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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICS

Guide for Authors

Scope of the journal

The International Journal of Pharmaceutics publishes innovative papers, reviews, mini-reviews, rapid communications and notes dealing with physical, chemical, biological, microbiological and engineering studies related to the conception, design, production, characterisation and evaluation of drug delivery systems in vitro and in vivo. "Drug" is defined as any therapeutic or diagnostic entity, including oligonucleotides, gene constructs and radiopharmaceuticals.

Areas of particular interest include: pharmaceutical nanotechnology; physical pharmacy; polymer chemistry and physical chemistry as applied to pharmaceutics; excipient function and characterisation; biopharmaceutics; absorption mechanisms; membrane function and transport; novel routes and modes of delivery; responsive delivery systems, feedback and control mechanisms including biosensors; applications of cell and molecular biology to drug delivery; prodrug design; bioadhesion (carrier-ligand interactions); and biotechnology (protein and peptide formulation and delivery).

Note: In 2004, a new section was started on pharmaceutical nanotechnology. For more details, see Editorials in 279/1-2, 281/1, and 288/1.

Editorial Policy

The over-riding criteria for publication are originality, high scientific quality and interest to a multidisciplinary audience. Papers not sufficiently substantiated by experimental detail will not be published. Any technical queries will be referred back to the author, although the Editors reserve the right to make alterations in the text without altering the technical content. Manuscripts submitted under multiple authorship are reviewed on the assumption that all listed authors concur with the submission and that a copy of the final manuscript has been approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities in the laboratories where the work was carried out. If accepted, the manuscript shall not be published elsewhere in the same form, in either the same or another language, without the consent of the Editors and Publisher.

Authors must state in a covering letter when submitting papers for publication the novelty embodied in their work or in the approach taken in their research. Routine bioequivalence studies are unlikely to find favour. No paper will be published which does not disclose fully the nature of the formulation used or details of materials which are key to the performance of a product, drug or excipient. Work which is predictable in outcome, for example the inclusion of another drug in a cyclodextrin to yield enhanced dissolution, will not be published unless it provides new insight into fundamental principles.

Submission of Manuscripts

Authors are strongly encouraged to submit their manuscript electronically by using the Elsevier submission site at (External link http://www.elsevier.com/journals)

After registration, authors will be asked to upload their manuscript and associated artwork. Full instructions on how to use the online submission tool are available at the web address listed above.

If an author cannot submit their manuscript electronically, then for the initial submission of manuscripts for consideration, hardcopies are sufficient. The original plus two copies, complete with two sets of figures (including originals or duplicates of sufficient quality for clarity of reproduction) and tables, must be submitted in English. All data that would help referees to evaluate the paper should also be supplied. Manuscripts should be typewritten with double spacing and adequate margins on one side of the sheet only (not more than 26 lines per page). All pages should be numbered sequentially. Manuscripts should be sent to one of the following Editors-in-Chief according to the geographical origin of the author. Please include full contact information - corresponding author name, e-mail address, telephone and fax numbers, and full postal address.

After final acceptance for publication, your revised manuscript on disk together with two printed hard copies, should be submitted to the accepting editor. It is important that the file on disk and the printout are identical. Both will then be forwarded by the editor to Elsevier. In-depth guidelines for submitting artwork/illustrations can be found at: External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

When the paper is to be published as a Rapid Communication, this should be clearly indicated to the Editor-in-Chief.

Europe, Africa, Near East

Prof A.T. Florence, The School of Pharmacy, University of London, 29-39 Brunswick Square, London WCIN 1AX, U.K., Fax: +44 20 7837 5092; E-mail: ijp@pharmacy.ac.uk

The Americas, Australia and New Zealand

Prof J.H. Rytting, Pharmaceutical Chemistry Dept, University of Kansas, 2095 Constant Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66047, U.S.A., Fax: +1 785 864 5736; E-mail: ijp@ku.edu

Japan and Far East

Prof. T. Sonobe, Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Shizuoka, 52-1 Yada, Shizuoka-shi 422-8526, Japan. Fax: +81-54-264-5614; E-mail: sonobe@gakushikai.jp

Manuscript Types

(1) Full Length Manuscripts

The arrangement of full length papers should accord with the following:

(a) Title

The full title should not exceed 85 characters including spaces between words.

(b) List of Authors

Initial(s) (one given name may be used) followed by the surname of author(s) together with their affiliations. When the work has been carried out at more than one address, the affiliation of each author should be clearly indicated using superscript, lower-case letters. The author to whom correspondence should be directed must be indicated with an asterisk.

(c) Affiliation(s) Name(s) and address(es) of the establishment(s) where the work was done, designated by superscript, lower-case letters where appropriate.

(d) Abstract

An Abstract not exceeding 200 words (a single paragraph) should be provided typed on a separate sheet.

