Journal of Allama Iqbal Medical College

Publication Ethics

JAIMC applies publication-ethics requirements covering authorship, contributor acknowledgement, author responsibility, copyright, ethical approval, conflicts of interest, funding disclosure, withdrawal, appeals, trials and systematic reviews, reproduction of published material, and scientific misconduct.

Authorship Criteria

JAIMC considers a right to authorship only when all four ICMJE criteria are met:

• Substantial participation in the research work, including contribution to conception, research design, data collection, analysis, or interpretation.
• Active contribution to drafting the manuscript or critically revising it for important intellectual content.
• Active contribution to and approval of the final manuscript prepared for publication.
• Willingness to share responsibility for the research work and permit investigation and resolution of questions concerning integrity and accuracy.

JAIMC considers ghost, guest and gift authorship unethical. Where such practices are identified, authors may be removed through correction or erratum and the journal may notify the relevant institutional or local ethics committee.

Changes in Authorship

JAIMC does not ordinarily allow addition, alteration or deletion of authors from the list submitted at initial submission. Requests for change must be directed to the Editor-in-Chief, supported by valid reasons, and agreed by all authors. Post-publication authorship changes are normally handled by a published correction.

Acknowledgement Criteria

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria but assisted the study should be acknowledged. This may include:

• Individuals who helped acquire research funding.
• Supervisors who did not actively participate in the work.
• Persons who assisted with study design, manuscript review, write-up, proofreading, or technical/language editing.
• Colleagues who helped identify cases or assisted with laboratory procedures.
• Statisticians who supported analysis by applying appropriate statistical tests.

Statement of Contributions

The original manuscript must be accompanied by a description of each author's individual contribution at initial submission. These contributions should be stated in the author's undertaking and contribution form.

Corresponding Author

• The corresponding author is the nominated author available throughout submission and peer review who responds to editorial queries in a timely manner.
• JAIMC communicates with the author designated as corresponding author during submission.
• The corresponding author must provide a working email address that is checked regularly throughout submission, peer review and after publication.

Authors Deceased Before Publication

The journal should be notified when an author dies before publication. JAIMC recommends using a death dagger (†) after the deceased author's name and providing information about the death and date of death in a footnote.

Copyright Policy

• All authors are required to sign the copyright policy statement at manuscript submission.
• The policy is aligned with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
• JAIMC allows authors to retain copyright in their research work.

Ethical Approval of Research

• Every manuscript should have ethical approval from the ethical review board of the institution.
• For case reports, approval on institutional letterhead from the head of department is required and should confirm that participants gave informed consent before inclusion or publication.
• Where ethical approval was not required, an explanatory statement countersigned by the head of department should be submitted to JAIMC.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest exists when a participant in the publication process has a competing interest that could unduly influence, or appear reasonably likely to influence, their responsibilities.

• All authors must declare any conflict of interest.
• Grants, honoraria, credits, promotions, memberships, or personal/professional relationships that may influence the manuscript should be disclosed.
• The conflict-of-interest statement should appear at the end of the manuscript before the references.
• If there is no conflict, authors should explicitly state: “none to declare”.

Disclosure of Research Funding

• JAIMC requires disclosure of all grants and funding received for completion of the research.
• Funding disclosures may be entered during submission and stated at the end of the manuscript after the conflict-of-interest declaration.
• If there was no external funding, authors should state this explicitly.

Withdrawal of Manuscript

• Authors wishing to withdraw a manuscript after submission must inform the journal in writing with a withdrawal statement signed by all authors.
• The editorial board will communicate the withdrawal decision to the corresponding author.
• A manuscript is not considered formally withdrawn until the editorial board approves the request.
• Submitting the same manuscript elsewhere before formal withdrawal may result in blacklisting.

Appeal Against Rejection

Authors may submit a detailed appeal explaining why a rejected manuscript should be reconsidered. The appeal will be reviewed in-house by the editorial board. If the appeal is granted, the authors will make a new submission of the revised manuscript and the review process will begin again.

