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Manuscript Categories
Research Articles. Research articles describe experimental or observational investigations that
used formal methods for
data collection and reporting of results. There are no restrictions on manuscript length or number of citations
for
Research Articles.
Research Briefs. Research articles that can provide their results in a shorter format: they have
a maximum of 2,000 words,
exclusive of abstract, acknowledgements, figures, tables, and references. The abstract should not exceed 200
words.
Manuscripts are permitted to have a maximum of four figures and/or tables and 30 references.
Commentaries. Commentaries
are editorials on philosophical issues, medication use policies, methodological arguments,
or other pertinent subjects.
Proposed
Models. Proposed models are comprehensive, well-executed papers that seek to propose and advance for
scholarly discourse a model
to guide future research or practice in pharmacy or medication use policy. There are no
restrictions on manuscript length or number of
citations for Proposed Models.
Reviews. Reviews are comprehensive, well-referenced descriptive papers on research topics directly
related to clinical
practice and/or medication use policy, or other phenomena that have implications for patients? well-being. There
are no
restrictions on manuscript length or number of citations for Reviews; however, review papers in RSAP are expected to be systematic
in nature and adhere as well as possible to guidelines for systematic reviews by PRISMA?s Transparent Reporting of Systematic Reviews
and Meta-analyses found at  http://www.prisma-statement.org/.
Letters to the Editor. Letters to the Editor serve
as a forum for the expression of ideas or for commenting on matters of
interest. It is also an avenue for critiquing or expanding on
the information presented in a previously published
manuscript. Authors are required to identify themselves. The Editor reserves the
right to reject, shorten, excerpt, or edit
letters for publication.
Stylistic Considerations
The style specifications
for RSAP must be followed. Below are general guidelines for manuscript format and style. If in
doubt about style, authors should
refer to the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style, 9th ed, or consult a
recent issue of RSAP.
Text.
The text should be scholarly, readable, clear, and concise. Standard nomenclature should be used. Unfamiliar terms
and acronyms should
be defined at first mention. Manuscripts that were prepared for oral presentation must be rewritten
for print. Authors of research papers
are discouraged from writing excessively long introduction or discussion sections.
Word style. Consult a current edition of
Webster?s dictionary for guidance on spelling, compounding, and word separation.
Foreign words, not in general use, should be italicized.
For proper use of chemical and biochemical terms, mathematical
equations, mathematical expressions, special symbols, subscripts, superscripts,
or Greek letters, please refer to the AMA
Manual of Style.
Numbers. Numbers must be written as Arabic numerals unless
they occur at the beginning of a sentence, in which case the
number should be spelled out. The exception to this rule is when the number
``one?? is used in isolation within the text and
substituting an Arabic number would seem awkward (eg, ``there was only one logical solution
to the problem??). A
number containing a decimal must be styled as an Arabic number. All fractions must be written as decimal equivalents.
Measurements. The metric system will be used for all measurements; however, conventional units should be used instead
of SI units.
Do not use periods when abbreviating units of measure.
Reference numbers. These numbers should be superscript Arabic numerals
placed at the end of the sentence, outside the
final period or other punctuation. Subsequent citations to the same reference must be
indicated by the same number
originally assigned to that reference. Do not place parentheses around the reference numbers.
Personal
Communications. If the source of material referred to in an article is from a personal communication, it should
be referenced as
such in parentheses immediately following reference to the material, followed by the date (eg, written
communication, October 2, 2002).
Hypertext Links. Authors may identify uniform resource locators (URLs) for Internet web sites that provide the reader
with additional
information on the topic addressed in the manuscript. Although URLs are an important feature of
electronic publishing, authors are encouraged
to be selective in their choice of sites to include. Do not include URLs for
web pages with newspaper or journal articles that will be
removed or archived to another web page. Links to
pharmaceutical manufacturers or other sources of product information are acceptable;
however, providing a URL to the
reader should not be substituted for adequate discussion within the manuscript itself. Do not include
links to sites that are
not accessible without a password.
