About CJHP

Focus and Scope

The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy (CJHP) is the official publication of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists (CSHP). It is published online only (ISSN 1920-2903). The CJHP is a quarterly, peer-reviewed, scientific journal, which publishes original research, brief research reports, reviews, case reports, and topical discussions on pharmacy practice that are of interest and value to health care practitioners in hospitals and related care settings.

Mission: The CJHP is an academic journal that focuses on how pharmacists in hospitals and other collaborative health care settings optimize safe and effective drug use for patients in Canada and throughout the world.

Vision: The aim of the CJHP is to be a respected international publication serving as a major venue for dissemination of information related to patient-centred pharmacy practice in hospitals and other collaborative health care settings in Canada and throughout the world.

Publication Frequency and Model

The CJHP publishes four issues per year in March, June, September, and December. Effective January 1, 2024, the CJHP uses a continuous publishing model in which articles are published as soon as they have completed the production process, rather than waiting for all articles in an issue to be completed. This results in quicker access to the final article version and more rapid dissemination of research.

Peer Review Process

All manuscripts are initially reviewed by the Editor, and if appropriate, assigned to an associate editor. If a submission is judged to be suitable for possible publication, the associate editor will send the blinded manuscript to two or more peer reviewers. Once reviewers’ feedback is obtained (they are generally allotted 21 days), the associate editor drafts a decision letter, which is submitted to the Editor for review before being sent to authors.

All articles undergo this process with the following exceptions:

  • Editorial: written by the Editor or an associate editor on a rotating schedule
  • Point Counterpoint: prepared by invitation from the Editorial Board
  • Executive Commentary: written by a member of CSHP’s Executive Committee on a rotating schedule

The CJHP employs a double-blind review process. The identities of authors and reviewers are kept confidential from one another. The manuscript under review is only revealed to editors, reviewers, and editorial staff. Reviewers are required to maintain confidentiality about the manuscripts they review.

During the submission process, Authors are permitted to submit the names of up to three potential reviewers (name, affiliation, and institution/workplace email address), who could, in their opinion, expertly review their manuscript. These reviewers should not have collaborated or published with any of the authors during the past three years and should not currently work or collaborate with any of the authors. Authors may also request to exclude a maximum of two individual reviewers from consideration. The Editors, however, reserve the right to choose all reviewers and their choice is final.

The timeline from submission to initial Editor decision can take 2 to 4 months. The timeline from submission to the final Editor decision may take anywhere from 3 to 12 months, depending on how many revisions the manuscript must undergo.

Editorial Policies

Authorship Criteria

The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

  • Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
  • Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
  • Final approval of the version to be published; AND
  • Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved

All authors must meet ALL of these criteria, and all individuals who meet these criteria must be listed as authors.

Avoid Plagiarism, Including Self-Plagiarism or Text Recycling

Authors are asked to ensure that:

  • All relevant studies and publications are cited in your manuscript
  • All verbatim language (including the authors’ own previously published text) is appropriately
    cited*
  • All verbatim language (including the authors’ own previously published text) is enclosed
    within quotation marks*
  • All paraphrased text and ideas are appropriately cited

* Verbatim text is allowed in the Materials and Methods section, provided the information is cited appropriately.

The “Avoid Plagiarism, Including Self-Plagiarism or Text Recycling” policy is adapted with permission from the American Society for Microbiology’s ASM Ethical Publication Checklist for Authors.

Author resrouce:
iThenticate Professional Plagiarism Prevention White Paper. The Ethics of Self-Plagiarism. Oakland (CA): iParadigms, LLC; 2011 [Accessed 2019 Jan 03]. Available from: http://www.ithenticate.com/resources/papers/ethics-of-self-plagiarism

Blinding for Peer Review

Any submission that will undergo a double-blind peer review needs to be blinded before submission. This includes submissions in the following categories: Original Research, Brief Research Reports, Reviews, Innovations in Pharmacy Practice, and Case Reports.

To ensure that a manuscript is properly blinded, authors should:

  1. Ensure that their manuscript is anonymous and does NOT include any identifying information.
    Identifying information includes (but is not limited to):
    1. author names
    2. author institution details
    3. author contact details
    4. ethics approval statements that refer to a specific institution
    5. the names of institutions, participants, or geographic locations involved in studies
      Such identifying information should be removed and replaced with “XXX.”
  2. Ensure that the third person is used to refer to any work previously undertaken by the author(s). For example, replace any phrases like “as we have shown before” with “has been shown before.” In the list of references treat this type of citation information like any other citation (i.e., do not anonymise it).
  3. Ensure that figures do not contain any affiliation related identifiers.
  4. Ensure that any references to funding sources are removed.
  5. Ensure that the acknowledgments section is blank (if present). Authors may consider including a separate document with their submission containing acknowledgments (if applicable).

