Effective: January 1st, 2013
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
Instruction to authors
Quarterly Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences follow
the uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical
Journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal
Editors (ICMJE) modified and is recognized by Higher Education
Commission, College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan and PM&DC. This
Journal is Indexed by WHO Index Medicus IMEMR Current Contents is
covered by EXCERPTA MEDICA, Netherlands, CAB Abstract and Global Health
of UK, is registered with International Serials Data System of France
bearing ISSN No. 1017-4699. It is included in the Directory of Open
Access Journals (www.doaj.org) on Internet. Hence, all those whose
manuscripts are accepted and published will get the necessary credit.
(Abbreviated form: PaK J Med Sci.)
While submitting manuscripts, please carefully follow
the instructions given below:-
1. Submit the manuscript with our online editorial
system at www.pjms.com.pk
E-mail of each author is required durning the submission process. All
submitted manuscripts must be exclusively contributed to Pakistan
Journal of Medical Sciences.
2. Plagiarism: Manuscripts are screened for
plagiarism using special software and those found guilty or involved
in publication misconduct are liable to be black listed.
3. Do not submit tables as photographs. Give each
column an abbreviated heading. Identify statistical measures such as
standard deviation and standard error of the mean. Make sure that each
table is cited in the text.
4. The figures should be sent in JPEG format with
at least 300 dpi of resolution as separate file (upload as
supplementary file).
5. We accept only those manuscripts or data that
have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere for
publication. However, re-analysis of previously published data can be
accepted.
6. In case the manuscript was earlier submitted to
some other Journal and was rejected, the authors must provide full
information for proper analysis.
7. All manuscripts by multiple authors must be
signed by all the authors and contain details of individual authors
contribution.
8. Informed consent of the patients participating
in the study should be undertaken.
9. All studies must be approved by the relevant
Ethics Committee/Institution Review Boards of the respective
institutions.
10. The authors as well as reviewers are expected
to declare the conflict of interest if any.
11. Source of funding for the study should be
clearly mentioned.
12. The journal will accept:- (a) Guest Editorials
on important subjects of current interest, (b) Original Articles, (c)
Review Articles, (d) Case Reports, (e) Clinical Updates (f) Short
Communications and (g) Book Reviews (h) Case Studies (i) Clinical
Notes (j) CME (k) Obituaries (l) Letters to the Editor. We do not
accept Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP) studies, routine surveys
and cross sectional studies. Only selected animal studies are
entertained.
13. The desired position of any figure or table
should be marked in the margin.
14. The manuscripts except special/short
communications & Guest Editorials should contain the following
sections:-
a. Title Page: The complete title of the
manuscript, the name of all the authors with their highest
qualifications, the department or institution to which they are
attached, address for correspondence with telephone numbers, cell
phones, e-mail, Fax number and short running title of the article,
source of funding, number of figures, tables, total word count and
total number of pages.
b. Conflicts of interest: When authors
submit a manuscript they must disclose all financial and personnel
relationship that might bias their work. Authors must state explicitly
whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. They should do so in
the manuscript on the title page. Additional details can be provided
if necessary in a covering letter which accompanies the manuscript.
Authors of
study funded by an agency with proprietary or financial interest in
the outcome must sign a statement that they had full excess to all the
data in the study and take complete responsibility for the integrity
of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. This statement
should be submitted along with the manuscript.
c. Abstract: All original articles must
accompany a structured abstract upto 200 words. It should state
Objective of the study, Methodology, Results & Conclusions. (Selection
of study subjects or experimental animals; observational and
analytical methods, give specific data and their statistical
significance, if possible). Emphasise new and important aspects of the
study or observations. This page should contain structured abstract
and key words only. Authors need to be careful that the abstract
reflects the content of the article accurately.
d. Key Words: Below the abstract give few
key words not more than ten that will assist indexers in cross
indexing the article as they are published with abstract. Use terms
from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index medicus, if
suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced
terms, present terms may be used.
e. Case Report/Review Article: All review
articles and case reports should be preceded by a summary. Authors
submitting review manuscript should include a section describing the
methods used for locating, selecting, extracting and synthesizing
data, data bases searched and the time period. These methods should
also be summarized in the abstract.
