Many medical journals published in Pakistan do not follow any peer review system

Ignorant about the ICMJE authorship criteria, they are involved in sale of authorship Gift authorship is a menace, intellectual corruption
which needs to be checked

ISLAMABAD: A number of medical journals published from Pakistan some of them for the last many years are not practicing any peer review system. In fact it won’t be an exaggeration to say that they do not know what peer review is hence keep on publishing manuscripts submitted to them by authors who are keen to get quick publication with the result that they are actively involved in promoting quackery in medical journalism.
A critical look at the published papers on their websites will reveal that these journals not only have lot of formatting problems but many manuscripts have a long list of authors many of whom do not deserve and are not eligible for authorship as per the latest authorship guidelines issued by International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The published papers mention those who even did proof reading, or those who were just involved in data collection or its interpretation as authors. In fact only those who fulfill all the four criteria’s laid down by the ICMJE can be listed as authors. These criteria are as under:

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or reviewing it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.1

Gift authorship is very common all over the world and Pakistan is no exception but unfortunately this menace has now crossed all limits in Pakistan thanks to the relax attitude of the regulatory bodies. The Journals Committee of Pakistan Medical & Dental Council had not approved some of these journals in September 2018 but then PM&DC was dissolved and replaced with Pakistan Medical Commission which entrusted this responsibility to HEC. Hence it was during those four to five years that most of these sub-standard journals flourished and continued to make money by publishing sub-standard manuscripts without any peer review. Many of these journals got recognition from HEC, one fails to understand how?

HEC is reported to have recognized these journals in ”Y” Category as “Recommended by HEC local Committee”. However, in its detailed eligibility criteria it also lists that each manuscript is reviewed by two subject experts and these reports should be available for review. However, it appears HEC administration does not practice this in letter and spirit. On the other hand Journals Committee of PM&DC has done a commendable job and so far they have evaluated ninety two journals during the last one year at its five meetings. It strictly follows the criteria it has laid down for recognition in which practicing proper peer review system, following authorship guidelines as per ICMJE authorship criteria, following publication ethics, approval of studies by Ethics Committee, Institutional Review Boards, timeline for publication, plagiarism check besides regular publication of the journals are important. The journals are also encouraged to use Open Journal System for manuscript management and make sure that the peer review reports, plagiarism report, Ethics Committee/IRB approval and Letter of Undertaking submitted by the authors are mandatory and these must be kept for two years.

Each paper has to be reviewed by at least two subject experts. Peer Review Performa should not consist of just Yes and NO alone but the reviewers must give proper feedback to the authors by way of comments and suggestions which should help the authors to improve the quality of their manuscripts. Then the authors are supposed to submit the revised manuscript alongwith the covering note how they have responded to these comments while revising their paper and all this record has to be maintained. Those journals which were not fulfilling these criteria were not recommended for recognition in 2018 and when some of these journals again applied now, their cases are being assessed and evaluated by the Committee members very minutely.

PMDC and its Journals Committee members has repeatedly pointed out that their role is to facilitate, help and guide the journal editors but there will be no compromise on quality and standards. It has also started training programme for the Editors and first such meeting was hosted by King Edward Medical Univesity few months back and similar meetings are planned at Karachi, Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Quetta and Peshawar in the days to come.
Many of these journals unfortunately do not have trained and qualified staff, nor the editors have got proper training hence they are unable to realize the importance of peer review. However, now lot of human resource trained in Medical Editing are available in the country. PAME in collaboration with UHS has trained six batches of editors, editorial staff, Editorial Board Members and faculty members in medical editing. Two batches have also completed advance course which will lead to Diploma in Medical Journalism by UHS.

Again in collaboration with CORTEACH, PAME is running a similar online course and so far five batches have been trained. The total number of healthcare professionals trained so far now are 185 by UHS and 189 by CORTEACH. Hence if these journals wish, they can either acquire the services of these trained people or outsource formatting, peer review etc. Getting good quality peer reviewers is extremely difficult and the Journal Editors will have to start paying the reviewers, offer some incentives and rewards if they wish them to spare their precious time and do a good job as it takes lot of time to review a manuscript.
Functioning of the Paper Mills in Pakistan, sale and purchase of authorship, other unethical practices by the Journal Editors are bringing lot of bad name to Pakistan and this issues is being debated and discussed on Social Media frequently. It is high time that all the stake holders take note of it and regulatory bodies like HEC and PM&DC start taking action against all those involved in unethical practices, promote professional ethics, safeguard integrity of research and scientific publications. Let us not provide an opportunity to the world to defame us but we need to project good image of Pakistan in which every one of us has to play its role.

REFERENCE

1. Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in Medical Journals. (Revised May 2023) Available at: https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf