To optimize the reviewer's contribution in thisprocess, understanding the characteristics involved is necessary. The selection by a scientific journal's editor-in-chief and associate editors of amanuscript for publishing is mainly, although not exclusively, based on the opinion ofthe manuscript's reviewers. This process is known as peer review and consists on themanuscript's assessment by experts in the area, who judge the scientific merit of themanuscript submitted to the journal. This process is expected to accept the betterscience for publishing, while refusing that of lower merit. Other standards and rulesfollowed by editors of international journals contribute to improve the scientificquality of the journals.Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia and the InternationalJournal of Cardiovascular Science. We will address the specific topics thatshould be clearly indicated by the reviewers to allow the editors to make their bestdecision possible. In addition to local specific suggestions that the SBC journals'editors consider important, we add recommendations of other editors for anexcellent-quality review.3In the peer-review system, it is crucial that the reviewer's scientific opinion betransmitted to the editors in a clear and focused way regarding the essential aspectsfor decision making. This information is conveyed through writing by the reviewer in thereview system of a given journal. Dealing with online article submission and reviewsystems is challenging, and most of such systems are neither intuitive nor easy to use.However, this editorial will not focus on such difficulties, which can usually beovercome with the support of assistant editors and an efficient editorial office, whichwe fortunately have for the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (SBC) journals: theArquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia andInternational Journal of Cardiovascular Science editors would liketo find in an excellent review for their journals.An excellent review requires time and effort of the reviewer, in addition to anon-trivial work of checking the literature in the manuscript's specific area. That timetends to decrease as the reviewer gains more experience, but, on average, it ranges from2 to 3 hours. The reviewer is rewarded with the knowledge and updated view of thespecific area, in addition to the possibility of influencing the text that will be readby the scientific cardiovascular community. An excellent review will play a crucial rolein the manuscript's acceptance or rejection, as well as significantly improve themanuscript's quality. It is a great opportunity for the reviewer not only to participatein the dissemination of innovation and new knowledge, but to directly influence it, inaddition to being aware, prior to other colleagues, of the innovations that are in thepipeline, that is, in the publishing process. Usually, our reviewers are chosen based ontheir capability and technical knowledge in cardiovascular science and their history ofpublishing in that specific field, which make them highly trained in article editing,often qualifying them as excellent reviewers. However, the process of article selectionusually requires specific responses focused in certain aspects of the manuscript thatcan pass unnoticed by the reviewer. In addition, different journals can differ in theway reviewers and editors communicate. Many reviewers never receive any formal guidanceon what editors consider essential in reviews. This document will provide the reviewerswith the information the The scientific reviewers are invited to represent the journals in selecting articles ofhigh scientific quality for publishing. The reviewers should protect our journals fromarticles with evident flaws or with methodological errors, inappropriate analysis orconclusions. In that aspect, the reviewers act as judges. In addition, they are expectedto act as consultants to the authors to improve the article. Another characteristic ofthe process is that almost all articles that undergo peer review, whether accepted ornot for publishing, end up improved.Many reviews begin with a short summary of the manuscript. Although the editors havealready read the manuscript, this summary provides them with the perspective of thereviewer, an expert in the area. Thus, the manuscript's summary, although not mandatory,is extremely useful for the editors and highly recommendable.The essence of a review is the manuscript's assessment and how it will serve thescientific process. The reviewer should ask himself the following questions: Is there arationale for the study's objectives? How important is the hypothesis being tested? Theterm 'important' here can have several meanings, depending on the subjective view ofeach reviewer, but a point considered critical is whether the hypothesis is original andhas not been tested before in the literature. The famous gap in the literature is whatwe search in a manuscript to justify its publication. Metaphorically speaking, we lookfor a hole in the cardiovascular science wall to put a brick in it. Or, more directlyspeaking: Is it new? Is it true? Does anybody care about it? Or: Is the manuscriptoriginal, precise, valid and relevant?Continuing with the technical questions on the manuscript being reviewed, reviewersshould ask: Are the methods for data collection and analysis appropriate and accurate?Are the results significant for the area? Can the conclusions be supported by theresults? We suggest such questions be divided into two types: general and specificcomments. The general comments are the most important ones and should comprise themanuscript's positive and negative general aspects. For example, if there is animportant methodological flaw or if the sample size is insufficient, or if originalityis a strength. Those aspects should be part of the general comments. The specificcomments comprise grammar or sentence corrections and suggestions of change in tablesand figures, which are formal aspects to be fixed, and the reviewer should indicatetheir respective page and paragraph.It is worth noting how frequent such data lack in the reviewer's comments, leaving theinterpretation for the editors. Would that lack of information indicate that the articleis suitable for publication?The best reviews compare the manuscript with the current literature in the specific area,in addition to providing the references that support the reviewer's opinions, especiallyregarding the manuscript's originality. Quite often, editors must judge a manuscriptbased on different opinions from different reviewers. Very likely, the opinion supportedby the literature will prevail.A common mistake in our editing management system is when reviewers repeat the commentsto authors in the space reserved for comments to editors. This space is intended forconfidential comments, where reviewers are free to justify directly why they accept orreject the manuscript, or even suggest its rejection or acceptance, justifying theirdecision. In that same space, reviewers can comment if the manuscript is suitable forour audience. Although this is a fundamental task of editors, the reviewer's opinionwill be considered, and often the editors will follow the reviewer's opinion.It is worth noting and emphasizing that, in the 'comments to authors' section, reviewersshould never state whether the manuscript would or would not be accepted. The authorsshould only receive comments on specific scientific merits and suggestions forimprovement. Nevertheless, despite the determinant role of the review in the fate of themanuscript, the final decision of acceptance or refusal is up to the editors, and,eventually, to the editor-in-chief. It is worth noting the practical fact that the review is undoubtedly a very individualprocess, to which there is no formal training, and, similarly to medicine, an art. Thus,the result of the scientific review is necessarily a mix of scientific merit and thereviewer's opinion. From the editors' viewpoint, reviewers must acknowledge that ourjournals, whose best impact factor is 1.18, will receive manuscripts with scientificlimitations inherent in any submission, but possibly more evident in our cases. In thiscontext, the reviewer should decide whether the manuscript, despite its limitations,deserves to be published or not, and communicate that clearly to the editors, in the'confidential comments to editors' space. Excessive rigidity is not recommended at thatpoint. Assess and reflect. Be neither aggressive nor rude. Be technical. Remember thelarge amount of effort the colleagues put into the task, from the project elaboration tothe manuscript's final writing. In the next step, the reviewer should act as aconsultant to authors, clearly indicating which changes should be made to provide themanuscript with quality for publishing.Finally, be concise. Short and objective texts, and even a list of items of the changessuggested, are sufficient. Do not exceed one page of text with single line spacing. Wedo not recommend long reviews with endless lists of changes. Even the specific commentson shape and grammar, if frequent in the manuscript, can be summarized as only onesuggestion of extensive grammar review. Our journals can use writing consultants inEnglish and Portuguese. The same is valid for the statistical analysis, for which wecount on a statistical appraiser and consultant for all manuscripts submitted.The review of scientific articles and reviewers are extremely important for thescientific community in general and for the existence of the journals. Despite theincreasing trend towards previous publishing in repositories prior to peer review toaccelerate the dissemination of the results, peer review is fundamental for thereliability of an article in the scientific community. Thus, the review of scientificmanuscripts is a huge responsibility of inestimable value, which leads editors to keepin mind the names of the high-quality reviewers. To confirm that value, we will gobeyond the prizes for the most punctual reviewer, enhancing the awards and recognitionin our scientific community for reviewers who perform best. Wait and see!The following table summarizes our recommendations for reviewers.We hope to have contributed to foster an efficient dialogue between reviewers and editorsin the coming years, in addition to yielding an increasingly suitable selection ofarticles for publishing in our journals.


