Submissions

Author Guidelines

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS

PJMDS invites manuscripts that comply with the guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). These guidelines are accessible at https://www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html

All submissions for publication should be exclusively directed to the journal via the online link provided at https://pjmds.online/index.php/ojs/login?source=%2Findex.php%2Fojs. It is imperative that material submitted has not been previously published or is under consideration for publication elsewhere. Engaging in multiple or duplicate submissions to different journals constitutes publication misconduct and may result in disciplinary actions, including reporting to the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council and the Higher Education Commission. However, complete reports following the publication of preliminary findings, such as abstracts, or papers presented at scientific meetings but not fully published, may be considered for submission. In such cases, a copy of the published material must be provided alongside the manuscript for the editors' evaluation. 

The revised text for the "Material for Publication" section of PJMDS is as follows, ensuring clarity and coherence in the description:

MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION

The material submitted for publication may include Original Research (such as Randomized Controlled Trials - RCTs, Meta-analysis of RCTs, Quasi-Experimental Studies, Case Control Studies, Cohort Studies, and Observational Studies with statistical support), Systematic Review Articles, Commentaries, Articles on Recent Advances, New Techniques, Debates, Adverse Drug Reports, Current Practices, Clinical Practice Articles, Short Articles, Audit Reports, Evidence-Based Reports, Short Communications, and Letters to the Editor. Ideas and Innovations can be reported as modifications to existing techniques or the development of new techniques or instruments. A mere description of a technique without any practical application or innovation will be considered an update and not an original article. The current scenario section includes contextual opinion pieces and literature review-based critical write-ups pertaining to debatable topics in postgraduate education, research, or practice, formatted similarly to commentaries.

The journal discourages the submission of multiple articles dealing with related aspects of the same study.

PJMDS does not accept non-English language articles, and citing such articles is also discouraged

ARTICLE CATEGORIES

Original Articles: These should normally report original research relevant to clinical medicine. A manuscript will be considered an original article if it is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) or an Observational Study. RCTs should be registered with an International RCT Registry (Trial Registration Number mandatory). Retrospective Studies with adequate sample sizes supported by appropriate advanced statistical analysis may also be considered in this category.

Authors must clearly state under a separate heading the name of the approval committee, confirming that legal and ethical approvals were obtained prior to initiating the research work carried out on subjects. They must ensure that the experiments were performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Additionally, it is mandatory to provide approval or exemption from the institutional ethical review board/committee for all research articles at the time of article submission. A dissertation/thesis approval letter from the relevant authority is also acceptable.

Original papers should contain 2000-2500 words excluding the abstract and references. They should include a structured abstract of about 250 words and three to 10 keywords as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). There should be no more than three tables or illustrations, and the data should be supported by 20 to 25 references, which should include both local and international sources. More than 50% of the references should be from the last five years from the date of submission.

Clinical Practice Articles: This category includes all simple observational case series. A manuscript will be considered under this category if it is a Descriptive Case Series or a Retrospective Study. The length of such articles should be around 1500-1600 words with 15-20 references. The rest of the format should follow that of an original article.

Evidence-Based Reports: Must include at least 10 cases and have a word count of 1000-1200 words with 10-12 references. No more than 2 tables or illustrations should be included. It should contain a non-structured abstract of about 150 words.

Short Communications: Should be about 1000-1200 words, including a non-structured abstract of about 150 words, with two tables or illustrations, and not more than 6 references.

Systematic Review Articles: Should consist of a critical overview/analysis of a relatively narrow topic, providing background and recent developments with reference to the original literature. It should incorporate the author's original work on the same subject. The length of the review article should be 2500 to 3000 words. It should have a non-structured abstract of 150 words with a minimum of 3 keywords. An author can write a review article only if he/she has written a minimum of three original research articles and some case reports on the same topic.

Letters: Should normally not exceed 400 words, with no more than 5 references and must be signed by all authors—maximum of 3 are allowed. Preference is given to those that contribute to recently published articles in the journal. Letters may be published with a response from the author of the article being discussed. Further discussions beyond the initial letter and response will not be entertained for publication. Letters to the editor may be sent for peer review if they report scientific data. Editorials are written by invitation only.

Guidelines for Abstract 

The abstract must adhere to a structured format as defined by PJMDS. It should be organized into the following sections: Objectives, Methodology, Results, and Conclusion. Additionally, authors are required to include 3 to 10 keywords relevant to the content of their research, selected from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH).

 Main body of the manuscript: Introduction, Objectives, Methodology, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion. (Detailed descriptions of these sections follow.)

