Format Requirements
Submission Format according to article type
Review article: maximum 4000 words excluding
title page and an unstructured abstract of 150 words and references with no
more than five tables or figures and 35 references.
Original article: maximum 3000 words excluding
title page and a structured abstract of 250 words and references with no more
than three tables or figures and 25 references Short Reports / Short
Communications / Special Communications / Case reports: maximum 1250 words excluding
title page and an unstructured abstract of 150 words and references with no
more than two tables or figures and 10 references. It should not be signed by
more than six authors.
Case Report: Abstract; Introduction; Case
Report; Discussion and Conclusion.
Short Report: Abstract; Introduction; Patients
Methods and Result; and Conclusion.
Special Communication: Abstract; Introduction;
Methods and Result; and Conclusion.
Letters to the Editor: maximum 250 words if it
is in reference to a recent journal article, or 400 words in all other cases.
It must have no more than five references and one figure or table. It must not
be signed by any more than three authors. Letters referring to a recent journal
article must be received within four weeks of its publication.
Manuscript must be written in ‘British
English’. Non-native English speakers must seek the assistance of experienced,
English-speaking medical editors if in doubt. Taking feedback from your
colleagues also makes the manuscript writing more productive, versatile and
simple for the readers.
• Type the manuscript on A4 size (8.5x11
inches or 21.6x27 cm) white bond paper, with margins of at least 1.5 inches (4
cm).
• Type on one side of the paper, double
spacing every page.
• Begin each section on separate page and in
the following order: title page, abstract, introduction, materials / subjects /
patients and methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, references, tables
and figures with legends.
• Number pages consecutively in the upper
right-hand corner of each page, beginning with the title page. Type the page
number.
• Present decimal figures up to 2 decimals
only. e.g. 0.07 is correct instead of 0.071
• Sentences should be properly structured
instead of giving brackets within a sentence. e.g. The study participants
(women of age group 25-30 years) were approached for the interviews. The
correct way is ‘The study participants included women of age group 25-30 years.
They were approached for the interviews.’
Special Instructions
The editorial board of Pakistan Journal of
Medical & Health Sciences appreciates the efforts of The EQUATOR (Enhancing
the Quality and Transparency Of health Research) Network for promoting good
reporting of research. It has played a pivotal role in development,
dissemination and implementation of reporting guidelines throughout the world.
To find details visit http://www.equator-network.org/
Reporting of each article should be according
to the scientific reporting guidelines provided by the EQUATOR Network.
Separate guidelines are available for each study design and topic under study.
We are thankful to the office bearers and contributors of the EQUATOR Network
to allow Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association to be the first journal from
A. Title Page
The title page of the manuscript
should include:
• Concise and informative title
(less than 14 words)
• Complete by line, with first, middle and
last names of each author.
• Complete affiliation for each author, with
the name of department (s) and institution (s) to which the work should be
attributed. Name, address and telephone number and email address (necessary) of
one author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript.
• Clearly identify the corresponding author.
• Source(s) of support in the form of grants
equipment, drugs, or all of these.
• Disclaimer, if any.
• Word count of abstract with 3-5 MeSH words
• Word count of main article, excluding
abstract and references.
Identify the methods, apparatus
(give the manufacturer's name and address in parenthesis) and procedures in
sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. Give
references to established methods if necessary, provide references and brief
descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known;
describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them and
evaluate their limitations. Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used,
including generic name(s), dose(s) and route(s) of administration.
Authors submitting review
manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating,
selecting, extracting and synthesizing data. These methods should also be
summarized in the abstract.
When reporting experiments on
human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance
with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human
experimentation and with the latest (2008) version of Helsinki Declaration of
1975. Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, in text and
illustrative material.
When reporting experiments on
animals, indicate whether the institutions or a national research council’s
guide for or any national law on the care and use of laboratory animals was
followed.
Please, document that the study
was approved by the ERB (Ethical Review Board) of the concerned University /
Institution. You may be required to provide a certificate from the ERB, with
data and signature of all authors involved in the study. Also, informed consent
of the subjects studied should be clearly stated.
Methods section in incomplete
without mention of the statistical tests applied. Describe statistical methods
with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original
data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and
present them with appropriate indicators of measurements error or uncertainty
(such as standard deviation when mentioning mean values of quantitative
variables, or confidence intervals where odds ratio is mentioned, etc.).
Mention the statistical test used for analysis to obtain the P values. Discuss
the eligibility of experimental subjects. Give details about randomization.
Describe the method for and success of any blinding of observations. Report
complications from treatment. Give numbers of observations. Report losses to
observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). References (if necessary)
for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works
when possible (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which the designs or
methods were originally reported. Specify any general use computer programs
used.
Put a general description of methods in the
methods section. When data are summarized in the results section, specify the
statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those
needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use
graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in
graphs and tables. Avoid non-technical uses of technical terms in statistics,
such as "random", (which implies a randomizing device), "normal",
"significant","correlations" and "samples".
Define statistical terms, abbreviations and most symbols.