Prof. Arshad Javed Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University was the host and all this became possible due to his and his team’s keen interest. Prof. Arshad Javed, it may be mentioned here is himself member of PAME and as Chief Editor of Journal of Postgraduate Medical Institute for quite some time, has been the moving spirit for promoting the discipline of medical journalism in Khyber PK. Prof. Akhtar Sherin Chief Editor of Khyber Medical University Journal and Dr. M. Irfan were members of the organizing committee.PESHAWAR: Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME) organized its fourth National Conference at Khyber Medical University Peshawar from March 3-4Dr. Jamshed Akhtar Editor of Journal of College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan. He also made the first presentation and talked about scope of the journal and need assessment. Many journals, he opined had inexperienced editorial board and quality of the manuscripts they publish was also questionable. Some journals face paucity of manuscripts. Bypassing the editorial process and draconian rules by the authorities were some of the challenges faced by the medical journals in Pakistan.The conference started on the morning of March 3, 2018. The first session was devoted to Starting a New Journal and Maintaining quality of publication. This was moderated by Editors must get experience, show commitment and dedication-Jamshed AkhtarHigher Education Commission, Government of Pakistan, he said has recognized various journals in different categories which are as under:W Category-4X Category-5Y Category-16Z Category-11Derecognized-20The question arises should we upgrade the existing journals or start a new journal? The criteria used for recognition of journals by the regulatory bodies, he opined, are also questionable. PM&DC has recognized seventy two journals but what are their criteria is not known. Universities, professional specialty organizations, medical colleges, individual publishers are publishing journals and their aims and objectives are different. There is a need for renowned medical publishers. The Mission, Goal and objectives of the journal should be clearly defined. Some of the subspecialty journals, he said, were quite successful and have good Impact Factor as well. Name of the journal also matters, he remarked. What a journal does not accept should be clearly stated on the journal website. Before starting a journal, one must get experience as it is not a part time job. Show commitment and dedication. Courses for training of editors are available on WAME website and some other sources as well. PAME has also been considering starting certificate course in medical journalism, some discussions were also held but it could not be materialized so far due to various reasons.Editor should be ethical, professional, they have to bear accusations, show patience and must be supportive -Fatema JawadDr. Fatema Jawad Chief Editor of JPMA spoke about editorial freedom. She opined that Editor should be ethical and professional; journal must have a transparent policy, have professional relationship and never misuse their position. Editors have to bear accusations, show patience and must be supportive. Editors should have complete independence. Editorial freedom is extremely important. HEC recently de-recognized twenty medical journals and all of them are recognized by the PM&DC. In practical life, it is seen that the Editors of journals published by universities cannot take decisions; they even cannot have meetings if the Vice Chancellor is not available. Sociology journals enjoy more freedom. Honesty, she opined, was a protective factor against coercion. Editors must be honest, update their knowledge, should be hardworking and ensure transparency, regular publication and high quality should be evident, she added.Prof. Saba Sohail also from the JCPSP talked about In-House assessment- a key step in processing the articles. She pointed out that it must be ensured that all the basic requirements are there, all the mandatory documents have been submitted by the authors, and plagiarism check is a must. One must look at the protocol registration, conflict of interest statement. Do not go for short cut. What type of articles and journal policy as regards categorization is also important? Make sure that English language is good, see if the title is appropriate, the study has a message and it is conveyed effectively. Are the number of authors appropriate, manuscripts has all the important components including conclusions and references before it is accepted for further processing.Peer review policy adopted by the Journal must be mentioned on the journal website-Akhtar SherinProf. Akhtar Sherin Chief Editor of Khyber Medial University Journal talked about Peer Review: Issues and Challenges for a new Journal. Peer review, he said, assures validity, quality. Most of the articles should be peer reviewed and at least one of the reviewers should be external. He also talked about collaborative peer review, third party review before submission by authors to the journal. He then discussed post publication review and who can be a reviewer and how to identify the reviewers. Authors can also suggest reviewers but the Editorial team has to check their credentials. Poor Review is something which one must avoid if one has to maintain quality. Some reviewers do electronic review with track changes. The peer review policy adopted by the Journal must be mentioned on the journal website, he added.Prof. Maj.Gen. Muhammad Aslam Pro VC National University of Medical Sciences and former President of PAME in his presentation highlighted how to maintain quality of the manuscripts. What is given to you, one must read it, correct it. Endurance is needed to maintain quality of manuscripts for a long time. He made it clear that publishing a good quality peer reviewed journal is not a one man job. It is a team work. It requires active contributions by the Editor, Authors, Reviewers, Librarians, Readers, Funding agencies, community and the professional specialty organizations, Accreditation bodies, research organizations, educational institutions. In short it requires multipronged responsibilities, he added.Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and Secretary of Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME) discussed issues encountered from acceptance to publication. He referred to the pressure from authors to get acceptance letter without realizing that it can only be issued once the peer review and all other formalities have been completed. These manuscripts also need post acceptance editing, and then there is delay in arranging publication charges by the authors, sale and purchase of authorship and gift authorship issues also needs to be tackled effectively. When PDF file is sent for proof reading, some authors do not know how to make corrections, at times the message is not clear and they have to be reminded again and again. Instead of making corrections some authors indulge in rewriting extensively which creates lot of problems requiring reformatting of the manuscript. After corrections the manuscript is published ahead of print on the journal website and it provides yet another opportunity to the authors to see if all the corrections they had marked have been carried out and if not, they can point it out and get it corrected.Then DOI is generated and as per new rules one can only do that once the manuscript has been published on the journal website as it requires its link. Then comes the page numbering once contents of the whole issue have been finalized. For technical reasons, all the forms have to be equally divided by eight the number of pages on one plate for printing and if this number is not appropriate, one has to either add or delete an article. Sometimes authors ask for withholding publication without realizing that all the publication schedule and page numbers have been finalized. After page numbering, the PDF files are generated again and then published on the journal website. This is followed by computerized page make up, preparing the output for platemaking and then printing, binding. Correspondence author is sent one print copy and if the authors need additional copies, they have to order and pay for it at the time of paying publication charges. Sometimes the authors complain after couple of years or six to eight months that they did not get a printed copy though it was sent but they did not save it. If additional copies are not available they are provided signed and stamped pdf of their manuscript for submission to the PM&DC or other institutions which need it when deciding their cases of promotion.Authors insist on getting acceptance letter immediately without realizing that it can only be issued once the peer review and all other formalities have been completed- Shaukat Ali JawaidProf. Nasirudidn Azam Khan, an eminent physician and former Principal of Khyber Medical College was the Chief Guest in the inaugural session while the founder Vice Chancellor of KMU Prof.Daud Khan graced the occasion as Guest of Honour. The theme of the conference was “Visibility of Pakistani Journals in International Arena: A challenge”. The conference was dedicated to late Dr. Maqbool H. Jafary an eminent physician; founder Chief Editor of Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences and former President of Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME) in recognition of his services to promote the discipline of Medical Journalism in the Region. This session was moderated by Prof. Akhtar Sherin, former President of PAME and Chief Editor of Khyber Medical University Journal.In his speech on this occasion Prof. Nasirudidn Azam Khan said that Pakistan has made tremendous progress in the field of medical education and health services if we compare with what we had at the time of independence in 1947. We now have a galaxy of talent and our future is promising. Medical professionals must keep themselves update with latest developments in their respective fields and disseminate knowledge as it is an essential component of research and development.The conference, Prof. Nasiruddin Azam Khan further stated will highlight the research activity in Pakistan and our accomplishments so far. Research, he opined, was an important weapon which can be used for the benefit of human beings. Professional media has great responsibilities; it must ensure that there are no malpractices which have crept into our professional institutions. Media can also be misused hence it is its responsibility not to publish information which is not useful for the community. It must uphold ethics in publication. There is no doubt that we are faced with lot of difficulties and problems but we must face these challenges and find a solution to these problems, he remarked.Prof. Daud Khan a noted ophthalmologist and founder Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University commended the contributions of Chief Guest Prof. Nasiruddin Azam Khan who was one of the most devoted and dedicated teacher of Khyber Medical College in 1968-69. No one ever wanted to miss his lecture. He was an excellent teacher and a mentor. He was very tough but very kind, caring and passionate in examination. I worked as House Officer in his ward and he used to take three rounds daily, one early in the morning, then after attending the Out Patients and then before going home.As Muslims, Prof.Daud Khan said, we must have Faith in God, and then we have to act on his Commands, preserve that faith and be kind to the community. Referring to the theme of the conference, he said, it was a great challenge. It is a gigantic task. Universities are supposed to produce research which is useful for the local community. He recalled that when University of Baghdad was established, it was known as a House of Wisdom. Medical universities should promote medical education and keep on discovering more and more. Nature, Prof.Daud Khan said has created everything but we need to discover it, publicize it. For application of knowledge, its publication is important. Now we have one hundred seventeen medical colleges in the country. There used to be just one medical college in Khyber PK but now we have eighteen. We need to concentrate on Research and Development. Higher Education Commission has come up with guidelines. For research, access to resources is essential and we need to conduct research which is relevant to our needs. There should be no compromise on quality. He recalled that Gen.W.A.Burki when he was the Federal Health Minister established four institutions on one day i.e. Pakistan Medical & Dental Council, Pakistan Medical Research Council, College of Physicians & Surgeons Pakistan and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. However, our contributions to research is very disappointing. What we need is a National Commission on Biomedical Sciences which should identify the area of research keeping in view our problems, current population and the future population. We are going to have tremendous increase in elderly population which will have lot of problems; hence we need to look after their healthcare needs. With dedication, devotion and hard work the dream of good quality manuscripts being published in Pakistani medical journals can be realized to come at par with the international standards, he added.Prof. Nasir Khokhar President of PAME in his address said that doctors have too many roles but we need not forget research and medical writing. It is a part of our professional obligations which is also important for our professional development. We can raise our country’s name as well by producing good quality research and Publications. He suggested that we need to involve young doctors in these fields so that they can take over the responsibilities in the days to come.Prof. Arshad Javed Vice Chancellor of Khyber Medical University said that Khyber Medical University Journal has completed Ten Years of its successful publication. When I was told that PAME plans to hold its National Conference, I suggested that it will be a good idea to celebrate our Tenth Anniversary of the KMU Journal by hosting the PAME conference. Members of PAME, Prof.Arshad