Journal of Sharif Medical & Dental College (JSMDC)
Policy Document
The Journal of Sharif Medical & Dental College (JSMDC) publishes original scholarly work in accordance with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME). The journal is committed to maintaining the highest standards of editorial integrity, transparency, and publication ethics. All manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s online submission system.
FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION:
JSMDC publishes biannually in June and December.
AIMS & SCOPE:
• JSMDC is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, aims to publish the latest research to improve healthcare outcomes.
• It publishes editorials, original research articles, systematic reviews & meta-analysis, review articles, systematic review articles, photo essays, case reports, recent advances, adverse drug reports, current practices, short communications, and audit reports.
• Studies more than three years old at the time of submission are not entertained as per journal policy. Any study ending three years before the date of submission is judged by the Editorial Board for its suitability as many changes take place over the time period, subject to the area of the study.
ETHICAL/LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS:
The research should be prepared under strict observation of research and publication ethics guidelines recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and World Association of Medical Editors (WAME).
• A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere, and if accepted, it must not be published elsewhere in a similar form.
• Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study according to the ICMJE authorship criteria. Although the editors and reviewers make every effort to ensure the quality and integrity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility for the content rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher.
• Any study involving human participants or human data must be reviewed and approved by the responsible Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Ethics Review Committee before the commencement of the study. Where applicable, informed consent should be obtained from all participants in accordance with ethical standards.
• If the author wishes to publish a paper from his/her dissertation, besides synopsis approval from the CPSP/University, IRB approval is also mandatory.
• Animal experiments should be reviewed and approved by an appropriate committee (IACUC: Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) for the care and use of animals. JSMDC follows the WMA statement on animal use in biomedical research, and the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare.
• Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) should be registered in a recognized clinical trial registry, and the trial registration number must be provided in the manuscript.
• Authors must submit written permission from the copyright owner to reproduce direct quotations, tables, figures, or illustrations that have previously appeared in copyrighted material, along with complete details of the original source.
• JSMDC is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and follows the recommendations of COPE in handling ethical issues, including plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication or falsification, authorship disputes, conflicts of interest, and other forms of publication misconduct.
FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE:
• Each author warrants that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might post a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article, except as disclosed in a separate attachment.
• Any funding received for the study must be disclosed at the time of manuscript submission. The role of the funding agency, if any, should also be clearly stated.
PATIENT ANONYMITY AND INFORMED CONSENT:
It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that a patient’s anonymity is carefully protected and to verify that any experimental investigation with human subjects reported in the manuscript was performed with informed written consent and following all the guidelines for experimental investigation with human subjects required by the institution(s) with which all the authors are affiliated. Informed written consent must be obtained for publication of any identifiable patient information or images.
PUBLICATION MISCONDUCT:
• Plagiarism and other publication misconduct, fabrication (picture as well), falsification, duplicate submission, redundant publication, multiple submissions, selective and misleading reporting, selective and misleading referencing are liable to strict action.
• All allegations of publication misconduct are investigated fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Authors will be given an opportunity to respond before any editorial decision is made.
• In case of non-response or unsatisfactory response from the authors, the manuscript is rejected if unpublished and retracted if published.
• Due notice of retraction will be given in print and on the website.
• The authors will be blacklisted for further submissions and considerations at the journal.
• The authors’ Institutional Head will also be informed of the misconduct and relevant action in such a case.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
• Individuals who participated in the development of a manuscript but do not qualify as an author should be acknowledged.
• Organizations/departments that provided support in terms of funding and/or other resources should also be acknowledged.
OPEN ACCESS POLICY:
JSMDC is an open-access journal. It is published in online and print form. All manuscripts published by JSMDC are freely available freely online without any charges to all users. The work published in the journal is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License.
All content published in JSMDC is freely available and with open access without delay.
DIGITAL ARCHIVING POLICY:
JSMDC ensures that all published data shall be accessible and backed-up.
Website Archiving:
• JSMDC ensures PDF version of all published issues of JSMDC is available on the website. All manuscripts published since 2015 in PDF versions and all published issues are open accessed and freely available on the website in the Archives section.
Abstracting/Indexing Services:
All manuscripts published since 2015 are also available at:
• Directory of Open Access Journals
• Asian Science Citation Index (ASCI)
• Index Medicus for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (IMEMR)
• Pakmedinet
Back-up in the IT Department:
• JSMDC also maintains its archive digitally through Google Drive in the IT Department of SMDC. Both pre-print and final published versions can also be accessed through a request.
