Neuropharmacology and Therapy (NPT) aims to publish research advances in the field of neuropharmacology and promote exchange of scientific ideas within the community. Coverage extends to basic and clinical research on pharmacological characterization and possible mechanisms of new drugs, inventions of novel therapies, or methods of surgeries on various neurological disorders.
The topic of original papers includes but not limited to the following areas:
- Mechanisms of important neurological diseases elucidated by neuropharmacological methods
- Novel methodologies facilitating the search for therapies neurological diseases
- Structures and functions of therapeutic targets of neurological diseases
- Discovery, design and synthesis of biologically active agents, including natural products, therapeutic macromolecules for all neurological diseases
- Omics in neuropharmaceutical sciences
- Biological databases, web-based software for neuropharmaceutical sciences
- Studies of biological activity or mode of action of novel molecules having therapeutic potentials for neurological diseases
- Clinical research and trials, meta-analysis for the treatment of neurological diseases
- Management, commercial and regulatory issues in neuropharmaceutical R&D Other aspects of neuropharmacology.
Submission Guidelines
Neuropharmacology and Therapy publishes research articles, review articles, editorials, letters, research highlights, case report articles and study methods.
- Please review the below article type specifications including the required article lengths, illustrations, table limits and reference counts. The word count excludes the title page, abstract, tables, acknowledgements, contributions and references. Manuscripts should be as succinct as possible. Some article types, including original research and review, must include a graphical abstract. All figures and images should have a resolution of at least 300 DPI.
- Research Articles
Original research papers should follow the basic structure of abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, references, and tables and figures as appropriate. The text of research articles should be divided into sections with the headings:
- Abstract
- Key words
- Introduction
- Methods
- Results
- Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Conflict of interest
- References
- Graphical abstract
The abstract (250 words) should represent an accurate summary of the article. The prescribed word count for research articles is no more than 5000 words (excluding Abstracts, Acknowledgements, References, figures, and Tables).
Please include the key messages of your article after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract; be succinct, specific and accurate.
- What is already known on this topic – summarize the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done
- What this study adds – summarize what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before
- How this study might affect research, practice or policy – summarize the implications of this study
This will be published as a summary box after the abstract in the final published article.
- Review Articles
We require the authors have a strong background in the related field. It is expected that these articles would be written by individuals who have done substantial work on the subject or are considered experts in the past three years. In particular, the scope of the review should not be dominated by the authors’ own work. The manuscript should have a structured English abstract representing an accurate summary of the article.
This kind of papers also should include the key message box after your abstract using the following headings. This section should be no more than 3-5 sentences and should be distinct from the abstract: be succinct, specific and accurate.
- What is already known on this topic – summarize the state of scientific knowledge on this subject before you did your study and why this study needed to be done
- What this study adds – summarize what we now know as a result of this study that we did not know before
- How this study might affect research, practice or policy – summarize the implications of this study
This will be published as a summary box after the abstract in the final published article.
Word count: up to 6500 words. Abstract: up to 300 words. Tables/illustrations: up to 6 References: from 50 to 100.
- Letters
The Letter to the Editor reports a short but exciting finding in a particular field of neuropharmacology with high quality and of broad interest. The letter should be brief yet concise, and no specific subsections are required. No Materials and Methods section is needed, but any technical information which the authors think is important should be submitted as supplementary materials. For Letter to the editor, the total words count should not exceed 2,500 (excluding Acknowledgements, References, Figures and Tables) and the display items should be limited to 2. References are limited to 15. No abstract and subsections are needed.
Study Methods
Neuropharmacology and Therapy accepts the protocol paper that is a format for step-by-step descriptions of procedures that can be followed immediately by other researchers. A protocol paper should contain sufficient information describing the experimental details including reagents, equipment, timing, data analysis and interpretation, and necessary instructions throughout each step of an experiment. A discussion of the protocol must be included to state the advantages and limitations of the current technique. A protocol paper should include the following parts: Abstract, Keywords, Background, Procedures, Results, Discussion, Material, reagents and equipment (including software), Declaration, References, and Supplementary information (including experimental videos is encouraged).
The section describes different statistical methods relevant to Neuropharmacology research. The articles should include practical examples of how to conduct the analytic methods being described and be written for a general research audience (not solely for biostatisticians).
The prescribed word count for Study Methods is no more than 4,000 words (excluding Abstracts, Acknowledgements, References, figures and Tables). Approximately 30 references can be included.
