About Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung

Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung

The Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung (DAZ) is Germany's leading independent pharmaceutical journal for pharmacists, published weekly in Stuttgart by the Deutscher Apotheker Verlag. With the subtitle "unabhängige pharmazeutische Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und Praxis" (independent pharmaceutical journal for science and practice), it appears every Thursday and is the country's largest association-independent subscription journal for pharmacists, with a sold circulation of around 28,700 copies. Its history stretches back to 1861, making it one of the oldest pharmaceutical publications in the world. Since 1984 the Thursday DAZ has been complemented by a Monday edition, the Apotheker Zeitung (AZ), focused on pharmacy policy, economics, management and law, and since 1997 by the editorially independent news website DAZ.online. Together, the DAZ media family serves pharmacists in community and hospital pharmacies, industry and public authorities with scientific, professional and political coverage.

Overview

The DAZ is the flagship publication of the Deutscher Apotheker Verlag, Germany's largest pharmaceutical specialist publisher, based in Stuttgart. It addresses the entire German pharmacy profession: community pharmacists, hospital pharmacists, pharmacists working in the pharmaceutical industry, and those in regulatory authorities and academia. The Thursday edition focuses on pharmaceutical science and practice, covering drug therapy, pharmacology, pharmaceutical technology and the practical questions of running a pharmacy, while the Monday AZ edition concentrates on the political and economic framework of the profession, including healthcare policy, pharmacy remuneration, management and legal issues.

The journal's independence is a central part of its identity. As a "verbandsunabhängige" (association-independent) publication, it is not the organ of any pharmacists' association or chamber, which allows it to report critically on professional politics and to serve as a forum for debate within the profession. This positioning has made it the reference medium for German pharmacy: what appears in the DAZ shapes the professional conversation, from new drug approvals and guideline changes to the politics of pharmacy reform.

The sold circulation of 28,667 copies (IVW, fourth quarter of 2018) reflects a dense penetration of the German pharmacy market, where the number of community pharmacies has been declining but the journal has maintained its position. The readership is supplemented by the digital reach of DAZ.online, which has operated as an editorially independent news website since 1997, and by the publisher's other pharmacy media, including PTAheute for pharmaceutical-technical assistants.

History

The journal's lineage begins on 1 July 1861, when the pharmacist Gottlieb Zwink in Göppingen founded the "Pharmaceutisches Wochenblatt aus Württemberg". As the paper spread rapidly through Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, it was renamed "Süddeutsche Apotheker-Zeitung" in 1886. In 1914 the Stuttgart pharmacist and chemist Dr. Roland Schmiedel took over its editorship, acquiring the paper in 1919 and building the publishing house that would become the Deutscher Apotheker Verlag.

After the Second World War, Schmiedel, who had received one of the first publishing licences in Württemberg-Baden in 1946, acquired the publishing rights of the former Deutscher Apotheker Verlag in October 1950. The publishing house moved to Stuttgart, and the "Süddeutsche Apotheker-Zeitung" was merged with the "Deutsche Apotheker-Zeitung" to form the "Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung" (DAZ) in its modern form. In 1955 the publishing house moved into its own building on Birkenwaldstraße in Stuttgart, and in 2024 the media group relocated to a new publishing building on Maybachstraße near the Killesberg park.

The DAZ celebrated its 150th anniversary on 1 July 2011, an event that underlined its status as one of the oldest pharmaceutical journals in the world. In 1984 the publisher added the Monday edition "Apotheker Zeitung" (AZ), giving the profession a twice-weekly rhythm with the Thursday DAZ for science and practice and the Monday AZ for policy, economics, management and law. In 1997 the publisher launched DAZ.online as an editorially independent news website, extending the brand into daily digital journalism. The publishing group has remained in family ownership: after the founder's death in 1967, his grandson Dr. Christian Rotta led the management until his retirement in 2022, and today the great-grandchildren, including Dr. Benjamin Wessinger as editor-in-chief of the DAZ, hold key roles.

Coverage and Content

The Thursday DAZ covers pharmaceutical science and pharmacy practice in the broadest sense. Drug-related coverage includes new approvals, safety warnings, pharmacological reviews and therapy recommendations, with contributions from academics, clinicians and practitioners. Pharmaceutical technology, analytics and quality assurance are covered for pharmacists in industry and laboratories, while practice-oriented articles address the daily work of the community pharmacy: counselling patients, managing drug interactions, handling narcotics prescriptions and implementing new professional services.

The Monday AZ edition takes a different angle, focusing on the framework in which pharmacists work. Healthcare policy coverage follows legislative processes in Berlin and Brussels that affect pharmacies, from remuneration reforms to the digitalisation of prescriptions. Economic and management articles deal with pharmacy business administration, personnel management, marketing and cooperation models, while legal coverage explains court rulings and regulatory changes relevant to pharmacy operation. This division of labour between the two editions gives readers both the scientific depth and the political-economic orientation they need.

DAZ.online provides daily news from the world of pharmacy, with breaking coverage of policy decisions, market developments and professional events, operating with editorial independence from the print editions. The publisher's supplements and special publications, including the long-running "Apotheken-Praxis" supplement, extend the offering into specific practice areas. Across all channels, the editorial standard is that of a professional journal: fact-checked, source-transparent and written by specialist journalists and expert authors.

Organization and Ownership

The DAZ is published by the Deutscher Apotheker Verlag Dr. Roland Schmiedel GmbH & Co. KG, part of the Mediengruppe Deutscher Apotheker Verlag (DAV Medien), based in Stuttgart. The group describes itself as Germany's largest pharmaceutical specialist publisher, supplying pharmacists and pharmaceutical-technical assistants in training and practice with scientific and professional information through journals, books, online portals, apps and newsletters.

The editors-in-chief of the DAZ are Benjamin Wessinger and Julia Borsch, with Klaus G. Brauer and Peter Ditzel named as publishers. The Monday AZ edition is led by Christine Ahlheim, Armin Edalat and Doris Uhl. The publishing group also produces PTAheute, the journal for pharmaceutical-technical assistants, which appears fortnightly and has an even wider distribution than the DAZ itself. In 2023 the group acquired the Berlin-based MWV Medizinisch Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft, and in 2010 it had already become the sole shareholder of the traditional Behr's Verlag, founded in 1835.

The business model combines subscriptions from pharmacists and institutions, single-issue sales, advertising from the pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy suppliers, and digital revenues from DAZ.online. The association-independent positioning is commercially as well as editorially significant: it allows the journal to serve the entire profession rather than the membership of a single organisation.

Digital Presence

DAZ.online, at deutsche-apotheker-zeitung.de, has been the brand's digital news platform since 1997, making it one of the earliest online presences in the German specialist press. The site publishes daily pharmacy news with editorial independence, complemented by the e-paper editions of the print journals, article archives, newsletters and apps. The digital offering extends the twice-weekly print rhythm into continuous coverage, which is particularly important for policy news that breaks between editions.

The publisher operates online shops for specialist literature, databases and software, integrating the journal's content with the professional tools pharmacists use daily. Newsletters deliver curated news selections to subscribers' inboxes, and the publisher's social media channels distribute news teasers and engage the professional community. The combination of the Thursday science edition, the Monday policy edition and the daily digital news service makes the DAZ media family the most comprehensive information system for the German pharmacy profession, with each channel serving a distinct function in readers' information routines.