Pharmacotherapy is one of two journals published by Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc. (PPI), the journal publishing arm of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. This column summarizes the presentation from Pharmacotherapy and additional updates provided to attendees at the 2022 ACCP Global Conference on Clinical Pharmacy in San Francisco last month.
Pharmacotherapy’s editorial policies are guided by PPI’s vision – “to be the leader in worldwide dissemination of transformative pharmacotherapeutic and clinical pharmacy research and scholarship” – and mission – “to improve human health through the dissemination of pharmacotherapeutic and clinical pharmacy scholarship.” Pharmacotherapy’s 2022 record reflects progress in addressing these directives.
One of the chief metrics of Pharmacotherapy’s success in achieving PPI’s vision of being the leader in disseminating pharmacotherapeutic scholarship is the journal’s impact factor (IF), a numeric value reflecting the number of citations in other articles to publications in Pharmacotherapy. The Clarivate Analytics database used to calculate the IF includes over 8000 biomedical journals. For 4 consecutive years beginning in 2017, Pharmacotherapy’s IF exceeded 3.0. For 2021, the current year of reporting, the value was 6.251, an increase of more than 30% for the second consecutive year. This new record high places the journal as 44th out of the 279 journals in the pharmacy/pharmacology category. Last year, Pharmacotherapy was 74th out of 275. In achieving this level of impact, the journal has benefited from increased worldwide marketing by its publisher, a continued increase in high-quality submissions, and the contributions of a renowned editorial board and knowledgeable reviewers.
At the 2022 Global Conference, outstanding authors and peer reviewers were recognized during the Awards and Recognition Ceremony on October 16. The Editor’s Choice Award was created to recognize outstanding manuscripts published in Pharmacotherapy. Articles were selected by the editor-in-chief in collaboration with the supporting editors and board members. The papers had to have been published in Pharmacotherapy within the previous 2 years and have the potential to provide substantial value to the readership.
The first publication to be recognized in 2022 was “Review of Emerging Pharmacotherapy for the Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019” by Ashley Barlow, Kaitlin M. Landolf, Brooke Barlow, Siu Yan Amy Yeung, Jason J. Heavner, Cassidy W. Claassen, and Mojdeh S. Heavner (Pharmacotherapy 2020;40:416-37; https://doi.org/10.1002/phar.2398). A second publication to merit the Editor’s Choice Award was “Remdesivir: Review of Pharmacology, Pre-clinical Data, and Emerging Clinical Experience for COVID-19” by Sarah C.J. Jorgensen, Razieh Kebriaei, and Linda D. Dresser (Pharmacotherapy 2020;40:659-71; https://doi.org/10.1002/phar.2429).
Manuscripts submitted to Pharmacotherapy undergo a rigorous peer review process. Outstanding reviewers are nominated each year by the scientific editors and selected on the basis of the quality and timeliness of their reviews and overall reliability. In 2022, four reviewers were recognized as Outstanding Reviewers for Pharmacotherapy: Sara Alosaimy, Pharm.D., MPH, BCPS, AAHIVP; Tyree Kiser, Pharm.D., FCCP, FCCM, BCCCP, BCPS; Joseph L. Kuti, Pharm.D., FCCP, FIDP; and Nancy Shapiro, Pharm.D., FCCP, BCACP, CACP.
Christina Doligalski, Pharm.D., FCCP, was added to the editorial board this year, bringing expertise in solid organ transplantation. In 2022, a new statistical scientific editor, Ryan M. Carnahan, Pharm.D., M.S., was added to assist our authors and editors with biostatistical rigor in data analysis.
Pharmacotherapy consistently receives over 600 submissions/year, yet provides final decisions on these manuscripts in less than 30 days (on average). The current acceptance rate is 15% of all new submissions. Consistent with the journal’s vision, more than 690,000 articles were downloaded in 2021, with 51% occurring outside the United States.
Most papers published in Pharmacotherapy are unsolicited manuscripts and include a mixture of editorials, original research articles, reviews of therapeutics, and case reports. The PPI board of directors solicits proposals for consensus recommendations on drug therapy where there is a gap in the published literature. In 2022, a multidisciplinary panel of American transplant clinicians led by ACCP members Joelle Nelson and Maya Campara reviewed the published literature to formulate consensus recommendations for the use of maintenance immunosuppression in specific organ groups. Reviewed and endorsed by the American College of Clinical Pharmacy, the American Society of Transplantation, and the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, these consensus recommendations were published open access in the August 2022 issue of Pharmacotherapy.
The past year’s success of Pharmacotherapy is a cumulative result of the combined efforts of many individuals. The publisher is responsible for the production side of the journal and its marketing. Promotion of the journal’s value is a shared responsibility across the entire editorial enterprise. An essential component of this process is the willingness of authors to provide manuscripts of their best work for review. Acceptance of manuscripts that meet the journal’s rigorous editorial and scientific standards requires the work of editors and reviewers who embrace the journal’s core values. The journal’s record for 2022 reflects the commitment of all of these individuals to achieving the vision and mission that should continue in 2023.