(e) Keywords

A maximum of 6 keywords or short phrases suitable for indexing should be supplied. If possible keywords should be selected from Index Medicus or Excerpta Medica Index. Authors may also wish to refer to the Subject Index published in International Journal of Pharmaceutics, for example, Vol. 287/1-2, pp. 205-219.

(f) Corresponding Author

The author to whom correspondence should be directed should be designated with an asterisk (do not include the address unless different from that indicated by the author's affiliation). Telephone, fax and e-mail address of the corresponding author must be provided.

(g) Text

The text should be divided into main sections, such as the following: 1. Introduction. 2. Materials and methods. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. Acknowledgements. References, figure legends, tables and figures. These sections must be numbered consecutively as indicated. Subdivisions of a section should also be numbered within that section, for example, 2.1. Materials, 2.2. Relative humidity measurement, 2.3. Sample preparation, etc.

(h) Nomenclature

Standard nomenclature should be used throughout; unfamiliar or new terms and arbitrary abbreviations should be defined when first used. Unnecessary or ambiguous abbreviations and symbols are to be avoided. Data should be expressed in SI units.

(i) Figure Legends, Table Legends, Footnotes

Figure legends, tables and footnotes should be typed on separate sheets, lines double spaced. Footnotes, to be numbered consecutively in superscript throughout the text, should be used as little as possible.

(j) References

See below for full details.

(2) Rapid Communications

(a) These articles should not exceed 1500 words or equivalent space.

(b) Figures should not be included otherwise delay in publication will be incurred.

(c) Do not subdivide the text into sections. An Abstract should be included as well as a full reference list.

(d) No proofs will be sent to the author(s).

(3) Notes

Should be prepared as described for full length manuscripts, except for the following:

(a) The maximum length should be 1500 words, including figures and tables.
(b) Do not subdivide the text into sections. An Abstract and reference list should be included.

(4) Reviews and Mini-Reviews
Suggestions for review articles will be considered by the Editors-in-Chief. "Mini-reviews" of a topic are especially welcome.

References

(a) Text citation
The Harvard system of citation must be used. References should be cited in the text within parentheses: where several citations are given within a single set of parentheses, they should be arranged in ascending order of year of publication; where more than one reference with the same year of publication is cited, they should be arranged in alphabetical order of the first authors' names. When referring to a work of more than two authors, the name of the first author should be given, followed by et al.

Examples of text citations:
(Gesztes et al., 1988; Chestnut et al., 1989; Legros et al., 1990; Mhando and Li Wan Po, 1990; Korsten et al., 1991; Langerman et al., 1991, 1992a,b; Masters et al., 1991; Bonhomme et al., 1992; Kolli et al., 1992).

(Shaw et al., 1978; Nakano and Arita 1990b; Nakano et al., 1990a,b; Bone et al., 1992)

(b) Reference list
All references cited in the text should be listed at the end of the paper (typed with double spacing) and assembled alphabetically. More than one paper from the same author(s) in the same year must be identified by the letters a b c, etc. placed after the year of publication.

References must consist of names and initials of all authors, year, title of paper, abbreviated title of periodical, and volume and first and last page numbers. 'Personal communication' and 'unpublished data' should be cited in the text only. Papers referred to as 'submitted for publication' must include the name of the journal to which submission has been made. Journal titles should be abbreviated according to the 'List of Serial Title Word Abbreviations' (available from International Serials Data System, 20, rue Bachaumont, 75002 Paris, France. ISBN 2-904939-02-8).

Example of arrangement in the reference list:
Crowe, J.H., Crowe, L.M., Chapman, D., 1984a. Infrared spectroscopic studies on interactions of water and carbohydrates with a biological membrane. Arch Biochem. Biophys., 232, 400-407.

Crowe, J.H., Crowe, L.M., Hoekstra, F.A., 1989. Phase transitions and permeability changes in dry membranes during rehydration. J. Bioenerg. Biomembr., 21, 77-92.

Crowe, J.H., Crowe, L.M., Carpenter, J.F., Aurell Wistrom, C., 1987. Stabilization of dry phospholipid bilayers and proteins by sugars. Biochem. J., 242, 1-10.

Crowe, J.H., Crowe, L.M., Carpenter, J.F., Rudolph, A.S., Wistrom, C.A., Spargo, B.J., Anchordoguy, T.J., 1988. Interactions of sugars with membranes. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 947, 367-384.

Crowe, L.M., Crowe, J.H., Womersley, C., Reid, D., Appel, L., Rudolph, A., 1986. Prevention of fusion and leakage in freeze-dried liposomes by carbohydrates. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 861, 131-140.

Crowe, L.M., Mouradian, R., Crowe, J.H., Jackson, S.A., Womersley, C., 1984b. Effects of carbohydrates on membrane stability at low water activities. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 769, 141-150.