- Research Highlights
The Research Highlight describes exciting research advances based on one breakthrough recently published, best within last three months. It highlights the main results of the research, emphasizes the significance, and provides further discussion or commentary on the topic. No subsection is required for Research Highlight paper.
The prescribed word count for Commentaries is no more than 2,000 words (excluding Abstracts, Acknowledgements, References, figures and Tables). Approximately 20 references can be included.
- Editorials
Editorials are written by editorial board members commissioned by Editors, and free contributions are not accepted. The section titles will depend upon the topic presented.
The prescribed word count for Editorials is no more than 2,500 words (excluding Abstracts, Acknowledgements, References, figures and Tables). Approximately 20 references can be included.
- Brief Cases Report
This section belongs to our Education Column. These are case series that highlight an interesting or important clinical or theoretical issue. We are particularly interested in case reports that highlight specific characteristics of patients in China or specific aspects of the Chinese mental health care system. These are case series that highlight an interesting or important clinical or theoretical issue. We are particularly interested in rare cases reports that highlight specific characteristics of the patients. The prescribed word count for Case report is no more than 1,200 words (excluding Abstracts, Acknowledgements, References, figures and Tables). Approximately 15 references can be included.
Online Article Submission
Submissions to Neuropharmacology and Therapy are made using ScholarOne, the online submission and peer review system. Registration and access are available at https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/nptherapy.
Papers submitted to the Journal should present previously unpublished data or interpretations; they should not be submitted elsewhere while under editorial consideration. Manuscripts should be clear and credible in argument, have a clear hierarchy, use concise headings and have an appropriate mix of text, figures and tables.
Text
Presentation
Text should be double-spaced and free of all corrections. Word format is preferred. Figures should be separate from the text;
Style
- Author’s addresses and affiliations should be on the first page. Authors should provide all their names, professional titles, and full work addresses including email address information.
- An Abstract. The length of the text should generally not exceed the equivalent of about 12,000 words.
- Please provide the name and serial number of the fund project if the research is supported by a research fund or the relevant government departments or social organizations.
- All mathematical formulae should be numbered consecutively within parentheses at the end of the formula; formulae should be presented on separate lines; longer formulae should be broken at an operation symbol.
Illustrations and Tables
The number of illustrations submitted should not exceed six. Authors should pay particular attention to the clarity and spelling of any lettering on the diagrams, and some reduction in size should be allowed for. All figures must be colour and of a resolution suitable for reproduction.
All illustrations should be clearly numbered with the figure number and caption clearly indicated on the bottom of the figure.
Accepted file formats include JPG or TIF. For vector graphics, the preferred format is EPS; for halftones, please use TIFF format (without layers unless otherwise required). Each figure is saved individually as a single file (not embedded in the text file). Scanned line drawings and line drawings in bitmap format should have a minimum resolution of 1200 dpi. Halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Combination artwork should have a minimum resolution of 600 dpi.
Table numbers and names should be centered; table footnotes should be included at the bottom of the table; table symbols and units should be clearly designated. Authors are requested to express decimal fractions with full-stops, not commas. Tabulated ‘raw’ data should be kept to a minimum.
References
Only those references cited in the text, tables and figures should be listed numerically in the bibliography. There should be a minimum of 10 references in each article.
Examples of style are:
Article within a journal
Surname A, Surname B, Surname C: Article Title. Neuropharmacol Thera 2024, 13:266-267.
Article within a journal supplement
Surname A, Surname B, Surname C: Article Title. Neuropharmacol Thera 2024, 43(Suppl 3):149-170.
In press article
Surname A, Surname B, Surname C: Article Title. Neuropharmacol Thera 2024, in press.
Published abstract
Surname A, Surname BC, Surname C: Article Title [abstract]. Neuropharmacol Thera 2024, 42:s250.
Article within conference proceedings
Surname AB, Surname B: Article Title. In Proceedings of the First National Conference on Neuropharmacol Thera: 27-30 June 2024; New York. Edited by Surname AB. Publisher Location: Publisher Name; 2024:16-27.
Book chapter, or article within a book
Surname A: Article Title. In Neuropharmacol Thera. Volume 1. 2nd edition. Edited by Surname AB. Publisher Location: Publisher Name; 2014:53-76.
Whole issue of journal
Surname A, Surname BC (Eds): Article Title. In Neuropharmacol Thera 2014, 10:1-72.
Whole conference proceedings
Surname A (Ed): Proceedings of the First National Conference on Neuropharmacol Thera: 27-30 June 2024; Publisher Location: Publisher Name; 2021.
Complete book
Surname A: Book Title. Publisher Location: Publisher Name; 2024.
Monograph or book in a series
Surname AB, Surname B: Chapter Title. In Book Title. Edited by Surname AB. Publisher Location: Publisher Name; 2014:54-56. [Surname A (Series Editor): Series Title, vol 1.]
Book with institutional author
Advisory Committee on Neuropharmacol Thera: Annual Report. Publisher Location; 2024.
PhD thesis
Surname A: Thesis Title. PhD thesis. University Name, University Department; 2015.
Link/URL
Tumor Biology Database [http://tumor.informatics.jax.org/cancer_links.html] Accessed on date XX
Abbreviations
Terminology, quantities, units of measurement and symbols should all adopt the international standard and should be consistently used throughout the manuscript.
Competing Interests
Conflict of interests/competing interests can be defined as factors which could influence the judgment of an author, reviewer or editors, and may be personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial in nature. Put simply, they are interests which, if revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived.
Ethics in publishing
Please see our information pages on our Publication Ethics and Malpractice Statements.
Standards of Reporting
The journal requires all authors to follow the correct standards of reporting regarding biomedical research. Please refer to EQUATOR for guidelines for health research and MIBBI for guidelines and tools for bioscience reporting. Authors are strongly encouraged to use these guidelines as a checklist when writing their manuscripts.
Other available checklists include CONSORT for randomized controlled trials, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STROBE for observational studies, MOOSE for meta analyses of observational studies, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, RATS for qualitative studies, and CHEERS for economic evaluations.
Authors of systematic reviews must provide a link in the Methods section that shows all details of the search strategy. Refer to Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook for examples of the presentation of search strategies.
Authors must use standardized gene nomenclature. The HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee details human gene symbols and names. Information on other species can be found at https://www.genenames.org/help/faq/; the Human Genome Variation Society provides guidelines on mutation nomenclature.
Where appropriate authors should follow CARE guidelines for case reports, STREGA guidelines for genetic association studies and SRQR guidelines for qualitative studies.
Authors are expected to comply with current field-specific standards regarding the preparation and recording of data (https://fairsharing.org/search?fairsharingRegistry=Standard), while also maintaining strict patient confidentiality. In addition, when using unpublished data, authors must make contact with the owners of the data before starting their own research.
Human and Animal Testing
All human or animal studies should be approved or exempted by the appropriate institutional human and/or animal subject review committee, or if no formal ethics committee is available, are in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration. This approval or exemption should be stated in the Methods section of the article.
When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals are followed. Further guidance on animal research ethics is available from the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare and ARRIVE guidelines https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines.
Patient Consent
All authors must declare that, where relevant, patient consent has been obtained (or the consent of their parent or guardian in the case of children under 16) and that all reasonable steps have been taken to maintain patient confidentiality, including illustrations, which should be anonymized as far as possible.
Clinical Trials Registration
The journal adheres to ICMJE’s Clinical Trials Registration Statement. All clinical trials published in the journal must be registered in a public trial’s registry at or before the onset of participant enrolment. Manuscripts should include the exact URL and unique identification number for the trial registration at the time of submission. This information will be published in the article and we ask that you include the URL and identification number on the title page of your manuscript.
For any clinical trials commencing prior to 2008, retrospective registration will be accepted. A list of recommended registries can be found on the ICMJE website. Results posted in the same clinical trials registry in which the primary registration resides will not be considered prior publication if they are presented in the form of a brief abstract (500 words or less) or a table.
Clinical trials must be reported according to the relevant reporting guidelines, i.e. CONSORT for randomized controlled trials, TREND for non-randomized trials, and other specialized guidelines as appropriate. The intervention should be described according to the requirements of the TIDieR checklist and guide. Submissions must also include the study protocol as supporting information, which will be published with the manuscript if accepted.
Authors of manuscripts describing the results of clinical trials must adhere to the CONSORT reporting guidelines appropriate to their trial design, available on the CONSORT Statement web site. Any deviation from the trial protocol must be explained in the paper. Authors must explicitly discuss informed consent in their paper, and we reserve the right to ask for a copy of the patient consent form.
Registration of Systematic Reviews
The prospective registration of systematic reviews is welcomed, and we encourage all authors to register their systematic reviews in a suitable registry (such as PROSPERO). Please include the registration number in the last line of the manuscript abstract.