Clinical Trials & Systematic Reviews

• Results of randomized controlled trials are considered when the trial is registered with the relevant clinical-trials registry.
• JAIMC recommends the CONSORT Statement for clinical trials.
• For systematic reviews and meta-analyses, authors should refer to PRISMA and MOOSE guidance.

Reproduction of Previously Published Work

Authors are responsible for securing all required permissions before manuscript submission. Material reproduced from another source should be accompanied by written permission from the relevant copyright holder, whether author, journal, or publisher.

Scientific Misconduct Policy

JAIMC's scientific-misconduct policy is based on ICMJE, COPE, and Higher Education Commission (Pakistan) guidance.

Examples covered by the policy include:

• Fabrication or falsification of scientific data.
• Plagiarism and misrepresentation of facts, ideas or language from prior work.
• Ghost or guest authorship.
• Failure to recognize actual authors appropriately.
• Duplicate publication of the same research as different work.
• Manipulation of data or use of dubious statistical analyses to obtain predetermined results.
• False allegations of misconduct or failure to report known misconduct.

Proportionate responses

• Minor error not changing the findings → correction/corrigendum.
• Incomplete evidence while inquiry continues → expression of concern.
• Misconduct or major error invalidating results → retraction.
• Incomplete authorship/disclosure → correction or editorial notice.
• Contested scientific interpretation → letter to the editor or post-publication review.

Responses to Possible Misconduct

• Halt manuscript processing.
• Launch an investigation into allegations of misconduct.
• Blacklist the author where warranted.

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism includes intentional copying without proper attribution, self-plagiarism, mosaic plagiarism and salami slicing. JAIMC follows a strict plagiarism policy and expects authors to comply with COPE, ICMJE and HEC standards.

• All listed authors are responsible for the intellectual integrity of the manuscript.
• Submitted manuscripts are checked before peer review using Turnitin.
• If similarity is above 19%, the article is returned to the author for correction.
• JAIMC may request related material at any stage of review.

Peer Review Policy

JAIMC follows a double-blind peer-review process.

• The journal maintains internal and external reviewer databases with national and international reviewers selected by specialty.
• After successful initial editorial assessment, a manuscript is sent to an internal reviewer, an external reviewer, and a statistical reviewer.
• Reviewers are generally given an average of two weeks to review the manuscript.
• If corrections are advised, the manuscript is returned to the author for revision.
• If a reviewer rejects the article, it may be sent to another reviewer together with the initial reviewer comments.
• The final decision on acceptance or rejection rests with the editors.

Open Access Policy

JAIMC provides immediate free access to published work and permits lawful reading, downloading, copying, distribution, printing, searching, linking, indexing, software processing and other lawful reuse.

The final article version is freely available without delay, subscription fee or registration.

Regular Publication

Regular publication arrangements are governed by the journal's current issue schedule and editorial workflow.

Supplement Issue Policy

JAIMC may publish supplements to standard issues covering meetings, conference abstracts or specific topics at the request of organizations. The requesting organization or body bears the costs, which are determined after discussion with the journal.

Distribution of Journal Copy

The journal's distribution arrangements follow the current publication and print-copy policy.

Complaint Policy

Any stakeholder may contact the editorial office to register a complaint. Official contact details are provided on the JAIMC website.

Publication Charges Policy

The current JAIMC charges are:

• Up to three tables and two figures/photographs are included within the publication fee.
• Additional tables/figures may incur PKR 500 per table/figure.
• Two journal copies are provided to the corresponding author; an additional copy is charged at PKR 2,000.
• For payment instructions, authors should contact the Editorial Office.
• *The undergraduate/postgraduate category applies when all six authors fall in that category.

Post-Publication Review & Retraction Pathway

JAIMC treats publication as a continuing responsibility. Concerns are assessed on evidence and the response is proportionate:

• Correction for a minor error.
• Expression of concern while an inquiry continues.
• Retraction where findings are unreliable.

Every notice states its reason, identifies its issuer and links permanently to the article, which remains accessible and clearly marked. Decisions rest independently with the Editor-in-Chief under COPE guidance.

Advertisement Policy

JAIMC does not entertain any form of advertisement in print or online media.