Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis

This journal is an international medium directed towards the needs of academic, clinical, government and industrial analysis by publishing original research reports and critical reviews on pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. It covers the interdisciplinary aspects of analysis in the pharmaceutical, biomedical and clinical sciences, including developments in analytical methodology, instrumentation, computation and interpretation. Submissions on novel applications focusing on drug purity and stability studies, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic monitoring, metabolic profiling; drug-related aspects of analytical biochemistry and forensic toxicology; quality assurance in the pharmaceutical industry are also welcome.

Studies from areas of well established and poorly selective methods, such as UV-VIS spectrophotometry (including derivative and multi-wavelength measurements), basic electroanalytical (potentiometric, polarographic and voltammetric) methods, fluorimetry, flow-injection analysis, etc. are accepted for publication in exceptional cases only, if a unique and substantial advantage over presently known systems is demonstrated. The same applies to the assay of simple drug formulations by any kind of methods and the determination of drugs in biological samples based merely on spiked samples. Drug purity/stability studies should contain information on the structure elucidation of the impurities/degradants.

Papers dealing with the analytical aspects of traditional folk medicines are acceptable if the results are expected to attract the interest of readers also outside the area of origin, i.e. they have a focus on innovative analytical approaches. Regional differences in the phytochemical content of traditional folk medicine will not be considered. Manuscripts reporting on the analysis of novel phytochemicals will only be considered if their biological activity has been previously published in an international medium. Pharmacokinetic studies of traditional folk medicine will only be considered if only the identified components have been demonstrated to be solely responsible for the pharmacological activity.

Bioanalytical papers (pharmacokinetic, bioequivalence, protein and DNA binding studies) are accepted if the focus is on innovative analytical methodology. Manuscripts describing the pharmacokinetic profile of a single compound will not be considered for review. Pharmacokinetic studies will only be considered if they offer new profiles of a drug(s) and its metabolite(s) or new understandings of the mechanisms in drug disposition or response of existing drugs. Analytical studies on new investigational drugs that are currently in the preclinical phase are only acceptable if their pharmacological activity is well documented in an international medium.

Human subjects research must provide ethical approval and should include the name of the approving committee and the name of the institution and reference number where approval was granted. Animal studies must be approved from their Institutions Animal Care and Use Committee or any equivalent ethics committee accompanied by the reference number. For blood sampling procedures in rodents, retro-orbital bleeding will only be considered if a minimum of 7 days is allowed between repeat sampling. Furthermore, in the evaluation of the manuscript the editors reserve the right to determine whether the animal experimental technique is appropriate.

In determining the suitability of submitted articles for publication, particular scrutiny will be placed on the degree of novelty and significance of the research and the extent to which it adds to existing knowledge in pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. In all submissions to the journal, authors must address the question of how their proposed methodology compares with previously reported methods. A substantial body of work cannot be fractionated into different shorter papers.