Guide for Authors

Sphinx Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences is an open-access peer-reviewed multidisciplinary journal offering authors the opportunity to publish in all fundamental and applied areas of pharmacy, medicine and related fields. Sphinx Journal of Pharmaceutical and Medical Sciences welcomes submission of manuscripts that are scientifically sound, technically correct and provide valuable knowledge to the broader pharmaceutical and medical community. Articles that do not have sufficient originality and significance are unlikely to be accepted.

Manuscript Categories

  • Full papers: Full papers are complete reports of original research results that have not previously been published, except in the form of a communication in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

  • Communications: Communications are short focused reports of urgent research findings. The submission should be supplemented by a brief statement explaining why urgent publication is required.

  • Letters/Reports/Micro articles: Short articles on any subject within the scope of the journal. They can present a concise but complete description of a brief investigation or a subsidiary finding of the principal investigation, which will not be included in a later paper. Letters can also be in the form a substantial re-analysis of a previously published article or a substantial response to such a re-analysis from the authors of the original publication;

  • Reviews: Reviews provide comprehensive and critical overview of a subject of high interest within the scope of the journal. These articles are usually written by experts in the field who have been invited by the Editorial Board.

  • Case reports: reports of clinical cases that can be educational, describe a diagnostic or therapeutic dilemma, suggest an association or present an important adverse reaction. Authors should clearly describe the clinical relevance or implications of the case. All case report articles should indicate that informed consent to publish the information has been granted from the patients or their guardians.

  • Methodology articles: present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may be new, or may offer a better version of an existing method.

Manuscript preparation

In most cases, there is no strict limits on word count or page number. However, it is highly recommended to write concisely and stick to the following guidelines:

  • Articles should ideally be no more than 10 pages (except for reviews)

  • The main text should be no more than 4,500 words (except for reviews)

  • The title should be no more than 20 words

  • The abstract should be no more than 200 words

Divide the article into clearly defined sections. There are no strict formatting requirements but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to convey your manuscript. You can organize it in a way that best suits your research. However, the following structure will be suitable in many cases:

  • Title, Authors and Addresses, Abstract, Keywords

  • Introduction

  • Results and Discussion (can be separate)

  • Conclusion

  • Experimental (or Materials and Methods)

  • References

The Experimental section may, when necessary, appear earlier in the body of the manuscript. If your article includes any Supplementary material, this should be included in your initial submission for peer review purposes.

General instructions:

  • Ensure that one author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details; e-mail address and full postal address

  • A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare.

  • Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources.

  • Studies on patients or volunteers require informed consent, which should be documented in the paper.

  • A covering letter must accompany the submission and should include the name, address, fax and telephone numbers, and email address of the corresponding author. The letter must contain a statement explaining the novelty and importance of the work and justifying its consideration for publication in the journal, that the manuscript has not been published elsewhere. Authors must declare any potential competing interests in the cover letter.

  • Manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked'

    Footnotes are to be avoided as much as possible.

  • Figures can be inserted in the text at the appropriate positions, or grouped at the end.

  • Manuscripts should be prepared on a word processing software, with all material double-spaced, on A4-sized paper, with suitably wide margins. Whilst Microsoft Word is preferred we also accept submissions using other word processing software. Format the manuscript file as single-column text without justification. Use the default Computer Modern fonts for your text, and the 'symbols' font for any Greek characters. All pages should be numbered consecutively including the title page. Number the pages using an Arabic numeral in the footer of each page.

  • Tables: Tables should be provided as editable tables constructed using the tables function in your word processor, not as images or as PDFs. Provide a title for each table, with enough information for it to stand alone.

  • Graphs: Preferred image file formats for graphs and diagrams are Microsoft Excel. Other formats including Adobe Illustrator or editable EPS are also accepted. Please provide the data from which the graphs were generated, in a separate table.

  • Figures and other illustrations: Figures must be of appropriate resolution with the preferred file formats are JPEG, TIFF, or Adobe Photoshop. Provide a title or caption for each figure and ensure that it explains the figure in sufficient detail for it to stand alone.

  • Schemes: Each scheme (sequences of reactions) may have a brief caption describing its contents.

  • Chemical Structures: Chemical structures should be produced with the use of a drawing program such as Chem Draw.

  • References: Ensure that all references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa. Compile a reference list at the end of the text and do not submit references in endnote or footnote format. Use the "Vancouver style" (ACS formatting) with abbreviated journal names. Give surnames and initials of all authors (or only the first three authors with "et al" if there are more than six) and cite first and last page numbers in full. Refer to the following examples;

For Journal articles:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, Author DD, Author EE, Author FF, et al. Title of article, Abbreviated title of journal, Place of Publication, Publisher, Date of publication YYYY, volume number (issue number), page numbers.

For book chapters:

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC, Author DD, Author EE, Author FF, et al. Title of book, Subtitle, Edition, Year of publication YYYY, page numbers.

  • For internet references, in addition to the URLs, please include all conventional details as far as possible (ie, author, title, publishing body, place of publication, year of publication) and the date that you accessed the web page. Home page URLs are unacceptable unless the information referenced is contained on that page. The URL of the final destination must be given.

  • Supplementary information (optional) should be combined and supplied as a single separate file, preferably in PDF format.