Instructions to Authors

World Pharma Today Journal

Peer-reviewed · Open access

World Pharma Today Journal is open access. Every article is free to read from the day it is published, and we charge authors nothing at any stage. Each article we publish follows the format set out on this page. Read it in full before you prepare your manuscript — submissions that do not meet these requirements are returned before peer review.

Submissions are welcome year-round from academic institutions, hospitals, contract research and manufacturing organisations, regulatory bodies and industry research groups.

Scope

We publish work that advances understanding of how medicines are discovered, developed, manufactured, regulated and delivered to patients. Our scope runs to 94 topics across thirteen subject domains. At submission you nominate one primary topic and up to two secondary topics; the primary topic determines which handling editor takes the manuscript.

A · Drug Discovery and Medicinal Chemistry — target identification and validation · medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry · high-throughput and phenotypic screening · structure-based and computer-aided drug design · lead optimisation and structure–activity relationships · natural products and phytopharmaceuticals · peptide, oligonucleotide and macrocyclic therapeutics

B · Pharmacology — molecular and cellular pharmacology · pharmacodynamics and receptor pharmacology · neuropharmacology and CNS drug action · cardiovascular and metabolic pharmacology · immunopharmacology and inflammation · oncology pharmacology and chemotherapy · antimicrobial, antiviral and antiparasitic pharmacology · veterinary pharmacology

C · Pharmacokinetics and ADME — absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion · drug metabolism and cytochrome P450 enzymology · bioavailability and bioequivalence · population PK/PD modelling and simulation · physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling · drug–drug, drug–food and herb–drug interactions · therapeutic drug monitoring

D · Toxicology and Safety Science — preclinical and regulatory toxicology · genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and reproductive toxicology · organ toxicity · in vitro models, new approach methodologies and the 3Rs · clinical and forensic toxicology · impurities, nitrosamines, extractables and leachables · occupational exposure limits and containment

E · Preclinical and Translational Research — disease models and target engagement · biomarkers and companion diagnostics · organ-on-chip, organoids and 3D culture systems · translational study design and first-in-human transition · reproducibility and preclinical study quality

F · Clinical Research and Clinical Pharmacology — Phase I to Phase IV trial design and conduct · adaptive, platform, basket and umbrella trials · decentralised and hybrid trials · real-world evidence and observational research · biostatistics, endpoints and clinical data management · recruitment, retention and diversity in trial populations · Good Clinical Practice, site management and monitoring · bioethics and informed consent

G · Pharmaceutics, Formulation and Drug Delivery — preformulation and solid-state characterisation · oral solid dosage form development · parenteral, ophthalmic and sterile product formulation · nanomedicine, liposomes and lipid nanoparticles · controlled, modified and targeted release · transdermal, inhalation, nasal and mucosal delivery · paediatric, geriatric and patient-centric formulation · excipient science and compatibility · lyophilisation and freeze-drying

H · Biologics, Biosimilars and Advanced Therapies — monoclonal antibodies and antibody–drug conjugates · recombinant proteins, enzymes and hormones · vaccines, adjuvants and platforms · cell and gene therapy including CAR-T, AAV and CRISPR · mRNA and nucleic-acid therapeutics · biosimilar development, comparability and interchangeability · upstream and downstream bioprocessing · analytical characterisation of biologics and immunogenicity

I · Manufacturing, Engineering and Quality — process development, scale-up and technology transfer · continuous manufacturing and process analytical technology · aseptic processing, sterilisation and containment · Quality by Design and process validation · GMP compliance, auditing and data integrity · analytical method development and validation · stability testing and shelf-life prediction · cleaning validation and contamination control · facility design, utilities and single-use systems

J · Regulatory Science and Pharmacovigilance — regulatory affairs, CTD dossiers and submissions · global harmonisation across ICH, WHO, FDA, EMA, CDSCO and PMDA · pharmacovigilance, signal detection and risk management · post-marketing surveillance and risk-management plans · pharmaceutical law, intellectual property and patent strategy · medical devices and drug–device combination products

