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The Thai Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Author Instructions

Updated in April 2024     [download Author Instructions]

TJPS follows the ICMJE recommendations for the conduct, reporting, editing and publication of scholarly work in medical journals (https://www.icmje.org/). Therefore, first of all you as authors should be able to understand the whole process of TJPS publication and then look at the instructions to authors in detail.

A. TJPS Publication Process

The publication process consists of six steps with time slots as follows:

Step 1: Check for completeness of a submitted article (1-5 days) ---> Send back to Authors (revised or rejected)
o Authors send an article to TJPS with no article processing charge (APC).
o Editorial team screens and checks for the content, format, plagiarism and English usage.
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Step 2: Start the first-round peer review process (2-3 weeks) ---> Contact Authors (revised, accepted or rejected)
o The section editor allocates or invites at least two reviewers for a double-blind peer review.
o The editorial team makes a decision – accept submission, major revision, minor revision or reject submission.
o Authors need to amend the paper within specified timeframes, i.e., 2 weeks for the minor revision and 4 weeks for the major revision.
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Step 3: Perform the second-round peer review process (2-3 weeks) ---> Contact Authors (revised, accepted or rejected)
o The same procedures as Step 2.
o If Round 3 or 4 review is needed, do the same procedures as Step 2.
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Step 4: Set the article format and artwork (2-4 weeks) ---> Inform Authors to proofread the galley
o If the article is accepted, the managing staff will complete the format and artwork for the article.
o The authors will get a galley proof via e-mail. They may proofread it themselves or ask an editing service to help out. Then return the edited proof to TJPS within 1 week.
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Step 5: Finalize the article details (1 week) ---> Inform Authors
o TJPS staff have the article details finalized, i.e., assigned year and volume, running title, etc.
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Step 6: Upload the article as online current issue (1-2 weeks) ---> Inform Authors
o TJPS staff upload the article that will appear on the TJPS webpage after 24 hours.
o Authors are not allowed to amend the article after publication.

B. Instructions to Authors

To get your article published in TJPS, you should thoroughly read the following guidelines or simply download the Author Instructions.

General guidance

Please read the general guidance below to gain insight into the quality articles and TJPS publication.

1. Article types: Articles accepted for TJPS publication embrace:
  • Research article (or original article) is primary research in various areas of pharmaceutical sciences, pharmacy practice and social and administrative pharmacy. The word count of the abstract is 300 words and main text (Introduction to Conclusion) must not exceed the maximum of 3,500 words for general research and 4,000 words for qualitative or mixed methods research with up to 8-10 figures and 3-5 tables (or combined number of 11-15);
  • Review article is a review of current evidence in the pharmacy disciplines, i.e., systematic review, scoping review, critical review, and integrative review; the word count of the review abstract is 300 words and main text of all review types must not exceed the maximum of 3,500 words; the number of figures and tables may be the same as research articles.
  • Short research report (or short communication) is an incomplete study in terms of methodology and results but interesting and beneficial for readers; the word count of the abstract is 300 words and main text of all review types must not exceed the maximum of 2,000 words with up to 3 figures and 3 tables (or combined number of 6).

    • 2. Authorship:     To include authors’ names in a paper, they should significantly contribute to the article according to four criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):
    • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
    • Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
    • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
    • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

      • 3. Corresponding author: An author who contacts TJPS and uploads an article on behalf of all authors is called the “corresponding author”, regardless of author sequence. He or she should provide personal details of the team, i.e., full names and affiliations, in the online submission form and the title page file.

      4. Peer review process: TJPS has at least two reviewers review an article within 2-3 weeks. It is a double-blind peer review process, as both reviewers and authors are anonymous throughout the process. To ensure the blinding review, all authors’ names and affiliations must be put only in the online submission form and the title page but not in the manuscript.

      5. Ethical approval: Authors should provide evidence of ethical approval for animal and human subjects, or just permission from institutes to conduct low-risk research with self-certification, e.g., content analysis, pharmaceutical laboratory research, etc. In the case of research in human samples, written consent together with statements of conducting research should be sought from healthy volunteers or patients. This ethical issue should be put in the manuscript, i.e., Methods and Materials section.

      6. Plagiarism: TJPS makes use of a standard tool to detect plagiarism or cheating. Authors should avoid plagiarizing other people’s work by properly quoting or referencing as appropriate. An article will be immediately rejected or returned to the authors for amendments if plagiarism is found during a reviewing process, or retracted if it is detected after publication.

      7. Concurrent submission or double publication: Authors need to assure TJPS that the submitted article has not been currently under review or published in similar form elsewhere. Thus, the authors must accept the submission agree when submitting the article and also tick the checklist provided in the manuscript template.

      8. Artificial intelligence (AI) software: Authors should clarify the use of AI software, such as ChatGPT, for any purpose in the text where necessary.

