Make evidence easily available

Self-medication is an important pillar of healthcare, and as with treatment prescribed by a doctor, it should be undertaken on the basis of the available evidence. At the core of the mission of Evidence for Self-Medication (EfSM) is a commitment to promote the dissemination of current scientific knowledge in the field of evidence-based self-medication.

EfSM is an open-access online journal funded by publication fees, which publishes reviews on national or international studies in the field of evidence-based self-medication. 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. Thereby, EfSM wants to meet the needs of pharmacists, physicians and other healthcare professionals, a community that is interested in the low-threshold online access to scientific knowledge related to the evidence for self-medication. 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.

Sources of evidence

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

All articles are subject to peer review.

Worldwide dissemination

All articles in EfSM are published in English and German. In order to promote the international dissemination of knowledge about evidence-based self-medication and 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).

EfSM is published online one article at a time. Interested individuals can register for the EfSM newsletter in order to stay informed about the latest articles.