f. Introduction: This should summarize the
purpose and the rationale for the study. It should neither review the
subject extensively nor it should have data or conclusions of the
study.
g. Methodology: This should include exact
method or observation or experiment. If an apparatus is used, it’s
manufacturer’s name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the
method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give
enough information so that another author is able to perform it. If a
drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must
be given. For patients, age, sex with mean age ± standard deviation
must be given. Statistical method must be mentioned and specify any
general computer programme used. The Info system used should be
clearly mentioned.
h. Results: It must be presented in the form
of text, tables and illustrations. The contents of the tables should
not be all repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table
number may be given. Long articles may need sub-headings within some
sections (especially the Results and Discussion parts) to clarify
their contents. Extra or supplementary materials and technical details
can be placed in an appendix where it will be accessible. It may be
omitted from the printed version but may be published in the
electronic version of the journal.
i. Discussion: This should emphasize the
present findings and the variations or similarities with other work
done in the field by other workers. The detailed data should not be
repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important
aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them. It
must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is
true, false or no conclusions can be derived.
j. References: All manuscripts should be
accompanied by relevant references. These references should also be
marked in the text. The author should ensure reference to locally
published studies by doing proper literature search. It may not be
possible for the editor and reviewers to check the accuracy of all
reference citations. To minimize such errors author should verify
references against the original documents. The References should be
written in Vancouver style as per " Uniform requirements for
manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals" for details see ICMJE
website: www.icmje.org. List all authors when there are six or fewer.
If there are seven or more list the first six followed by "et al"
Reference should provide the following information: Author’s name with
initials, full title of cited article, name of the journal in which
the article appeared (in abbreviated form), Year of Publication,
Journal’s Volume, Number and finally first and the last page numbers,
such as:-
Niaz U, Hassan S, Hussain H & Saeed S. Attitudes towards
psychiatry in pre-clinical and post-clinical clerkships in different
medical colleges of Karachi. Pak J Med Sci. 2003;19(4):253-263.
( In case of multiple authors, list the first six authors
followed by et al. )
k. Reference from the books should have Authors
name and initials, full title of cited article, complete title of
book, Name of Editors, address (city) the publisher, first and last
page numbers and finally the year of publication, such as:-
Haroon TS. How to plan a scientific study,
‘Medical Writing’ (second edition), Jawaid SA, Jafary MH & Zuberi SJ
(Eds), Pakistan Medical Journalists Association, Karachi, Pakistan.
1993;pp 1-13.
l. In case of multicentre study or trial, the
reference should be given as Name of the Group or of study, exact
title of the study, full results or partial results, Name of the
Journal, Volume and Number, pages and the year. For example:-
TIMI Study Group: Comparison of invasive and
conservative strategies after treatment with intravenous tissue
plasminogen activator in acute myocardial infarction. Results of the
TIMI Phase-II trail. N Eng J Med. 1989;320:618-627.
m. Newspaper articles: Malik Mahmood A,
autonomous hospitals, "Pulse" International, Karachi, Pakistan, 2000.
January 15-31, Page 1 & 2.
n. Citation of personal communications and
unpublished observations should be strictly limited and given in
brackets in the text. These should not appear in the list of
references. A paper may not be cited as "Under Publication or in
Press" unless it has been accepted for publication & the name of the
Journal is given.
15. Letter of Undertaking: All manuscripts
must be accompanied by a letter of undertaking and signed by all the
authors. Scaned cpoy of Letter of Undertaking should also be uploaded
at our online editorial system.
LETTER OF UNDERTAKING
Date: ______________
The Editor,
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences,
Room No. 522, 5th Floor, Panorama Centre
Bldg. No.2, Saddar,
Karachi – Pakistan.
Dear Sir,
This is to confirm that the Manuscript
entitled _______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
submitted for publication in Quarterly "Pakistan Journal of Medical
Sciences" has been read and approved by all authors, has not been
published in any other journal, is being exclusively contributed to
Pak J Med Sci and if accepted for Publication, it will not be
published in any other medical periodical in Pakistan or Overseas. We
also transfer all copyrights of this manuscript to Pakistan Journal of
Medical Sciences.