      9. Scientific English: Authors may use scientific English, either British or American English, to write up a manuscript, but it should be consistent throughout the paper. For instance:
      • Avoid a first-person pronoun and its possessive form (e.g., I, we, our, etc.) but utilize “the/this study” instead.
      • Spell out the number that is less than 10 (e.g., eight not 8) except for using with a unit (e.g., 8 mg).
      • May use a conventional unit with an SI unit/symbol in the brackets, e.g., blood glucose 150 mg/dL (8.33 mmol/L).
      • Avoid symbols or notation with unusual fonts.
      • Foreign words (e.g., per se, in vivo, etc. except “et al.”) and titles of books and movies should be typed in italics.
      • Mathematical equations or formulae should be editable text but not images; they are sequentially numbered and separately displayed from the text.

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        Preparation of manuscript

        Authors need to prepare two files, i.e., title page and manuscript, using the templates. Therefore, first of all download the title page template and Manuscript template plus checklist), including a TJPS sample paper. Then follow the instructions below.

        1. Use Times New Roman 12 pt. to type all text (except for the article title with 14 pt.) and A4 paper with specified margins as shown in the templates.
        2. When both title page and manuscript are completely prepared, remember to ask a senior academic, expert in the field or editing service to proofread and edit them as appropriate.
        3. Check the completeness of all data by ticking the boxes of the checklist.
        4. Title page: The page should include the following components:
        • Article title: It starts with a capital letter of the first word followed by all small letters.
        • Authors’ names: Put full names of authors (max. 10 persons) according to the ICMJE authorship criteria; they must be in sequence exactly the same as in the online submission form.
        • Affiliations: Give brief data of authors’ workplace, i.e., departments, schools, cities, and countries; they must also be the same as in the online submission form.
        • Corresponding author: Provide the name and details of his or her affiliation.
        • Running title: Put a short title that will be printed as a heading at the top of each page; it must be typed with a capital letter of the first word followed by all small letters.
        • Suggested reviewers: Suggest three reviewers who can review the article, but they should not work at the same institute as the authors.
          • 5. Manuscript and checklist: Some crucial issues are as follows:
          • A checklist as demonstrated in the template should be completed when you are ready to submit your article; this aims to make sure you have complied with the formats and styles of TJPS.
          • A manuscript should be mostly double-spaced (otherwise specified) and has the main text (Introduction to Conclusion) with limited word count as specified in the Article types (General guidance) above.
          • The main text of review articles may not have specific headings like research articles or short research reports (IMRAD format), but there should be some paragraphs denoting introduction (i.e., background, rationale, and review objective), review body and conclusion with unbiased summary and recommendations for practice or future research (if feasible).
          • References cited in the text must be presented as superscripted numbers according to the numeric referencing recommended by ICMJE (see Reference citation below). References used for research articles are usually up to 50 documents, but review articles may require more than that. However, do not overload references and try to exploit available current evidence.
          • Number lines in the manuscript must be continuously set from the first page to the end of the document.
          • Article title: It must be the same as that in the title page and online submission form.
          • Abstract: A structured abstract of max. 300 words with headings (Background, Objectives, Methods, Results and Conclusion) is recommended for a research article and systematic or scoping review; remember to add research objective(s) in the Background. On the other hand, a conventional abstract (max. 300 words) without any headings is for a critical or integrative review.
          • Keywords: Give 4-6 keywords relevant to the study; it must be typed with a capital letter of the first word and separated by commas.
          • Introduction: Provide background, knowledge gaps, rationale of the study and research objective(s).
          • Materials and Methods: Include various headings (e.g., Study Design, Population and Sample, Study Tool/Instrument, Data Collection, and Data Analysis) in this section; add details of ethical approval and study time/duration to the Study Design. According to the EQUATOR Network (https://www.equator-network.org/), any guidelines for writing and reporting particular research should be specified in this section, such as CONSORT for randomized controlled trials and PRISMA for systematic reviews. Moreover, a registered number of a clinical trial registered with any organization should be put in this section.
          • Results: Present the results logically and put figures and tables at the end of the main text.
          • Discussion: Compare and contrast the results with other studies; if no previous reports, just explain the findings with good reasons.
          • Conclusion: Summarize the study and recommend some aspects in practice or further studies.
          • Acknowledgements: Include other researchers who are not regarded as authors, laboratory support staff, patients or sources of support for the research work, i.e., funding bodies, grants, etc.
          • Conflicts of Interest: Declare any conflicts of interest; if no conflict, simply put no conflict to declare or none.
          • References: List all references according to numeric referencing as recommended by ICMJE (see Reference citation below).
          • Figures and Tables: The number does not exceed 8-10 figures and 3-5 tables (or combined number of 11-15) for research and review articles, and up to 3 figures and 3 tables (or combines number of 6) for short research reports. All figures and tables are self-explanatory. Additionally, figure titles are given beneath the figures, but table titles are above the tables. If a photo is used as a figure, a high-resolution one is required.

