Information for Authors

On this page you will find our full Instructions to Authors (below) and our forms and additional guidelines for specific article types:

Exclusive Licence Form
OnlineOpen Form
Reviews Guidelines
Commentary Guidelines
Artwork Instructions
Permission Request Form

Instructions To Authors
 

Scope and types of articles published
The British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP) welcomes contributions in all fields of pharmacology. The work should have a direct bearing on drug effects or mechanisms or the development of new drug targets.

BJP publishes Research Papers, Review Articles, Commentaries and Correspondence. Reviews and Commentaries are normally commissioned by the journal, but consideration will be given to unsolicited contributions.

Research papers must constitute a significant contribution to pharmacological knowledge. Papers that reassess pharmacological concepts based on earlier results will also be considered, as well as purely theoretical papers. Papers describing new methods in pharmacology that embody new principles are also welcome.

Reviews, normally 5000–8000 words, should present an update of recent developments in an active field. Authors of unsolicited review articles should submit a title and outline to the Reviews Editor for approval in principle. Please also refer to our Reviews Guidelines.

Commentaries, normally less than 1000 words, are intended to put into context the material presented in a particular paper. BJP editors normally commission commentaries on papers in press, but unsolicited commentaries on recent papers published in BJP will also be considered. Please also refer to our Commentary Guidelines.

Correspondence is limited to specific comments or criticisms relating to a recent BJP paper, whose authors will be invited to reply in print.

Studies on Natural Products: BJP does not publish work on the actions of biological extracts of unknown chemical composition. Compounds studied must be of known chemical structure and concentration.

Subject categories
BJP publishes Research papers under the following categories:

• Editorial
• Commentaries
• Review Articles
• Anti-infective drugs
• Biopharmaceuticals
• Cancer pharmacology
• Cardiovascular pharmacology
• Drug discovery
• Drug safety & toxicology
• Endocrine & metabolic pharmacology
• Gastrointestinal pharmacology
• Genitourinary & renal pharmacology
• Immunopharmacology & Inflammation
• Molecular & cellular mechanisms
• Neuropharmacology
• Pharmacokinetics & drug metabolism
• Respiratory system pharmacology
• Methods & techniques
• Social impact of pharmacology

Correspondence
Authors should indicate the category into which their work best fits.

Originality of material
Manuscripts must not contain the same information as manuscripts under review, accepted or published. This restriction does not apply to results published by the authors as abstracts, letters to editors, or contributions to symposia, provided that the manuscript submitted adds significantly to the previously published contribution. Authors must ensure that copyright restrictions do not preclude the reuse of any text or figures from other publications. It is the author's responsibility to obtain permission to use any copyrighted material, such as reproducing a figure from another article, in print and electronic forms, and to acknowledge the source of the material.

Submission of a manuscript will be taken to indicate:

(a) that authors have, if necessary, obtained permission to publish from their employers or institutions;

(b) that approvals are held from any persons acknowledged, or cited as having provided personal communication;

(c) that all authors have seen and approved the final version of the submitted paper;

(d) that the content of the manuscript is original and that it has not been published or accepted for publication, either in whole or in part, other than as short abstracts, communications or conference proceedings;

(e) that no part of the manuscript is currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Copyright
Authors (or their employers) retain copyright in their articles published in BJP. All authors must grant Blackwell Publishing Ltd an exclusive licence to publish their article on behalf of the British Pharmacological Society, by completing and returning our Exclusive Licence Form or our OnlineOpen Form (see below).

Once published in BJP, papers are available in print and online to BJP subscribers. After 1 year from the date of hard copy publication all papers become freely available (open access). Immediate open access can be provided via our Online Open service, upon payment of a fee of $3000. Authors wishing to use this service must complete and return the OnlineOpen Form and arrange payment of the fee. Authors who do not wish to use this service must complete the Exclusive License Form.

Formal acceptance of material for publication in BJP is conditional upon receipt at the BJP office of either the Exclusive License Form or the OnlineOpen Form, signed by all authors. Hard copy, fax and electronic copies are acceptable. This indicates that the work is original, and that all authors have seen and approved the final accepted version of the work, which will be published only when one of these forms has been received.

