Instruction For Author

1. ABOUT THE JOURNAL

The Journal of Clinical Pharmacy in Community Practice (JCPCP) is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal dedicated exclusively to the publication of high-quality Case Studies and Case Reports in clinical pharmacy and community pharmacy practice.

The Journal provides a specialised platform for pharmacists, clinical pharmacists, community pharmacists, researchers, healthcare professionals, and other practitioners to document, analyse, and share real-world patient cases, medication-related problems, clinical interventions, pharmaceutical care experiences, and innovative practices occurring within community and primary healthcare settings.

The Journal aims to promote learning from real-life practice by publishing clinically relevant and educational case studies that contribute to improved medication use, patient safety, pharmaceutical care, clinical decision-making, and patient outcomes.

2. AIMS AND SCOPE

The Journal of Clinical Pharmacy in Community Practice publishes Case Studies and Case Reports only.

Submitted cases should be relevant to clinical pharmacy, community pharmacy, pharmaceutical care, medication management, or community-based healthcare practice.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Clinical Pharmacy Practice
  • Community Pharmacy Practice
  • Pharmaceutical Care
  • Medication Therapy Management
  • Medication Review and Optimisation
  • Drug-Related Problems
  • Medication Errors
  • Adverse Drug Reactions
  • Adverse Drug Event Management
  • Pharmacovigilance
  • Medication Safety
  • Patient Counselling
  • Medication Adherence
  • Rational Use of Medicines
  • Polypharmacy
  • Drug Interactions
  • Chronic Disease Management
  • Diabetes Care
  • Hypertension Management
  • Cardiovascular Risk Management
  • Asthma and Respiratory Care
  • Infectious Disease Management
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship
  • Minor Ailment Management
  • Self-Care and Responsible Self-Medication
  • Vaccination and Immunisation Practice
  • Public Health Interventions
  • Primary Healthcare Pharmacy
  • Telepharmacy and Digital Health
  • Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Medicine
  • Special Populations
  • Geriatric Pharmacy
  • Paediatric Pharmacy
  • Women's Health
  • Mental Health Pharmacy Practice
  • Oncology Supportive Care
  • Medication Access and Continuity of Care
  • Interprofessional Collaboration
  • Innovative Community Pharmacy Services

3. MANUSCRIPT TYPE

CASE STUDIES AND CASE REPORTS ONLY

The Journal of Clinical Pharmacy in Community Practice (JCPCP) publishes Case Studies and Case Reports only.

The Journal does not ordinarily consider:

  • Original Research Articles
  • Review Articles
  • Systematic Reviews
  • Meta-analyses
  • Short Communications
  • General Commentaries
  • Perspectives
  • Editorial Articles submitted independently
  • Conference Abstracts
  • Letters unrelated to published case studies

Case Studies submitted to the Journal should provide meaningful educational, clinical, scientific, professional, or practice-based value.

4. TYPES OF CASE STUDIES CONSIDERED

The Journal welcomes the following types of Case Studies:

4.1 Individual Patient Case Reports

Reports describing an individual patient's medication-related problem, pharmaceutical care intervention, clinical management, or therapeutic outcome.

4.2 Case Series

Reports involving two or more related patient cases that provide meaningful insights into a clinical, therapeutic, medication-related, or pharmacy practice issue.

4.3 Community Pharmacy Practice Case Studies

Reports describing real-world experiences involving:

  • Community pharmacy interventions.
  • Innovative pharmacy services.
  • Patient counselling.
  • Medication reviews.
  • Clinical decision-making.
  • Disease management services.
  • Medication safety interventions.

4.4 Pharmaceutical Care Case Studies

Cases demonstrating the identification, assessment, prevention, resolution, or monitoring of:

  • Drug-related problems.
  • Medication therapy problems.
  • Adverse drug reactions.
  • Drug interactions.
  • Medication adherence problems.
  • Therapeutic failures.

4.5 Medication Safety Case Studies

Cases involving:

  • Medication errors.
  • Near misses.
  • Dispensing errors.
  • Prescribing-related medication problems.
  • Administration-related medication problems.
  • Adverse drug events.

4.6 Innovative Practice Case Studies

Reports describing innovative clinical pharmacy or community pharmacy practices, services, interventions, or models of care.

4.7 Public Health and Community-Based Case Studies

Cases describing pharmacy-led interventions relating to:

  • Health promotion.
  • Disease prevention.
  • Screening services.
  • Vaccination.
  • Community health programmes.
  • Public health emergencies.

