PM&DC Journals Committee doing its best to educate & train Editors
Editorial Teams of JPSPAR & Annals of KEMU briefed
about initiatives they need to take
LAHORE: Journals Committee of Pakistan Medical & Dental Council is doing its best to educate and train the editors of biomedical journals to improve the quality of contents and standard of the journals through various initiatives. After evaluation of each journal which applies for recognition, the editors are sent a detailed report highlighting the deficiencies noted and how to improve and rectify them. It has finalized guidelines on evaluation of journals, offers help and assistance in how to write peer review reports and most of these are made available on the PM&DC website as well and it is also shared with the editors of the Biomedical journals from time to time.
Prof. Mahmood Ayaz Vice Chancellor King Edward Medical University chairing a meeting to discuss the improvement of quality and standard of biomedical journals being published by KEMU. Also seen in the meeting are Prof. Moin Pro VC, Pro. Asghar Naqi, Dr. Saira Tariq, Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and Prof. Nazish Imran Chief Editor Annals of KEMU.
Journal of Society of Prevention, Advocacy and Research affiliated with King Edward Medical University has started its own Quarterly journal recently and it was submitted for evaluation and recognition quite a few times but recognition was rejected for various reasons. In one of the last meetings, after hearing comments from all the five editors who had evaluated this journal and given their comments, the then Chairman of PM&DC Journals Committee Prof. Khalid Masood Gondal suggested that let Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and a member of the committee help, guide and assist them before it is considered again for recognition.
As per the mandate and advised by the Journals Committee through its notification No. 29-Accr.Ar/Journals-2025/256 dated May 16th 2025 Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid visited KEMU on June 11th 2025 and had detailed meeting and discussion with the Editorial Team of the journal. First a meeting was arranged with the Vice Chancellor of KEMU Prof. Mahmood Ayaz who was kind enough to spare some of his precious time for this meeting. Others who were present in the meeting included Prof. Moin Pro Vice Chancellor of KEMU, Prof. Abrar and Prof. Asghar Naqi also attended besides Dr. Saira Tariq Editor of Journal of Prevention, Advocacy and Research and Prof. Nazish Imran Chief Editor of Annals of King Edward Medical University.
Prof. Mahmood Ayaz Vice Chancellor of KEMU presenting a flower Bouquet to Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences during his recent visit to KEMU. Also seen in the picture from (R to L) are Prof. Abrar, Prof. Asghar Naqi, Prof. Moin Pro Vie Chancellor, Prof. Saira Tariq and Prof. Nazish Imran Chief Editor of Annals of KEMU.
Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid pointed out that the Journals Committee wishes to facilitate help and assist editors to improve their quality and standard. We wish to have as many as possible good quality peer reviewed journals so that the researchers do not have to wait for too long to get their research work published. There is already long waiting time with the Impact Factor Journals hence efforts are being made to ensure that more journals could come up to the minimum standard in which peer review plays a vital role.
He further made it clear that he was visiting KEMU to help and guide the Editors. University administration was advised to put a system in place for the editing and publication of journals and do not have too much dependence on individuals. Faculty members who are given the responsibility of Editorship may come and go, they may be transferred or once they retire, this should not disrupt the publication. Once they put a proper system in place, things will move on without any hinderance. Training of the Editors and Editorial Staff is important. We do not wish to do anything which could bring bad name to the PM&DC as well as KEMU one of the premier medical institutions of Pakistan. We wish to safeguard our own as well as the credibility of these institutions at all costs, Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid added.
Prof. Mahmood Ayaz tanked Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid for his visit and also commended the efforts being made by the PM&DC and its Journals Committee in particular.
He wished that the editorial teams should be guided how to increase the citations of studies published in our journals, how we can attract submissions from overseas. Some of our faculty members, he said, are publishing their research work in leading Impact Factor Journals overseas as well and we wish to improve our citations which will help us in improving our Impact Factor as well. Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid pointed out that in their journal, it is a policy that all authors even from overseas are advised to cite studies published in Pakistani Biomedical Journals as we wish to improve the citations from Pakistan and it has worked well. Authors from China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many other countries have started citing studies published in Pakistani journals. It may not be possible for him to give some good news for the time being regarding recognition of the Journal of Prevention, Advocacy and Research but we will certainly show them the right path and help them put some system in place.