 For Original articles: Structured abstract up to 250 words

 For Reviews: Unstructured abstract up to 150 words

For Case Reports: Structured abstract as Background, Case Presentation, and Conclusion up to 300 words

Word Limit:

Word limit of each section must be in the given limit.

• Editorial: Up to 2000 words
• Original article: No more than 3000 words (excluding abstract and references)
• Short Review: Up to 1500 words
• Systematic Review: Up to 4000 words
• Case Report: Up to 2500 words
• Letter to the Editor: Up to 1500 words

References:

• All the referencesmust be in Vancouver style (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine).
• Original articles: Up to 25 references
• Short and Systematic Review: Up to 50 references
• References should not be older than 10 years, with at least two references from the last five years. One or two maximum historical references may be used.
• Figures and tables: Up to 6 in total
• Illustrations: Jpeg format (resolution 300 dpi)

INTRODUCTION

This section should include the purpose of the article after giving brief literature review strictly related to objective of the study. The rationale for the study or observation should be summarized. Only strictly pertinent references should be cited and the subject should not be extensively reviewed. It is preferable not to cite more than 10 references in this segment. Pertinent use of reference to augment support from literature is warranted which means, not more than 2 to 3 references be used for an observation. Data, methodology or conclusion from the work being reported should not be presented in this section. It should end with a statement of the study objective.

METHODOLOGY

Study design and sampling methods should be mentioned. Obsolete terms such as retrospective studies should not be used. The selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls) should be described clearly. The methods and the apparatus used should be identified (with the manufacturer's name and address in parentheses), and procedures must be described in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. References to established methods should be given, including statistical methods. References and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known should be provided; only new or substantially modified methods should be described in detail, giving reasons for using them, and evaluating their limitations. All drugs and chemicals used should be identified precisely, including generic name (s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.

For statistical analysis, the specific test used should be named, preferably with reference for an uncommon test. Exact p-values and 95% confidence interval (CI) limits must be mentioned instead of only stating greater or less than level of significance. All percentages must be accompanied with actual numbers. SPSS output sheet must be attached with manuscript to clarify results (p-values).

RESULTS

These should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. All the data in the tables or illustrations should not be repeated in the text; only important observations should be emphasized or summarized with due statement of demographic details. No opinion should be given in this part of the text. Statistics should be given in an ascending or descending order.

DISCUSSION

This section should include author's comment on the results, supported with contemporary references, including arguments and analysis of identical work done by other workers. Study limitations should also be mentioned. A summary is not required.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion should be provided under separate heading and highlight new aspects arising from the study. It should be in accordance with the objectives. No recommendations are needed under this heading.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Any conflict of interest should be declared by all authors. This may include grants or honorarium, credits and promotions, memberships or any personal or professional relationships which may appear to influence the manuscript. Such competing interests are not unethical but should be declared.

If there are no conflict of interests, authors should still include this heading and write “none to declare.” or “Authors declared no conflict of interest”.

FUNDING

Any company or institution who has financially contributed to the study must be acknowledged.

PATIENT CONSENT

Authors must state that the consent of the patient/guardian was taken prior to the writing of the manuscript if applicable.

TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Legends to illustrations should be typed on the same sheet. Tables should be simple, and should supplement rather than duplicate information in the text; tables repeating information will be omitted. Each table should have a title and be typed in double space without horizontal and vertical lines. Tables should be numbered consecutively with Roman numerals in the order mentioned in the text. Page number should be in the upper right corner. If abbreviations are used, they should be explained in footnotes. When graphs, scatter grams, or histograms are submitted, the numerical data on which they are based should be supplied. All graphs should be made with MS Excel and other Windows/Macintosh compatible software such as SAS and be sent as a separate Excel file, even if merged in the manuscript.

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA

Authors are required to furnish a comprehensive list of all contributors along with their contact information, including workplace, telephone/cell numbers, and email addresses, upon submission. The sequence of author names should be carefully determined at this stage and will not be subject to addition, deletion, or rearrangement post-submission. Additionally, authors must clearly delineate each individual's contribution to the manuscript in accordance with the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria, as outlined in the ICMJE recommendations (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf).

According to the ICMJE recommendations, authorship is contingent upon fulfilling the following four criteria:

Demonstrating significant involvement in either the conception or design of the study, or in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data for the project.

Engaging in the drafting of the manuscript or offering substantial revisions to ensure its intellectual integrity.

Granting final approval for the version intended for publication.

Committing to full accountability for all aspects of the work, thereby ensuring thorough investigation and resolution of any queries concerning the accuracy or integrity of the work.