Please also note that minimum publication
charges for articles, manuscripts is Rs.7,000/- (in case of overseas
US$ 150/-), Case Report / Brief Communications Rs.5,000/- (in case of
overseas US$ 120/-) and Review Article Rs.8,000/- (in case of overseas
US$ 200/-) upto 4 printed pages in the journal & Rs.1,000/- extra will
be payable for each additional page. Overseas US$ 50/- for each
additional page. Charges for photograph, films and illustrations are
additional. Publication charges are payable in advance once the
manuscript has been accepted for publication by the Editorial Board
after peer review.
Please ensure to submit Ethics Committee Approval of the study.
(This letter must be signed by all
authors).
Note: All manuscript from Pakistan must
be accompanied with processing charges (Non Refundable) of Rs. 2,000/-
Fast track review Rs. 12,000/-
Full Name of Authors: (Use Capital Letters)
Note: The manuscript must contain a paragraph
describing the contribution of each author otherwise the first three
authors will be retained and all others listed as authors will be
shifted to the Acknowledgement section.
NOTE: Please sign and return this Letter of Undertaking immediately.
Letter of Undertaking in PDF format
16.
Authorship
• Authorship credit should be based on 1)
substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of
data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article
or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3)
final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet
conditions 1, 2 and 3.
• Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or
general supervision of the research group, alone does not justify
authorship.
• All persons designated as authors should qualify
for authorship and all those who qualify should be listed.
• Each author should have participated sufficiently
in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of
the content.
• In case of more than one authors in a manuscript,
the contributions of each person listed as author in the study should
be mentioned.
• When a large, multi-center group has conducted
the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct
responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet
the criteria for authorship defined above and editors will ask these
individuals to complete journal-specific author and conflict of
interest disclosure forms. When submitting a group author manuscript,
the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred
citation and should clearly identify all individual authors as well as
the group name. Other members of the group should be listed in the
acknowledgements.
17.
Acknowledgement:
All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship should
be covered in the acknowledgement section. It should include persons who
provided technical help, writing assistance and departmental head who
only provided general support. Financial and material support should
also be acknowledged. Persons who have contributed materially but do not
justify authorship can be listed as "clinical investigators" or
"participating investigators" or "Scientific advisors" or "critically
reviewed the study proposal or collected data."
18.
Length of the Text:
Maximum length of the original manuscript should not exceed 2500
words including title page and references. In exceptional cases upto
3000 words may be accommodated. For review article 3500 words. Any term
which is mentioned in the text quite frequently must be abbreviated but
only if this does not detract from readers comprehension. Such as Acute
Myocardial Infarction (AMI) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). Maximum
number of tables should not exceed four. Case Report: Short report of
cases, clinical experience, drug trials and adverse effects can be
submitted. Maximum length should not exceed 1500 words, maximum number
of ten references, one table or two illustrations. It must contain
genuinely new information. Its format should be Title, Abstract,
Introduction, Case Report, Discussion and References. Do mention
contribution of each author as per authorship criteria. Case reports
should not include review of literature.
19. Never start any new sentence or paragraph with
figures. For example, "9 patients were admitted" should be written as
"Nine patients were admitted".
20. The manuscript should be accompanied by a
covering letter signed by all authors stating that the manuscript has
been read and approved by all the authors, the requirements as stated
earlier have been fully met and each author believes that manuscript
contains honest work. Mention the name, address, phone, cell phone,
e-mail and Fax Number of the corresponding author who will be
responsible for communicating and final approval of the proofs. Only
correspondence author should communicate with the editor.
21.
Clinical Trials:
All Clinical Trials submitted for publication must be registred in a
registry, provide registration proof and all RCTs must be based on
CONSORT statement.
22.