Link the conclusions with the
goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not
completely supported by data. In particular, authors should avoid making statements
on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economics data
and analyses. Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not bf
completed. State new hypothesis when warranted. But clearly label them such
recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
The reference list must be typed
double spaced and numbers consecutively, as in the text. The Journal follows Index
Medicus style for references and abbreviated journal names according to the
list of Journals indexed in Index Medicus. "Unpublished observations"
and "personal communications" should not be used as references,
although written-not verbal-communications may be noted as such in the text.
References cited as "in press" must have been accepted and not merely
in preparation or submitted. The author is responsible for the accuracy of all
references and must verify them against the original document.
For journal articles, list the
first six authors, et al. Hoshimoto-Iwamoto M, Koike A, Nagayama O, Tajima A,
Uejima T, Adachi H, et al. Determination of the VE/VCO2 slope from a constant
work rate Exercise test in Cardiac patients. J Physiol Sci 2008; 58: 291-5.
Dalby MA. Epilepsy and three per
second spike and wave rhythms: a clinical electroencephalographic and
prognostic analysis of 346 patients. Acta Neurol Scand 1969; suppl 40: 1-30.
For books and book chapters,
follow the examples below: Drury I. Activation of seizures by hyperventilation.
In: Luders HO, Noachtars, eds. Epileptic seizures: pathophysiology and clinical
semiology,
For newspaper articles,
Carynrabin R. When the Surgeon is infected, how safe is the surgery? New York
Times 2007 July 3.
Journal article in electronic:
Jonas J, Vignal JP, Baumann C, Anxionnat JF, Muresan M, Vespignani H, et al.
Effect of hyperventilation on seizure activation: potentiation by antiepileptic
drug tapering. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. Published Online First:
Monograph in electronic form CDI,
clinical dermatology illustrated [monographs on CD-ROM] Reeves JRT, Maibach H.
CMEA Multimedia group, producers 2nd ed. Version 2.0.
Conference proceedings Kimura J,
Shibasaki H, editors. Recent advances in clinical neurophysiology. Proceedings
of the 10th International Congress of EMG and Clinical Neurophysiology, 1995
Oct 15-19,
Dissertation Kaplan SJ.
Post-hospital home health care the elderly's access and utilization
[dissertation].
Volume with supplement Shen HM,
Zhang QF. Risk assessment of nickel carcinogenicity and occupational lung
cancer. Environ Health Perspect, 1994;102 Suppl 1:275-82.
World Wide Web page Beckleheimer
J. How do you cite URL's in a bibliography? [online] 1994 [ cited 2000 Dec 13].
Available from: URL: http://www.nrlssc.navy.mil/meta/bibliography.html
World Wide Web page (no author)
Educating America for the 21st century: Developing a strategic plan for
educational leadership [online] 1994 [cited 1999 May 15]. Available from: URL:
http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/CONF/Edplan.html
World Wide Web Home page Curtin
University of Technology. [Homepage of the
With the exception of units of
measurement, journal discourages the use of abbreviations, for additional
information on proper medical abbreviation, consult the CBE style Manual, Fifth
Edition (Bethesda, MD Council of Biology Editions, 1983). When an abbreviation
is used, it should be preceded by the full word or name of the item being
abbreviated.
Generic names should be used.
Species should be written in
italics. e.g. P.vivax
Place explanatory matter in
footnotes not in heading. Use the following symbols in this sequence
*,+,++,#,**. Expand in the footnote all non-standard abbreviations used in each
table. For footnotes, identify statistical measures of variations, such as
standard deviation and standard error of the mean. If data from another
published source are used, obtain written permission from the publisher of the
original source and acknowledge fully. If data from an unpublished source are
used, obtain permission from the principal investigator and acknowledge fully.
If abbreviations are used in table give full text at the bottom of the table.
Submit two complete sets of
glossy illustrations, no smaller than 3.5x5 inches nor larger than 8x10 inches.
Do not send original artwork. Glossy photographs of line drawings rendered
professionally on white drawing paper in black India ink, with template or
typeset lettering, should be submitted. No hand drawn or typewritten art will
be accepted. Letters, number and symbols (typeset or template) must be clear
and of sufficient size to retain legibility after reduction.
Each illustration must be
numbered and cited in consecutive order in the text. Illustrations should be
identified on a gummed label affixed to the back of each illustration and
containing the following information: figure number, part of figure (if more
than one) and designation of "top".
Colour illustrations will be
considered for publication, but the author is responsible for all charges
relating to separations and printing. An estimate of these charges will be sent
to the author at the time of production Authors' approval of charges is
required before production will continue. Three complete sets of glossy colour
photographs (not transparencies) must be submitted for review. Polaroid prints
are not acceptable.
All submitted illustrations
become the property of Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association and will not
be returned unless the manuscript is rejected.
Originally (not previously
published) illustrations are preferred for publication in the Journal; however,
if illustrations have been published previously, authors are responsible for
obtaining written permission from the publisher to reprint. The source of the
original material must be cited in the references and the following credit line
included in the legend. (Reprinted by permission of Ref. X). All permission
release must be submitted to the Editor at the time of manuscript submission.