Ethical and Animal Welfare Issues
BJP requires that the conditions under which human and animal experiments are performed are consistent with prevailing standards in the UK. Studies on animals must comply with the prevailing standards of animal welfare embodied in UK laws governing animal experimentation. For advice on ethical and animal welfare issues, authors may wish to consult the British Pharmacological Society’s Ethics Committee via the BJP editorial office.

Authors must make it clear that the procedures they used were as humane as possible and complied with the guidelines for animal care of their institutions or with national/ international guidelines.

Studies involving human subjects must be carried out with the formal approval of the relevant Ethical Committee, and evidence of such approval must be provided. Papers concerned with clinical trials of drugs on patients are not appropriate for BJP.

Sharing of structures, reagents and data
The chemical structures of any drugs or other compounds used must be in the public domain or provided in the submitted manuscript. The provenance of all materials, particularly new reagents (such as novel drugs, biological therapeutics, cell lines, antibodies, DNA, etc.), developed as part of the work being published, that are not available from commercial suppliers, should be given in sufficient detail to allow application for its acquisition. We encourage authors to share materials with other scientists, where practicable, since validation by others greatly increases the value of their work.
Microarray data, nucleic acid or protein sequences and X-ray crystallographic coordinates must be deposited in a suitable broadly recognized repository (such as GEO, Swiss-Prot etc.). Release embargos are permitted up to the date of publication and the accession number of each database entry must be provided in the text.

Language and style
Authors are strongly urged to keep their manuscripts as short as possible. Particular care should be given to drafting titles and summaries, since these appear in literature search engines, and determine whether or not readers will wish to consult the research paper.

BJP attaches importance to the use of correct, clear, reader-friendly English. As a service to authors, particularly those whose first language is not English, BJP employs a Press Editor and Copy Editor who provide a free of charge language and copy-editing service to improve the quality of all manuscripts that are acceptable for publication on scientific grounds. Note that whereas text, Tables (usually) and legends to Figures can be corrected by the Press Editor, Figures needing changes have to be returned to the author for correction and re-submission. It is therefore particularly important to ensure Figures comply, in detail, with the instructions for figures and legends given below.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used as little as possible, and explained in brackets – for example, bradykinin (BK). An alphabetical list of non-standard abbreviations should be provided – for example HUVEC, human umbilical vein endothelial cells; VSMC, vascular smooth muscle cells. The full name plus abbreviation should also be used in the text on first mention. Commonplace abbreviations need not be included in the list.

Nomenclature
Standard pharmacological nomenclature should be used. Nomenclature of ion channels, receptors, transporters, etc. should conform to BJP’s Guide to Receptors & Channels (Vol. 158 S1), and to the IUPHAR guidelines, as published in Pharmacological Reviews.

Preparation of Manuscript

Research Papers
 

Manuscripts must be accompanied by a covering letter, stating clearly why the work is considered suitable for publication in BJP, and explaining the importance of the work for the understanding of drugs and drug action. Please note that details of any preliminary publication of the work must be given in the submission letter and where possible a manuscript tracking reference provided.

Manuscripts must include:

1. Title page
2. Summary
3. Introduction
4. Methods
5. Results
6. Discussion and conclusions
7. Acknowledgements
8. List of references
9. Tables
10. Figures and Legends
11. Statement of conflicts of interest.

Title page
Text should be double spaced throughout the manuscript. The title page should be paginated as page 1 of the manuscript. The title should normally contain no more than 150 characters (including spaces) and should not consist of more than one sentence. It must clearly indicate the subject matter of the paper and any assertions must be justified by the results presented in the paper. Titles should be drafted carefully to indicate broadly what the paper is about and to encourage readership. Cumbersome chemical names, technical details, and unfamiliar abbreviations should be avoided. A short running title containing not more than 50 characters (including spaces) is also required.

