Instructions for Authors

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QES MedPharm Journal publishes peer-reviewed articles across medicine and pharmaceutical sciences, with an emphasis on scientific rigor, research integrity, and clear reporting. These instructions are designed to align with international best practices in biomedical publishing and the transparency expectations commonly assessed during indexing evaluations.

Journal website: https://qesmedpharm.com/

Editorial office email: editorial.office@qesmedpharm.com

1. Aims and Scope

The journal considers submissions in (but not limited to) the following areas: clinical medicine, pharmacology and toxicology, pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical chemistry, clinical pharmacy, drug discovery and development, public health, translational research, and evidence synthesis.

2. Article Types

  • Original Research Articles
  • Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses
  • Narrative Reviews and Scoping Reviews
  • Short Communications
  • Case Reports / Case Series (when ethically sound and educational)
  • Clinical/Experimental Protocols
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials (by invitation)

3. Submission and Editorial Process

Manuscripts should be submitted through the journal’s online submission portal available on the website. If the portal is temporarily unavailable, authors may contact the Editorial Office for instructions.

  • Initial screening: scope fit, completeness, and basic integrity checks (including plagiarism screening).
  • Peer review: typically double-blind review by at least two independent reviewers.
  • Editorial decision: accept, minor revision, major revision, or reject.
  • Production: copyediting, proofreading, and publication in HTML and PDF formats.

The journal may desk-reject manuscripts that are out of scope, incomplete, or fail basic integrity checks.

4. Manuscript Preparation

4.1 General formatting

  • Language: English (British/Oxford spelling preferred).
  • File format: Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx).
  • Font: Calibri or Times New Roman, size 11–12; double-spaced is preferred for review.
  • Number all pages and use continuous line numbers (recommended).
  • Use SI units. Define abbreviations at first use.

4.2 Structure for Original Research

  • Title page
  • Abstract (structured recommended) + Keywords
  • Introduction
  • Materials and Methods (including ethics approvals)
  • Results
  • Discussion
  • Conclusions
  • Author Contributions
  • Funding
  • Conflicts of Interest
  • Data Availability Statement
  • Acknowledgements (optional)
  • References
  • Tables and Figures (with captions)
  • Supplementary material (if any)

4.3 Title page requirements

  • Full title and a short running title (optional).
  • Full names of all authors.
  • Affiliations: department, institution, city, country.
  • Corresponding author: full postal address, email, and phone (optional).
  • ORCID iDs for authors (strongly encouraged).

4.4 Abstract and keywords

Abstracts should be concise and reflect the manuscript content. For original research, a structured abstract (Background, Methods, Results, Conclusions) is recommended. Provide 4–8 keywords; use MeSH terms where possible.

MeSH Browser: https://meshb.nlm.nih.gov/

4.5 References

Use a consistent reference style throughout the manuscript. Vancouver (numbered) is recommended for biomedical articles. Ensure all in-text citations appear in the reference list and vice versa.

4.6 Tables and figures

  • General rules
  • Each table and figure must be cited in the text in numerical order (e.g., Table 1, Table 2…; Figure 1, Figure 2…). Do not cite Table 3 before Table 2.
  • Do not duplicate results: do not present the same dataset in both a table and a figure unless it is essential for clarity (and explain why).
  • Provide self-contained titles/captions so the table/figure can be understood without reading the main text. Define all abbreviations, symbols, and statistical tests in the caption or footnotes.
  • Obtain and declare permissions for any third-party material (previously published figures/tables, images, screenshots).

  • Figure formatting
  • How to write in-text
  • Use Figure when starting a sentence and Fig. within parentheses or mid-sentence.

  • Examples
  • Start of sentence: “Figure 1 shows the study flow diagram.”
  • Mid-sentence/parenthesis: “…as shown in Fig. 1.”
  • Multiple figures: “(Figs. 2–4)” or “(Figs. 2 and 3)”.

  • Numbering style
  • Use Arabic numerals: Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3 (do not use Roman numerals I, II, III).
  • If you use figure parts, label them as Figure 2A, Figure 2B, Figure 2C (and refer to them in text as Fig. 2A).

  • Figure captions (legends)
  • Place the legend below the figure.

  • Caption format:
  • Figure X. Short title. Then 1–4 lines of explanation.
  • Define abbreviations at the end of the legend (e.g., “ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase.”).

  • For graphs, the legend must state:
  • what the axes represent (with units),
  • sample size (n),
  • statistical test used,
  • significance definition (e.g., p < 0.05),
  • what error bars represent (SD/SEM/CI).

  • Resolution and file requirements
  • Photographs/micrographs: ≥300 dpi
  • Line art (diagrams, схемatics): 600–1200 dpi
  • Preferred formats: TIFF, PNG, EPS (or high-quality JPEG for photos)
  • Text in figures should be large enough to remain readable after resizing.

  • Table formatting
  • How to write in-text
  • Use Table when starting a sentence and in running text.

  • Examples
  • Start of sentence: “Table 1 summarizes baseline characteristics.”
  • Mid-sentence: “…as shown in Table 2.”
  • Multiple tables: “(Tables 2–4)”.

  • Numbering style
  • Use Arabic numerals: Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 (do not use Roman numerals).
  • Use clear column headings and include measurement units in the heading (e.g., “ALT (U/L)”).

  • Table titles and footnotes
  • Place the title above the table.
  • Title format: Table X. Descriptive title (self-contained).
  • Use footnotes below the table for:
  • abbreviations,
  • statistical notes,
  • definitions of symbols (*, †, ‡),
  • special methods or scoring systems.

  • Footnote example (recommended style)
  • Abbreviations: ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase.
  • Data are presented as mean ± SD unless stated otherwise. p < 0.05 vs control (ANOVA with Tukey post hoc).

5. Research Integrity and Ethics Requirements

5.1 Human subjects research

  • State ethics committee/institutional review board (IRB) approval (name of committee, approval number, date).
  • Confirm informed consent was obtained where applicable.
  • For clinical trials, provide registration details (registry name and registration number).

ClinicalTrials.gov: https://clinicaltrials.gov/

WHO ICTRP: https://trialsearch.who.int/

5.2 Animal research

  • Provide animal ethics approval details and confirm compliance with relevant institutional/national guidelines.
  • Report species/strain/sex, housing conditions, sample size justification, randomization/blinding where relevant.

5.3 Reporting guidelines

Authors should follow appropriate reporting guidelines and submit completed checklists when applicable.

  • CONSORT (randomized trials)
  • STROBE (observational studies)
  • PRISMA (systematic reviews/meta-analyses)
  • CARE (case reports)
  • ARRIVE (animal studies)
  • SRQR/COREQ (qualitative studies)

EQUATOR Network: https://www.equator-network.org/

5.4 Data availability, materials, and code

All submissions must include a Data Availability Statement describing where data, materials, and code can be accessed, or explaining restrictions (e.g., privacy, legal, or proprietary constraints). For clinical trials, data sharing expectations should be addressed transparently.

5.5 Conflicts of interest and funding

  • All authors must disclose financial and non-financial conflicts of interest.
  • List all sources of funding and the role of funders in study design, data collection, analysis, and publication decisions.

5.6 Authorship and contributorship

Authorship must reflect substantial contributions and accountability. The journal encourages transparent contributorship (e.g., CRediT roles) and requires that all authors approve the final manuscript prior to submission.

CRediT taxonomy: https://credit.niso.org/

6. Publication Fees (APC) and Waivers

There is no Article Processing Charge (APC) for manuscripts submitted and accepted in 2026 and 2027. APC may be introduced in the future after successful indexing in major databases (e.g., PubMed/PMC and/or Scopus). Any future APC and waiver policy will be announced publicly on the journal website before implementation.

6.1 Contributor Recognition Program (optional)

To recognize verified contributions that strengthen scholarly communication (e.g., peer review, editorial service, and open science practices), the journal may operate a Contributor Recognition Program (points/credits). Participation is voluntary.

Points/credits may be awarded for verified activities such as completing peer reviews, serving on the editorial board, submitting relevant reporting checklists, and sharing data/materials/code where appropriate. Recognition may include certificates and public acknowledgements and, if APCs are introduced in the future, may include fee discounts/waivers administered by the publisher.

Important: Points/credits and any related benefits do not influence peer review, editorial handling, or acceptance decisions. Manuscripts are evaluated solely on scholarly merit and compliance with ethical and reporting requirements. Any fee discounts/waivers, if applicable, are applied only after an editorial decision has been made.

Current rules, eligibility, and point values (if implemented) are published on the journal website under Journal Policies.

7. Copyright, Licensing, and Permissions

Authors retain copyright of their work. By submitting and publishing in QES MedPharm Journal, authors grant the journal a non-exclusive license to publish the article and to identify itself as the original publisher. All articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given, a link to the license is provided, and any changes are indicated. If the manuscript includes third-party material not covered by an open license, authors must obtain written permission from the copyright holder and provide proper attribution.

CC BY 4.0 license link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

8. Corrections, Retractions, and Post-publication Updates

If an error or integrity concern is identified after publication, the journal will follow established best practices to issue a correction, expression of concern, or retraction as appropriate.

9. Contact

Website: https://qesmedpharm.com/

Email: editorial.office@qesmedpharm.com

Address: Quest College of Health Sciences, VIP Plaza, near Yaseen Chowk, Grid Station, Jaranwala Road, Faisalabad, Pakistan