What we do

Journal content
As an independent, expert review of therapeutics, Australian Prescriber aims to provide balanced, impartial, reliable, up-to-date information for its readers. It reviews recent evidence where therapy is evolving, and aims to keep readers up to date with therapeutics in their own and other fields.

Each issue includes brief comments on drugs which have recently been marketed in Australia. These comments can help the readers to decide if a new drug has any advantage over more familiar products.

In addition to articles and editorials, Australian Prescriber also includes regular features such as medicinal mishaps, patient views, book reviews, and articles on the appropriate use of diagnostic tests and the interpretation of abnormal laboratory results.
The Editorial Committee also welcomes letters from readers.

How we prepare material for publication
The Editorial Executive Committee meets face to face eight times a year to commission, review and approve all material for publication. It considers suggestions for articles from the Advisory Editorial Panel, the NPS, readers, and a wide range of stakeholders.

It then invites authors with particular expertise to write articles for Australian Prescriber. Unsolicited articles are not accepted. When commissioning an author, the Editorial Executive Committee selects someone who not only has a detailed knowledge of a topic, but can also write a balanced review.

All the commissioned articles undergo a rigorous editorial process that includes external peer review, before being accepted for publication. The author's identity is known to the reviewer, but the reviewer's identity is not known by the author. The expert referees' reports are considered when the Editorial Executive Committee discusses the papers for the first time. After this round-table scrutiny articles are returned to the authors for comment, and finalised for publication at a subsequent Committee meeting.

Authors have the opportunity to respond to comments from the Committee and the referees. The Editorial Executive Committee has the right to reject an article and their decision is final.

Conflicts of interest
Authors and reviewers are required to inform the Editor of any conflicts of interest. Possible conflicts may be financial, academic, professional or personal, and should be declared even if they have not influenced the article. Sources of research funding should be declared, including past support if it is relevant to the paper being written. The Editorial Executive Committee decides if any declared conflicts of interest should be published. Members of the Editorial Executive Committee are required to make an annual declaration of any conflicts of interest.

Letters
The Editorial Executive Committee welcomes letters, which should be less than 250 words. Before a decision to publish is made, letters referring to published articles may be sent to the author for response, and letters unrelated to previously published articles may be sent to an expert for comment. Letters are usually published together with their responses or comments in the same issue. The Editorial Executive Committee screens out discourteous, inaccurate or libellous statements and sub-edits letters before publication. The Committee's decision on publication is final.

Information for consumers
Australian Prescriber publishes consumer information on the website, based on articles which appear in the journal. As Australian Prescriber is written for health professionals, it might help to discuss any issues raised by this page with your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Indexing

Australian Prescriber is indexed by

• Australasian Medical Index
• EBSCO
• the Iowa Drug Information Service
• EMBASE/Excerpta Medica
• the Science Citation Index Expanded, also known as SciSearch
• Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition.

Affiliations
Australian Prescriber is a member of the International Society of Drug Bulletins. The website is accredited by HONcode, an international organisation dedicated to providing trustworthy health and medical information on the net. Australian Prescriber is a partner of HealthInsite, the consumer web portal of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.

Readership surveys
To help us improve Australian Prescriber, we regularly survey health professionals about the journal. Surveys of the paper copy and online publication are conducted every 3-4 years.

Privacy
All personal information collected by Australian Prescriber is kept strictly confidential and stored securely. All information collected – including the content of application forms, and email addresses – is used only for the intended purposes and is not sold, re-used, rented or loaned for other purposes. See Privacy notice.

Reproduction of Australian Prescriber material
Australian Prescriber articles are frequently used in teaching materials and reprinted or translated. Readers may print a single copy of articles for personal use. For further reproduction or distribution of Australian Prescriber material, contact the Editor for permission as conditions apply.