Information for Authors

Aim & Scope:
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Community Medicine (JPPCM) [e-ISSN: 2455-3255] is the official journal of Indian Academy of Pharmacists (IAOP). It is an international peer-reviewed journal. JPPCM publishes 4 issues per year devoted to research and review articles in the field of pharmacy practice, community medicine and related discipline of health sciences. JPPCM aims at facilitating the development of community-based research, education, and health care services. The purpose of this journal is to promote excellence in the pharmacy practice and community medicine and closely related fields. The current emphasis of the journal includes (but is not limited to) the following areas:

Article Processing Indicators:
30 days - Submission to first editorial decision (including peer-review)
30 days - Editorial acceptance to publication

Pharmacy Practice (including Clinical Pharmacy, Hospital and Community Pharmacy etc)
Social Aspects of Pharmacy and community medicine
Social and Preventive Medicine
Medical Pharmacology
Pharmaceutical Health Policy
Community and Public Health
Epidemiology
Patient Management
Process and outcome research
Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
Pharmacovigilance and drug safety
Pharmacoeconomics
Pharmaceutical and medical education
Health promotion, education and health informatics

Article Processing Indicators:
30 days - Submission to first editorial decision (including peer-review)
30 days - Editorial acceptance to publication

Editorial Policy:
Authors should prepare their manuscripts submitted to the JPPCM exactly according to the instructions given below. Manuscripts which do not follow the format and style of the journal returned to the authors for revision or rejected. The JPPCM reserves the right to make any further formal changes and language corrections if necessary in a manuscript accepted for publication to meet JPPCM requirements.

Editorial Process:
A manuscript will be reviewed for possible publication with the understanding that it is being submitted to JPPCM only at that 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 and if not its under journal scope.

Manuscripts that are found suitable for publication in JPPCM are sent to two expert reviewers. During submission, the corresponding author is requested to provide names of two qualified reviewers who have had experience in the field of the submitted manuscript (not mandatory). The reviewers should not be affiliated with the same institutes as the authors. 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 member, who based on the comments from the reviewers takes a final decision on the manuscript. The comments and suggestions received from reviewers are sending 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 within specified time. 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. 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 ‘In Press’ with 2-4 weeks on acceptance.

Plagiarism Policy:
When journal receives manuscript initially goes to screened for suitability for formal review, if manuscript found suitable than first goes to plagiarism check. A minor short section of found plagiarized we request to authors to change the text and resubmit to journal again.
In case, any attempt of plagiarism is brought to our attention accompanied with convincing evidence, following steps would be taken:
(1) After consulting the respective Editorial Board Members, authors guilty of plagiarism will be debarred from publishing their papers in JPPCM.
(2) Heads of the Departments/Institutes of the offending authors will be intimated of such incidences of plagiarism.
(3) In case of confirmation of plagiarism on an already published article, the Editor will be obliged to withdraw the article from the journal website.

Authorship Criteria:
Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions mentioned here. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and final approval of the version to be published.
Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or the collection of data does not justify authorship. Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript. The order of naming the contributors should be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript. Once submitted the order cannot be changed without written consent of all the coauthors. The journal prescribes a maximum number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript. The authors should provide a justification, if the number of authors exceeds these limits.

Contribution Details:
Contributors should provide a description of contributions made by each of them towards the manuscript. Description should be divided in following categories, as applicable: concept, design, definition of intellectual content, literature search, clinical studies, experimental studies, data acquisition, data analysis, statistical analysis, manuscript preparation, manuscript editing and manuscript review. Authors' contributions will be printed along with the article. Corresponding author should take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole from inception to published article and should be designated as guarantor.

Covering 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.

