How to find, grow and retain good reviewers: An experience from Pakistan

Despite criticism and allegations of suppressing innovative ideas, Peer Review is widely cited as central in evaluation of manuscripts submitted to journals for publication. Peer Reviewers along with editors who are known as gatekeepers help improve the quality of the manuscripts. One of the primary responsibilities of the Editor is considered to create and maintain a high quality productive group of reviewers. In order to retain good reviewers, it is essential to give them due respect, recognize their services, refrain from over burdening the good reviewers, have some CME Credit for this activity, look at different ways of rewarding the reviewers i.e. providing good reading material, books, appreciation certificates, post review thanks letters besides elevating the good efficient reviewers to the Editorial Board. Publishing their name at the end of the year, concession in publication charges if they are authors or co-authors in manuscripts received for publication besides awarding distinguished reviewers are some of the measures that can prove fruitful

Healthcare and Medical Education in Post COVID-19 Pandemic Era

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How to write introduction and discussion

Scientific writing has a proper format. The anatomical structure or important components of an original article consists of a structured abstract (usually in four sub-headings i.e. objective, methods, results and conclusions with appropriate key words), introduciton, methodology, results and discussion. It is summarized by the acronym IMRAD wherein: I stands for Introduction, M for Methods, R for Results, A for And, D for Discussion. This manuscript describes the information which has to be included in the Introduction and Discussion sections of an original article

What Medicine And Medical Journal Editing Mean To Me

Medicine and medical journalism are both noble professions. Those who are infected with the materialistic virus and want to make quick money should not take up these as professional careers. Editing a good quality peer reviewed medical journal in a developing third world country is extremely frustrating. An editor has to work under considerable stress and strain, and face numerous pressures. However, it is a joy and pleasure to be a successful medical editor. The mere fact that one can help so many authors and influence decision makers in the medical profession, health officials, pharmaceutical trade and industry and all others connected with the health sector gives tremendous professional satisfaction, which is invaluable and keeps one motivated

How to develop research question and select a research topic

The content of the book have systematically been designed starting from history of Medical Writing, Designing/ Planning of a Scientific Study, Literature Search, Data Collection, Basic Statistics, Research Proposal for Funding, multi facets of Medical Writing, Authorship Guidelines, Peer Review, Scientific Misconduct and Predatory Journals. Each of these themes have been elaborated with various dimensions, width-wise and depth-wise. A due attention has also been focused on Medical Ethics wherever pertinent. Each chapter ends with a list of relevant reference to provide ready evidence and to give space of the researchers to explore it further. The inclusion of quotable quotes at places on a good article, rejection of a paper, clinical skills, pressure on an editor, medical editors, the editor’s passport to heaven, peer reviewers and the like have rendered the book palatable and digestible and provided a literary look (social science)

Disclosure of Cancer Diagnosis: PakistaniPatients' Perspective

Objective:To ascertain cancer patients' views regarding disclosure of diagnosisin the Pakistani population, anxiety levels after disclosure of the diagnosis, interestin knowing all the treatment options and desire to inform their families. Patients and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 147 cancer patients fromdifferent hospitals in Pakistan were asked questions to determine their opinionsregarding whether the diagnosis of cancer should be disclosed to patients and theirrelatives or not. Anxiety after diagnosis disclosure and who should disclose thisinformation were also asked. Patients were also asked about their views regardingwhether their families should be informed about the cancer diagnosis withoutpatient's prior consent.Results:Atotal of 147 cancer patients completed the questionnaire. Of these, 112(76.2%) wanted to know about their cancer diagnosis while only 28 (19.0%) patientsrefused. Anxiety levels were increased in 59 (40.1%) patients, remained the same in61 (41.5%) and decreased in 27 (18.4%). One hundred and twenty three patients(83.7%), wanted to know the diagnosis from their physicians. Eighty-four (57.1%)patients were interested in all treatment options, while 102 (69.4%) patients wantedto be actively involved in decision making about their treatment. Only 37 (25.2%)patients answered affirmatively to the question which asked if their families wereinformed about the patient's disease without patient's prior knowledge, while 82(55.8%) disagreed. Conclusion:The majority of cancer patients wanted disclosure of their diseaseby their doctor. The results of this study provide important implications for Pakistanidoctors concerning the practice of diagnostic cancer disclosure to the patients

www.pjms.com.pk 107 Pak

Manuscripts from any country can have deficiencies. Those received from Iran have had their share of discrepancies. These discrepancies have ranged from problems with poor English, to inconsistency of format and quality of references and disregard for the &apos;instruction to authors&apos;. Significant delays occur in the processing of articles due to too much time taken by the authors to give the feedback to the queries of reviewers and the return of proof-read articles, amongst many other elements. Conclusions: We feel that online edition of a journal not only helps to increase the visibility of the journal but also proves to be a great source of manuscripts, even without indexing by Medline, provided the regularity and standard of the journal is maintained. In addition, it is an important potential source of coordination between the regional countries to work together for the training of writers, reviewers and editors to improve the standard of medical journalism, and thus improve the standards of medical journals in the region