Procedure:
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences is a peer reviewed journal. All
articles on receipt for publication are immediately acknowledged but
this does not mean that it has been accepted for publication. After
initial screening the manuscripts with major deficiencies, or of not
instrest to our readers will not be accepted for further processing and
external peer-reviewed. The manuscript is sent to two or more than two
Reviewers. We practice open peer review system. The whole review process
may take from three to four months time, although the ultimate authority
to accept or reject the manuscript rests with the Editor. Authors have
the right to communicate to the editor if they do not wish their
manuscript to be reviewed by a particular reviewer because of potential
conflicts of interests usually professional, but they may be asked to
explain or justify their concerns which is important for the editor in
deciding whether to honour such request. The author can also suggest the
name of possible reviewers but it is up to the editor to accept it. Some
manuscripts may be processed earlier at a fast pace keeping in view
their importance. On receipt of the comments from reviewers, and if
approved, letter of acceptance is issued to the author stating the
likely date of its publication. If required, clarifications are sought
from the authors. No article is rejected unless similar comments are
received from at least two reviewers.
23.
Proof Reading:
Final version of the manuscript is sent to the corresponding author
for proof reading before publication in order to avoid any mistakes.
Corrections should be conveyed clearly.
24.
Processing Charges:
All manuscripts from Pakistan should be accompanied with a payment
of Rs. 2,000/- (Non-refundable). No processing charges from Overseas.
Processing charges for fast track review [First decision after peer
review in eight weeks] Rs.12,000/- (Non-refundable). Fast track review
for Overseas: US$ 150/-.
25.
Publication charges:
Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors are
required to pay publication charges of Rs.7,000/- (in case of overseas
US$ 150/-), Case Report / Brief Communications Rs.5,000/- (in case of
overseas US$ 120/-) and Review Article Rs.8,000/- (in case of overseas
US$ 200/-) upto 4 printed pages in the journal & Rs.1,000/- extra will
be payable for each additional page. Overseas US$ 50/- for each
additional page. No reprints will be made available to the authors.
Those interested can download the manuscript from PDF file in the online
edition of the journal.
26.
Payment mode and Process:
Authors can pay the processing and publication charges by cash,
cheque, bank draft, pay order, online bank transfer (TT) or Western
Union
*
The Cheque /
Pay-Order / Bank Draft should be drawn in the name of Pakistan Journal
of Medical Sciences and sent at the Editorial Office address: Room NO.
522, 5th
Floor, Panorama Centre, Building No.2,
Raja Ghanzarfar Ali Road, Saddar, Karachi. Phone: 92-021-35688791
*
Cash can be deposited at our
Editorial Office
*
Payment
through Western Union, should be payable to Mr. Mubarak Ali, National
Identity Card No. 42401-1877261-9. After sending the payment,
communicate us the Money Transfer Code No. as well as the name of the
sender via E-mail. pjms@pjms.com.pk
*
The
publication charges can be sent directly to our bank account through
telegraphic transfer (TT) under intimation to us. The relevant bank
account details are as under:
Title of Account: Pakistan Journal of Medical
Sciences
Account Number: 00040101801240-5
Name of Bank: MCB Bank Limited, Saddar Branch (0004),
Main Zaib-un-Nisa Street, Karachi - Pakistan.
Code: Swift/Bic MUCBPKKAAXX
Please note that processing of the manuscript
(processing / publication) will be undertaken only after receipt of the
charges.
27.
Waiver request:
Those who cannot afford the processing, publication charges can
apply for waiver only at the time of submission of the manuscript
(decision on case to case basis)
28.
Drug Trials:
Drug trials of preparations by pharmaceutical firms who are regular
advertisers of Quarterly Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences will be
published without any additional charges after their approval by the
Review Committee. Others will be required to pay a fee of Rs.30,000/=
only payable in advance after the manuscript has been approved by the
Review Committee and is accepted for publication.
29.
Ethics Committee Approval:
All manuscripts submitted to Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences
involving human subject must be accompanied with certificate of
Institutional Review Board / Ethics Committee Approval.
30.
Ethical consent:
All manuscripts reporting the results of experimental investigations
involving human subjects should include a statement confirming the
informed consent was obtained from each subject or subject’s guardian,
after approval of the experimental protocol by a local human ethics
committee.
31.
Printed Copy:
One printed copy will be supplied to the corresspondence author. To
ensure safe delivery give complete postal address. Authors can order
additionals copies at the rate of Rs. 500/- per copy and US$ 25/- per
copy for overseas. Payment for additional copies should be added in the
publication charghes.