Manuscript Organization
Within the document, each page of the
manuscript should be arranged and numbered consecutively in the following
order: title page, abstract, footnotes, text, references, tables,
figure legends, and illustrations. To assist our reviewers in
making comments/suggestions, please line number your manuscript in MS Word
(File/Page Setup/Layout tab/Line
Numbering/Add line numbering/continuous).
Title Page
The title page should have the following
information: a concise title, name of each author, terminal degree, academic/
professional title and affiliation, and city and state
where located. If an author has relocated to another institution, please
include his/her affiliation during the time the author worked
on the manuscript. At the lower left of the page, indicate the
name of the corresponding author and provide his/her mailing address,
telephone number, facsimile number, and e-mail
address. At the bottom of the title page, indicate 3 to 5 keywords.
Abstract
Research articles, Proposed Models, and Reviews must include an abstract of 200 to 300 words. The abstract should
include a brief (1
to 3 sentences) statement for each of the following sections: Background, Objectives, Methods, Results,
and Conclusions.
Main
Body of Text
The use of subheadings to divide the text is encouraged. Primary headings should be in bold capital letters and should
contain no more than 35 characters or spaces. Secondary headings should be in bold title case and appear above the
paragraph. Tertiary
headings should be in bold with only the initial letter capitalized. Tertiary headings should end with a
period and should appear before
the beginning of the first sentence in that section.
Acknowledgments
Any special funding received for research that is the
subject of the manuscript should be included under a section entitled
"Acknowledgments" at the end of the text. If the authors wish to
thank colleagues or others who provided assistance
with their research or manuscript preparation, those acknowledgments also should be
included under this section. Any
statements concerning liability for the content of the manuscript may be included here as well (eg,
"the ideas expressed in
this manuscript are those of the author and in no way are intended to represent the position of...").
Reference
Section
References to a published source should be provided for all information in the manuscript that contains dates, facts,
or
opinions other than those of the author. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of all citations.
References should
be numbered consecutively in the order in which the information contained in the referenced publication
appears or is referred to in
the manuscript. Do not create a second abbreviated reference or use ``ibid?? to refer to
information cited in a previous reference. Instead,
if information from the same source is referred to a second time in the
manuscript, cite the same reference number originally assigned
to that source.
Each journal citation must include the surnames and complete initials of all authors. For manuscripts with 7 or more
authors, the first 3 authors should be listed, followed by "et al." The names of all periodicals cited must be abbreviated
in accordance
with abbreviations adopted by the National Library of Medicine and used in Index Medicus. An example
and special instructions for specific
types of references are provided below. For additional guidance, please refer to the
American Medical Association Manual of Style, 9th
ed, or to a recent issue of RSAP.
Journal articles. For references to journal articles, first list the names of the authors
beginning with the last name of the
first author, followed by his/her initials. The authors? names are followed by the title of the article.
The first letter of the
title is capitalized, but the remainder of the title should be in lower case letters, except for the first letter
of proper names.
A period should be placed after the title. Next, give the properly abbreviated title of the journal being referenced.
The title
of the journal should be in italics followed by a period. One space should be left between the journal and the year of
publication.
A semicolon should be placed after the year of publication, followed by the volume number in which the
article appeared. After the volume
number, place a colon followed by the number of the first page of the article, then a
dash, then the number of the last page of the article,
followed by a period. If the article does not appear on consecutive
pages, use a semicolon between each segment of pages (eg, 172-175;179-183;199.)
Example:
Gaither CA. Career commitment: mediator of the effects of job stress on pharmacists? work-related attitudes. J Am
Pharm
Assoc. 1999;39:353-361.
Reference to a book. List the last name of the first author of the book, followed by the first
andmiddle initial if given, just as in a
journal reference. The names of all authors of the book must be listed. Place a period after
the last author?s initials. Next, state
the title of the book using standard rules for capitalizationwithin titles.Aperiod should be
placed at the end of the title. Ifmore
than one edition of the book has been published, then the edition number must be given. An ordinal
number should be used to
indicate the edition number (eg, 9th), followed by a space and "ed." Next, provide the city and state where
the publisher is
located. Use the abbreviations for states provided in the AMA style manual rather than postal abbreviations. A colon
should
separate the city and state from the name of the publisher. The full name of the publisher should be given, followed by a
semicolon.
Next, provide the year of publication, followed by a colon and the page or page numbers referenced.
Example:
Dillman DA. Mail
and telephone surveys: the total design method. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 1978:54.
Reference to a chapter in a book.
To reference a single chapter in a book, first list the authors and state the title as you would if
citing a journal article. The chapter
title should be followed by the word "In" followed by a colon. Next, list the name(s) and
initials of the editors of the book, followed
by a comma and the abbreviation "ed" or "eds" if more than one editor, followed
by a period. Next include the title of the book, location
of the publisher, publisher?s name, year of publication and page
numbers in the same format as for a reference to an entire book (see
previous example).
Example:
Scott DM. Ambulatory care. In: McCarthy RL, Schafermeyer KW, eds. Introduction to Health Care
Delivery: A Primer
for Pharmacists. Jones & Bartlett, Sudbury, MA: 257-287.
Thesis or Dissertation. For references
to theses or dissertations, place the title of the thesis or dissertation in italics.
Include the location of the institution, its name,
and the year the thesis or dissertation was completed.
Example:
Thorn MD. A Comparative Review of the Statistical and Research
Quality of the Medical and Pharmacy Literature
[masters thesis]. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1982.
Reference
to a Web Site. For references to journals, e-magazines, or other publications on the Internet, state the names of the
authors, title
of the article, publication title, and volume and publication date in the same format as you would for a journal
reference.For references
toother information, give the title of thewebpage, followedby the nameof the organizationorwebsite
that published the information. For
all references to onlinematerial, the author should include "Available at:" followed by the
uniform resource locator (URL) for the page
of the web site referenced (eg, www.hcfa.gov/stats.htm), followed by
a period.
Finally, write "Accessed" followed by the month, day, and year on which the information was obtained fromthe site, followed
by a period.
Example:
Healthy People 2010, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
Available at: http://www.healthypeople.gov/. Accessed January 10, 2005.
Unpublished Works. References
to unpublished material such as articles or abstracts presented at professional meetings
but not published, provide the name of the meeting
where the article was presented.
Articles in Press. For references to information in books or articles that are currently in
press, provide all of the available
information for the reference. In place of page numbers, designate that the publication is "in press."
Example:
Adamcik B, Hurley S, Erramouspe J. Assessment of pharmacy students? critical thinking and problem-solving abilities.Am
J Pharm Educ. 1996;60:in press.
Tables and Figures
Tables. Table should be created in Microsoft Word table
format. Data must be placed in separate cells of the table to
prevent text and numbers from shifting when the table is converted for
publication on the Internet. You can insert empty
cells to create spacing. Footnotes should be placed at the bottom of the table inside
a single row or cell and should be
indented. Symbols for footnoting should use alphabetic symbols in proper order (e.g., "a", then "b",
then "c", and so on).
Tables should not duplicate information provided in the text. Instead, tables should be used to provide additional
information that illustrates or expands on a specific point the author wishes to make. Each table should be self-explanatory
and begin
on a separate page in the document. Tables should be numbered using Arabic numbers according to the order in
which they are referred
to in the text. The table number and a concise title should be placed above the body of the table.
Figures. Figures should
be numbered using Arabic numbers, based on the order in which they are presented in the text.
Figure legends should be concise and self-explanatory.
All illustrative materials for the figures should be submitted as
high-resolution gif or jpg files. The key to any symbols in a graph
or chart should be included as part of the illustration
itself, rather than in the legend. If figures contain illustrations that have
been published elsewhere, a letter of permission
to reprint from the original publisher must accompany the manuscript.
)*If
using EPS, save with ``fonts included?? and use TIFF preview.
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Type of Figure
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Acceptable
Quality
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Preferred Quality
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Color Mode
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File Formats
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| Graph
or diagram w/ text |
300 dpi |
1200 dpi or higher |
CMYK (color);
Grayscale (halftones
and black and white) |
.bmp, .eps*, .jpg, or .tiff |
| Photographs |
300 dpi |
1200 dpi or higher |
CMYK
(color);
Grayscale (halftones and black and white) |
.bmp, .eps, .jpg, .png, .tff, or .wmf |
| Web Page
(screen capture) |
72 dpi |
300 dpi or higher |
RGB |
.bmp, .gif, or .jpg |
A graphic image embedded into a MS Word file has a resolution of only 72 dpi (computer screen resolution). As a result,
when printed, the graphics will look fuzzy. If possible, send graphics with a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Preferably, save the original
image at a high resolution (ie, 1200 dpi or higher) and with the image quality set at maximum. Each high-resolution
graphic image should
be saved and submitted in a separate file from the manuscript text.
Original (first generation) graphics are the preferred files to
work with because they have the highest resolution (ie, at this
point the image has not been compressed to reduce its size). If necessary,
high-resolution graphics can be reduced to a
lower resolution for use on the web and within the .pdf files. However, low-resolution graphics
cannot be improved and
may result in poor online and printed images.
Use a professional graphics program such as Adobe PhotoShop
to edit and/or save photographs and graphics. Because of
difficulties with exporting graphics from Microsoft PowerPoint, please
send the original graphic (the one imported intoPowerPoint), saved in an acceptable file format, such as jpg or eps (see chart
for more options). However, if the graphic
was created in PowerPoint, send it as a PowerPoint file.
Manuscript
Submission
The manuscript should be created and saved in Microsoft Word for Windows. If you use WordPerfect or another word
processing
program, please use the ``save as?? option to save the file in Microsoft Word for Windows file format.
Copyright Form
Manuscript
submitted to the Journal should be unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere. Under the terms of
the Copyright Revision Act of
1976 (Public Law 94-533) it is necessary to have the rights of the authors transferred to the
publisher in order to provide for the widest
possible dissemination of professional and scientific literature.
Assurances
For all research manuscripts (including educational
research), the author should indicate in the cover letter that the
research has been reviewed and approved by the appropriate human research
or ethics review committee, or that it has
been determined to be exempt from such review. For research that has undergone such review
and approval, a statement
to that effect should be included in the methods section.
Submission of Manuscripts
All new manuscripts
must be submitted through the RSAP online submission and review Web site ( http://ees.elsevier.com/rsap/). Authors
are requested to submit the text, tables, and artwork in electronic form to this address.
Authors may suggest the names and contact information
for reviewers; however, the selection of reviewers remains the
purview of the Editor.
Submission items include a cover letter, key
words, the manuscript (including title page, abstract, manuscript text, references,
and table/figure legends), tables, and figures. When
reporting the results of a study employing a survey questionnaire or
interview, a copy of the instrument should be provided as an appendix
for the benefit of the reviewers. Papers accepted for
publication will have a table or appendix informing readers of the nature of the
items comprising the survey instrument.
Revised manuscripts should also be accompanied by a unique file (separate from the covering letter)
with responses to
reviewers? comments. The preferred order of files is as follows: cover letter, suggested reviewers (if applicable),
response to
reviews (revised manuscripts only), manuscript file(s), table(s), figure(s). Files should be labeled with appropriate and
descriptive file names (e.g., SmithText.doc, Fig1.eps, Table3.doc). Upload text, tables and graphics as separate files. Do not
import
figures or tables into the text document. Complete instructions for electronic artwork submission can be found on the
Author Gateway,
accessible through the journal home page.
Authors who are unable to provide an electronic version or have other circumstances that
prevent online submission
must contact the Editor prior to submission to discuss alternate options. The Publisher and Editors regret
that they are
not able to consider submissions that do not follow these procedures.
Updated June 2009
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