I. Cientos de comercios de Castilla-La Mancha venden ilegalmente fármacos para el ganado. El País. 19 octubre 1999; p. 37 (col. 1-4).

13. Laws: Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales. L. N.º 31/1995 (8 noviembre 1995).

14. Electronic file: EPISAME Versión Macintosh [CD-ROM]. Madrid: Escuela Nacional de Sanidad, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia; 1998.

15. Website: MedlinePlus®: Informacion de salud para usted [Internet]. Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); [actualizado 15 noviembre 2010; citado 15 noviembre 2010]. Disponible en: http://medlineplus.gov/spanish/.

16. Article in a journal in electronic format: Berger A, Smith R. New technologies in medicine and medical journals. BMJ [edición electrónica]. 1999 [citado 14 enero 2000]; 319. Disponible en: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/319/7220/0

17. Audiovisual material: VIH+/SIDA: elementos de prevención [videocasete]. Cornellà de Llobregat: Aula de Formación; 1998.

18. Unpublished materials In press (in this case, the authors must confirm that the work cited is in fact going to be published): Sardi NA, Rapp E, Vakka LAO. Fish consumption and the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Eur J Nutr Neurol Sci. En prensa.

TABLES

These should be numbered using Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The authors must ensure that they make references to the tables in the body of the text. They should be on separate pages. The table number and a short, but sufficiently explanatory, the title should appear above the table. Tables should not contain horizontal or vertical lines or any sort of automatic formatting (shading, etc...). A short heading should be included in each column. If explanatory notes are required, they should be included underneath the table. They should be labelled in the table in superscript lower case letters in alphabetical order (a, b...).

FIGURES

Figures should not repeat data that have already been provided in the text or in the tables. Keys should be included underneath the figures. Figures should be numbered using Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear in the text. The authors must ensure that they make references to the figures in the body of the text. The figure keys and captions should contain enough information so that readers can interpret the data presented without having to refer back to the text. If explanatory notes are required, they should be included underneath the figure. They should be labelled in the figure in superscript lower case letters in alphabetical order (a, b...). One figure can appear per page. If photographs or scanned images are used, they should also be submitted in JPEG format. They should be at least 15 cm wide and have a resolution of at least 300 ppi.