Replatforming The Pharmaceutical Journal to enterprise WordPress

Taking control of the platform decision

Rather than default to whatever the new SaaS model offered, the Pharmaceutical Journal used the forced move as a reason to start again. They ran internal workshops, researched what comparable publishers were doing, and put out an RFP across open source, closed source and SaaS providers. The brief was demanding: the platform had to hold a vast back catalogue, support a subscription business, and stay flexible enough to adapt as the technology moved on.

The Pharmaceutical Journal is a leading publisher of pharmacy practice and pharmaceutical science content, and a key part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) membership offering. Whatever they chose had to match that standing and the expectations of a worldwide professional readership.

Our approach

We recommended WP Engine, an enterprise platform built on the WordPress CMS. The open source, modular stack meant they could adopt, adapt or drop components as they needed, rather than being locked into one vendor’s roadmap. WP Engine also runs on cloud providers including AWS and Google Cloud, so the PJ could move hosting if performance ever demanded it.

Crucially, our UX and design consultants were involved from the first workshop, not brought in once the build was underway. They started with a review of the existing content to understand how it should be exposed to readers, and to accommodate the Pharmaceutical Journal’s hierarchy of titles, issues and articles. That shaped the platform around how people actually search for and absorb dense scientific and practice content, rather than around what was easiest to build.

What we built

From that work, our consultants defined an information architecture that made tens of thousands of articles findable and searchable, then built custom components and templates to help readers break down large, complex pieces. The design was mobile-first, so the journal read as well on a phone as it did in print.

WooCommerce Memberships handled the subscription model, capping the number of articles some tiers could read each month and restricting certain article types to particular subscription levels. Single Sign-On let RPS members move from the main RPS site into the journal without a second login, and LearnDash was integrated to support members’ Continuing Professional Development requirements directly inside the platform.

On-site advertising promotes services from across the Pharmaceutical Journal’s range and exposes the benefits of RPS membership to drive sign-ups. We integrated the Advanced Ads plugin and connected it to Google Ad Manager so it sat inside the their wider advertising infrastructure.

Migrating content and subscribers without losing access

A 180-year-old publication carries a lot of content. After reviewing what was on the existing platform, the Pharmaceutical Journal identified tens of thousands of articles to migrate, and we supported the third-party handling the migration to make sure everything mapped across accurately.

The subscribers were the harder part. Thousands of them, across a range of user types and permission levels, all needed to land in the right place with the right access. We mapped those permissions carefully so readers could reach the content they were entitled to, including the article caps and tier restrictions built into the subscription model. The site then launched with no downtime, as part of WP Engine’s deployment process.

The outcome

The Pharmaceutical Journal now publishes and presents specialist content on a platform it controls, with full ownership of its development roadmap for the first time. Editorial teams can prepare and publish content efficiently, and present it in a clean, readable format across devices. The launch drew positive feedback from subscribers and stakeholders.

We’ve continued to develop the platform since launch, most recently adding personalisation through LogicHop to tailor what readers see.

What this means for your organisation

If you run a membership platform or a specialist publication and your current vendor is changing the terms underneath you, the decision the Pharmaceutical Journal faced will be familiar. Moving years of content, subscribers and permissions without losing access or breaking trust is hard, and the platform choice you make now shapes what you can do for years.

We’ve done this for the both Pharmaceutical Journal and the Royal College of Nursing. If you’re weighing a migration, tell us what’s influencing the move and we’ll talk through the options.