Later the Editorial Team of Journal of Society of Prevention, Advocacy and Research at KEMU gave a detailed briefing about the working of their journal in the Journal office in the Dept. of Community Medicine. They have a good informative website but it still lacks certain vital information which they were asked to add. They were also asked to improve their Editor’s Triage and initial screening of manuscripts and no manuscript should be processed until it is accompanied with all the required documents like Letter of Undertaking, Ethics Committee/IRB approval. Ensure plagiarism check of each and every manuscript. During the discussions it was noticed that the Editorial Team was not very well conversant with the concept of Peer Review. When they pointed out that it was a student’s journal, they were told that the must make up their mind and decide once for all. If it is a student’s journal, they do not need any evaluation and recognition by the PM&DC.
Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences photographed with the Editorial Teams of Annals of KEMU and Journals of Prevention, Advocacy and Research during his recent visit to KEMU to discuss the functioning of the Journals being published by KEMU on June 11th 2025.
However, if they wish that the authors who contribute and publish manuscripts in the journal should get credit, they have to follow the rules and regulations of PM&DC and there can be no compromise on quality. The peer review system they were following was inadequate and not perfect. Just giving marks to different sections of the article and then recommending accept for publication cannot be accepted as a peer review. They were told that peer review has to be done by the subject experts. Each paper must be reviewed by two external reviewers, they should give detailed comments and it should be helpful to the authors in improving their manuscripts. They should highlight deficiencies and suggest improvements. When the authors submit revised manuscripts, they should also provide a detailed response how they have addressed the comments and suggestions by the reviewers.
They have to be extremely careful about authorship issues, do not promote gift authorship, make sure that all listed authors are eligible for authorship as per ICMJE Guidelines. Ethics Approval in the manuscript must mention reference number with date. Reviewers must sign the review reports and mention their institutional affiliation with complete details so that it can be verified if needed. They were told to design proper Letter of Undertaking which should be signed by all listed authors. Later they were sent sample copies of different Peer Review Performa’s, Guidelines for Evaluation of Journals by PM&DC, how to write Peer Review Report which should be sent to the reviewers when they are sent a paper for review to help and guide them.
The Editorial Team was also shown some Editor’s Triage, Initial Screening reports besides peer review reports of over half a dozen manuscripts which had detailed reviews, suggestions and then the authors response while submitting a revised manuscript. They were suggested to modify all these documents as per their requirements and then use them. They were further advised that in the next issue, they should ensure that at least five original papers are published and do provide their peer review reports with EC/IRB approval, plagiarism report, response from the authors regarding revision of the manuscript. All these documents along with a published copy of the journal should be submitted to the PM&DC for evaluation. If any further help and assistance is required, Journal Committee members will be happy to provide that.
Later a meeting was held with the Editorial Team of Annals of King Edward Medical University headed by Prof. Nazish Imran. They were told that there is no harm in asking the authors to suggest some potential reviewers and it is up to the Editor to use any one of them or not. If a review by the suggested reviewers is not appropriate, it can be rejected and the decision should also be intimated to the authors. At times we do get some good reviewers from these suggested experts and one can add them to the Reviewers Database. They were further advised to apply for coverage by Scopus. After Web of Science by Clarivate, Scopus is an important database. Carefully read and follow the guidelines before applying and ensure that all the documents are complete.
To maintain quality and standard, constant efforts by the Editorial Team and Editorial Advisory Board members is needed. Both the journals were also advised not to go for big names as “Show Pieces” in the Editorial Board but opt for young faculty members who are keen, interested and also have time for such academic activities. All Editorial Board members should be encouraged to actively contribute to the journal may be in the form of Guest Editorial, brief communication etc. They can also be asked to write Commentary. Respondong to a query it was stated that it is not essential that each issue of the journal should have an Editorial and sometime one issue can have more than one Editorial and Guest Editorials. Any important topic can be selected for Editorial but it must have proper references.
It was heartening to note that at least both the journals of KEMU have now proper offices and dedicate staff for which the university administration needs to be commended. They have also approved some honorarium for the Reviewers as it is extremely difficult to find good reviewers who review the manuscripts in time. Decision has also been made to have a separate account for the Journals which will be helpful for the editors because getting anything approved particularly related to finances in public sector institutions is extremely difficult and time consuming.