The title page should include the names and addresses of authors. Author names should be written Initials followed by Family name. This ensures that indexing services list authors by family name. Authors’ present addresses differing from those at which the work was carried out should be given as footnotes on the title page and indicated in the author list by superscript numbers. The author to whom correspondence should be sent should be identified in a footnote, and an e-mail address must be given. No other footnotes are permitted.

Summary
The summary will be printed at the beginning of the paper. It must not exceed 250 words and should be easily readable and intelligible to the non-specialist, and suitable for direct transcription by abstracting services. The summary should convey clearly the key messages of the work. References must not be included in the summary. Abbreviations must be kept to a minimum and non-standard abbreviations explained in brackets. The summary must be organized under the following subject headings (not as undivided text or numbered paragraphs):

Background and purpose. This must indicate why the study was performed, and what question it was intended to answer.

Experimental approach. This should state in outline what methods were used. Details of incubation media, buffers, drug concentrations, time-points, animal strains, statistical tests etc. should not be given unless they are important in relation to the question that was addressed.

Key results. The main results relevant to the question addressed should be summarised, without quantitative elaboration. (E.g. ‘Drug X increased coronary blood flow by 25%, whereas drug Y had no effect’ rather than ‘Coronary blood flow after drug X (10 µmol min-1 i.v. for 15 min) was increased from 19.4±3.2 ml min-1 (mean±s.e.m, n=6) to 26.2±4.1 ml min-1 (n=6). The effect was statistically significant (0.01

Conclusions and Implications. As well as summarizing the main inferences that follow from the results, and mentioning important shortcomings and caveats, this paragraph must clearly indicate in what way the work has advanced understanding in the field.

Keywords. Up to 10 keywords or phrases of two to three words (including names and terms used in the title) should be displayed at the end of the summary. Avoid unhelpful or unqualified terms such as ‘inhibition’, ‘drug’ etc. Abbreviations and keywords should be detailed at the foot of the summary page.

Introduction
The introduction should give a short and clear account of the background of the problem and the rationale of the investigation. Only previous work that has a direct bearing on the present problem should be cited. The final sentence should summarise the broad conclusions of the paper.

Methods
The methods must be described in sufficient detail to allow the experiments to be interpreted and repeated by an experienced investigator. Where published methods are used, references should be given, together with a brief outline. For experiment studies, the methods are presented in headed paragraphs covering:

Test systems used (animal tests, isolated tissues, cultured cells, in vitro systems, etc);

Measurements made (with technical details);

Experimental design;

Data analysis and statistical procedures;

Drugs, chemicals reagents and other materials (including sources).

For animal studies, the species, strain and total number used must be stated, as well as conditions of maintenance (food, water, light/dark cycles and compliance with ethical guidelines). The doses (initial and subsequent) of anaesthetics and analgesics should be clearly stated; the method of assessing anaesthesia, particularly after the administration of neuromuscular blocking drugs, must be clearly stated. For animal studies performed under anaesthesia vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, heart rate and blood gases) should be monitored and these data be included in the Methods.

The description of drugs, chemicals and other materials should include the names and brief address of the relevant suppliers. Drug names should be International Non-proprietary Names (INN). See website http://mednet.who.int for a full list. If a drug has no INN its full chemical name must be used (for nomenclature rules, see Handbook for Chemical Society Authors (London, Chemical) Society – http://rsc.org), or its structural formula given. Cumbersome chemical names should be suitably abbreviated for later reference in the paper.

Results
The description of the experimental results should be succinct, but in sufficient detail to allow the experiments to be analysed and interpreted by an independent reader. Typical single experiments may be presented with a clear statement that n number of similar experiments had similar results. Where appropriate, however, the mean results with confidence limits or standard errors, and the number of observations, should be given. Statistical tests of significance should be performed where appropriate. Headed paragraphs should be used to subdivide the text for ease of reference. Repetition of data in the text, tables and figures should be avoided. The rationale for performing the experiments may be briefly mentioned in the Results section, but conclusions should not be presented. Theoretical considerations may be included if appropriate to the results.