Manuscripts that have not been blinded properly will be returned to the author(s) for blinding before being sent out for peer review.

Copyright Transfer

After publication of a manuscript in the CJHP, the authors of the manuscript must obtain written permission from the CSHP (publications@cshp.ca) before reproducing any text, figures, tables, or illustrations from the work in future works of their own. If a submitted manuscript is declined for publication in the CJHP, all said rights shall revert to the authors. Please note that any forms (e.g., preprinted orders and patient intake forms) used by a specific hospital or other health care facility and included as illustrative material with a manuscript are exempt from this copyright transfer. The CJHP will require a letter from the hospital or health care facility granting permission to publish the document(s).

Declaring Potential Conflicts of Interest

An ICMJE form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest must be filled out by every author for every submission to the CJHP. Please detail all potential conflicts of interest in this form, including relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or other corporations whose products or services pertain to the subject matter of the article. These relationships may include employment by an industrial concern, ownership of stock, membership on a standing advisory council or committee, serving on the board of directors, receiving honoraria or consulting fees, receiving grants or funds from such corporations or from individuals representing such corporations, or being publicly associated with the company or its products.

The CJHP will publish a brief statement at the end of all published articles stating the nature of any conflicts of interest as listed in the authors' ICMJE disclosure forms. Example: “[author initials] has acted as a consultant to, provided continuing education on behalf of, and/or received travel support from [as appropriate] [company names]. [author initials] has declared no conflicts of interest.”

Permissions for Previously Published Material

For textual material that has been previously published, in whole or in part, and that is to be reproduced as originally published, include a letter from the editor or publisher of the original source permitting republication of the material in the CJHP. When using tables, figures, or graphs originally published in other sources, include with the submission a letter from the copyright holder of the original work (usually the publisher) granting permission to do so.

Registering Clinical Trials

It is highly recommended that clinical trials presented in submissions are registered and copies of protocols submitted for reference.

Statement of Informed Consent

Authors of reports describing data obtained from research conducted in human participants must include a statement in the Methods section indicating approval by a research ethics board, institutional review board, or other institutional review body, along with a statement that participants provided written or verbal informed consent, or that the institutional review body waived the need for informed consent. If patients are identifiable from illustrations, photographs, case reports, or other study data, release forms (or copies of the figures with the appropriate release statement) giving permission for publication must be submitted with the manuscript. This should only be done in rare instances where such images are essential to the science and/or technique described in the manuscript.

Statement on Human Rights

The CJHP adheres to the principles set forth in the Helsinki Declaration, as revised in 2013 (https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki-ethical-principles-for-medical-research-involving-human-subjects/) and holds that all reported research involving human participants should be conducted in accordance with such principles. Authors should indicate whether the research was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee(s) on human experimentation (institutional and national) and the Helsinki Declaration. If there is doubt that the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, authors must explain the rationale for their approach and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study.

Indexing

CJHP is covered by the following major indexes, aggregators, and services:

  • PubMed
  • PubMed Central (PMC)
  • Web of Science, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI)
  • EBSCO Discovery Service (including IPA)
  • Scopus
  • Embase
  • Crossref
  • Google Scholar

Delayed Open Access

The contents of this Journal will be available in a free to read format 6 months after an issue is published.

While CJHP’s Editorial, Point Counterpoint, Commentary from the Presidential Team, and Chief Executive Officer’s Report are immediately accessible upon publication, all other articles are embargoed for the duration of 6 months. A pay-per-view system has been introduced for embargoed articles.

Authors who wish to have their articles immediately accessible upon publication can do so by paying a $100 fee to forgo the embargo period. Simply complete the CJHP’s Authorship Fee Form and send it to publications@cshp.ca.

Article Purchase

Readers without a subscription may purchase individual articles for their personal use.

Fee to purchase an article: $30.00 (CAD)

The payment of this fee will enable you to view, download, and print the article.

Please contact the CSHP with your request.

Disclaimer

The CSHP assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by contributors to the CJHP. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of CSHP.