We are very excited to announce the official launch of a brand new pharmacy journal: the
British Journal of Pharmacy
.
Read Issue 1 of BJPharm
A first in its field, BJPharm offers an open access publishing opportunity with no Article Processing Charge (APC)whilst maintaining a high quality peer review and editorial process. We caught up with Editor Hamid Merchant to chat about how the journal has developed and what authors and readers can expect.
What is BJPharm all about?
BJPharm
is a new open access journal publishing a wide range of innovative pharmaceutical research. There is no publication fee or article processing charge and published articles are available to everyone via the
University of Huddersfield University Press
.
The journal accepts manuscripts on pharmacy themes from a wide array of pharmaceutical sciences including:
-
pharmacy
-
novel therapeutic targets and molecular pharmacy
-
contemporary formulation strategies to improve drug delivery and targeting
-
pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry
-
pharmacokinetics and therapeutics
-
pharmacoeconomics
-
pharmacovigilance
-
innovations in teaching pharmacy
All submitted manuscripts are subject to a double-blind peer review as part of the publication process.
All manuscripts on publication will have a DOI number and be preserved in the Portico archive, which offers long-term storage and availability of published articles. The articles are published under a Creative Commons License, allowing the authors to retain their copyright whilst allowing unrestricted use by others, provided the original work is properly cited. The published articles are
CrossRef
and
Google Scholar
compliant, which offers the readership and broad visibility of publications.
What inspired you to launch BJPharm?
Like many other researchers, we feel frustrated when we want to read an article but our institution does not have a subscription. Moreover, research supported through public funds should be open access to allow those funding it to access it freely. The research councils and government have also emphasised the benefits of open access publishing and recently made it mandatory to publish open access in some instances.
There is a lack of gold open access journals in pharmacy disciplines with a good reputation, particularly in the UK, that do not charge high article processing charges to authors.
By launching this journal, we aim to bridge the gap between reputation and the ability to access the research. The journal will be fully peer-reviewed and unlike other open access journals will not charge any fee to authors, hence it will be free to publish by authors and free to access by readers across the globe.
How is BJPharm different from other journals in your field?
Many open access journals in the field lack credibility and a rigorous peer-reviewed process, and may accept poor quality publications if authors agree to pay their fees. The reputable journals offering optional open access incur a substantial upfront payment to cover their publication costs, and hence many authors cannot afford to publish open access in a journal with a credible reputation. The BJPharm bridges this gap in reputation and quality yet offering a free service to authors and readers across the globe.
How important do you think it is to encourage open access publishing?
We believe that open access publishing is the future of research. A fantastic peace of research can only be appreciated fully if it can be accessed and read freely across the globe. The ability to access scientific literature instantly using portable devices has made research more accessible, and open access publication can dramatically enhance this readership.
It is also important from the point of view of members of the public and for patients. The more we would like patients and carers to get involved in their individual conditions and treatment, the more they need to access reliable scientific resources to improve their knowledge; inability to access the scientific literature freely is a major obstacle. Let’s take an example, Malaria is a massive public health issue in African countries, and the top research in Malaria is published in journals which are far beyond the reach of those nations. Open access publishing bridges this gap and allows anyone to access recent advancements in science and literature which are particularly for the benefit to the public health, safety and their well-being.