32.
Ombudsman: Dr. Behrooz Astaneh,
Head of Medical Journalism Dept. at Shiraz University of Medical
Sciences and Council Member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) UK
can be contacted by authors, others for redress of their grievances if
any on e-mail:
<astanehb@yahoo.com>
For further queries and further correspondence
MANAGING EDITOR
Quarterly "Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences"
c/o. Professional Medical Publications
Room No. 522, Panorama Centre, Building No. 2,
Raja Ghazanfar Ali Road, Saddar, Karachi-Pakistan.
Phones: 92-021-35688791 & 92-021-35689285. Fax: 92-021-35689860
E-mail: pjms@pjms.com.pk,
pulse@pulsepakistan.com
Important Check List for contributors
The authors must ensure that before submitting the
manuscript for publication, they have taken care of the following: -
1. Manuscripts should be prepared following
Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to Biomedical
Journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical
Journal Editors (www.icmje.org)
2. All original manuscripts should have Abstract
in structured format up to 250 words. It should mention Objective,
Methodology, Results, Conclusions and appropriate Key Words.
3. Maximum length of the manuscripts should be:
Original articles: 2500 words, maximum of
four tables, illustrations, maximum references upto 25.
Case Reports/Brief Communications: 1500
words, 10 References, maximum of two illustrations.
Review Articles: 3500 words including brief
summary describing the methods used for locating, selecting,
extracting and synthesizing data. Maximum 35 latest, relevant
References.
4. Processing Charges:All manuscript from
Pakistan must be accompanied with a Cash or Bank Draft for Rs.
2000/- as processing charges (Non Refundable) in the name of
‘Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences’.) Add Rs. 250/- in case of
cheque.) (In case of cash Rs. 2,000/- only). Fast Track processing
Rs. 12,000/- (Peer-Review Report within 8 weeks)
5. The manuscript should be accompanied by Letter
of Undertaking signed by all the authors confirming exclusive
submissions to Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, transfer of all
copyrights to Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and willingness
to pay Publication Charges of Original Article Rs.7,000/- (in case
of overseas US$ 150/-), Case Report / Brief Communications
Rs.5,000/- (in case of overseas US$ 120/-) and Review Article
Rs.8,000/- (in case of overseas US$ 200/-) upto 4 printed pages in
the journal & Rs.1,000/- extra will be payable for each additional
page. Overseas US$ 50/- for each additional page. once the write-up
is accepted after peer review.
6. The manuscripts should be submitted direct on
our website www.pjms.com.pk
Figures should be uploaded as supplementary files. For any details
contact on E-Mail:
pjms@pjms.com.pk
pulse@pulsepakistan.com
7. The pictures, illustrations should be
submitted in JPEG format and the manuscript in Microsoft word
format.
8. Title page should contain title of the
write-up, Name of the author/co-authors, their qualifications,
designation & institutions they are affiliated with and mailing
address for future correspondence, E-mail address, Phone, Cell Phone
& Fax number besides a short running title of the manuscript. Don’t
type the name of the author/s on other pages in the manuscript
except the title page.
9. References mentioned as 1,2,3 and so on as
they appear in the text and not by full names of authors. At the end
of the manuscript the references should also be numbered
accordingly.
10. Tables should be typed on separate pages.
Specify the place where you wish the tables and illustration to be
placed.
11. Check the total / percentage in the tables
carefully.
12. Make sure for Headings of Tables, their
numbers and Captions of illustrations. Don’t repeat the information
in tables if it is covered in the text. Table gives quicker idea but
it must be able to convey the message correctly.
13. Photographs / illustrations along with their
captions (in duplicate).
14. All Clinical Trials submitted for publication
must be registered in a registry. Provide registration proof
15. Disclosure regarding source of funding and
conflict of interest if any besides approval of the study from
respective Ethics Committee/Institution Review Board.
16. Covering Letter should be signed by all
authors and figures should be in JPEG with resolution 300 dpi.
17. Manuscript must be accompanied with
certificate of IRB/Ethics Committee Approval.
18. All randomized control trials should be
prepared according to CONSORT Guidelines.
For detailed instructions to authors visit our
website at www.pjms.com.pk