Instruction to Authors
Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Community Medicine (JPPCM) is an official journal of “Indian Academy of Pharmacists (IAOP)”. JPPCM, a quarterly publication devoted to publishing research and reviews articles in the area of Pharmacy Practice and Community Medicine. All manuscripts should be submitted in along with “Undertaking form” Signed by all the authors of the paper via email: editor.jppcm@gmail.com

Manuscripts are accepted on the understanding that the authors have obtained the necessary authority for publication. Manuscripts with multi-authors imply the consent of each of the authors. The publisher will presume that the corresponding author has specifically obtained the approval of all other co-authors to submit the article to JPPCM. Submission of an article to JPPCM is understood to imply that it has not been either published or not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Community Medicine Publishes the following articles types:

Research Articles
Review articles/ Systematic reviews and meta analysis
Short communications
Brief Reports
Case Reports
Letter to The Editor

Types of manuscripts:
Original articles:
These include original research articles in the field of Pharmacy and health sciences (medical, dental, nursing and other related healthcare disciples). The text of original articles amounting to up to 3000 words (excluding Abstract, references and Tables) should be divided into sections with the headings Abstract, Key-words, Introduction, Material and Methods, Results, Discussion, References, Tables and Figure legends.
Abstract: The abstract is limited to 250 words, and should describe the essential aspects of the investigation. In the first sentence, the background for the work should be stated; in the second sentence the specific purpose or hypothesis shall be provided; followed sequentially by summary of methods, results and conclusion. No references should be cited.
Introduction: A brief background information on what has been done in the past in this area and the importance of the proposed investigation shall be given. Introduction shall end with a statement of the purpose or hypothesis of the study.
Material and Methods: This section may be divided into subsections if it facilitates better reading of the paper. The research design, subjects, material used, and statistical methods should be included. Results and discussion shall not be drawn into this section. In human experimentation, ethical guidelines shall be acknowledged.
Results: This section may be divided into subsections if it facilitates better reading of the paper. All results based on methods must be included. Tables, graphic material and figures shall be included as they facilitate understanding of the results.
Discussion: Shall start with limited background information and then proceed with the discussion of the results of the investigation in light of what has been published in the past, the limitations of the study, and potential directions for future research. The figures and graphs shall be cited at appropriate places.
Conclusion: Here, the major findings of the study and their usefulness shall be summarized. This paragraph should address the hypothesis or purpose stated earlier in the paper.

Review Articles:
It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the field. A short summary of the work done by the contributor(s) in the field of review should accompany the manuscript.
The prescribed word count is up to 3000 words excluding tables, references and abstract. The manuscript may have about 90 references. The manuscript should have an unstructured Abstract (250 words) representing an accurate summary of the article. The section titles would depend upon the topic reviewed. Authors submitting review article should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.
The journal expects the contributors to give post-publication updates on the subject of review. The update should be brief, covering the advances in the field after the publication of the article and should be sent as a letter to editor, as and when major development occurs in the field

Brief Communication:
Brief Communications are treated like original articles, except that they should be limited to 1500 words, with an “Abstract” of 150 words or fewer and could be supported with up to 15 references. Other aspects are like original articles.

Case reports:
New, interesting and rare cases can be reported. They should be unique, describing a great diagnostic or therapeutic challenge and providing a learning point for the readers. Cases with clinical significance or implications will be given priority. These communications could be of up to 1000 words (excluding Abstract and references) and should have the following headings: Abstract (unstructured), Key-words, Introduction, Case report, Discussion, Reference, Tables and Legends in that order.
The manuscript could be of up to 1000 words (excluding references and abstract) and could be supported with up to 10 references. Case Reports could be authored by up to four authors.

Letter to the Editor:
These should be short and decisive observations. They should preferably be related to articles previously published in the Journal or views expressed in the journal. They should not be preliminary observations that need a later paper for validation. The letter could have up to 500 words and 5 references. It could be generally authored by not more than four authors.

Other:
Editorial, Guest Editorial, Commentary and Opinion are solicited by the editorial board.

Fig. 1: ---(12 Font size, Times New Roman, Normal, Bold):

Tables: Each table must be typed with single-spacing on a fresh page of the manuscript. All tables are to be serially numbered using Arabic numerals. Number tables consecutively in the order of their first citation in the text and supply a brief title for each. Authors should place explanatory matter in footnotes, not in the heading. Explain all nonstandard abbreviations in footnotes, and use the following symbols, in sequence: *, †, ‡, §, ||, ¶, **, ††, ‡‡, §§, ||||, ¶¶, etc. The tables along with their number should be cited at the relevant place in the text. Be sure that each table is cited in the text. The desired positions of tables in the text should be indicated.

Figures: Figures must be submitted in the manuscript. All figures are to be numbered using Arabic numerals according to the order in which they have been first cited in the text. Desired positions of figures in the text should be indicated along with their legends at the end of the manuscript after tables.

Short title: (with less than 50 characters) to be used as running head

Source(s) of support: in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.

Acknowledgements Contributions that need acknowledging but do not justify authorship, and should specify the nature of support.

Conflicts of Interest/ Competing Interests:
All authors must disclose any and all conflicts of interest they may have with publication of the manuscript or an institution or product that is mentioned in the manuscript and/or is important to the outcome of the study presented. Authors should also disclose conflict of interest with products that compete with those mentioned in their manuscript.

Manuscripts preparations:

File Formats: Submit word files with tables, photos and graphs (All in black and white only) electronically embedded within the text of the document. Manuscripts should be neatly typed, double-spaced throughout, including tables, on pages of uniform size with at least 2.5 cm margins on all sides.
Manuscript Title: Top of paper, Times New Roman; Fonts all caps, bold, 14 points.
Author Names: Last name, followed by initials, corresponding author of the manuscript must be marked with an asterisk and should be list first, font: bold, 12 points.
Institution Name: Institutional address 12 points.
E-mail: Email of corresponding author, 10 points.
Pages should be numbered consecutively; the text should be arranged in the following order: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion or Results and Discussion, conclusion, Acknowledgements, Abbreviation, References Figure and Tables should be appropriately included in the text.

References: The references should be listed on a separate sheet and should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited in the text. Cite in the text by the appropriate Arabic number e.g. 1, 2, 3 and the numbers should be written after finish the sentence [1].
Examples
Journals:
Format: Author(s) of article (surname initials). Title of the manuscript. Journal title abbreviated Year of publication; volume number (issue number): page numbers.
Standard journal article (If more than six authors, the first six shall be listed followed by et al.)
1. Ahmad A, Khan MU, Gogoi LJ, Kalita M, Sikdar AP, Pandey S, et al., Japanese Encephalitis in Assam, India: Need to Increase Healthcare Workers’ Understanding to Improve Health Care. PLoS ONE 10(8): e0135767.
2. Elkalmi RM, Khan MU, Ahmad A, Srikanth AB, Abdurhaman NS, Jamshed SQ, et al. Knowledge, awareness, and perception of contraception among senior pharmacy students in Malaysia: A pilot study. J Res Pharm Pract 2015;4:94-8.

Electronic Journal article:
Department of AYUSH. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Available at: http://www.indianmedicine.nic.in/. [Accessed January 15, 2015]

Books and other monographs:
Format: Author AB, Author BB, Author CC. Title of Book. Ed, Vol, Publisher, City, year, page numbers.
Nadkarni KM. Indian Materia Medica. Edn 3, Vol. I, Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 2000, 242-246.

Submission Check List:
Prior to sending it to the Editor for review, ensure that the following items are present:

• One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone numbers
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including title, description, footnotes)
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked"
• References are in the correct format
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text, and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
• Figures are black-and-white or color
• All necessary files have been included

Copyright Form:
The contributors' / copyright transfer form has to be submitted in original with the signatures of all the authors within 72 hours of Galley Proof of article to EManuscript Services (galleys@emanuscript.in, editor.jppcm@gmail.com) via mail, fax or email as a scanned image. Print-ready hard copies of the images (one set) or digital images should be sent to the journal office after acceptance of the manuscript.

Article Proofs:
Page proofs are sent to the designated author through e-mail. The corresponding author must be carefully checked and returned the revised manuscript within 72 hours time of receipt. It may not be possible to incorporate corrections received after that period.

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Information for Authors