General policies

A general peer-review policy for PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION is available here.

Online manuscript review

We strongly encourage referees to submit their comments via our online submission system by following the link provided in the editor's email. For help with the system please contact the Editorial Board.

Criteria for Publication

The Original Articles should be based on scientific research of high quality. The experiments performed and statistical analyses should comply with the technical standards of the journal. PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION encourages the use of simple language and small phrases. Regardless of the category, we expect that the content submitted has not been published somewhere else. If the results have been presented as an abstract at a conference, they should be declared at the time of submission.

Review Process

The manuscripts submitted in PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION are read by the editorial staff. The papers that meet the editorial criteria are sent for formal review. Those papers which are insufficient of general interest or otherwise inappropriate are rejected promptly without external review or may be sent back to the author for the initial revision. Manuscripts judged to be of potential interest to our readership are sent typically to two or three reviewers.

The editors then make a decision based on the reviewers' advice, from among several possibilities:

• Accept, with or without editorial revisions
• Accept, but indicate to the authors that further work might justify a resubmission
• Reject, typically on grounds of specialist interest, lack of novelty, insufficient conceptual advance, or major technical and/or interpretational problems

Selecting Peer-Reviewers

In the peer-review process reviewers are the key professionals. The editorial decision of whether to accept, reject or defer the article mainly depends upon the comments of the reviewers. Once the article has passed the in-house check, the editorial board selects the reviewers for the peer-review process. The selection of the reviewer not only depends on the relevance of the article to the expertise of the reviewer but also the reputation and past experience of PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION with the respective reviewer.

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution 

Peer review assists the Editor in Chief and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and also assists the authors in the betterment of the manuscript.

Promptness

Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the assigned manuscript or unable to provide a prompt review should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.

Confidentiality

The confidentiality of the manuscript must be maintained by all the reviewers. They must not be shown to or discussed anything regarding the paper with, others except as authorized by the Editor in Chief.

Standards of Objectivity

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is prohibited. Reviewers should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Acknowledgment of Sources

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that had been previously reported elsewhere should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the Editor in Chief's attention on any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Acknowledgment of the Reviewers

Names of reviewers selected for the Review Board will only be published in the printed copy of the journal (particular issue). Due to the large number of reviewers, it is not possible to put the names of all the reviewers on our website. No monetary benefits are offered to the reviewers. 

PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION has a policy of blind review. So, being the associated staff member does not have any impact on the review process and the editorial decision of the articles submitted by any of the associated staff members.

Become a Reviewer

PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION is open to adding new peer reviewers. If you are willing to volunteer as a reviewer, please register online to be added to our database. Create an account with keywords specific to your field of interest, to show up in our database search with respect to that specific area. The selection of the reviewer is solely at the discretion of the editorial board of PAKISTAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL & HEALTH EDUCATION.