Examples of presentation for various types of publication:

Langerman, L., Chaimsky, G., Golomb, E., Tverskoy, M., Kook, A.I., Benita, S., 1990. A rabbit model for evaluation of spinal anesthesia: chronic cannulation of the subarachnoid space. Anesth. Analg., 71, 529-535.

Timsina, M.P., Martin, G.P., Marriott, C., Ganderton, D., Yianneskis, M., 1994. Drug delivery to the respiratory tract using dry powder inhalers. Int. J. Pharm., 101, 1-13.

Gibaldi, M. and Perrier, D., 1982. Pharmacokinetics, 2nd Ed., Dekker, New York.

Deppeler, H.P., 1981. Hydrochlorothiazide. In: Florey, K. (Ed.), Analytical Profiles of Drug Substances, Vol. 10, Academic Press, New York, pp. 405-441.

US Pharmacopeia XXII, 1990. US Pharmacopeial Convention, Rockville, MD, pp. 1434-1435.

Mueller, L.G., 1988. Novel anti-inflammatory esters, pharmaceutical compositions and methods for reducing inflammation. UK Patent GB 2 204 869 A, 23 Nov.

Du Plessis, J., 1992. Topical liposomal delivery of biologically active peptides. Ph.D Thesis, Potchefstroom University for CHE, South Africa.

(c) Use of Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

The digital object identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document particularly "Articles in press" because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information.

The correct format for citing a DOI is shown as follows: doi:10.1016/j.ijpharm.2005.01.041

Articles in Special Issues: Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added (in the list and text) to any references to other articles in this Special Issue.

Figures and Tables

Figures
Line drawings (including graphs) should be drawn in black ink on white paper or on tracing paper with blue or faint grey rulings; graduation will not be reproduced. Lettering should be large enough to permit photographic reduction. If figures are not to be reduced, their format should not exceed 16 x 20 cm. Photographs (or half-tone illustrations) must be of good quality, submitted as black and white prints on glossy paper, and have as much contrast as possible. The magnification of micrographs should be indicated by a scale bar in the figure. Figures should be clearly marked on the reverse side with the number, orientation (top) and author's name; a soft pencil or a felt-tipped pen should be used for marking photographs. The illustrations should be numbered with Arabic numerals. The legends should be typed separately with double spacing.

Colour illustrations should be submitted as original photographs, high-quality computer prints or transparencies, close to the size expected in publication, or as 35 mm slides. Polaroid colour prints are not suitable. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable colour figures then Elsevier will ensure, at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in colour on the web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether or not these illustrations are reproduced in colour in the printed version. For colour reproduction in print, you will receive information regarding the total cost from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. The 2008 price for color figures is EUR 285 for the first page and EUR 191 for subsequent pages. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see External link http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.

Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version should you not opt for colour in print) please submit in addition usable black and white prints corresponding to all the colour illustrations.

Tables
All tables must be numbered consecutively (with Arabic numerals) and be cited in the text. Titles should be short but descriptive. Tables should be compiled on separate sheets, together with a legend and/or footnotes identified by superscripts a.b.c, etc. Do not use vertical lines and keep horizontal rules to a minimum.

DNA sequences and GenBank Accession numbers.
Many Elsevier journals cite "gene accession numbers" in their running text and footnotes. Gene accession numbers refer to genes or DNA sequences about which further information can be found in the databases at the National Center for Biotechnical Information (NCBI) at the National Library of Medicine.
Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter or number can result in a dead link. Note that in the final version of the electronic copy, the accession number text will be linked to the appropriate source in the NCBI databases enabling readers to go directly to that source from the article.

Copyright guidelines for authors

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to sign a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see External link http://www.elsevier.com/copyright). Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail (or letter) will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult External link http://www.elsevier.com/permissions).
If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult External link http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.

Authors' rights

As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details you are referred to External link http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.

Proofs, Offprints and Page Charges

One set of page proofs in PDF format will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post). Elsevier now sends PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe Reader version 7 or higher available free from External link http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs. The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site External link http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and return to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan the pages and e-mail, or by post.
Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.
The corresponding author, at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail or, alternatively, 25 free paper offprints. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.

Page Charges

There are no page charges.

Language Services.

Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission please visit External link http://www.elsevier.com/locate/languagepolishing or contact authorsupport@elsevier.com for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions External link http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.

Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors who publish in Elsevier journals to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit External link http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.

Author enquiries

For enquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission where available) please visit this journal's homepage at External link http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpharm. You can track accepted articles at External link http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright, frequently asked questions and more.

Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating to proofs, are provided after registration of an article for publication.

No responsibility is assumed by the Publisher for any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein. Because of the rapid advances made in the medical sciences, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made.
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