K · Pharmacy Practice, Outcomes and Access — clinical pharmacy and medication therapy management · pharmacoeconomics and health technology assessment · adherence, medication safety and patient outcomes · market access, pricing and reimbursement · antimicrobial stewardship and resistance · pharmacogenomics and precision medicine · pharmacy education and workforce development

L · Digital, Data and Supply Chain — artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery · digital health, telemedicine and connected devices · bioinformatics, cheminformatics and multi-omics · pharmaceutical supply chain, logistics and cold chain · serialisation, traceability and anti-counterfeiting · packaging, labelling and device human factors · computer system validation and Pharma 4.0

M · Sustainability, Public Health and Consumer Products — green chemistry and sustainable manufacturing · pharmaceuticals in the environment · access to medicines and manufacturing in low- and middle-income countries · global health, immunisation and outbreak response · nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals and OTC products · traditional, herbal and Ayurvedic medicine standardisation

The full numbered list of all 94 topics is published on the Subject Areas page.

We consider negative and confirmatory results where the study design is sound, and we consider methodological and process-improvement work that more specialised journals often decline. Work outside these domains is returned quickly, so you can submit elsewhere without losing time.

Article categories

Original Research — Full reports of original studies, including laboratory, clinical, manufacturing, regulatory and health-economic work. Methods must be complete enough for another group to repeat the study. A structured abstract is required, and a limitations paragraph is mandatory.

Review Article — Systematic or critical reviews that synthesise an existing body of evidence and identify the open questions. Systematic reviews must follow PRISMA 2020 and state the search strategy, databases, date ranges and inclusion criteria in enough detail to be reproduced. Narrative reviews must state how the literature was selected; “a review of the literature” is not a method.

Perspective — Argued commentary on a development, a policy shift or a methodological debate, from an author with standing in the field. A Perspective takes a position and defends it. It is not a mini-review, and it is not promotion of a product, company or service.

Short Communication — Concise reports of preliminary findings, a novel method or a single significant result that does not yet justify a full paper. Written as one continuous narrative rather than in formal sections.

For advice on which category fits your work, or to request an exception to any limit on this page, write to the Editor at [journal@worldpharmatoday.com] before you submit.

What we do not publish

Promotional material for a product, service, company or facility in any form
Manuscripts whose primary purpose is to support a commercial claim
Work already published elsewhere, including in another language
Research on human participants without documented ethics approval
Manuscripts where a named author cannot be contacted or verified

Word count, abstract and limits

	Original Research	Review Article	Perspective	Short Communication
Main text, maximum	6,000 words	8,000 words	3,000 words	2,000 words
Abstract	250 words, structured	250 words, unstructured	150 words, unstructured	150 words, unstructured
Keywords	5–8	5–8	4–6	4–6
References	30–60 (hard cap 80)	60–150 (hard cap 200)	15–40	maximum 25
Figures + tables combined	maximum 8	maximum 6	maximum 2	maximum 3
Supplementary files	maximum 10	maximum 10	maximum 3	maximum 5
Authors	no fixed limit	no fixed limit	maximum 4	maximum 6
Highlights	required	required	not required	not required

What counts towards the word limit. The main text only, from the first word of the Introduction to the last word of the Conclusion. Title page, abstract, keywords, highlights, tables, figure legends, references, declarations and supplementary material are all excluded.

Structured abstract (Original Research) must be set out under: Background · Methods · Results · Conclusions.

Highlights: 3 to 5 bullet points, each a maximum of 85 characters including spaces.

Do not cite references in the abstract, and keep abbreviations in it to a minimum. Where the work reports a clinical trial, give the registry name and registration number immediately after the abstract. Accession numbers for nucleic acid sequences, protein sequences or atomic coordinates should be given in square brackets with the database name.

Going over the limit. If your study genuinely needs more room, write to the editorial office before submitting and explain why. We would rather agree an exception in advance than reject sound work on length. Unexplained overruns are returned.

Manuscript submission

One author takes responsibility for the manuscript through submission and peer review. That corresponding author must supply an institutional email address and an ORCID iD, confirm that every co-author has approved the submission, and handle queries after publication.

