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ISSN 1681-715X |
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EDITORIAL |
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Volume 25 |
April - June 2009 (Part-I) |
Number 2 |
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Published by : PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL PUBLICATIONS |
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ISSN 1681-715X |
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EDITORIAL |
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Volume 25 |
April - June 2009 (Part-I) |
Number 2 |
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Shaukat Ali JawaidPakistan Journal of Medical Sciences:
Internal audit and self analysis for the Year 2008
1. Shaukat Ali Jawaid
Managing Editor
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences,
Karachi. Pakistan. www.pjms.com.pk
Correspondence:
Shaukat Ali Jawaid
E mail: Shaukat@pulsepakistan.com
Internal audit and self analysis of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences for the Year 2008 reveals that we have made substantial progress. The trend of increased submissions from within the country as well as overseas continues. In fact there has been manifold increased in submission of manuscripts during the last couple of years. In the Year 2004, the total number of manuscripts received was one hundred forty (140) which increased to two hundred nine (209) in 2005, two hundred sixty eight (268) in 2006, three hundred fifty four (354) in 2007 and four hundred twenty seven (427) during the Year 2008. While there has been substantial increase in submissions from Pakistan during the same period the manuscripts received from Islamic Republic of Iran as well as Turkey in particular have also increased. (Table-I) With increased visibility on the net and worldwide readership, Pak J Med Sci is now attracting manuscripts from about forty countries mostly from the Asia-Pacific. Reasons for increased submissions are partly due to availability of the journal online and secondly specific conscious efforts of personal contracts with the authors nationaly and internationaly by the editors of the journal. All this is indeed a positive development and shows the growing popularity of the journal among the authors in this region. This is in line with our mission to make Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences as the leading peer reviewed medical journal from this region.
The number of manuscripts which were published after peer review has also increased during the last three years. This is evident from the fact that during the Year 2006 we published a total of one hundred twenty (120) papers which increased to two hundred thirty six (236) in the Year 2007 and two hundred three (203) in the Year 2008 (Table-II). This also became possible because we published two additional issues during the last two years to clear the backlog and reduce the publication time of the approved manuscripts.
Increased number of submissions provide us an opportunity to be selective thereby accepting only quality manuscripts for publication which will go a long way in enhancing the image and credibility of the journal. The quest for reducing the processing time also continues with constant increase in the Reviewers Database which now has one hundred sixty nine (169) reviewers (Table-III) including sixty seven (67) from overseas (till March 30
th 2009). In view of the increased number of submissions from Islamic Republic of Iran in particular we have also inducted twenty three reviewers from Iran. Almost all of them have been regular contributors to the journal and they were selected based on the quality of their manuscripts and interest in academics. This is again in line with our policy as we believe that the Muslim world does not lack expertise. God Almighty has also blessed the Muslim countries with tremendous human and material resources. What we need to do is to pool our resources and help each other. It is in this context that we are trying to induct as many reviewers from the Muslim countries and the region as possible instead of always looking towards the West.
Yet another important development took place this year when the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan included Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences in the list of journals recognized by CPSP. This means that the postgraduates can publish two scientific papers in Pak J Med Sci after getting the synopsis approved from the CPSP instead of writing a Dissertation to enable them to sit in the FCPS-II examination.1 The list of CPSP recognized medial journals now includes the following:
1. Journal of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (JCPSP)
2. Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA)
3. Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad.
4. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
5. Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal
6. Journal of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
7. Journal of Infectious Diseases
8. Pakistan Journal of Medical Research
9. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
The situation is now gradually improving as regards promotion of the art of medial writing but still the lack of training facilities and non-serious attitude of the authors is a major problem for the Editors. The problems faced by the Editors of peer reviewed biomedical journals in the developing countries are enormous
as editing a journal continues to be a stressful and at times a frustrating job.2 Financial constraints and lack of trained manpower, difficulties in retaining the staff that are trained after on the job training is an uphill task. Grant from the Higher Education Commission to some of the medical journals which it has recognized has been of a great help and one hopes that the HEC will continue to support these journals to enable them to improve their quality and standard further.Pakistan Medical Journalists Association (PMJA) in collaboration with Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME) with the active support of Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME) has been contributing its share in promoting medical journalism in Pakistan by holding seminars and workshops at various institutions all over the country. As such, it is hoped that in the days to come the situation will further improve resulting in better quality of manuscripts by authors, thus improving the standard of the journals as well as easing the life of the Editors to some extent
References
1. CPSP Notification No. Sec/.Notif-1/CPS/09/270 dated March 13th 2009.
2. Jawaid SA. Problems of Editing a Peer- Reviewed Biomedical Journal in a Developing Country. J Tehran Univ Heart Center 2009;3(4):187-189.
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