Author Guidelines for Submitting Content to Contract Pharma

Contract Pharma welcomes opinion pieces, blog posts and articles on any relevant aspects of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical contract services and outsourcing.

These include, but are not limited to, quality control and assurance, manufacturing of various dosage forms, R&D, clinical trial supplies and clinical studies outsourcing, packaging, drug discovery, regulatory affairs, analytical testing, methods/process validation, formulation development, technology transfer, and others.

Here are some suggestions.

1. Let us know what you’d like to write about in a quick email
The first step in the process is to email twright@rodmanmedia.com with a brief summary/abstract describing what you would like to contribute.  Opinion pieces for print and online can be summarized in a sentence or two.  For detailed or technical articles, please send longer summaries (200-300 words, ideally with bullet points).  Blog posts can be sent via email directly.

2. Please keep the article conversational in tone, without academic journal style or use of passive voice
Articles can and should get into the same detail and depth that papers would in a journal, but they should be written in a conversational, magazine style, rather than in academic journal stile.  Please don’t send pieces with “Abstracts” “Procedures” “Results” headers, as these will be changed.

3. Originality is key. Please ensure that what you submit is exclusive (and has not been published anywhere else in the same format).  It is understood that you might be publishing different papers on the same topic in different publications, but the form that you send us must be substantially different from others that you have submitted elsewhere.

4. Legality and clearance: If you are submitting something based on a presentation at a conference, please ensure that you have clearance from the conference organizers to publish the piece.

5. Length requirements: 800 words for a one-page op ed, 1600 words for a two-page op-ed; 2000 words minimum for a full article; 500 word minimum for an online opinion piece (blog post)

6.  Text and table formats:  Please use MS Word for the article text and Excel spreadsheets for any tables

7.  Graphics: please include one graphic for each 700 words of text. 

Graphics can include high-resolution photos, tables, charts, bar graphs, and “sidebars” with text that expounds on points in the main article. For technical articles, please include author headshot photos and brief biographies.

·      PLEASE DO NOT EMBED GRAPHICS IN MS WORD FILES!

·      Please do not upscale low-resolution jpegs. They will not reproduce in print

·      Please do not take low-resolution graphics from a web site.  They will not reproduce in print.

·      For highly dense technical charts and diagrams, please send the largest and highest resolution file so that we can reproduce the graphics in the optimal size, on the magazine page.

8.  Objectivity and neutrality.  The article should be nonpromotional in tone, and should avoid any appearance of promoting any given company or technology.  It should aim to inform the reader and providing an objective view of the topic.

9.  Please use American English and spellings

10.  Please spell out any and all acronyms the first time they are used (with the acronym following it in parentheses). 

11. Please aim for a fresh and original writing style

We will work with you on this, but do try to avoid clichés and to make your article memorable.

All accepted manuscripts are subject to editing and copy editing, and the contributor will have an opportunity to examine the edited version before publication.  Please send manuscripts and graphics by email to Tim Wright, Editor, at twright@rodmanmedia.com. Attach extension names to files: “.doc” for Word documents, “.xls” for Excel sheets, etc.

Thank you for your time, and for contributing to the Contract Pharma Community! We look forward to working with you and publishing your thoughts and articles.