Submit by email to [journal@worldpharmatoday.com] with the subject line:
SUBMISSION — [Article type] — [First author surname]

There is no submission fee and no article processing charge, for any author, from any country.

Files required

File	Format	Notes
Cover letter	DOC, DOCX	Separate file, not embedded in the manuscript
Title page	DOC, DOCX	Separate file — not sent to reviewers
Anonymised manuscript	DOC, DOCX, RTF	The file reviewers see. Do not submit as PDF
Figures	TIF, EPS, PDF, PNG, JPG	One file per figure, supplied separately as well as placed in the manuscript
Tables	DOC, DOCX, XLSX	At the end of the manuscript, or as a separate file if large
Reporting checklist	PDF, DOC	CONSORT, PRISMA, STROBE, ARRIVE or equivalent
Supplementary material	Any	Video, animations, datasets, code
Permission letters	PDF	For any third-party figure, table or extract

Total upload size: 50 MB. If figures exceed this, send low-resolution versions for review and print-quality files on acceptance.

File naming: Surname_CoverLetter.docx, Surname_TitlePage.docx, Surname_Manuscript.docx, Fig1.tif, Fig2.tif, Surname_Supplementary.pdf.

LaTeX users: submit a PDF for review and supply the .tex source with all class files on acceptance.

The cover letter

Half a page, addressed to the Editor, stating:

the title, article category and primary subject topic you are submitting to
what the work adds that is not already in the literature, in two or three sentences
that the work is original, unpublished and not under consideration elsewhere
that all authors have seen and approved the submission
any competing interest the editor should know about before assigning reviewers
up to three suggested reviewers, with names, institutions and email addresses

Suggested reviewers must not be from your institution, must not have co-authored with any author in the past three years, and must not be current collaborators. You may also name reviewers you wish to exclude, with a brief reason; we honour reasonable exclusion requests without asking for detail. Suggestions are a courtesy — the handling editor selects independently.

The title page

Submitted as a separate file and not sent to reviewers. It must give:

the full title, maximum 20 words or 120 characters including spaces
a short running title, maximum 60 characters
full names, institutional addresses, countries, email addresses and ORCID iDs for all authors
a clear indication of which author is the corresponding author
the full declarations (acknowledgements, funding, conflicts, ethics approval, consent, data availability, AI use, author contributions)
the word count of the main text and the number of figures, tables and references

Capitalise only the first word and proper nouns in the title.

The anonymised manuscript

Peer review is double-anonymised: reviewers do not see who you are, and you do not see who they are. The manuscript file must therefore contain the title and everything from the abstract onwards, with:

no author names, affiliations, email addresses or ORCID iDs
no acknowledgements or funding statements — write “Declarations appear on the title page”
self-citations written in the third person: “Patel et al. showed”, never “we previously showed”
no named institution, hospital, plant or site — write “a tertiary referral hospital in western India” or “a commercial-scale sterile fill-finish facility in Europe”
no identifying information in the file properties (Word: File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document)

Manuscript structure

Original Research follows IMRaD: Abstract · Keywords · Highlights · Introduction · Materials and Methods · Results · Discussion · Conclusions · Declarations · References · Tables · Figure legends · Supplementary material.

A limitations paragraph within the Discussion is mandatory. Manuscripts without one are returned at screening.

Review Article: Abstract · Keywords · Highlights · Introduction · Methods of literature search · Thematic sections · Discussion and synthesis · Open questions · Conclusions · Declarations · References.

Perspective: Abstract · Keywords · Argued text with descriptive headings · Conclusion · Declarations · References.

Short Communication: Abstract · Keywords · Continuous text covering background, method, result and significance, with no formal headings · Declarations · References.

Use three levels of heading at most, numbered 1, 1.1, 1.2. If you need a fourth level, the section needs restructuring.

Acknowledgements, funding and disclosures

Acknowledgements. List each individual’s substantive contribution. Obtain written permission from everyone named, because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions. Contributors who do not meet all four ICMJE authorship criteria — medical writers, statisticians, technical staff, funder editorial support — belong here, not in the author list.

Author contributions. Use the CRediT taxonomy: conceptualisation, methodology, software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing (original draft), writing (review and editing), visualisation, supervision, project administration, funding acquisition. Name a person against every role that applies.

