E-DRUG: Call for Papers: Special Issue of Southern Med Review on "Social Sciences and Pharmacy"
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Dear All
We are planning to release a Special issue of Southern Med Review on 'Social Sciences and Pharmacy' in March 2011. Below pls see the Call for Papers. [Kindly note that the Journal is indexed in Scopus and in WHO's Documentation Database)
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The Southern Med Review (SMR) is in the third year of publication and the Editors are calling for papers for Volume 4, issue 1 which is expected to be published in March 2011. SMR has developed into a Journal which has a focus on medicines use and access research, predominantly with respect to the developing world. SMR has published a special issue in the past on Medicines Pricing which attracted high quality publications addressing Medicines Pricing problems around the globe.
In recognition that pharmacy practices will be more effective when the public/patient base is better understood, we aim to produce a special issue of SMR that takes a social science approach to pharmacy practice.
There has been increasing application of theories and methods from social science disciplines in the developed world as medicines use and policy researchers have begun to realise the application of some of these borrowed concepts and techniques. We would like to receive papers which reflect the use of ideas from the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, organisational science, economics and development studies. Our emphasis will be on deepening our understanding of the consumer [patient] of pharmacists’ services. We seek research articles describing the patient/consumer in specific local contexts, and that address the opportunities/challenges for optimal pharmacy practice.
Specific topics may include:
- the social-psychology of medicines use from a lay perspective (adherence, resistance, negotiation): public understanding of medicines and their costs/benefits; sources of influence including (direct-to-consumer advertising, pharmacist-as-educator, access to physician or other advisor)
- the meaning (or mystery) of medicines; perspectives on the medicines-provider
- the meaning of health and illness, specifically with respect to common conditions whose successful treatment involves appropriate medicine use; lay versus biomedical accounts
- the negative and positive consequences of entering the 'sick role'.
Becoming a patient entails - potentially - both privileges and costs. Understanding these from the patient perspective may help to account for medicine use or non-adherence; here the social relationship of the patient to the health care professional (pharmacist, physician, other) may be emphasized
- the public's knowledge of their (non)entitlement to health care and medicines based on local, regional or national health and pharmaceutical policy; influence of such policy on health help-seeking
- How the system impedes or enables access to pharmaceuticals? Economic questions related to the consumer and access to medicines?
Indexing & Abstracting
The journal is indexed in Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), EBSCO Host, Scopus, EMBASE, Open J Link, Gale, Global Health, CABI Abstract Databases, Index Copernicus, Ulrich's Periodical Directory and in New Zealand's National Library. Articles are also deposited in the WHO's Essential Medicines Documentation Database and be accessed from http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/cl/CL7.36/clmd,50.html
All issues of the journal are freely accessible from the University of Auckland's website www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/sop/smr
Editorial Team
Prof Peri Ballantyne from University of Trent, Canada will be the Guest Editor for this Special Issue. If you are interested in submitting a paper, please do so by 10th Dec 2010 by using our online submission system at www.southernmedreview.org
If you have any specific queries then please do not hesitate to contact the Editors
Dr Zaheer Babar z.babar@auckland.ac.nz, Dr Peri Ballantyne periballantyne@trentu.ca, Shane Scahill s.scahill@auckland.ac.nz
Kind Regards
Zaheer
Dr Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar B.Pharm.,MPharm(Clin Pharm).,PhD
Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice
School of Pharmacy
Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences
The University of Auckland
Private Mail Bag 92019, Auckland
New Zealand
Ph: +64 9 3737599 Ext 88436
Fax: +64 9 3677192
http://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/sop/smr/
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