PMDC Journals Committee meeting at IMDC
ISLAMABAD: Journals Committee of the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council is one of our best committees and it has been efficiency working assessing and evaluating the biomedical journals for recognition by the PM&DC Council. This was stated by Prof.Rizwan Taj President of Pakistan Medical & Dental Council while speaking at the “Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality of Medical Journals” meeting organized at the Islamabad Medical & Dental College campus on September 19th 2024. He also commended the functioning of the IMDC which was making good progress as a health institution which is now striving for University Charter. There exists some gap between research and academia and it is the duty of the medial institutions to encourage their students and faculty to undertake research and get it published, he added.
Group photograph of speakers and participants of meeting on the Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality of Medical Journals organized by PMDC at Islamabad Medical & Dental College with Chairman of IMDC
Dr. Ghulam Akbar Khan Niazi.
This year about one lac seventy-seven thousand students will be participating and competing for about twenty-two thousand seats in medical and dental colleges. These are the best minds and cream of the society. We need to improve our contribution to world medical literature with quality research. The Journals Committee has set good standards for assessment and evaluation and we are trying our best to help the journals, he remarked.
Earlier Prof. Maj.Gen(Retd) Muhammad Aslam who is also member of the Journals Committee on behalf of Islamabad Medial & Dental College welcomed President PM&DC, the guest speakers and participants to the meeting. This he said was the second meeting in the series being organized by the PM&DC to train editors and editorial board members of biomedical journals. They are encouraged to actively participate in the deliberations and ask for any clarification from the Journals Committee members regarding its functioning, assessment and evaluation of journals. The first such training session was organized at King Edward Medical University and this was the second session being held today. Over seventy editors and editorial board members, faculty from different medical institutions from Rawalpindi-Islamabad are present while over fifty people have joined online to benefit from the presentations. IMDC is honoured to host this meeting.
Mr. Yasir Khan Niazi Chief Executive of Islamabad Medical & Dental College presenting shield to Prof. Rizwan Taj, President of Pakistan Medical & Dental Council during a meeting organized at IMDC on the Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality of Medical Journals. Prof. Maj. Gen (Retd) Muhammad
Aslam is also seen in the picture.
Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and member of the committee in his presentation highlighted the salient features of criteria used for assessment and evaluation of journals. It was pointed out that regular publication, comprehensive complete information on the journal website about aims, objectives, processing and publication charges, peer review system used, policy to deal with scientific misconduct, details about the owners of the journal, affiliation with any medial institution, professional specialty organization, name of editor, complete address with phone number should be included in the website. Ensuring transparency, following Guidelines by Internaitonal Committee of Medical Journals (ICMJE) on authorship, Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) UK on publication ethics are important. Gift authorship is a menace and intellectual corruption which must be discouraged and eliminated.
It is the quality of peer review and editorial board members which will determine the quality and standard of the journal. Unfortunately, some journals do not give importance of peer review and are also involved in gift authorship hence finding to get recognition. Journals should have essential minimum staff, proper office, editors should have contract appointments. Reviewers should be given due respect, rewards, incentives and recognition. Ethics Committee/IRB approval of every manuscript being published which should be reviewed by at least two reviewers, time line of publication is essential. The editors are supposed to keep the peer review reports, EC/IRB approval, plagiarism report and Letter of Undertaking submitted by the authors for each manuscript being published for at least two years.
Prof. Saira Afzal Chief Editor of Annals of KEMU discussed the types of peer review and referred to single blind, double blind, open peer review system besides collaborative review and post publication review. It is important to strengthen peer review to avoid common pitfalls. Training of reviewers is also important so that they are updated on different guidelines. The authors must be careful about the predatory journals and one can check it by visiting the various databases like Web of Sciences, Scopus, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). Artificial Intelligence is also being used for peer review though it is not yet standard and approved. She then highlighted the importance of mentorship opportunities, collaborative review. Future of peer review is in ensuring transparency and one can adopt any model as per their requirements.
Prof. Akhtar Sherin Chief Editor of Khyber Medical University Journal discussed the Indexation of journals in various databases including Web of Sciences, Scopus, discussed the historical background of Impact Factor, what are the important steps which the journals should take before applying for indexation. Complete comprehensive information on the journal website, geographic distribution of the editorial board members as well as manuscripts being published by the journal is also important for indexation, he remarked.