Funding. List every source with grant numbers, spelling out all agency names in full at first mention, and state the funder’s role in the study. Where there was none, write: “This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.”

Conflicts of interest. Disclose every financial and non-financial interest from the past 36 months for every author: employment, consultancies, honoraria, speaker fees, paid expert testimony, patents filed or granted, stock or share options, board and advisory positions, and funded travel. Non-financial interests include personal relationships, institutional loyalties and strongly held positions on a contested question. Where there are none, write: “The authors declare no competing interests.”

The corresponding author must collect conflict-of-interest information from every co-author before submitting. Disclosing an interest does not disqualify a paper. Failing to disclose one can lead to retraction.

Ethics approval. Name the approving committee and quote the approval reference number, or state explicitly why approval was not required and who granted the exemption. Animal studies must name the institutional animal care committee and the national legislation followed.

Consent. Confirm informed consent for human participants. For any case, image or detail that could identify a patient, written consent to publish is mandatory — including where the patient has died, in which case consent comes from next of kin. Masking eyes in a photograph is not adequate anonymisation.

Data availability. Give a repository name with an accession number or DOI, or state “available from the corresponding author on reasonable request”, or set out the specific legal or ethical restriction preventing release. A generic refusal is not acceptable. Retain raw data for at least five years after publication.

Use of AI. AI tools cannot be authors. Language, grammar and translation assistance must be disclosed, naming the tool and version and stating what it was used for. AI must not be used to generate content, data, images or references. Where AI or machine learning is part of the research method, describe it fully in the Methods.

Tables and figures

Tables

Number consecutively with Arabic numerals in order of first mention: Table 1, Table 2.
Titles go above the table and should be no longer than 15 words.
Build tables with the table function of your word processor, so columns stay aligned when the file is transmitted. Never submit a table as an image or a spreadsheet screenshot.
Place tables at the end of the manuscript text file, in A4 portrait or landscape. Tables larger than two pages or too wide for a landscape page should be uploaded as supplementary files.
Footnotes go below the table, marked with superscript lowercase letters (a, b, c). Use asterisks only for p-values, and define what they mean.
Define every abbreviation in a footnote, even if it is already defined in the text.
Do not duplicate data that already appears in a figure or in the text.

Figures

Supply each figure as a separate file, not only embedded in the manuscript.

Figure type	Minimum resolution
Line art — graphs, schematics, flow diagrams	1,000 dpi
Halftone — photographs, gels, micrographs	300 dpi
Combination line and halftone	500 dpi

Sizing. Design to one of two widths: 89 mm single column or 183 mm double column. Maximum depth 240 mm.
Type inside figures. Arial or Helvetica, 7–9 pt at final size. All lettering must stay legible at final width.
Colour. RGB. Colour is free — we make no colour charges. Do not use colour as the only way to distinguish data series; vary markers, line styles or fills as well, so the figure works in greyscale and for colour-blind readers.
Composite figures. Where a figure has several parts, submit one composite illustration containing all parts, labelled (a), (b), (c).
Micrographs and gels. Include a scale bar in the image itself. Show full uncropped gels and blots in supplementary material. Do not splice lanes from different gels; where lanes are non-adjacent, mark the join and say so in the legend.
Image integrity. Adjustments to brightness, contrast or colour must be applied to the whole image, must not obscure or create information, and must be disclosed in the legend. Selective enhancement of one region is manipulation and is treated as misconduct. We may request original unprocessed files at any point.

Figure legends go in the main manuscript file at the end, not in the image files. Give the figure number in sequence, a title of no more than 15 words, and a legend of up to 200 words. Each legend must be self-contained — a reader should understand the figure without returning to the text — and must define every abbreviation and symbol used.

Third-party material. It is the authors’ responsibility to obtain written permission from the copyright holder for any figure, table or extract previously published elsewhere. Because we publish under CC BY 4.0, that permission must allow reuse under an open licence. Credit the source in the legend. Redrawing someone else’s figure still requires permission and attribution if the design is theirs.

