EfSM – Evidence for Self-Medication

A venture on its own

EfSM is an online journal funded by publication fees, which enable quick and timely publication of accepted articles and open access for all interest groups. The EfSM online journal publishes review articles related to national or international studies in the field of evidence-based self-medication. The journal has a flexible approach to article length and welcomes submission of concise papers as well as longer articles that provide depth and authority in their subject areas. 

The main aim of the journal is to summarise current scientific evidence and to review original studies already published in respected scientific journals in a concise way so as to make them easily available to healthcare professionals who do not routinely have access to the relevant original publications. Therefore, in addition to scientific reliability and significance, a key criterion in the selection of articles suitable for publication is their practical relevance for healthcare professionals in routine practice, when taking care of their patients. 

While most articles are commissioned, unsolicited reviews will also be welcomed for editorial consideration. 

An additional way of disseminating knowledge to healthcare professionals is to upload an accompanying video in which authors, scientists or experts summarise the key messages of the respective publication in a concise statement. These expert videos are produced by EfSM with a standard format and uniform appearance. An example of an expert video can be found here.

EfSM scope

The increasing trend towards deregulating more medicinal products to over-the-counter (OTC) status has implications for the primary healthcare team as well as for patients. Better information for patients will improve the effectiveness and safety of OTC medicines. The concept of evidence-based pharmacotherapy is a way to promote the rational use of these medicinal products, i.e. by ensuring that patients receive medicines that meet their clinical needs, in doses appropriate to their individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to themselves and their community.

Regarding the rational use of medicines, collaboration between physician and pharmacist is of the utmost importance. Since physicians are often unaware of their patient’s use of OTC products, most problems related to self-medication can only be solved with the support of the dispensing pharmacist. Physicians and pharmacists therefore need to discuss how they will respond to self-medication practices and find ways to give substantial and coherent advice to patients. Improved communication between doctors and pharmacists and the involvement of nurses could bring healthcare professionals into new and more constructive interactions with each other and with the patient. 

Furthermore, physicians are not usually involved in the field of self-medication. The responsibility to identify problems and advise patients in order to ensure the appropriate use of medicines falls mainly on the pharmacist. Incorrect or insufficient information provided to the patient gives rise to legal liability and could constitute a breach of duty on the part of the pharmacist if the patient is consequently harmed. However, in everyday practice there are many obstacles to providing adequate information to the patient, including lack of time and understanding, constraints on resources, and insufficient access to scientific publications. The EfSM aims to remove these and other obstacles by making the relevant information available in a condensed, easily accessible and comprehensible manner, always providing a direct link to consultation with the patient. 

EfSM review articles may be based on meta-analyses, systematic reviews, randomised controlled clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, national or international guidelines or case series/case reports and cover all topics in self-medication, in particular:

• Self-medication practices
• Comparative efficacy studies of various active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the same indication
• Side effects and side effect management
• Drug safety and pharmacovigilance of self-medication products
• Drug interactions
• Prevalence in self-medication
• Reasons for and effects of changes in the regulatory approval status of medicinal products
• Influence of medical and pharmaceutical consultation on the effectiveness and safety of self-medication 

EfSM acceptance criteria

Usually, one current publication should take centre stage of the review article. Submitted review articles eligible for publication should meet the following criteria:

• The author should present important and relevant studies or significant medical advances in the field of self-medication.
• The article contains new findings in self-medication indications or approaches for EfSM readers.
• The new insights are useful to healthcare professionals in their routine practice taking care of patients and making decisions concerning pharmacotherapy and respective recommendations.
• The subject matter must be explored comprehensively and thoroughly.
• The methods used in the original studies are appropriate and described comprehensibly.
• All statements and conclusions must be deduced from the underlying data according to current scientific standards.

Review articles should present the current status of research in a form that is comprehensible and useful to both established practitioners and people entering the field.

EfSM rejection criteria

Submitted review articles will be rejected if at least one of the following criteria applies:

• The article fails the technical screening or does not fall within the aims and scope of EfSM.
• The procedures and/or analysis of the data reviewed are seen to be defective or tendentious.
• The conclusions cannot be justified based on the data presented.
• Lack of comprehensibility.

Online journal

At the core of EfSM’s mission is a commitment to meeting the needs of pharmacists, physicians and other healthcare professionals, a community that is interested in the online propagation of scientific knowledge related to the evidence for self-medication. Evidence for Self-Medication supports that objective by giving readers anywhere in the world open access to its full content.

• EfSM is an open access online journal that is funded by publication fees.
• EfSM authors review recently published national and international studies, covering the range of knowledge in evidence for self-medication.

Editorial board

The EfSM editorial board is a diverse group of distinguished pharmacists, physicians, pharmacologists and life scientists, selected by the editors and appointed by the editor in chief. Board members serve three-year terms, advising the editorial staff throughout the review and formal appeal processes.

Editorial staff

EfSM is managed by a professional editorial team of medical and pharmaceutical editors, who have vast experience in scientific publishing. All editorial decisions are based on EfSM’s acceptance and rejection criteria. Rejection of an article does not have to be justified and submitting a manuscript does not entitle the author to either publication or any justification of the rejection.

High visibility and impact

EfSM authors gain high visibility and achieve broad dissemination of their work in this online science review journal. EfSM’s editors call attention to outstanding research and elucidate its importance on behalf of online platforms focused on medical and/or pharmaceutical topics, such as Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung Online and MMP-Online, which provide curated news of evidence-based self-medication studies.

Editorial and publishing policies

EfSM shares many common policies, covering professional conduct, publication rights, copyrights and open access. EfSM is published online one article at a time. Articles are identified by a digital object identifier (DOI).

Publication process

The review article in English or German is submitted by the corresponding author to EfSM for publication. Translation into EfSM’s other standard language will be organised later by the editorial staff. In a peer review by experts commissioned by the editorial team (including members of the editorial board), the contribution is assessed and accepted for publication, rejected or returned for revision. Any necessary revision will be carried out by the corresponding author (rejection of the revision is equivalent to a withdrawal of the contribution).

Publication fees

All articles published in EfSM are open access and freely available online immediately upon publication. This is made possible by a publication fee that covers a wide range of editorial and publishing services provided by the editorial and scientific staff of EfSM. If professional support is desired or required for the article, EfSM can recommend suitable persons from its large network of medical writers or commission them to write a review on a specific topic. The publication fee is due with the editorial acceptance of the manuscript and must be paid before publication by either the author or their funder, institution or employer. If the publication fee is paid by a third party, this will be stated at the end of the publication, indicating either “Publication funded by …” or “Medical writing and publication funded by …”.

An additional option is to promote the international dissemination of knowledge about evidence-based self-medication through translations other than the EfSM’s standard publication languages (English and German). Most of the EfSM reviews are undoubtedly of international interest. For reasons of cost, however, translation into the various national languages is often not possible. In order to make important new scientific findings also accessible to those healthcare professionals who do not understand German or English sufficiently well, translations of specific reviews can be made available for an additional charge. If authors or their funding organisations want to give special impact to a certain study/review, there is also the possibility of financing the production of an explanatory video, in which authors, scientists or experts summarise the key messages of the respective publication in a concise statement (approx. 90 seconds).

Contakt

Editorial staff
editor@efsm.online 

Publication funding
bkaiser@dav-medien.de
0711 2582-389