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Publication Fee:

Currently, there are no charges for article submission, processing, or publication imposed on authors..

Source of Funding: 

The SCORM bears all the expenses of publication.

The Pakistan Journal of Medical and Dental Sciences (PJMDS), published by the Scientific Consultancy of Research Methodology (SCORM) in Karachi, Pakistan, is a biannual, peer-reviewed journal covering a wide range of topics in medical and dental sciences. Despite being in its early stages, PJMDS is actively working towards indexing in academic databases. As an open-access journal, PJMDS provides free access to all published content, promoting the widespread dissemination of research findings to professionals and the public.

Copyright and authorship Form 

As part of the submission process to PJMDS, we kindly request that you download and fill in the copyright and authorship form available at the following link: https://pjmds.online/index.php/pjmds/libraryFiles/downloadPublic/id . By completing this form, you agree that upon submission to PJMDS, the manuscript becomes exclusive to our journal. All copyright will be reserved by PJMDS.

Peer Review Policy

The Pakistan Journal of Medical and Dental Sciences (PJMDS) adheres to a rigorous peer review process, following the guidelines set forth by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, -HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION JOURNALS AND PUBLICATIONS POLICY, page 6 ‘Principles of Transparency and Best Practices in Scholarly Publishing’:

Manuscript Review: Each original manuscript is first checked for similarity index and other required credentials then sent to two reviewers who are experts in the relevant subject or field. The editorial board members carefully select reviewers based on their credentials.

Review of Specific Article Types: Case studies, letters to the editor, and short communications are reviewed by at least one peer reviewer.

Review of Invited Editorials: Invited editorials undergo internal review by the editorial team or members of the editorial or advisory boards, depending on the article's subject.

Double-Blind Review Process: All peer reviews are conducted on a double-blind basis, with the review reports archived in a structured format on the Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform for future reference.

Reviewer Access: Reviewers have access to all material related to the manuscript, including the abstract, introduction, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, and any supplementary materials.

Communication Protocol: All correspondence is handled through the editor’s office, ensuring that reviewers do not have direct contact with the authors at any stage.

Editorial Authority: The final decision on the selection of content rests with the editor, who ensures that the articles meet the journal's quality standards and suitability criteria.

ORIGINALITY REPORT (GUIDELINES)

Plagiarism is a significant ethical issue that undermines academic and professional integrity. Authors must maintain high standards of originality and ethical conduct in their writing. Similarity index of the originality report is showing matches of submitted work with internet content. It is not verdict that document with high similarity index is plagiarized.

2. Similarity index is based on percentage of matched text out of total number of words in the document.
3. Instructor/Faculty member has to verify each and every similarity index for potential clue of plagiarism.
4. If similarities in the document are significant then scholar/student may be guided accordingly or case may be reported on the basis of that evidence.

• If the report has similarity index <=19%, then benefit of doubt may be given to the author but, in case, any single source has similarity index >=5% without citation then it needs to be revised.
• If similarities of a report are from authors’ own (previous) work then these may be ignored only if the material has been cited by the author.
• As documents which are checked through this service are not yet published and no benefit is acquired, therefore, no punishment or penalty is recommended. It is advised that similarities at greater level may be taken care of in the light of the HEC plagiarism policy.

5. Bibliography and quoted material may be excluded after verifying. It is important to note that too much quoted material is not desired as per policy.
6. Common phrases and proper nouns also appear as similarities in the report, therefore every instructor/faculty member should ignore matches returned from them.
7. Originality report will show similarities from three major sources: internet, periodicals and student repository. Similarities returned from student repository may be ignored if it is authors own same work. Similarities from Student repository helps in detecting collusion in the documents.
8. The graphs, tables, formulae and other pictorial material is not matched through the service therefore, it will only offer similarities with only text.
9. The instructor/faculty member supervising students/scholars can give verdict of plagiarism after interpreting report. The report will be used as evidence of the report.
10. If plagiarism is found, the author's affiliated institution may be notified, the publication may withdraw its publication, and the article may be rejected. Plagiarism that occurs frequently may result in additional disciplinary measures.
11. The integrity of the publication process is a priority for editors and reviewers. The editing team will conduct a thorough investigation if plagiarism is suspected or found.
12. When doing research, authors are expected to follow ethical guidelines for data collection, analysis, and reporting. Any type of academic dishonesty, including fabrication and falsification, will not be accepted.
13. Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest to maintain integrity in their work, contributing to a scholarly environment based on integrity, intellectual property respect, and knowledge pursuit. Failure to comply may result in manuscript rejection or retraction, potentially damaging the author's reputation.