References

Style

Vancouver (ICMJE / National Library of Medicine) numbered style. Cite in order of first appearance using Arabic numerals in square brackets: [1], [2,3], [4–7]. Each reference keeps the same number throughout. Journal titles abbreviated as in Index Medicus / the NLM Catalog. List the first six authors, then “et al.” Include the DOI for every source that has one. Reference management software — EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley, Paperpile — with a Vancouver output style produces the correct format.

Journal article
> 1. Nakamura H, Silva AR, Okonkwo B, Whitfield JM. Continuous manufacturing of oral solid dosage forms: a five-year review of regulatory submissions. J Pharm Sci Manuf. 2025;41(3):212–228. doi:10.XXXX/jpsm.2025.0412

Book
> 2. Aulton ME, Taylor KMG. Aulton’s Pharmaceutics: The Design and Manufacture of Medicines. 6th ed. Edinburgh: Elsevier; 2022. p. 411–435.

Chapter in an edited book
> 3. Fernandes L. Lyophilisation cycle development. In: Roberts C, editor. Sterile Product Manufacturing. 2nd ed. Cham: Springer; 2024. p. 88–121.

Regulatory guidance
> 4. European Medicines Agency. Guideline on process validation for finished products. EMA/CHMP/CVMP/QWP/BWP/70278/2012. Amsterdam: EMA; 2024.

Clinical trial registry entry
> 5. Efficacy of [intervention] in [population]. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT0XXXXXXX. Updated 12 March 2026. Accessed 4 June 2026.

Preprint
> 6. Author A, Author B. Title of preprint. bioRxiv. 2026. doi:10.1101/2026.XX.XXXXXX. Preprint, not peer reviewed.

Website
> 7. World Health Organization. Model list of essential medicines, 24th list. Geneva: WHO; 2025. Available from: [URL]. Accessed 18 May 2026.

How many, and which ones

The counts in the limits table are guidance rather than targets. Twenty-five well-chosen references are worth more than twenty-five padded ones. What we check at screening:

Recency. At least half your references should come from the past five years, unless the topic is genuinely historical or methodological.
Self-citation. Citations to your own work should not exceed 20% of the list. Higher rates are queried and the editor may ask you to justify each one.
Preprints. Permitted, capped at 10% of the list, each labelled “Preprint, not peer reviewed.”
Personal communications and unpublished data. Not permitted in the reference list. Cite parenthetically in the text with written permission from the source.
Retracted articles. Check every reference against the Retraction Watch Database before submitting. If a retracted paper must be cited, label it “[Retracted]”.
Verification. Every reference must exist and must say what you claim it says. We spot-check reference lists. Lists containing citations that do not exist — a known signature of unchecked AI-generated text — are rejected outright, and the corresponding author is told why.

Cite the primary study, not a review, as the source of a primary finding. Do not attach ten references to one sentence to imply consensus.

Style and language

Manuscripts are accepted in English only. Spelling may be British or American, but not a mixture.

We do not language-edit submitted manuscripts, and reviewers may recommend rejection where grammar obscures the science. Write plainly, and have a fluent colleague read the manuscript before you submit. Authors whose first language is not English may wish to use a language-editing service; we do not require one and we do not reject sound work for language alone, but a manuscript reviewers cannot follow will be returned before review.

In addition:

Double line spacing throughout
12 pt serif type, A4 page size, 2.5 cm margins
Single column, justified margins, no hyphenation at line breaks
Continuous line numbering and page numbers on every page
Hard returns only at the end of headings and paragraphs, never to rearrange lines
SI units throughout
Abbreviations used sparingly, defined at first use in the abstract and again at first use in the main text; do not abbreviate a term used fewer than three times
International Nonproprietary Name (INN) at first mention for every drug, with brand name and manufacturer in brackets only where the specific product matters
Genes in italics, proteins in roman; give the source and authentication status of cell lines
Greek and other special characters must be embedded in the text, or they will be lost in PDF conversion; where a character cannot be reproduced, type the name of the symbol in full

Statistics. Report the test used, the software and version, exact p-values to three decimal places (state “p < 0.001” below that), effect sizes with 95% confidence intervals, and how missing data were handled. Never report a p-value without the effect size it belongs to. State whether an analysis was pre-specified or exploratory.