Javed remarked are a group of selfless professionals. They are doing a commendable job and it will strengthen the research culture in Pakistan.Speaking about the role of regulatory bodies like the PM&DC and the HEC, Prof. Arshad Javed said that most of the editors of medical journals are not happy with them. Now the PM&DC is going through transformation and at the recent Council meeting while Committee Chairpersons were being selected, I opted to chair the Journals and Curriculum Committees. We have provision to co-opt more members. We plan to frame the new Terms of Reference for evaluation and recognition of journals bringing it at par with Higher Education Commission. We wish to improve their standards and look into the possibilities how to train the editors to improve the quality of manuscripts accepted for publication as well as improving the standard of the Journals.The organizers also honoured three senior medical editors in recognition of their contribution to promote the discipline of medical journalism in Pakistan. Those who were selected for this honour included Dr.Fatema Jawad Chief Editor, Journal of Pakistan Medical Association, Maj.Gen. Muhammad Aslam Pro Vice Chancellor of National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS) and Mr.Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences who is also Secretary EMAME. Citations read on this occasion gave details of their contributions and accomplishments in his field over the years.Prof. Nasir Khokhar outgoing President of PAME chaired the General Body Meeting. Dr. Irfan presented the secretary’s report while Mr.Shaukat Ali Jawaid presented the Treasurer’s report. All the office bearers were elected unanimously. Dr. Jamshed Akhtar took over as the new President while Dr. Irfan and Dr.Sina Aziz were elected as President-elect and General Secretary. Prof. Nazeer Khan was elected as Joint Secretary/Treasurer. Prof. Col.Alamgir Khan, Prof.Saira Afzal, Dr.Masood Jawaid and Prof. Ayub were elected as members of the Executive Council.Prof. M. Alamgir Editor of Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal talked about peer review, its importance and challenges. Peer review, he pointed out, was the biggest hurdle in publication and at times a nightmare for the editors. PM&DC as well as HEC focus on peer review. He also talked about the trust of the readers, peer review benefits the Editor, authors, reviewers, science and society at large as it improves the quality of the manuscripts before they are published. He referred to the paucity of qualified reviewers and training of reviewers which are a time consuming process. Every journal must have its own Reviewers database and arrange for training of reviewers. Quality of the reviews was also important. He suggested that PAME must organize workshops for training of reviewers and training courses for Reviewers, Editors. He also talked about offering incentives to the reviewers, recognition of reviewers, deadlines for review, developing a system, reviewers hunting, and accountability of reviewers.This session was moderated by Dr. Irfan. Research is an important weapon which should be used for benefit of human beings-Nasiruddin Azam KhanProf. M. Ayub Chief Editor Kashmir Journal of Medical Sciences highlighted the Peer Review implications in Online Journal System. Peer review, he said, was a critical review by an expert in that particular field. It helps improve quality and standard of articles before publication. New Open Journal System, he said, has the option of single, double blind and open peer review. The system sends automatic reminders after the due date but the problem is that some of our authors as well reviewers and some faculty members are not computer literate. He suggested promoting the culture internet use among the reviewers, training opportunities for reviewers, besides training of reviewers to use Open Journal System. He further suggested that some honorarium should be paid to the reviewers. HEC can help finding qualified reviewers. We all need to update our knowledge. Regulatory bodies like HEC and PM&DC should encourage the editors rather than creating problems for them. He also suggested that PAME can start its own accreditation system for the medical journals which should be based on transparent criteria.Dr. Shahbaz Ali Khan discussed authorship issues. Since the number of authors has increased, now many journals, he stated, also require details of individual author’s contribution. Addition or deletion of authors is finally decided by the Editor.Prof. Khalid Mahmood Editor of JPMI spoke about plagiarism and highlighted the importance of ethics in medical writing. He also referred to academic dishonesty, pressure to publish besides different types of plagiarism. Source of funding and conflict of interest must be disclosed by the authors, he added.Dr. Mian Saad Ahmad gave an overview of indexation of Pakistani medical journals. Most of the journals being published from Pakistan, he said, were quarterly. Only three journals have got Impact Factor. Twenty eight journals have functional websites on the net, thirty nine journals have given their peer review policy, two journals practice open peer review system. Six journals have female Chief Editors, a total of 5,524 articles were published in all the journals during 2017 and almost 80% of the manuscripts published were original articles.Dr. Mohammad Irfan in his brief presentation stated that model of peer review was a key element. He also talked about different peer review systems.Prof. Z. A. Bhutta a noted Pediatrician and researcher in his presentation talked about Pakistan’s low contribution to the world medical literature. The only incentive for research in Pakistan, he stated, seems to be for promotion. We give too much importance to quantity rather than paying attention to quality of research. Every institutions is now publishing a journal but it is the culture of quality which matters. He also talked about the process of Evaluation and said that overseas while taking decisions for promotion and selection, the candidates are asked to submit their best five papers which are then evaluated. We must give importance to quality. Only a few scientists have made tremendous contribution to science which has pushed our numbers tremendously as most of the well cited Publications are from those three scientists. We need to change the system of evaluation of science and scientists and promote quality research culture. HEC, PM&DC, Pakistan Science Foundation should all give importance to quality. He also referred to the international criteria of Evaluation of scientists like h Index and i10Index etc. Prof. Bhutta suggested that the editors of medical journals must raise the bar of quality of articles being accepted for publication. Unfortunately, we have a false sense of achievements in Pakistan. Research takes time and teaching and training in research methodology should start at the undergraduate level. Supervisors, Heads of the Departments should not abuse their position. It is the institutions who should decide as to who will be the first author. Students and