Editorial Team
Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry (PJMD) is headed by a Managing Editor and Editorial Board member. The Editors and Editorial Board is appointed based on the journal’s need for representation from a particular area. The board is committed to maintaining high journal standards and is supported by an Editorial Office Team.
Ethical Guidelines for the Editors
PJMD Editors should ensure that published articles conform to the journal’s Policies for Editors and COPE Core Practices, and as per HEC Guidelines which aim to promote and support ethical practices in publishing.
Editor’s Responsibilities
Establishing and maintaining the quality of the journal by publishing quality papers. Promotion of freedom of expression within the cultural, constitutional/legal framework
Good practices
Encouraging new ideas and suggestions for improving the quality of PJMD. Applying the process of blind peer review in its true letter and spirit, promoting & implementing anti-plagiarism & journal policy without institutional pressure.
Fair play and Impartiality
Will ensure an impartial evaluation of the content of research papers. Disregard all discriminating factors during the selection of articles, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, etc. of authors.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality of the author(s) and reviewers during the peer review process will be ensured. Participants in the research should also be ensured. Before publication, the content of the manuscript would be kept confidential.
Editing and Formatting Guidelines
Clear guidelines about preparing and formatting of a paper are available on the PJMD webpage.
Review Process
The Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry (PJMD) operates under a comprehensive editorial office policy for manuscript review. Initially, manuscripts undergo internal review by in-house editors to assess their originality and quality. At this stage, manuscripts may either be rejected or returned to authors for necessary corrections if they do not meet the journal standards. Following this initial review, manuscripts deemed suitable proceed to the peer review stage. PJMD employs a Double-Blind Peer Review process, ensuring anonymity for both authors and reviewers. The corrected manuscript, incorporating initial comments, is then submitted to content expert reviewers for thorough evaluation. Based on the reviewers& comments, the manuscript is either accepted for publication or rejected. This rigorous peer review process ensures that only high-quality, rigorously assessed manuscripts are published in PJMD, maintaining the journal’s standards of excellence in medical and dental research.
Dealing with Misconduct
Will encourage reviewers to comment on ethical issues and possible misconduct. Confirmation of plagiarism through Turnitin and/or searching for similar titles etc. Will publish a corrigendum, remove and retract a plagiarized article.
Transparency
Only one paper as a PI (principal investigator) should be published in the same issue. Authorship & co-authorship policies will be strictly adopted.
Conflict of Interest
The editors and reviewers will not edit a submitted paper for those author(s) and/or institution against which s/he has any conflicts of interest.
Disclosure
Will not use any unpublished information/data from the submitted research paper without the permission of the author(s)
Publication Decisions
Only shortlisted research papers relevant to the scope of the journal will be published after completion of the review process. Acceptance or rejection of a paper will be based on academic standards. The Editor will justify the reasons for rejecting a research paper and will timely communicate the editorial decision to the authors.
Procedure for Appeal
Authors whose articles have been rejected have the right to send a letter of appeal giving detailed explanations. This will be reviewed in-house and a decision will be taken accordingly.
Revised articles will not be considered at this stage.