Reporting standards

Follow the guideline that fits your study design, and upload the completed checklist as a supplementary file.

Study type	Guideline	Also required
Randomised controlled trial	CONSORT 2025	Prospective registration; the protocol
Trial protocol	SPIRIT	Registration number
Systematic review / meta-analysis	PRISMA 2020	PROSPERO registration where applicable; full search strings
Observational study	STROBE	—
Diagnostic accuracy study	STARD	—
Animal study	ARRIVE 2.0	Ethics reference; species justification
Case report	CARE	Written patient consent
Health economic evaluation	CHEERS 2022	Model assumptions and time horizon
Qualitative research	COREQ or SRQR	—
Prediction model	TRIPOD+AI	Validation approach

Clinical trials. Any study prospectively assigning human participants to an intervention must have been registered in a WHO primary registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, CTIS or CTRI before the first participant was enrolled. Give the registry and number after the abstract. Retrospectively registered studies are not published as trials; we may consider them as observational reports where the limitation is stated openly.

Initial review process

Every manuscript is read by the editorial office and a handling editor before it goes anywhere near a reviewer. That screening checks scope, structure, originality, similarity, ethical compliance and completeness of declarations. Manuscripts outside scope, or that do not meet the requirements on this page, are returned quickly so authors can go elsewhere without delay.

Manuscripts that pass screening are assigned to at least two independent reviewers with relevant subject expertise, selected by the handling editor. Review is double-anonymised.

Stage	Timing
Acknowledgement, with manuscript number	2 working days
Editorial screening	5 working days
Reviewer assignment	10 working days
First decision	Target 6 weeks from submission
Final decision after re-review	3 weeks from resubmission
Production and proofs	2 weeks
Proof correction by the author	48 hours
Publication, with DOI	Continuous, as accepted

Decisions are: accept · minor revision · major revision · decline.

Instructions for revised submissions

Supply a clean copy of the revised manuscript and a copy with changes marked, using tracked changes or highlighting.
Supply a point-by-point response addressing every reviewer comment, giving the page, paragraph and line number where each change was made.
Where you disagree with a reviewer, say so and give your reasons. A reasoned disagreement is a legitimate response and is considered on its merits.
Identify any additional changes you made that no reviewer asked for.
Deadlines: 21 days for minor revision, 42 days for major revision. Revisions returned later without an agreed extension are administratively withdrawn and must be resubmitted as new manuscripts. Extensions are granted at the editors’ discretion where substantial new data are required; in those cases we make every effort to retain the original reviewers.

Withdrawal. You may withdraw at any time before acceptance by writing to the editorial office. Withdrawal after acceptance requires the editor’s agreement and a stated reason.

Appeals. Write to the Editor within 30 days, setting out specifically where the review was factually wrong or the process was not followed. Disagreement with a reviewer’s judgement is not by itself grounds for appeal. Appeals are considered by an editor not involved in the original decision. One appeal per manuscript, and the outcome is final.

Charges, copyright and licensing

There are no charges of any kind. No submission fee, no article processing charge, no page charges, no colour charges, no charge for supplementary material, and no charge for a PDF of your own article. We operate no waiver scheme because there is nothing to waive. The journal is funded by its publisher, and publication decisions are made on scholarly merit alone, with no connection to advertising or sponsorship.

Authors retain copyright. You grant us a non-exclusive licence to publish; you keep every other right.

Licence. Articles are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Anyone may share and adapt the work, including commercially, provided the authors and the original publication are credited. This satisfies the open-access requirements of Plan S, Wellcome, the NIH and the European Commission.

What you may do with your own article, immediately and with no embargo: post the published PDF on your own site, your institutional repository, PubMed Central, EuropePMC, ResearchGate or SSRN; include it in a thesis or book; reuse figures and text in later work, teaching and grant applications; translate it; and distribute it freely. Cite the original publication and give the DOI.

Preprints are permitted before and during review. Declare the preprint DOI in the cover letter and link the preprint to the final version once published.

Every article receives a Crossref DOI, is indexed in Google Scholar, and is pushed to author ORCID records.

Submission checklist

Scope and format
– [ ] Primary topic selected from the subject list, plus up to two secondary topics
– [ ] Article category identified and word limit met
– [ ] Separate files: cover letter, title page, anonymised manuscript
– [ ] DOC, DOCX or RTF; double spaced; 12 pt; line numbers; page numbers
– [ ] Total upload under 50 MB

Content
– [ ] Abstract within the word limit and correctly structured
– [ ] 3–10 keywords supplied, not repeating words in the title
– [ ] Highlights supplied where required, each under 85 characters
– [ ] Limitations paragraph included (Original Research)
– [ ] Abbreviations defined at first use; INN used for every drug
– [ ] Trial registration number given after the abstract, where applicable

Display items
– [ ] Figures and tables within the combined limit
– [ ] Each figure a separate file at the required resolution
– [ ] Legends in the manuscript file, each self-contained, under 200 words
– [ ] Tables editable, captions above, footnotes below
– [ ] Scale bars in micrographs; uncropped gels in supplementary material
– [ ] Written permission held for all third-party material

References
– [ ] Vancouver numbered style, in order of appearance
– [ ] Count within the range for the article category
– [ ] At least half from the past five years
– [ ] Self-citation under 20%; preprints under 10% and labelled
– [ ] DOIs included; every reference verified to exist
– [ ] Checked against the Retraction Watch Database

Declarations
– [ ] CRediT author contributions
– [ ] Funding statement, agencies spelled out
– [ ] Conflicts of interest for all authors, covering 36 months
– [ ] Ethics approval reference, or explicit exemption
– [ ] Consent to participate and consent to publish
– [ ] Data availability statement
– [ ] AI use disclosed, or confirmed not used
– [ ] ORCID iD for the corresponding author

Anonymity
– [ ] No names, affiliations or emails in the manuscript file
– [ ] Self-citations in the third person
– [ ] Institutions and sites described generically
– [ ] Document properties cleared of personal information

Related policies

Publication Ethics — authorship, plagiarism, data integrity, human and animal research, conflicts of interest, AI, misconduct, corrections and retractions
Charges, Copyright and Licensing — fees, ownership, CC BY 4.0, self-archiving, indexing and preservation
Editorial Board — who reviews and decides

Contact

Editorial office: [journal@worldpharmatoday.com]
Ethics and integrity: [ethics@worldpharmatoday.com]
Post: [Editorial address]
Web: www.worldpharmatoday.com/journal

Questions about scope, article category or an exception to any limit on this page should reach the editorial office before you submit, not after.

INTERNAL NOTE — not for publication

Delete this section before the page goes live.

1. Optional additional article categories. The journal page currently lists four types, and this page matches it. If you want a wider range — most clinical journals carry more — these three are the standard additions, with limits consistent with the table above. Confirm before adding, and update the journal home page at the same time so the two agree.

	Case Report	Methodology Article	Letter to the Editor
Main text	1,500 words	4,000 words	1,000 words
Abstract	150, unstructured	250, structured	none
Keywords	4–6	5–8	none
References	maximum 20	25–50	maximum 10
Figures + tables	maximum 3	maximum 6	maximum 1
Authors	maximum 6	no fixed limit	maximum 3
Special requirement	Written patient consent to publish is mandatory; follow CARE	Must include validation data against an existing method	Signed; on an article published by us within the past six months

2. Placeholders to fill throughout: e-ISSN, DOI prefix, editorial@leomarcom.com editorial postal address, version date.

3. Design notes for the developer. The limits table and the submission checklist are the two elements authors actually use — give them visual weight and make the checklist printable. The reference examples should be in a monospaced or indented block. The eight major sections suit an anchor-linked sidebar or a sticky contents strip, as on the ScienceDirect guide-for-authors pages. Consider a “Download as PDF” button on this page; authors expect one.

4. Keep consistent. The figures in this page — word counts, reference ranges, figure limits, six-week first decision, no fees, CC BY 4.0, double-anonymised review — match the journal home page and the two policy documents. If any number changes, change it in all four places.