The American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education is devoted to providing a forum for communication of relevant information for pharmacy and interprofessional educators and all others interested in the advancement of pharmacy education. To be considered for publication, manuscripts must relate to pharmacy education and provide useful information for the national or international audience of the Journal. If a submission has only local or regional relevance, its usefulness to the majority of readers is limited and, thus, will not be accepted. To ensure that only accurate and substantive articles are included, all manuscripts undergo a blinded peer review process and editorial approval prior to acceptance.
A Peek Behind the Scenes of the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education
TECHNICAL CHECK PROCESS
All submitted manuscripts undergo a formatting review (technical check/screen) for basic structure.
Manuscripts are screened to ensure that:
1. They contain a cover letter, IRB letter, a title page, and all tables, figures, appendices appear at the end of the manuscript not in the body of the paper.
2. All pages have non-continuous line numbers.
3. They contain a correctly formatted title page listing the total number of words, tables, figures and appendices.
4. They contain a correctly formatted abstract page. Abstracts must not exceed 250 words. For research articles and briefs, the abstract contains 1-2 sentences describing the objective, methods, results and conclusion of the manuscript. For reviews, the abstract should contain 1-2 sentences describing the objective, findings and summary of the manuscript.
5. All pages are numbered.
6. References follow AMA style (in-text citations and list at end of manuscript).
Manuscripts that are not formatted following AJPE's instructions to authors will be returned to the author without further review. This technical check process is to ensure manuscripts are in a readily peer reviewable format.
PEER-REVIEW PROCESS
After the technical check, our peer-review process follows two basic stages.
Stage One: All submitted manuscripts are initially considered by the editor-in-chief or one or more associate editors. This first decision will typically occur within 3 to 4 weeks after submission. Authors will not be notified when it is complete unless there is an issue with the submission. In this first, internal review, the editor-in-chief and/or associate editors consider the following questions:
1. Is the topic addressed by the article important and of interest to faculty and administrators of pharmacy or health science institutions?
2. Has the Journal recently published a number of articles on this same topic? If so, does this manuscript add something new?
3. Is the paper written clearly? Is it logically consistent?
4. For research papers (including briefs if applicable), is the study size adequate? Is the research design appropriate and sound? Are the results appropriately interpreted? Is the topic original?
Manuscripts failing to meet these basic criteria are not considered further for publication, while those meeting the criteria at this stage proceed to Stage Two. Even though the Journal is predominately online, space, production costs, and editorial team and staff time are significant issues. Given the considerable competition for space, standards for publication are high, approximately 40% of all submissions will likely be rejected at this first stage. Most manuscripts are rejected because topics are not appropriate for the Journal’s readership.
Stage Two: Manuscripts that pass stage one are sent for peer review. See reviewers’ guidelines. Authors should be aware that this process typically takes 2-5 months. The typical process involves a list of potential reviewers arranged by the assigned editor. Initially, two reviewers are contacted from the list and given 7 days to respond to the request. After 7 days with no response or if a reviewer declines the invitation, an invitation is sent to the person next on the list who then also has 7 days to respond. This process will continue until two quality peer reviews are provided, or possibly more per the assigned editor’s discretion. These built-in times to allow for response can prolong an individual manuscript’s review time considerably, sometimes taking several months for editors to find a sufficient number of reviewers.
EDITORIAL DECISION and EARLY RELEASE
Following review, the editor or associate editor assesses the manuscript and the reviewers’ assessment to make a decision. This decision may be accept, revise (major or minor), or reject. A request for revision does not guarantee a manuscript will be accepted; rather, it allows the authors to improve the manuscript for further consideration. Often, a manuscript will be sent for an additional round of peer review at this point.
Once a manuscript gets closer to acceptance, authors will be asked to format their paper so that it better aligns with Journal standards.
Once accepted, a manuscript will be published as early release. The editorial staff will lightly format the accepted article with the goal of making the article appear format-ready for publication. No changes will be made to the content or context of the work itself unless they are minor proofing or grammatical changes. Author approval is not required at this time. Once articles are lightly formatted, they are sent to our production vendor who will prepare a draft article and publish it to our website on the “Early Release” page. Our editorial staff will then notify the corresponding authors of their article “in press” and provide them with a digital object identifier (DOI) number. The Early Release process takes approximately 2 weeks to 1 month from official acceptance to publication in press. Finally, before the final publication in a regular issue, each manuscript gets copyedited. This can take 2 hours to 1 day depending on the initial quality of the writing. We do this so the Journal has the highest quality of publication. If copyediting is substantial, authors may be asked to pay an outside vendor to get the paper up to acceptable standards.
POST-ACCEPTANCE
Copy Editing Stage. Prior to publication, all manuscripts are copy edited for organization, style, and clarity. The corresponding author receives the copyedited version and is required to review the paper to ensure the editing has not changed the intended meaning. While minor rewording and/or alternate rewording is acceptable, all AJPE style and formatting changes made to the manuscript must be retained. Any and all revisions must be made to the copy during this stage.
Proofing Stage. The corresponding author receives an email with a link to an online galley proof (eProof) for review approximately 10 days prior to publication. Authors must email an annotated PDF with corrections entered using Adobe Acrobat software. Extensive edits cannot be made to eProofs. Any new revision may be denied or assessed a fee. Routine rephrasing of sentences or new additions are not permitted at this stage. Alterations should be restricted to serious changes in interpretation or corrections of data. Extensive or important changes on page proofs, including changes to the title or list of authors, are subject to editorial review and approval. The Journal allows authors 2 business days to return eProofs.