postgraduates need to be protected by the institutions, Prof. Bhutta remarked.Pakistan needs a National Commission on Biomedical Sciences to identify types of research needed- Daud KhanWe need to change the system of evaluation of science and scientists and promote quality research culture- Z.A.BhuttaProf. Saeed Baig was the first speaker in the afternoon session who discussed the pros and cons of medical writing. Authors, she stated, look for short cut and fast publication. They lack writing skills, have no proper training in medical writing. Authors also find browsing lethargic, they have no patience and have fear of writing. All this then leads to Gift authorship and ghost submissions to many journals. Institutions, she felt, should take the responsibility of providing the faculty members facilities and training opportunities.Prof. Nazeer Khan Editor of JSMUJ talked about citation indexes. Junior and new researchers, he opined, will have low h Index. Self-citation also increases h Index, he added.Dr. Zafar Ali discussed violation of publication ethics and mentioned about plagiarism, dual publication, and duplicate submissions. The solution lies in taking action against all those who indulge in scientific misconduct, he remarked.Prof.Saira Afzal Editor of Annals of King Edward Medical University moderated this Open House session wherein different issues and challenges faced were discussed and possible solutions highlighted by the participants. She highlighted the importance of having proper SOPs and all review process should be documented. It was also stated that medical institutions need to have a statistician on their staff, challenges faced with Open Journal System and other manuscript management systems were also discussed. Other issues which came under discussion included citation analysis, types of articles, role of HEC and PM&DC. It was agreed that qualitative research should be preferred. Dr. Usman Mehboob a medical educationist remarked that research should be fit for the purpose of specific study. Design of the study also matters. Our researchers do not cover social issues, he remarked.th2018. Prof. Lutfullah Kakakhel former Vice Chancellor of Kohat University of Medical Sciences was the chief guest on this occasion. In his speech he said that we need to introduce modern technology in medical journals to keep pace with the developments taking place at a fast pace. All the journals, he further stated, should go on Open Journal System or other similar programmes which offer numerous advantages and accelerates the whole process of Publications.Ten Years of successful publication of Khyber Medical University Journal was a part of the Fourth National Conference of Pakistan Association of Medical Editors hosted by the Khyber Medical University from March 3-4Prof. Lutfullah Kakakhel who is an expert in Information Technology, it may be mentioned here had helped start using OJS for their journal from the very first day. He also conducted an orientation course for the editors of medical and science journals at Higher Education Commission many years ago to acquaint them with the OJS. He also showed a small gadget which he said has large data base including thousands of articles, over four hundred books and numerous other features which are useful for the researchers.PAME can start its own accreditation system for the medical journals which should be based on transparent criteria- Prof. AyubProf. Akhtar Sherin Chief Editor of Khyber Medical University Journal speaking at the occasion said that they started this journal in 2008 as KUST Medical Journal and later it was renamed as Khyber Medical University Journal. Prof. Lutfullah Kakakhel was the moving spirit behind this venture and we started using OJS from the very first day. Prof.Tariq Mufti had joined us as Principal of the Medical College and we also benefitted from his experience as he had been working as Chief Editor of Journal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad. Terms of Reference for running the journal were approved by the Board of Studies and maintaining quality was our aim. Unfortunately soon after, Prof. Lutfullah Kakakhel was kidnapped by the Taliban and we ran into trouble. When the journal was published it was also the last day of Prof.Tariq Mufti and we hosted a farewell lunch for him. He also highlighted the problems they had to face. Prof. Hafeezullah and Prof. Saleem Khattak helped us a lot. Prof.Arshad Javed the present Vice Chancellor of KMU, he further stated, has now given complete freedom and autonomy to the Chief Editors to run and manage their respective journals and there is no interference by the administration at all.KMU VC has given complete independence to Chief Editors to run and manage their respective journals-Akhtar SherinProf.Tariq Mufti in his speech on the occasion recalled his efforts for Journal of Ayub Medical College. He also paid tributes to late Dr. Muhammad Ilyas who was a qualified, competent cardiologist but he was neglected by his colleagues. He was keen researcher and he encouraged me to write. He also commended the encouragement and support he had from Prof.A.J.Khan the founder Principal of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad.Mr.Shaukat Ali Jawaid Chief Editor Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences highlighted the contributions made by late Prof.Tahir Saeed Haroon to promote the discipline of dermatology and earn respect for dermatologists in the society and recognition for this specialty. The occasion was used to offer Fateha for the departed soul who also served as President of Pakistan Medical Journalists Association which was later renamed as PAME. He had contributed a lot to promote medical journalism in the country as well.Dr. Jamshed Akhtar who took over as the new President of PAME in his speech highlighted the importance of maintaining standard and quality of manuscripts accepted for publication. Recently HEC, he said, has derecognized twenty journals. We need to move forward, give due emphasis to logic and philosophy. Efforts should be made that all our medical journals move to W category of the HEC recognized medical journals, he remarked.Prof.Arshad Javed Vice Chancellor of KMU said that in the new set up in PM&DC he has been given the responsibilities to chair the Curriculum and Journals Committee. We need to change the rules of PM&DC, revise the evaluation criteria for medical journals and this is a rare opportunity to make some important changes and bring the PM&DC Journals Evaluation criteria at par with that of HEC. We have provision and Vice Chancellors of various universities have nominated three editors to this committee, hence with their input, he was hopeful of making some positive change, he added.PM&DC is planning to frame new Terms of Reference for Evaluation and Recognition Of biomedical journals-Prof. Arshad JavedOn Day–2 of the conference four workshops were organized on Epidemiology Study Designs and Basic Biostatistics, Essential of Scientific Manuscript Submission to Medical Journals, Online Journal Management System, and Peer Review: Theory and Application.


