HISTORY OF THE JOURNAL

The journal Pharmaca is the official journal of the Croatian Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapy of the Croatian Medical Association. It started out in 1963 as the fourth newsletter on pharmacotherapy in this part of the world. The first editor-in-chief was Dr. Savo Zlatić, who recognized the importance of medicines, their enormous impact on the health of individuals and society, as well as the economic burden of their consumption. On these grounds, he was one of the founders and promoters of clinical pharmacology. In the 1980s, the editor-in-chief became Professor Božidar Vrhovac, who developed clinical pharmacology throughout the former state, connected Croatia with the world, and was one of the founders of the International Society of Drug Bulletins (ISDB). From the very beginning, the journal has been edited by clinical pharmacologists of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital Center Zagreb. The journal is published in Croatian.

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It is important to point out that the basic requirement for membership in ISDB was editorial and financial independence (especially from the pharmaceutical industry) and the quality of published articles in terms of objectivity and rationality.

Pharmaca provided information about newly registered medicines in the world and in Croatia, and commented on their value, i.e., their contribution to current pharmacotherapy. It also reported on developments in the field of medicines, informed readers about side effects of both new and established medicines, summarized and reviewed relevant congresses, and encouraged members to participate.

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Since 2008, the editor-in-chief has been Primarius Ksenija Makar-Ausperger, MD, PhD. Under her leadership, Pharmaca has maintained its editorial policy, publishing contributions from numerous leading authors in clinical pharmacology, reporting on current developments, advocating for rational pharmacotherapy, and promoting evidence-based information.

Due to external circumstances, Pharmaca ceased publication in 2011, but resumed in 2020 with a renewed editorial board, fresh ideas, and new enthusiasm—while maintaining the same goal: promoting the rational and evidence-based use of medicines.

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The relaunch of the journal was accompanied by the creation of the educational portal e-Pharmaca for subscribers of the journal Pharmaca. In addition to access to PDF editions of the journal, the portal offers case reports from the clinical practice of clinical pharmacologists, knowledge quizzes, critical reviews of medicines, informational leaflets for physicians and patients, access to pharmacotherapy guidelines, and a video podcast featuring recordings of lectures from professional meetings of the Croatian Society for Clinical Pharmacology. News and updates from the field of pharmacotherapy are regularly published on the portal’s blog, with free access to these articles. The editor of the e-Pharmaca portal is Viktorija Erdeljić Turk.

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JOURNAL PUBLISHING

The journal is published quarterly.

The re-launch of Pharmaca was achieved with the support of the magazine Pharmabiz.

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CODE OF ETHICS

Code of Ethics of the journal Pharmaca is drawn up in accordance with the guidelines of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Council of Science Editors (CSE).

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The editorial board adheres to the guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).​

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Editorial Board- Code of Ethics (in Croatian)

 

Editorial Board- Code of Ethics (in English)

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INDEX

Since its relaunch, the journal has not been included in bibliographic databases. The process of re-indexing in the Scopus bibliographic database is currently in progress.