Aim
The South African Society for Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (SASBCP) holds a competition for the Best Publications Awardseach year, to be awarded during its annual congress meetings. The aim is to foster and promote research in pharmacology amongst established researchers, as stated in the Society Objectives in our Constitution.
Prizes
The following prizes are awarded:
Category | Medal** | Prize* |
Basic Pharmacological Sciences | Yes | R2,500 |
Clinical Pharmacological Sciences | Yes | R2,500 |
- Prize money is strictly subject to the availability of sponsorship.
- Importantly, none of the awards are conferred automatically to a participant in each category, but applies only when there are two or more participants per category and if the winning article is of quality regarded by the judging panel as worthy of the award.
Who is eligible?
The competition for the Best Publications Award is open to persons who meet the following criteria:
- Paid-up SASBCP membership at the time of submission.
- Primary contributor to the article.
Procedure
Manuscripts must be submitted in PDF format via e-mail to the congress organisers,
with the deadline date the same as the deadline date for abstract submission set for that year.
- Indicate the name of the submitting author(s), including permission from all other authors.
- Indicate the SASBCP membership number of the submitting author(s).
- Clearly state whether the article is entered for the “Basic” or “Clinical” category.
- Clearly state the contribution of the submitting author(s) to the article if there is more than one author.
- Clearly indicate the contact details of the submitting author(s) (i.e. e-mail, telephone & postal address).
- Participants are judged according to the criteria set in the “Evaluation Form” (attached for your convenience).
The Scientific Committee of Congress Organising Committee appoints three competent and unbiased national reviewers (not participating in the competition) to select a short list of three (3) best publications in each category from all submitted articles. The articles from the shortlists are then sent to the judging panel (consisting of international guest scientists and local researchers) for final selection of the winner in each category. The winners are announced at the Congress dinner at the annual congress.
Rules
General Rules – The following rules apply:
- All participants must comply with the eligibility criteria and procedures explained in § 3&4 above.
- In all cases it remains the responsibility of the submitting scientist to confirm receipt of the article for the purpose of the competition by the organisers.
- All submissions shall be subject to approval by the Executive Committee of the SASBCP.
- The decision by the judging panel is final and not negotiable.
Article Specifications – Eligible articles must comply with the following specifications:
- Full length manuscript.
- Original research.
- Published in an accredited journal.
- Published during the preceding year (according to the official publication date, e.g. a 2022 paper for the 2023 competition).
A review article or other contribution will be considered in exceptional cases, only when it represents and extraordinary contribution,
usually in a high impact journal.
Theme & Ethics – The following must be complied with the following criteria:
- The theme of the article must pertain to pharmacology (basic or clinical, as per indicated category).
- The research must comply with appropriate ethical norms and legislation.
Scientific – The article must:
- clearly identify, define and address relevant questions.
- report on a study that applies appropriate, elegant experimental design and techniques.
- report and interpret data in a scientifically sound manner.
- provide novel answers.
Local Capacity Building
Whenever the quality of two or more eligible articles is comparable, articles reporting on research performed locally and/or by South African scientists will take preference over articles reporting on research performed abroad and/or by foreign scientist members.