5. CRITERIA FOR CONSIDERATION

To be considered for publication, a Case Study should demonstrate one or more of the following:

  • An unusual or clinically important medication-related problem.
  • An important adverse drug reaction.
  • A significant drug interaction.
  • A novel pharmaceutical care intervention.
  • A challenging clinical decision.
  • An important medication safety issue.
  • An innovative community pharmacy service.
  • A valuable lesson for clinical or community pharmacy practice.
  • An unexpected therapeutic outcome.
  • A case with significant educational value.
  • A case that demonstrates improved patient outcomes through pharmacy intervention.

Routine or common cases without a clear educational, clinical, or practice-based lesson may not be considered for publication.

6. MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION

Case Studies should be submitted electronically through the Journal's designated manuscript submission system or Editorial Office.

The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring that:

  • All authors meet the Journal's authorship requirements.
  • All authors have approved the final manuscript.
  • The case report is original.
  • The manuscript has not been submitted simultaneously to another journal.
  • Appropriate patient consent has been obtained.
  • Patient confidentiality has been protected.
  • Ethical and institutional requirements have been fulfilled where applicable.

7. MANUSCRIPT PREPARATION

Manuscripts should be prepared in clear and grammatically correct English.

Authors should generally use:

  • Microsoft Word format (.doc or .docx).
  • Times New Roman font.
  • Font size: 12 points.
  • 1.5 or double line spacing.
  • Standard page margins.
  • Consecutive page numbering.
  • Continuous line numbering, where possible.

Abbreviations should be defined at first use.

Generic names of medicines should generally be used. Brand names should only be included where necessary for clinical relevance or clarity.

8. TITLE PAGE

The Title Page should contain:

  1. Full title of the Case Study.
  2. Short running title, where required.
  3. Full names of all authors.
  4. Institutional or professional affiliations.
  5. Department or practice setting, where applicable.
  6. Institution or organisation.
  7. City and country.
  8. Full name of the corresponding author.
  9. Corresponding author's email address.
  10. ORCID identification, where available.

To support blinded peer review, author-identifying information may be requested separately from the main manuscript.

9. ABSTRACT

Case Studies should include a structured abstract of approximately 200–300 words.

The abstract should include:

Background

Briefly describe the clinical, pharmaceutical, or practice-related context.

Case Presentation

Summarise the patient's relevant characteristics, presenting problem, medication-related issue, and clinical circumstances.

Intervention

Describe the clinical pharmacy or pharmaceutical care intervention.

Outcome

State the relevant patient, clinical, therapeutic, or practice outcome.

Conclusion

Highlight the main lesson or implication for clinical and community pharmacy practice.

Keywords: Authors should provide 3–6 keywords.

10. MAIN MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

Case Studies submitted to JCPCP should generally follow the structure below.

10.1 Introduction

The Introduction should briefly explain:

  • The clinical or pharmacy practice background.
  • The importance of the medication-related issue.
  • The relevance of the case.
  • The reason the case is educational or significant.

The Introduction should not provide an unnecessarily extensive literature review.

10.2 Case Presentation

This section should provide a clear and chronological description of the case.

Where relevant, include:

  • Patient age range.
  • Sex, where relevant.
  • Relevant medical history.
  • Relevant medication history.
  • Presenting complaint or problem.
  • Clinical or laboratory findings.
  • Medication-related problem.
  • Timeline of relevant events.
  • Assessment and clinical reasoning.

Patient-identifying information must not be included.

10.3 Identification and Assessment of the Pharmaceutical Care Problem

Clearly describe:

  • The medication-related problem identified.
  • Potential or actual causes.
  • Clinical significance.
  • Risk factors.
  • Relevant medication, disease, patient, or healthcare system factors.

Where appropriate, authors may classify the problem using an established pharmaceutical care or drug-related problem framework.

10.4 Clinical Pharmacy or Pharmaceutical Care Intervention

Describe the intervention clearly.

Where applicable, include:

  • Medication review.
  • Identification of drug-related problems.
  • Patient counselling.
  • Recommendation to the prescriber.
  • Medication adjustment.
  • Referral.
  • Monitoring.
  • Adherence intervention.
  • Safety intervention.
  • Follow-up plan.

The role and contribution of the pharmacist should be clearly stated.

10.5 Outcome and Follow-Up

Describe the outcome of the intervention.

Where possible, include:

  • Clinical outcome.
  • Therapeutic outcome.
  • Patient-reported outcome.
  • Medication safety outcome.
  • Resolution of the medication-related problem.
  • Follow-up findings.

The duration of follow-up should be stated where relevant.