Discussion and Conclusions
The purpose of the discussion is to present a brief (normally not exceeding 1500 words) and pertinent interpretation of the results against the background of existing knowledge. Any assumptions on which conclusions are based must be stated clearly. Recapitulation of the results should be avoided. A review-like treatment, which reduces the impact on the reader, should also be avoided. The main conclusions should be conveyed in a final paragraph with a clear statement of how the study advances knowledge and understanding in the field.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements should be brief but should include reference to sources of financial support. Sources of drugs not widely available commercially should be acknowledged.

References

In the text, references to other work should take the form: (Connor and Kitchen, 2006) or ‘Connor and Kitchen (2006) showed that’. References to ‘unpublished observations’ or ‘personal communications’ should be mentioned in the text only, and not included in the list of references. Papers which have been accepted for publication may be included in the list of references as ‘in press’. Copies of these papers should be included as supplementary information accompanying the submitted manuscript. Papers in preparation or which have been submitted but not yet finally accepted for publication must not be included in the list of references.

The reference list at the end of the manuscript must be arranged alphabetically according to the surname of the first author. When the surnames of first authors are identical, the alphabetical order of the surnames of subsequent authors takes precedence over the year of publication. If more than one paper by the same authors in one year is cited, a, b, c, etc. are placed after the year of publication, both in the text and in the list of references. All authors should be quoted for papers with up to six authors; for papers with more than six authors, the first six should be quoted followed by et al. Entries in the reference list should conform to Harvard style. For example:

Journal Reference

Connor M, Kitchen I (2006). Has the sun set on k3-opioid receptors? Br J Pharmacol 147: 349–350.

Book Reference

McGrath JC, Daly CJ (2005). Imaging adrenergic receptors and their function: the use of fluorescent-ligands and receptors to visualize adrenergic rceptors. In: Perez DM (ed). The Adrenergic Receptors, in the 21st Century. Humana Press: New Jersey, pp 65–72.

Tables

Each table should be given on a separate page, paginated as part of the paper. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals and the number should be followed by a brief descriptive caption, occupying not more than two lines, at the head of the table. Tables should normally be self-explanatory, with necessary descriptions provided underneath the table. Tables should if possible not exceed 120 characters per line (absolute limit 180), with spaces between columns counted as four characters. Each column should have a heading and the units of measurement should be given in parentheses in the heading. Numbers up to four digits should be shown without spaces; longer numbers should be spaced in 3 digit groupings, without commas. Additional information should be given below the table and ‘call outs’ are superscript letters (not symbols).

Figures and Legends

To avoid unnecessary figures, only critical points of the text should be illustrated. Authors are encouraged to use colour to enhance the impact and clarity of figures. There is no charge for using colour in British Journal of Pharmacology. The use of colour in diagrams and cartoons is to aid clarity, so please avoid lurid clashes (such as yellow on a purple background with red borders) and bear in mind that coloured text on a coloured background, such as red on blue or black, is indistinguishable to a substantial proportion of the population. Follow the principle that a figure should make sense in monochrome. For figures supplied in parts, please use A, B, C, etc. to label the panels or parts of the figure. For details of required formats for figures, see the Artwork Instructions section.

Figure legends should be typed on a separate page of the main manuscript document. Legends should explain the figures in sufficient detail that, whenever possible, they can be understood without reference to the text. Legends, captions and labels should be consistent with terminology or nomenclature used in the text.

Statement of conflicts of interest

This should indicate any past or present financial links including consultancies with manufacturers of material or devices described in the paper as well as links to the pharmaceutical industry or regulatory agencies or any other potential conflicts of interest. Industry-based authors must state if they are employed by a company that sells one or more of the drugs or devices mentioned in the article. If no conflicts of interest exist ‘‘None’’ must be entered under this heading.

Review Articles, Commentaries and Correspondence
 

The same conventions as described for Full Papers, with respect to text style, figures, tables and references, apply also to other publication types. A summary (up to 250 words) is required for Reviews, although the subject headings stipulated for Research Paper summaries do not apply. Additional guidelines for reviews and commentaries are available by following the links above.

No summary is required for other publication types. The use of explanatory figures in the form of cartoons, flow-diagrams, etc. is encouraged. A conflict of interest statement must be included.