Prof. S.H. Waqar President of Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME) talked about the art of scientific writing and highlighted the key skills and attributes for success. It requires devotion and dedication. He also referred to various types of medical writing i.e. original article, reviews, case reports, clinical case series, editorial, short communication etc. The authors were advised to follow the IMRAD pattern. Healthcare professionals are too busy and it is important they should understand and practice time management. Research should try to solve some problem which will ensure its publication. Active listening is the first step towards learning, he added.
Prof. Rizwan Taj, Prof. Maj. Gen (Retd) Muhammad Aslam, Dr. Rukhsana Nisar, Prof. S.H. Waqar, Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid, Prof. Akhtar Sherin and Prof. Saira Afzal speaking at the “Role of Accreditation in Enhancing Quality of Medical Journals” meeting organized by PM&DC at the Islamabad Medical & Dental College campus on September 19th 2024.
Prof. Khalid Hassan Chief Editor of Journal of IMDC discussed the global challenges in citation. Scientific writing, he opined, requires commitment. He suggested that the committee members sit with the journals which are struggling and striving for improvement and help them improve the quality and standard. He commended the functioning of the journals which now enjoy Impact Factor. He desired active collaboration between different stake holders in medical journalism the authors, reviewers, editors and the regulatory bodies. Research and Development section in any institution is essential. Editors should collaborate and define scope and standard operating procedures for the Journals.
During the discussion it was emphasized that publishing and standard peer review medical journals requires a team work. However, most of the editors are part time hence they cannot devote the time required. Hence it is essential that medical institutions, professional specialty organizations publishing a journal must have a proper office and minimum dedicated staff. Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid in her presentation had also suggested that editors should have a contract appointment and they should be clear about their Rights and Responsibilities. Editors should get training and use Open Journal System. Financial rewards, respect and recognition for reviewers was also highlighted. One of the participants suggested that the data should be submitted to the journal. Medical Institution should strive to have Electronic Health Record System which will ensure compilation of data which is extremely important for research and publications. At times most of the research being performed is below the desired level. We need to establish Clinical Trial Units. R&D departments should be established with the cooperation of PM&DC. Ethical Committee/IRB approval should be standardized.
There was lot of discussion on number of authors allowed by different journals. It was emphasized that all those listed as authors must qualify and be eligible for authorship as per ICMJE authorship criteria, now journals also require details about the contribution of each author. There was also debate on Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis and it was pointed out that they are not original research though very important and useful and difficult to do. However, they cannot replace the importance of Original research which is desired for selection, promotion as faculty members. Use of Artificial Intelligence for scientific writing also figures during the discussion. It was emphasized that one should know how to intelligently use these AI tools. They can be a good source and helpful in many ways but should not be used for writing but for improvement of English and Grammar. AI tools cannot be listed as authors and the authors must acknowledge if they have used any AI tools and in which section. No AI tool is till now approved for peer review as peer reviewers have to take the responsibility while AI wont.
Mr. Yaris Khan Niazi Chief Executive of Islamabad Medical & Dental College in his speech appreciated the good discussion which was generated through different presentations. Collaboration between different stake holders, he emphasized is extremely important only then it will have some meaningful impact. PM&DC has its own limitations. It is a regulatory body and it is up to us how to implement the rules and regulations. We are delighted that with the joining of Prof. Major Gen. Muhammad Aslam we will have increased academic activities. We need to find ways and means to work together. Citation of published research, he further stated, is important. Medical Journals should build their capacity and work for value addition of their journals. Fundamental DNE of IMDC is research. We have established department of Research and Development, he remarked.
Dr. Rukhsana Nisar in charge Journals Section at PM&DC also briefly addressed the meeting and highlighted the functioning of the committee regarding assessment and evaluation of journals and its accomplishments during the last one year. Prof.Maj. Gen.Aslam thanked the speakers and participants and all those who extended their valuable help and assistance in making the meeting a success.
Dr. Ali Nasir from Gets Pharma which had sponsored the meeting shared the services being provided by the company in research and publications helping the authors. The company has also published different Guidelines on important topics helping the healthcare professionals, he added.