11. DISCUSSION

The Discussion should:

  • Explain the significance of the case.
  • Interpret the major clinical or pharmaceutical issues.
  • Compare the case with relevant published evidence.
  • Discuss the role of the clinical or community pharmacist.
  • Explain lessons learned.
  • Discuss implications for patient care and pharmacy practice.

Authors should avoid overstating conclusions based on a single case.

12. KEY LEARNING POINTS

Authors should provide 3–5 concise Key Learning Points.

Example

  1. Early identification of medication-related problems may prevent avoidable harm.
  2. Comprehensive medication review can identify clinically significant drug interactions.
  3. Pharmacist-led interventions can improve medication safety and patient outcomes.

13. CONCLUSION

The Conclusion should briefly summarise:

  • The significance of the case.
  • The role of the pharmacy intervention.
  • The main clinical or practice lesson.

The conclusion should be directly supported by the information presented in the Case Study.

14. PATIENT PERSPECTIVE

Authors are encouraged, where appropriate and with consent, to include the patient's perspective.

The patient's experience should be presented respectfully and without revealing identifying information.

15. INFORMED CONSENT

Appropriate written informed consent must be obtained before submission when required.

For individual Case Reports, authors should obtain written informed consent from:

  • The patient; or
  • The patient's legally authorised representative, where appropriate.

The manuscript should include a statement such as:

“Written informed consent for publication of this case and any accompanying information was obtained from the patient.”

16. PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY

Authors must protect patient confidentiality.

Authors must not include:

  • Patient names.
  • Initials that could identify the patient.
  • Hospital numbers.
  • Addresses.
  • Contact information.
  • Identifiable photographs.
  • Other unnecessary identifying information.

Photographs or other potentially identifiable materials should not be published without explicit written permission.

17. ETHICAL APPROVAL

Formal ethical approval may not always be required for a single Case Study or Case Report, depending on institutional and national requirements.

Authors should comply with applicable institutional policies.

Where ethical approval or institutional permission is required, authors must provide relevant details.

Where ethical approval is not required, authors should state this clearly.

Example

“Ethical approval was not required for this Case Report in accordance with the policy of [Institution], as the report describes routine clinical practice and written informed consent for publication was obtained from the patient.”

18. CASE REPORTING GUIDELINES

Authors are encouraged to follow recognised reporting guidelines appropriate for Case Reports.

The Journal may request a completed Case Report checklist during the submission or review process.

19. TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables and figures should only be used where they improve understanding of the case.

Examples include:

  • Timeline of clinical events.
  • Medication history.
  • Laboratory trends.
  • Clinical intervention pathway.
  • Outcome measures.

All tables and figures should:

  • Be numbered consecutively.
  • Have clear titles or legends.
  • Be cited in the manuscript.
  • Protect patient confidentiality.

20. REFERENCES

References should follow the Journal's required referencing style, currently recommended as Vancouver Style.

References should:

  • Be relevant to the Case Study.
  • Support statements made in the Discussion.
  • Be accurately cited.
  • Be numbered in the order of appearance.

Authors are responsible for checking the accuracy of all references.

21. AUTHORSHIP

Authorship should be limited to individuals who made substantial contributions to:

  • Identification or management of the case.
  • Pharmaceutical care or clinical intervention.
  • Analysis and interpretation.
  • Manuscript preparation.
  • Critical revision of the manuscript.

All authors must approve the final version before submission.

22. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

Authors should clearly state the contribution of each author.

Example

Author A: Identified and assessed the pharmaceutical care problem.

Author B: Participated in the clinical intervention and patient follow-up.

Author C: Conducted the literature review and drafted the manuscript.

All Authors: Reviewed, revised, and approved the final manuscript.

23. FUNDING

Authors should declare all financial or material support.

Example

“This Case Study received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.”

24. CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors must disclose all actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Example

“The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

25. DATA AVAILABILITY

Authors should provide an appropriate Data Availability Statement.

For most Case Studies, a suitable statement may be:

“The data supporting the findings of this Case Study are not publicly available because they contain confidential patient information.”

26. USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Artificial intelligence tools must not be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

  • Accuracy of clinical information.
  • Originality of the manuscript.
  • Accuracy of references.
  • Protection of patient confidentiality.
  • Verification of all content.

Authors should not enter confidential or identifiable patient information into public artificial intelligence platforms.

Where AI-assisted tools have materially contributed to manuscript preparation, their use should be appropriately disclosed in accordance with Journal policy.

27. ORIGINALITY AND PREVIOUS PUBLICATION

Submitted Case Studies must be original and must not have been previously published.