Submission of manuscripts
To submit a manuscript, log on to www.brjpharmacol.org and follow the online submission procedure. Before submitting a manuscript, please make sure you have the following information to hand in addition to your files: The first and last names and e-mail addresses of all authors, and full contact information of any preferred peer reviewers (e-mail address, phone number and institution).

Artwork Instructions
Detailed guidelines for submitting artwork can be found at our Author Resources site: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/authors/digill.asp . Using the guidelines, please submit production quality artwork with your online submission. We request that at submission, ALL figures are of a high enough quality to be assessed in the peer review process, preferably in .eps or .tiff format. Minimum Resolutions are: 800 dpi for illustrations, graphs and annotated artwork, and 300 dpi for micrographs and photographs. Recommended sizes are: Figure width to be matched to fit into a single column or double column of the printed journal; Text and labelling in standard fonts at 8-10 point font size; Line Width at 0.5 to 1 point size. Use hatching rather than shading in graphs.

Units and Symbols

SI units and symbols should be used for physicochemical quantities. Negative index notation (e.g. mgkg-1, pmolmm-2 min-1) should be used rather than solidus notation (e.g. mg/kg, pmol/mm2/min). Please refer to the SI Guide www.bipm.org/en/si/ for standard units.

Supplementary Information

Supplementary information is peer-reviewed material directly relevant to the conclusion of an article that cannot be included in the printed version owing to space or format constraints. The printed article must be complete and self-explanatory without the supplementary information. Supplementary information is not subedited, so authors should ensure that it is supplied ready for publication online. Accepted supplementary file formats are: Microsoft Office files (.doc/.xls/.ppt), Plain ASCII text (.txt), Graphics files (.jpg/.jpeg/.gif/.tif/.tiff/.png/.bmp/.eps/.ps), HTML files (.html), movie files (.mov/.mpg), Sound files (.wav/.mp3/.wma), Acrobat files (.pdf). File sizes must be as small as possible, so that they can be downloaded quickly.

Review process

Once submitted, manuscripts will be quality checked by the editorial office before being sent for review, usually by an Editor and two or more referees. The referees’ comments and Editor’s recommendation will be reviewed by the appropriate Senior Editor, who will communicate the decision to the Author. This process takes one month on average from submission to the initial decision. On acceptance, after any required changes have been made, proofs will normally be sent electronically within 2 weeks, with a request to correct and return them within 48 hours. Extensive corrections cannot be made at this time. The paper will then be published online in its final (pdf) form within 4 weeks, and in print about 6 weeks later. These timings are provisional, and do not include author delays.

Post Acceptance
 

Page proofs
Proofs will be sent via e-mail as a pdf file. The e-mail server must be able to accept attachments up to 4 MB in size. Acrobat Reader will be required in order to read this file and can be downloaded (free of charge) from the following website: www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. This will enable the file to be opened, read on screen, and printed out in order that corrections can be made. Further instructions will be sent with the proof. In your absence, please arrange for a colleague to access your e-mail to retrieve the proofs. Corrections should be kept to a minimum. The costs of making extensive changes may be charged to the author.m

Once proofs have been corrected the paper will be published online. Since the online version is definitive, there will be no further opportunity for correction, even though the print version will not yet have appeared. The date of publication of the article is the date of its first appearance online.

Author Services
Author Services enables authors to track their article once it has been accepted through the production process to publication online and in print. Submitting authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated e-mails at key stages of production, so that they don't need to contact the production editor to check progress. Visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/bauthor for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources, including FAQs, tips on article preparation, submission, and more.

Offprints
Authors will be provided with electronic offprints of their article. Paper offprints can be ordered at prices quoted on the order form that accompanies the proofs, provided that the form is returned with the proofs. The cost is higher if the order arrives too late for the main print run. Electronic offprints are sent to the first author at his or her first e-mail address on the title page of the paper, unless advised otherwise; please therefore ensure that the name, address, and e-mail address of the corresponding author are clearly indicated on the manuscript title page if he or she is not the first author of the paper.

 

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