            • Reference citation
            TJPS follows the numeric referencing, or Vancouver style, that has been set out by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE, https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf). For details of the referencing, please read through the reference citation. The citation of references consists of two parts: citing references in the text and listing references at the end of the text. Details of the referencing style include:

            a. Citing references in the text
            • References in the text should be consecutively numbered and listed at the end of the text.
            • Arabic numerals in superscripts can be placed after the author's name or the end of the statement quoted, such as McArthur1 suggested that…
            • When one or two authors are cited, give only his or her surname without a title, i.e., Dr., Professor, Sir, etc.
            • For three or more authors, write only the first author followed by “et al.” or “and colleagues/coworkers/others”, such as Straus et al.2 reported that… .
              • b. Listing references at the end of the text
              The formats of references listed at the end of the text (or the Reference section) vary with documents or information sources. Examples are:
              Journal articles
              • List all authors (not more than six) by writing their surnames, followed by the initials of the forename and other names in capitals. Use commas to separate the names, such as Hepler CD. (from Charles D. Hepler) or Brodie DC, Parish PA, Poston JW. … .
              • If there are more than six authors, list the first six followed by “et al.", such as Schwartz G, van Ven PT, Geen MF, D' Emanuele A, Ganz P, Waters MM, et al. ... .
              • Journal title should be abbreviated according to the style used in PubMed/NLM, and ended with a full stop. Just search journal abbreviations or look up the PubMed journal database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals/). For instance, the Internal Journal of Pharmacy Practice is abbreviated as Int J Pharm Pract.
              • Digital Object Identifiers (DOI numbers) of cited articles must be provided, if available.
              • Example: Tong A. Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Qual Health Care. 2007;19(6):349-57. https://doi.org/10.1093/intqhc/mzm042
                • Books
                Tietze KJ. Clinical skills for pharmacists: a patient-focused approach. 2nd ed. Philadelphia (PA): Mosby; 2004.
                Chapter in a book
                Talbert RL. Ischemic heart disease. In: DiPiro JT, Talbert RL, Yee GC, Matzke GR, Wells BG, Posey LM, editors. Pharmacotherapy: a pathophysiologic approach. 5th ed. Stamford (CT): Appleton & Lange; 2002. p. 257-94.
                Journal article on the Internet
                Hunt K, Thomas S. Recognition and treatment of pseudomembranous colitis. Prescr. 2006 [cited 2006 Aug 31];17(11):18-22. Available from: http://www.escriber.com/Prescriber/Features.asp?ID=1054&GroupID=62&Action=View
                Monograph or database on the Internet
                Webber R. Benign prostatic hyperplasia: 5-alpha reductase inhibitors. London: BMJ; 2006 [cited 2006 Aug 31]. Available from: http://www.clinicalevidence.com/ceweb/con-ditions/msh/1801/1801_I2.jsp
                Homepage/website
                Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine. Oxford: Department of Primary Health Care, University of Oxford; c2006 [updated 2006 July 1; cited 2006 Aug 31]. Available from: http://www.cebm.net/index.asp

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                Submission of article

                If you have already prepared the title page and manuscript plus the checklist, you can now look at the example of completed online submission form to help you fulfill the submission process as detailed below.

                1. Click on Submit Article.
                2. The submission process is composed of four steps:
                • Read and accept the Article Submission Agreement;
                • Provide your information as the corresponding author, i.e., full first name, full family name, and affiliation (the same as in the title page);
                • Provide information of co-authors, i.e., all full first names, full family names, and affiliations (the same as in the title page);
                • Upload the manuscript and title page: First enter the article title, keywords, disciplines, document type and abstract, and then upload the manuscript plus checklist file and also the title page.
                  • 3. Shortly afterward, you will receive an e-mail confirming your submission.
                  4. Your article will be first considered by an editor and then passed on to reviewers to make some comments roughly within two weeks. After that, you will get an e-mail from the editor informing you of the decision, i.e., accept submission, minor revisions, major revisions, or reject submission.

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                  Submission of revised article

                  If you receive an e-mail with the result of “minor or major revisions”, you will need to revise the paper within 2 weeks for the minor revision and 4 weeks for the major revision. To facilitate the revision process, please download the form of responses to reviewers’ comments and look at the example of revised online submission form. Then follow the revision with submission process below.

                  1. Amend the manuscript according to the reviewers’ comments and highlight any changes in red color.
                  2. Complete the form “Responses to reviewers’ comments”, i.e., addressing their comments with explanation or amendments of some points.
                  3. Click on the link provided by the editor’s e-mail to bring you to the revise submission page as shown in the example and then click Revise submission on the webpage.
                  4. Check the accuracy of all data, e.g., authors’ details, article title, keywords, disciplines, document type, and abstract; correct them in accordance with the manuscript amendments.
                  5. Upload your files, i.e., revised manuscript and responses to reviewers comments.
                  6. If you get another e-mail from the editor with the decision of further minor amendments to your revised manuscript, just repeat the whole process from steps 1 to 5 above.

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                  Publication process after article acceptance

                  When you get an acceptance e-mail, you need to wait for a couple of weeks to get a galley proof of your accepted manuscript. You will then have to proofread and copyedit if required; then send the proof back to TJPS. After that, you will be notified of your article published in TJPS.

                  *** It should be noted that no further correction to the article is allowed after publication.***

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