Authors should disclose:

  • Previous presentation at conferences.
  • Abstract publication.
  • Preprints.
  • Related publications.
  • Similar reports involving the same patient or cases.

Duplicate publication of the same Case Study is not permitted.

28. PEER-REVIEW PROCESS

All submitted Case Studies undergo an initial editorial assessment.

Suitable manuscripts are subsequently considered for peer review.

The Journal may use a double-anonymous peer-review process, in which authors and reviewers do not know each other's identities.

Reviewers may assess:

  • Clinical relevance.
  • Educational value.
  • Originality.
  • Accuracy.
  • Quality of clinical reasoning.
  • Quality of pharmaceutical care intervention.
  • Patient confidentiality.
  • Ethical compliance.
  • Clarity of presentation.
  • Relevance to clinical and community pharmacy practice.

Editorial decisions may include:

  • Accept.
  • Minor Revision.
  • Major Revision.
  • Reject.

The final decision rests with the Editor-in-Chief or designated Editorial Authority.

29. PUBLICATION ETHICS

The Journal is committed to maintaining high standards of publication ethics and professional integrity.

The Journal does not tolerate:

  • Plagiarism.
  • Fabrication of clinical information.
  • Falsification of data.
  • Misrepresentation of patient information.
  • Breach of patient confidentiality.
  • Publication without appropriate consent.
  • Duplicate publication.
  • Inappropriate authorship.
  • Undisclosed conflicts of interest.
  • Manipulation of peer review.

Serious ethical concerns may result in rejection, withdrawal, correction, retraction, or notification of relevant institutions where appropriate.

30. PLAGIARISM AND SIMILARITY SCREENING

Submitted manuscripts may undergo similarity and plagiarism screening.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that:

  • The Case Study is their original work.
  • All published sources are properly cited.
  • Direct quotations are appropriately identified.
  • Previously published material is not reproduced without permission.

31. CORRECTIONS AND RETRACTIONS

The Journal may publish:

Corrections

Where errors affect the accuracy of the published Case Study.

Retractions

Where serious concerns exist regarding:

  • Accuracy or reliability.
  • Patient consent.
  • Confidentiality.
  • Ethical violations.
  • Plagiarism.
  • Research or publication misconduct.

32. ARTICLE PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION POLICY

Any applicable manuscript processing or publication fees will be clearly communicated to authors.

Payment of any applicable fee does not influence editorial or peer-review decisions.

Editorial decisions are based on:

  • Clinical and educational value.
  • Relevance to the Journal.
  • Quality of the Case Study.
  • Quality of clinical reasoning.
  • Significance of the pharmaceutical care intervention.
  • Ethical and professional integrity.

33. COPYRIGHT AND OPEN-ACCESS POLICY

The Journal may publish Case Studies under an open-access publishing model.

Authors will be informed of applicable:

  • Copyright arrangements.
  • Publishing agreements.
  • Licensing terms.
  • Author rights.

Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyrighted material.

34. CASE STUDY SUBMISSION CHECKLIST

Before submitting to the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy in Community Practice (JCPCP), authors should confirm that:

☐ The manuscript is a Case Study or Case Report.

☐ The case is relevant to clinical pharmacy or community pharmacy practice.

☐ The Case Study provides clear clinical, educational, or practice-based value.

☐ The manuscript is original and has not been submitted elsewhere.

☐ All authors meet the Journal's authorship requirements.

☐ All authors have approved the final manuscript.

☐ The corresponding author has been identified.

☐ Patient-identifying information has been removed.

☐ Appropriate informed consent for publication has been obtained.

☐ Ethical requirements have been addressed.

☐ The abstract and keywords are included.

☐ The medication-related problem is clearly described.

☐ The clinical pharmacy or pharmaceutical care intervention is clearly described.

☐ Patient outcomes and follow-up are included where available.

☐ Key Learning Points are included.

☐ References are complete and accurately formatted.

☐ Funding sources have been declared.

☐ Conflicts of interest have been declared.

☐ A Data Availability Statement has been included.

☐ The manuscript has been checked for grammar, accuracy, originality, and confidentiality.

35. FINAL ACCEPTANCE

Case Studies are accepted for publication based on:

  • Clinical relevance.
  • Educational value.
  • Originality.
  • Quality of case presentation.
  • Importance of the pharmaceutical care intervention.
  • Relevance to community pharmacy practice.
  • Ethical compliance.
  • Protection of patient confidentiality.
  • Successful completion of the peer-review process.

36. CONTACT THE EDITORIAL OFFICE

For enquiries regarding Case Study submission, editorial policies, peer review, or publication ethics, authors should contact the Editorial Office of the: