Pharmacy practice fields and specialties in Brazil and worldwide: a two-way comparative document analysis

To map pharmacy practice fields, specialties and qualification mechanisms in Brazil and other countries, identify international experiences applicable to Brazil, and analyse the contributions of Brazilian regulation to the international development of the profession. A four-step document analysis (ready materials, extract, analyse, distil) was conducted on purposively selected Brazilian and international regulations and institutional sources up to 29 September 2026. Entries in the 2013 specialty resolution of the Brazilian Federal Pharmacy Council were checked individually. A second reviewer independently rechecked the inventory and classified 19 fields (Cohen's kappa 0.43 before consensus). The comparison distinguished practice fields, specialist titles, qualifications and services, and separated regulation, implementation and outcomes. The inventory identified 131 entries across ten Brazilian practice lines, and 14 foreign systems followed four recognition models. Nine fields informed proposed dossiers for specialist recognition: community pharmacy, transplantation, pregnancy and lactation, HIV, pain and opioid stewardship, infections and antimicrobials, mental health, emergency medicine, and pharmacy informatics. Four areas were retained as additional qualifications: medicines information, sports pharmacy, sterile preparations, and diabetes and chronic diseases. Community pharmacy is a formal specialty or specialised diploma in five systems analysed. Several Brazilian designations, including veterinary pharmacy, palliative care, community pharmacy, emergency care, sports toxicology and pharmacogenomics, predated later international milestones. The breadth and earlier naming of selected Brazilian fields provide a documented contribution to international debate, while foreign recognition models offer tools for developing specialist qualification in Brazil. Claims of comparative advancement in each field require evidence on training, access and outcomes.