LICENSING POLICY:
Journal of Sharif Medical & Dental College is licensed and distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
COPYRIGHT POLICY:
Authors rights:
• The authors retain the copyrights of their submitted manuscripts for all purposes.
• Authors retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction.
Reader rights:
JSMDC offers free rights to all readers of all the articles immediately upon publication. The readers are allowed to copy, download, read, distribute, and print the full texts of the articles published in JSMDC or use published articles for any non-commercial, lawful purpose without asking prior permission from the publisher. The readers must give appropriate credit to the source of the material. Readers may not use the material for commercial purposes.
The work published by the JSMDC is licensed and distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
ARTICLE PUBLISHING AND JOURNAL SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES:
• JSMDC is an open-access journal and levies an article processing fee of PKR. 5000/- for the original research article/review article/case report/photo essay.
• The journal will charge an article publishing fee of PKR. 10000/- for the original research article upon acceptance of the submitted article.
• A non-refundable bank draft in favor of Sharif Medical & Dental College A/C No. 15800002100303, HBL SECT branch should be sent via TCS to the editor JSMDC.
• Annual subscription charges of JSMDC are PKR. 2000/-.
These Annual subscription charges are applicable when an individual or a library specifically requests printed copies of the journal. This fee is solely meant to cover printing and postage expenses.
AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA:
• Authors should meet all four criteria for authorship as recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The ICMJE recommends that authorship is based on:
• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
• Final approval of the version to be published; AND
• 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.
• Each author must sign a statement attesting that he or she fulfills the authorship criteria of the uniform requirements. Up to six authors are allowed in a single-institution study. In a multi-institution and international collaborative research, the Editorial Board shall guide on an individual case basis.
• JSMDC strongly discourages gift authorship.
• Any request for changes in authorship (addition, removal, or change in author order) after manuscript submission must be supported by a written justification and the signed consent of all authors. Such requests will be considered in accordance with ICMJE and COPE recommendations.
• The author’s certification proforma should be filled and submitted along with the manuscript available at: https://www.jsmdc.pk/authors-certification-performa.
Corresponding Author: The authors must assign a corresponding author. The corresponding author is responsible for manuscript corrections, revisions, proofreading & resubmission of revised manuscripts till the acceptance of the manuscript.
PLAGIARISM POLICY:
Publications are the outcome of scientific research, and their quality reflects the integrity of the research conducted. Published articles serve as a source of scientific evidence, scholarly discussion, and future research. Therefore, all manuscripts submitted to JSMDC are expected to uphold the highest standards of academic honesty and publication ethics.
• JSMDC follows the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, regarding plagiarism and publication ethics. The relevant guidelines can be accessed at www.publicationethics.org, www.icmje.org, and www.hec.gov.pk.
• All submitted manuscripts are screened for plagiarism using Turnitin before entering the peer-review process. Manuscripts with an overall similarity index of more than 19% or a similarity index of 5% or more from any single source will not be considered for further processing until the similarity is reduced to the permissible limits.
• If the similarity index exceeds the permissible limit, the manuscript will be returned to the corresponding author for revision. The revised manuscript will be screened again using Turnitin. If the similarity index remains above the acceptable limit after the second revision, the manuscript will be rejected.
• If a submitted manuscript is found to be wholly or substantially plagiarized, it will be rejected outright. The corresponding author will be informed of the findings and asked to provide a written explanation.
• Before the final printing/publication of an accepted manuscript, it is screened again for plagiarism to ensure compliance with the journal’s plagiarism policy.
PEER-REVIEW POLICY:
• JSMDC follows a double-blind peer-review process in which both the reviewer and the author remain anonymous throughout the review process.
• Reviewers are selected according to their specialty, expertise, research experience, publication record, and relevance to the manuscript’s subject area.
• Editors ensure that reviewers have no conflicts of interest and can provide independent, objective, confidential, and timely assessments.
• The reviewer database is updated regularly and includes qualified national and international experts.
• Each manuscript is sent to two external peer reviewers.
• Reviewers are requested to submit their review comments within two weeks of accepting the review invitation. If additional time is required, an extension may be granted at the discretion of the Editor.
