Pathway to Publication

One of the most frequent questions I receive as a publication editor is: How do I get my article published? Here is the answer to that question and more.

Rita Peters

Pharmaceutical Technology (and its sister publication Pharmaceutical Technology Europe) publishes peer-reviewed technical articles and expert analyses for scientists, engineers, and managers engaged in process development, manufacturing, formulation and drug delivery, API synthesis, analytical technology, packaging, IT, outsourcing, and regulatory compliance.

Readers are PhD-level scientists, senior-level scientists, or senior production professionals specifically involved in formulation development, process development, and manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished drug-products; drug-delivery technologies; analytical methods development and testing; quality assurance/quality control and validation; and advances in pharmaceutical equipment, machinery, instrumentation, facility design and plant operations.

Peer-reviewed papers

Manuscripts accepted for peer review are published simultaneously in both Pharmaceutical Technology and Pharmaceutical Technology Europe. Papers are also posted on www.PharmTech.com. Peer review is double blind, where the identity of reviewers is unknown to authors and vice versa. Articles submitted for peer review may fall into four main categories: standard data-driven, novel research paper; topical literature or patent review; technical case studies/technical application notes; and science-based opinion papers.

Technical articles

Technical articles and analyses, published in monthly issues and supplements, should be objective and technically relevant. An article can be a technical case study, demonstrating a problem resolution with related technical data and analysis; an explanation of a new or enhanced technology and related applications; an explanation of new compendial or regulatory standards; a topical literature review; a review of industry developments in a given area; or a review of regulatory developments and compendial requirements and related analysis.

The topics

The editors welcome subjects relevant to formulation development, process development, and manufacturing of APIs (both small molecule and large molecules) and finished drug-products (solid dosage, semisolid, liquids, parenterals drugs, topical drugs). The potential topics include drug-delivery technologies; drug substance manufacturing, scale-up, and process development; analytical methods development and testing; compliance, quality assurance, quality control, and validation; facility design, plant operation, engineering, process control and automation; quality by design, continuous processing; and emerging manufacturing approaches.

The authors

Pharmaceutical Technology seeks contributions from all participants in the drug development community. Manuscripts are reviewed with the understanding that they have not been published previously, are not ghostwritten, and are not under consideration for publication elsewhere, including on the Internet.

Submission deadlines

Peer-reviewed submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Depending on the manuscript, peer-reviewed articles usually take about one to two months for review, revision, and acceptance by the editors. Once accepted, an article is published within four to eight months.

Technical, non peer-reviewed articles fit topics on the annual editorial calendar and are typically assigned three to five months before the issue is published. If you would like to contribute an article, send an outline or abstract proposal to Pharmaceutical Technology. If your topic is accepted, an editor will assign you an official deadline, approximately six weeks before the publication date.

Getting started

First, visit www.pharmtech.com/AuthorGuidelines and review the author's guidelines. Send me a message or give me a call at 732-346-3038.

Rita Peters is editorial director of Pharmaceutical Technology. Send your thoughts and story ideas to rpeters@advanstar.com