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Who we are, What we do ?


The aims of the Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences


Drugs are essential to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. However, inappropriate use of drugs might cause the lack of its effects, even might cause adverse effects, subsequently diminish a patient’s quality of life (QOL). In order to promote safer use of drugs with their maximum benefit, pharmacists as specialists should establish good evidence for the proper use of drugs and should practice pharmacotherapy based on scientific evidence together with other health care practitioners.

The Hospital Pharmaceutical Society of Japan is the forerunner of the Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences (JSPHCS). Founded in June 1990, the Hospital Pharmaceutical Society of Japan changed its name to the Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences in January 2001, and the JSPHCS incorporated as a society in December 2008. The JSPHCS consists of individual members participating in hospitals, pharmacies, the pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy school, and administrative bodies. The aims of the JSPHCS are 1) to help develop academic settings in Japan and 2) to improve public welfare by encouraging advances in and the growth of health care and pharmaceutical science. In specific terms, 3) the Society will organize research presentations on scientific principles related to health care and pharmaceutical science and their application, 4) it will facilitate exchanges of knowledge related to health care and pharmaceutical science, 5) it will coordinate the members of the Society, and 6) it will collaborate with other academic societies at home and abroad.

The membership in the JSPHCS has grown every year (with 12,408 members as of the end of December 2017). The JSPHCS has a broad membership that includes hospital pharmacists, community pharmacists, academics in pharmaceutical science, and researchers in the pharmaceutical industry. The JSPHCS has grown into an organization that represents health care and pharmaceutical science in Japan. In fact, annual meetings of the JSPHCS feature over 1,740 presentations as an example.


Overview of the Society’s activities The JSPHCS


● edits and publishes the Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences
● holds annual meetings
● conducts public symposia
● selects and awards excellent researchers in this field
● accredits JSPHCS Certified Clinical Pharmacists, JSPHCS-certified Oncology Pharmacists
● edits and publishes other scholarly works


● Editing and publishing of the Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences

The manuscripts submitted by Society members are peer reviewed by two professional reviewers. The accepted manuscripts are published monthly in the Japanese Journal of Pharmaceutical Care and Sciences (JJPHCS). The JJPHCS converted to online submission of manuscripts in December 2009 in order to speed up the process from review to publication. Four types of articles are featured in the JJPHCS: regular articles, notes, mini-reviews, and reviews.
  1. Regular articles: Manuscripts describing new findings in health care and pharmaceutical science as a result of original research
  2. Notes: Includes new findings and valuable data from research (even if it is partially complete) and case reports
  3. Mini-reviews: An appraisal of the results of an author’s research, an author’s commentary and insights on topics in health care and pharmaceutical science
  4. Reviews: A summary and assessment of research in relevant areas based on an author’s own research (Reviews will be commissioned by the Editorial Board)


● Holding annual meetings

The Society holds its annual meeting for 3 days between September and November in a principal city around the country. The meeting features lectures, symposia, workshops and oral and poster presentations on a given theme. An annual meeting is a crucial opportunity to obtain information on the state of health care and pharmaceutical science by talking about the latest topics with other personnel in the field, and increasing in scale every year. The 28th Annual Meeting featured 68 symposium sessions and 1,740 individual presentations. Attendance at the Meeting was about 9,500.


● Conducting public symposia on health care and pharmaceutical science

The Society conducts 4 symposia a year on topics related to health care and pharmaceutical science; these symposia take place throughout the country. Symposia are open to both Society members and non-members. Symposia provide Society members with an opportunity for life-long learning and they will be a valuable opportunity to inspire non-members of the JSPHCS.


● Society awards

The Society has various systems of awarding qualified individuals. The Society selects candidates for awards each year and recognizes winners at its annual meeting.
  • Achievement Award: Awarded to individuals who have helped the JSPHCS to flourish
  • Award for Scholarly Contributions to Health Care and Pharmaceutical Science: Awarded to individuals who have made exceptional achievements in promoting health care and pharmaceutical science through exceptional research and technological development in health care and pharmaceutical science
  • Prizes: Awarded to promising researchers under the age of 40 who have made exceptional achievements in research on health care and pharmaceutical science
  • Outstanding Manuscript Award: In order to promote and encourage research by Society members, this award is awarded to selected manuscripts featured in the JJPHCS that are exceptional and that have markedly helped to improve health care and pharmaceutical science
  • Postdoctoral Award: Awarded to JSPHCS members who have completed a degree dealing with a topic related to health care and pharmaceutical science, members who have conducted exceptional academic research, and members who show promise


● Certification of JSPHCS Certified Clinical Pharmacists

The certification is intended to produce exceptional pharmacists with vast knowledge and honed skills, to help the general public benefit from more efficacious and safer drug therapies, and to promote and improve health care and pharmaceutical science.
In order to be certified, a pharmacist must:
  • have 5 or more years of experience as a pharmacist
  • undergo specified training
  • attend annual meetings and symposia
  • make presentations at national conferences and author scholarly articles
  • pass a certification examination (offered once annually).
JSPHCS Certified Instructors on Clinical Pharmacist Training who foster JSPHCS Certified Clinical Pharmacists are qualified from JSPHCS Certified Clinical Pharmacists and then delegated by the Society.


● Certification of JSPHCS-certified Oncology Pharmacist (JOP)

The Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists created a system for Certification of board-certified oncology pharmacy specialists in 2006. The reins of this system were transferred to the Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences (JSPHCS) in October 2009 when the Society was incorporated. In May 2010, JOPs were first allowed to advertise their specialization pursuant to the Medical Service Act. Certification of pharmacists in certain specialties intended to foster pharmacists with extensive knowledge of, skills in, and clinical experience providing drug therapies for cancer and it is intended to benefit public health, medical care, and welfare. Certification of pharmacists in certain specialties meets a public need, i.e. safe, quality health care, by drawing on the expertise of pharmacists as cancer care becomes increasingly more sophisticated.
In order to receive certification of JOP, a pharmacist must have 5 or more years of practical experience, undergo 5 or more years of training at a training facility for JOP, receive 50 or more lecture credits, and oversee drug management for cancer patients (50 patients, cancer in 3 or more organs or regions). The pharmacist must also pass the examination for JOP. Drawing on his or her extensive knowledge and honed skills in providing pharmacotherapy to treat cancer, a JSPHCS-certified Senior Oncology Pharmacist advises other pharmacists. The Society also delegate driven consultant pharmacists to conduct research of their own.


● Editing and publication of scholarly works

The Society has published a vaunted set of works on proper use of drugs known as the Frontiers in Health Care and Pharmaceutical Science series (Illness and Pharmacotherapy Vol. 1, Pharmacokinetic Information and Pharmacotherapy, Pharmaceutical Information and Pharmacotherapy, Medicine and Administration, Illness and Pharmacotherapy Vol. 2). Since 2010, the Society has published the Textbook of Disease-Based Pharmacotherapy for Pharmacists series, and now the Society plans to publish other essential works on health care and pharmaceutical science.


● JSPHCS’s overseas training program

Since 2006, members of the Society have attended annual meetings of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and they have conducted training at US hospitals. Members interest to attend submit application document to the Society, and then the committee reviews and selects a few members as a representative every year.