• Once the reviewed manuscript is received from both reviewers, their comments and suggestions are communicated to the author for revision.
• The revised manuscript received from the author is re-assessed by the reviewers and/or editor, if required. Additional rounds of review may be undertaken when necessary before a final decision is made.
• The final decision regarding acceptance or rejection of a manuscript is made by the Editor.
• Reviewers are expected to maintain confidentiality, declare any competing interests, provide constructive and unbiased feedback, and adhere to the ethical principles of peer review in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and international best practices.
COMPLAINT/APPEAL POLICY:
JSMDC endeavors to respond promptly, courteously, and constructively to all complaints and appeals. The Editorial Board welcomes complaints regarding journal policies, editorial processes, publication ethics, undue delays, or editorial decisions, including manuscript rejection. All complaints and appeals are handled fairly, confidentially, and in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Complaints or appeals may be submitted by email to the official JSMDC email address (editors@jsmdc.pk) or by post to:
Editorial Office
Journal of Sharif Medical & Dental College (JSMDC), Sharif Medical & Dental College
Sharif Medical City Road, Jati Umra, Lahore, Pakistan
Procedure
• The complaint or appeal will be reviewed by the Editorial Office and discussed with the Editor. Where appropriate, additional members of the Editorial Board may be consulted.
• All complaints and appeals will be acknowledged upon receipt.
• Wherever possible, a final response will be provided within two weeks. If additional time is required for investigation, an interim response will be issued within two weeks, followed by periodic updates until the matter is resolved.
• If the complainant or appellant remains dissatisfied with the outcome, the matter may be referred to the journal’s Editorial and Publishing Management Team for further review. Queries may also be sent to smdc@sharifmedicalcity.org.
• The decision reached after the final review shall be communicated to the complainant/appellant. All decisions will be made impartially and in accordance with the journal’s editorial policies and COPE guidelines.
WITHDRAWAL POLICY:
• Authors can withdraw their manuscript during the processing stage by sending an email for withdrawal.
• A manuscript is only considered “withdrawn” upon receipt of an official email by the editor.
• Withdrawal requests are not accepted after a manuscript has been accepted for publication by the editorial team.
PRIVACY POLICY:
Sharif Medical and Dental College manages the journal’s website. JSMDC is dedicated to upholding trust and privacy regarding the personal information gathered from authors and reviewers, adhering to ICMJE guidelines. The names and email addresses provided on this journal site will solely be utilized for its intended purposes and will not be disclosed for any other use or to any third party.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
ORIGINAL ARTICLES: Original articles should report original research of relevance to clinical medicine. The article should not exceed 4500 words in length (excluding title page, abstract, tables, figures, and references). The original article should follow the basic structure of abstract, introduction, methodology, statistical analysis, results, discussion, conclusion, limitations & recommendations of the study, and references.
Abstract: It should contain a structured abstract of about 250 words. The abstract must have four sections: objectives, methodology, results, and conclusion. Three to five keywords should be given as per Medical Subject Heading (MeSH).
Introduction: The introduction should clearly describe the topic with a brief literature review. All abbreviations used should be first preceded by the word for which it stands. At the end of the introduction, mention the rationale or scientific significance of the study.
Methodology: The methodology should include the study design, place of the study conducted, sample size, sampling technique, ethical consideration, consent, and method & equipment used for research work.
Statistical Analysis: Mention the software used for data analysis and the statistical tests applied.
Results: Text, tables, and figures should be used for illustration of results. Figures and tables should be numbered in order of appearance in the text. Legends for the tables and figures should be typed double-spaced and should include a description of the features shown. All numbers and percentages should be triple-checked. Previously published material and figures should include permission to reproduce from the original publication and original author. Photographs with faces should be accompanied by permission to publish from the subject of the photograph or by a parent in case of a minor. Colored photographs should be submitted in JPEG format.
Discussion: The results of the study should be interpreted with reference to other latest studies.
Conclusion: The conclusion should be clear and concise.
Limitations of the study
Recommendations of the study
References: References must be numbered consecutively according to their appearance in the text. References should be cited in the correct “Vancouver style” with a DOI number. List all authors if the total number of authors is six or less and for more than six authors use et al. after six. Journal names should be abbreviated according to the Index Medicus/MEDLINE. The date of access should be provided for online citations. References should not be older than the last five years.
