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 Papers not sufficiently substantiated by experimental detail will not be published.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 If accepted, the manuscript shall not be published elsewhere in the same form, in either the same or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 (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
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can be found at: 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
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, 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
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Arabic numerals. The legends should be typed separately with double spacing.
Colour illustrations should be submitted as original
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Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting colour figures to 'grey scale' (for the printed version
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Tables
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Authors are encouraged to check accession numbers used very carefully. An error in a letter
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the medical sciences, independent verification of diagnoses and drug dosages should be made.