JCSM Clinical Reports,JCSM Rapid Communications, has gone live. We have two dedicated websites for these journals—until they become visible in big search databases like PubMed or Scopus, you can find all content of both journals at www.http://jcsm-clinical-reports.info and http://www.jcsm-rapid-communications.info/index.php/jcsm-rc. For those who love statistics, JCSM Clinical Reports so far has 3 editorials and 12 original papers and 1 review published, and JCSM Rapid Communications—having started only very recently—has 1 editorial and 2 original papers under its belt. As much as I would like to thank the whole editorial team in Göttingen and Berlin for their hard work in making these journal projects come alive, I would also like to thank the authors of these articles for entrusting us with their academic work and believing us thereby that we make these publications reputable and lasting homes of their work.Last year has brought more variety to the still too small publishing world of cachexia, sarcopenia, and frailty. Besides JCSM journal, clinical trials,JCSM. We have a rejection rate for original reports that is >80%. For the best half of these papers, you will now find that we offer publication transfer to JCSM Clinical Reports or JCSM Rapid Communications, which naturally will have a higher acceptance rate, at least in the first few years. For JCSM Clinical Reports, this was about 50% in 2017. Papers that we accepted there included interesting reports on the importance of body mass index in chronic kidney diseaseJCSM Rapid Communications are now also online.JCSM Clinical Reports will be more clinically oriented as the title suggests and that JCSM Rapid Communications will be more oriented towards the basic science community of the wasting disorders field. We will all see whether it works out this way.For the main JCSM mother journal. I don't know the answer to this yet, but a thought process is ongoing to this end. If you have thoughts on this, please let us know your opinion.Both journals are open access journals. The world of publishing is full of such journals, and it is sometimes difficult to distinguish valid publication efforts from commercial publications with no academic aim mass published by the so‐called predatory publishers.JCSM Clinical Reports and JCSM Rapid Communications. The work as co‐editor‐in‐chief for the JCSM mother journal has made him highly experienced about the field and the world of publishing—we look forward to his successful stewardship and cooperation in the JCSM journal family. Also the JCSM Clinical Reports and JCSM Rapid Communications open access journal will employ an ethical publishing standard similar to that outline for the main journal.JCSM journals. On the way to success, we hope you join us contributing your work to this important field. Patients with cachexia, sarcopenia, and frailty deserve our work and success, and that requires exchange of information and ideas. We hope to provide with this growing body of journals a forum for this.Stephan von Haehling is the editor‐in‐chief of both None declared.


This paper describes and discusses the phenomenon ‘predatory publishing’, in relation to both academic journals and books, and suggests a list of characteristics by which to identify predatory journals. It also raises the question whether traditional publishing houses have accompanied rogue publishers upon this path. It is noted that bioethics as a discipline does not stand unaffected by this trend. Towards the end of the paper it is discussed what can and should be done to eliminate or reduce the effects of this development. The paper concludes that predatory publishing is a growing phenomenon that has the potential to greatly affect both bioethics and science at large. Publishing papers and books for profit, without any genuine concern for content, but with the pretence of applying authentic academic procedures of critical scrutiny, brings about a worrying erosion of trust in scientific publishing. Researchers today are under strong pressure to publish. The old slogan “Publish or perish” is probably more to the point than ever before, nowadays further underlined by the increasingly common practice of letting bibliometric data steer the allocation of faculty funding at universities, which means that apart from the individual’s career-interest in publishing, there is additional pressure to publish from one’s department.Partly made possible by the IT revolution, an entire industry has grown up to cater to this need, mainly based on online publication, but also offering an extensive supply of conferences Bowman . The expfalse academy: dubious or downright fraudulent operators who strike gold from luring the young and inexperienced , which strives to set standards and organize the serious open access publishers  can result in over 400 dollars in administrative fees! Beall  SometimeWe have seen an alarming development in predatory publishing since then (Shen and Björk http://scholarlyoa.com/). On the list are about nine hundred single, independent magazines, but if one adds to them all the journals published by larger publishing houses , the number of journals is over eight thousand . Obviously, there may be journals not found in either this whitelist or in Beall’s blacklist, or it might happen that a journal is incorrectly classified. Thus, researchers about to submit manuscripts also need to look into the matter themselves.One way to find the proper journals is to take a look at a list of recognized open access journals, the Directory of Open Access Journals  for fast and efficient publication (quote from spam e-mail received). Another example of an established journal bought by OMICS is the Electronic Journal of Biology (http://ejbio.imedpub.com/), which can boast of being indexed by Thomson Reuters and DOAJ and thus makes it even harder to understand its true nature. Another example reported on is the journal Experimental & Clinical Cardiology , the sub-standard journals want acceptance and international recognition and thus assure their authors that submitted articles will go through a thorough and efficient peer review. If you have high quality reviewers available, that promise might come to be, but this is seldom the case.In an effort to reveal this state of affairs, some critically-minded researchers have been putting the journals to the test. For example, an anonymous researcher from Eastern Europe sent a fictional nonsense article to a publisher named AICIT. Very quickly the publisher wrote a fake review, accepted the article, and sent an invoice to the researcher; something that then could be revealed to all and sundry Beall . Such diThere is a more general problem with false peer review. Biomed Central (BMC) discovered in November 2014 that about fifty articles were carrying false reviews. Soon they found more cases in their portfolio of journals, scattered across different journals, authors, and topics. They suspected that there must be a number of firms behind this, selling false reviews, and therefore started an investigation. The withdrawal of articles accepted on grounds of fabricated reviews is in progress, at BMC as well as in other journals Haug , and theSometimes the authors themselves provide journals with fake peer reviewers in order to secure a positive response. A consequence of this is that some journals are now reconsidering the (fairly recent) practice of asking authors for suggested reviewers , Beall and others reacted on the peculiar calculation methods employed by this service, and have since exposed many more , editorials, letters, meeting abstracts, short communications, and case reports. The inclusion of these publications provides the opportunity for editors and publishers to manipulate the ratio used to calculate the impact factor and try to increase their number rapidly. OMICS At least they are honest!One of the authors of this article was recently offered to write in a bioethics journal, but something did not feel right, so it was examined more closely. The publisher, which turned out to be the OMICS Group, described on their website how one of the benefits of publishing with them was that they are skilled at manipulating impact:A peculiar way to tamper with the impact system was displayed by a company in the genetics sector that actually payed scientists if they cited their journals in their papers Goldacre . So citiScience made a real scoop when they revealed what they called “China’s Publication Bazaar” on November 29, 2013. By mistake a journalist working at the magazine was offered to buy himself a place as author of an article that would be published in a rather reputable journal: International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. The journalist could play along with this scheme and follow the process from within; it turned out that four others who had received the offer actually went through with it. The actual price of getting this publication in one’s CV was the neat sum of 14,800 dollars! This was not a single, isolated event: In China there are outright paper brokers who sell access to more or less legitimate academic articles, Science’s investigation found .Not only journals fool researchers. Rogue book publishers also want to make money even if what they produce does not forward science one iota. For instance, the publisher IGI Global specializes in publishing large edited collections Bogost . They prThis market idea is just one instance of a more widespread trend called “vanity publishing”. It aims to get authors to publish at their own cost in order to give an impression of having created a solid scholarly work, although it is accepted by some “publisher” (or dressed-up printing service) for financial rather than academic reasons Beall .We suggest that there is a worrying trend that practices common among predatory publishers are becoming increasingly common also among traditional publishers. If we are right, scientific publishing is becoming increasingly compromised in quality and, thus, harder to trust.A first example is that the familiar piracy practice of spamming researchers’ email boxes with offers to submit papers in areas they know little or nothing about  seems to have spread to some legitimate journals. We have numerous times been invited to write scientific papers in journals from established publishers that focus on biology, epidemiology, etc., without any acknowledgement that our expertise lays elsewhere.Also the practice of collecting large volumes, such as extensive anthologies, sold very expensively to libraries rather than being aimed at a broad scientific audience, seems to have spread outside predatory circles. We recently were informed by a well-known publisher that an article of ours were to be included in such a volume, which were to be printed in 175 copies that would retail for over 400 £ each. The editor was someone we had never heard of, and we had no say in the matter. While the publisher could not afford to give us any complimentary copies, the collection would be “an invaluable resource for university libraries worldwide, especially in countries where academic holdings are relatively less comprehensive” (from the e-mail informing us about the publication). Our experience does not seem like an isolated event  that have worked hard to reveal this phenomenon and to get research institutions, funders, and journals to pay attention to the problem and take action. Just to mention one example, Scientificspam.net is a niche DNSBL (which stands for a DNS-based Black List) that lists spammers targeting scientists by retrieving e-mail addresses from PubMed and similar sources, in order to get mailing lists for sending unsolicited bulk email.The forming of committees for each research field to keep track of rogue actors.A forum for continuous sharing of experiences of the false academy .Further use in the research area of laws prohibiting deceptive acts or practices against consumers.A widespread policy among universities and research funders that individuals regularly involved in activities relating to predatory publishing should not be permitted to apply for positions, promotion, or funding.Other actions taken by universities, individually or jointly, in order to reduce the number of publications in predatory journals, such as blacklists.The allocation of funds for research on the false academy.Software development for fast tracking of false or dubious merits in publication lists.A noteworthy recent institutional response is the US Federal Trade Commission charging OMICS, iMedPub and some other “predators” with having deceived researchers about their services , it remains to be seen how that can be accomplished on a greater scale.Predatory publishing is a growing phenomenon that affects bioethics as well as science at large. The publishing of papers and books for profit, without any genuine concern for content, but with the pretence of applying authentic academic procedures of critical scrutiny, brings about an erosion of trust in scientific publishing. These concerns relate to so-called predatory journals and book publishers, and possibly also to more traditional publishers. The gravity of the problem calls for action. We have described some present endeavours and suggested further desirable actions. Maybe a greater change is required in the longer run, where commercial and career interests are forced to take a backseat and publishing again becomes primarily a matter of furthering scholarly exchange and scientific development (Poss et al.


Traditionally, the focus on inequality in scientific publishing has focused on prestige hierarchies in established print journals. This project examines stratification in contemporary publishing with a particular focus on subscription vs. various Open Access (OA) publishing options. Findings show that authors working at lower-ranked universities are more likely to publish in closed/paywalled outlets, and less likely to choose outlets that involve some sort of Article Processing Charge . We also analyze institutional differences and stratification in the APC costs paid in various journals. Authors affiliated with higher-ranked institutions, as well as hospitals and non-profit organizations pay relatively higher APCs for gold and hybrid OA publications. Results suggest that authors affiliated with high-ranked universities and well-funded institutions tend to have more resources to choose pay options with publishing. Our research suggests new professional hierarchies developing in contemporary publishing, where various OA publishing options are becoming increasingly prominent. Just as there is stratification in institutional representation  Publication in peer-reviewed journals legitimates and propagates academic research, while also underpinning professional and scientific reward structures for authors. Academic journals serve as conduits for new information and research, and also convey signals of academic status. For better or worse, scientific journals often function as quality signals for readers who may lack the interest and/or ability to thoroughly appraise the merit of an individual article, and thus play a pivotal role in the scientific reward system. As per disruptive innovation  is an increasingly prominent means for disseminating academic work. While gold OA entails free access to final published typeset articles, green OA involves publishing articles before  or after  they may have undergone peer review, but without copy and layout editing see . In fieland journal subscriptions , as well as the importance placed on making research publicly accessible may also vary between authors and institutions. New innovations—such as Open Access publishing—are often adopted at different stages by people and institutions of different status levels . ParticuThis article examines publishing choices made by scholars in different types of institutions working in the field of global health research. The multidisciplinary academic field of Global Health Research (GHR) can be related to numerous other fields including public health, international health and world health . Such remost likely to have involved an APC prior to publication. We expect that for most or all of the articles in our dataset, APCs influenced the publishing choices and experiences of authors, either through the transfer of money and/or perceptions of the official “sticker price” for publishing in the journal.This study is based on a set of articles published from 2010–2014 and indexed under the Medical Heading Subject Identifier (MeSH) “Global Health” in PubMed, identified by The OA status of articles and associated APCs (converted to USD) were labeled based on journal and article-level information obtained from PubMed, the Directory of Open Access Journals, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory as well as journal lists from Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis and Wiley-Blackwell, as well as journal websites. Green OA was determined for non-gold and non-hybrid articles with Google searches for green OA archived versions of articles published in subscription journals also see : 3–5. OuTimes Higher Education (THE) rankings, which ranked 981 institutions. We grouped universities into status-based categories: institutions ranked in the THE Top 50 and those with lower rankings (or were unranked). While we acknowledge the limitations of university rankings in general and the THE ranking in particular  involved paying an APC. t = 13.16).There is considerable heterogeneity in the costliness of APC-based OA publishing also see . ChargesUniversity is the omitted category from the models, meaning that results for each institutional category are relative to all universities and colleges in our dataset. There are no statistically significant associations between institution types on the likelihood of publishing with closed or gold (APC) access. Authors affiliated with governments and non-profit organizations are significantly more likely to publish in a free gold OA journal. There was also evidence that hospitals and non-profit organizations were less likely to use green OA to promote their work. In the case of government and non-profit authors, it appears that they prefer free gold OA to green OA. Hybrid publishing is particularly popular with authors affiliated with non-profit organizations, as well as those affiliated with private companies. Results also suggest that last authors affiliated with hospitals are relatively inclined to choose hybrid publishingUniversities are not homogeneous institutions. Academic institutions vary in their location, mission, resources and reputation. THE rankings, and those that were not ranked at all. Non-profit organizations and hospitals also have mean APC costs noticeably above the mean level in our dataset. This may raise questions regarding whether paying relatively high APCs for publications are the best use of funds earmarked for charity or public health.Our results show that the current publishing landscape is a complex environment comprised of many types of dissemination and access options, as well as institutional stratification within and between those various access types. This reflects previous research  showing Academics in high-status universities were more likely to publish in gold APC journals, and were less likely to choose ‘closed’ access options. This may be a counterintuitive finding, given that choosing newer OA journals can entail sacrificing prestige vis-à-vis high-ranked established print journals in the field. Could being an early adopter of OA publishing be a luxury enjoyed by wealthier, higher-status, more established academics? Or, could OA be attractive for early adopter researchers at lower-status institutions less invested in traditional hierarchies? Funding agencies may also play a role; do top universities receive more funding from institutions that mandate gold OA, and are willing and able to fund such a requirement? Higher-status academics and institutions are often professionally and intellectually conservative, in part because they benefit from the status quo . HoweverWhile journal APCs do not directly influence the quality of submissions to a given publication, cost and overall journal quality tend to be linked. ‘Quality’ can entail a number of different journal attributes including reputational prestige, effective developmental and evaluative gatekeeping, well-organized and accessible metadata, aesthetically pleasing typesetting and a submission pool of high-quality articles. As The OA APC model changes journal incentives vis-à-vis the traditional subscription model. Rejecting articles becomes costly, both in terms of consuming journal resources, as well as forgoing opportunity costs of lost APCs : 56. GolSome OA journals are able to offer fee waivers to eligible authors, but this policy generally requires (1) sufficient revenue to support a fee waiver fund and (2) a sufficiently wealthy publishing demographic to render fee waiver requests and eligibility relatively uncommon. Some waivers are inconsistently applied; even scholars from low-GDP countries are sometimes deemed ineligible . FurtherIf scientists at some institutions have fewer resources to support OA funding, it is not surprising that such authors are more likely to publish their work in less expensive or APC-free OA journals. Many scientists resort to personal funds to cover APCs, which also makes them much more likely to choose low-cost journals . Low-ranIn contrast to gold OA, green OA exhibited no stratification in adoption within academia. This suggests that knowledge of and access to green OA repositories has diffused widely in academia; or at least in the global health research community. Further, the relative lack of cost and selectivity constraints in most green OA repositories should have an equalizing effect on authors from a variety of institutions. Authors affiliated with research institutes, governments and non-profit organizations were relatively less likely to use green OA. In the case of non-profit organizations and governments, authors were substantially more likely to publish in free gold OA publications, suggesting a preference for gold in lieu of green. This may be explained by the fact that these organisations are less likely to have institutional repositories, and that a disciplinary repository—such as arXiv—is lacking in global health research. In turn, green OA appears to be more of an academic-based alternative, perhaps because academics have incentives to publish their work in traditional paywalled journals, while also finding ways to make their research publicly accessible. Awareness of green repositories also likely differs between academic and non-academic circles; institutional repositories tend to be affiliated with universities and green OA is less likely to be known as a publishing option outside of the ivory tower. Authors affiliated with governments and non-profit organizations may prioritize knowledge application over knowledge creation and basic academic research and thus have fewer reasons to emphasize academic publishing status hierarchies. In turn, such authors are more likely to choose free gold OA options, as opposed to going through paywalled journals. Authors affiliated with governments and non-profit organizations are significantly more likely to publish in a free gold OA journal. This may suggest such authors are concerned with fast and open dissemination of research findings, but are less concerned with academic eminence with their publication choices.Instead of preferring free gold OA to green OA, authors at research institutes are more likely to choose hybrid publications. This suggests dual interests in academic status and public accessibility, while also suggesting that the research institutes in our database are relatively well-resourced to support hybrid publishing, which tends to be an expensive publishing option relative to gold OA journals . A recenbetween and within OA types. In turn, the OA world presents a different but analogous stratification order to those entrenched in more traditional publishing and scientific hierarchies.When publishing in gold journals, lower-status authors were also more likely to prefer free gold OA options. Since it is expensive and organizationally difficult to simultaneously fund subscription and APC options for universities , it makeAn obvious direction for future work on OA adoption and stratification is to examine additional research communities and professional fields. Our study analyzed a specific field of research, providing evidence regarding how participation in the OA publication market varies according to the institutional status of authors. This analysis was exploratory, without specific hypothesis testing, which can be conducive to Type I errors. Global health research is a unique case study as a field with both academic and applied niches, as well as a commonly-invoked significant ethical imperative; seeking to promote and provide global health equity . The widOA publishing hierarchies in academic communities with different (inter)disciplinary orientations, cultures and niches regarding publicizing research, and with members with access to different financial resources may differ than those in global health research. A larger-scale approach to analyze these phenomena across disciplines and professional fields may be possible with new services such as Unpaywall Data, which help to determine the various types of OA on the article level e.g., . Our res10.7717/peerj.4269/supp-1Supplemental Information 1Click here for additional data file.10.7717/peerj.4269/supp-2Supplemental Information 2Click here for additional data file.