CLINICAL CASE REPORTS: Must be of academic & educational value and provide relevance to the disease being reported as unusual. It should have a non-structured abstract of about 100-150 words (case-specific) with around 6-8 references and 3 keywords.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR (LTE): It is usually a type of short communication that can be written on any topic that attracts the attention of the reader. There are different types of letters to the editor. If the purpose of the LTE is to comment on a published article, the first sentence of the LTE should include the name of the published article’s first author along with the title of the published article and then the comments. If the LTE is a reply to a previously submitted LTE, the first sentence should include the name of the letter’s author and cite the letter as a reference. The previously published article should then be referenced as well either in the body of the text or at the end of the response to the LTE.
PHOTO ESSAYS: The journal accepts manuscripts for consideration as photo essays. These essays include the visual presentation of material where the prime emphasis is on the images. These images can include colored images, angiograms, optical coherence tomography, histologic sections, x-rays, ultrasounds, and other studies. The images can be an outstanding presentation of classic findings, atypical findings, or new findings. These are not case reports, but rather a visual presentation of material as a teaching tool. The images need to be of the highest quality. The accompanying manuscript should be limited to a total of 300 words. A maximum of 6-10 separate images and 6 references can be included.
REVIEW ARTICLE: This should consist of a critical overview/analysis of some relatively narrow topic providing background and the recent development with reference to the original literature. It should incorporate the author’s original work on the same subject. The review article should be 2500 to 3000 words in length. It should have a non-structured abstract of 150 words with a minimum of 3 keywords. An author can write a review article only if he/she has written a minimum of three original research articles.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW ARTICLE: It should consist of a well-defined research question and should provide a detailed review of a specific topic based on the existing literature. It should include the collection and analysis of data from all the relevant research in support of the research question being asked. The text should be 2500-3000 words. It should have a structured abstract with a minimum of three keywords.
META-ANALYSIS: It should comprise a statistical analysis of the combined results of numerous scientific studies addressing the same research question. Meta-analysis is a quantitative and epidemiological study design that should critically analyze the results of previous scientific research, mostly randomized controlled trials.
OTHER SECTIONS: The journal also accepts manuscripts for other sections such as diagnostic & therapeutic challenges, clinicopathological correlations, surgical techniques, and new instruments. Diagnostic & therapeutic challenges require no abstract and have no limit for figures and references. Surgical techniques and clinicopathological correlations are treated as a full manuscript and require an abstract. All correspondence and new instruments should have a standard title page with a full-length title, running title, and author information. Keywords and summary statement should be on the second page. An abstract is not required by the journal for correspondence and new instruments. A summary statement of 50 words is necessary for publication and indexing and must be included at the time of submission. All pages must be numbered starting with the title page being page one. Each figure must be submitted separately.
MANUSCRIPT PROCESSING POLICY
• The average time from manuscript submission to the first editorial decision is approximately 4–6 weeks. Subject to satisfactory revisions and completion of the editorial process, accepted manuscripts are generally published within 6–8 weeks.
• The steps of manuscript processing are:
STEP 1: Initial Screening
• Initially assessed by the members of the editorial board for the worth of its publication
• All the submitted manuscripts are checked for potential plagiarism by “TURNITIN” software
• The bibliographer reviews and authenticates the references
• The manuscript is also assessed for statistical analysis by the Journal’s statistician
• Initial screening of the manuscript is shared with the author
STEP 2: Reassessment
• The corrected article is reassessed by the editorial board
STEP 3: Peer Review Process
• The corrected manuscript is sent to two external reviewers for peer review
• The reviewer is given two weeks to submit their review. If the reviewer doesn’t submit the review within the initial two weeks, a reminder is sent. After sending the reminder, the reviewer is given an additional week to respond. If there’s still no response after the additional grace period, the manuscript is forwarded to another reviewer for evaluation
• Comments/Suggestions of the reviewers are communicated to the author for corrections
• Where necessary, the revised manuscript may be returned to the original reviewers for a second round of peer review before a final editorial decision is made.
STEP 4: Acceptance of Manuscript
• The final decision regarding article acceptance/rejection is made by the editor
STEP 5: Final Processing
• The final proofs are given to the corresponding authors for verification/approval
• The Editorial Board checks final proofs at the dummy stage before sending them for printing