Guidelines/ Policies

Author's Guidelines

JUMDC is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal published quarterly. It serves as a medium for the latest advancement of scientific knowledge in all the branches of Medicine and its allied sciences and the publication of scientific investigation in these fields.

OJS user guide for submission of Research Article to the JUMDC

JUMDC follows the ICMJE guidelines “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly work" in medical journals; available at http://icmje.org/recommendations/

Following are the point that every author needs to follow:

Aims and Objective:

The journal is a peer-reviewed biomedical journal that aims to provide medical and allied health professionals with current information relevant to diagnosis, investigations, management, and other health-related issues. Each issue contains a series of original research papers, systematic review articles, case reports, commentaries, short communications, new techniques, editorials, and letters to the editor by scholars of biomedical sciences from Pakistan and abroad covering a range of current topics in medical research. It covers the core biomedical health science subjects, basic medical sciences, and emerging community problems, prepared in accordance with the “uniform requirements for submission to biomedical journals” laid down by the International Committee of Medical Journals Editors (ICMJE). All publications of JUMDC are peer-reviewed by subject Specialists from Pakistan and abroad.

Submission format according to Manuscript type

Submission Process: All manuscripts of JUMDC should be submitted through the online submission system through the journal website:  http://jumdc.com/index.php/jumdc. The corresponding/principal author is responsible for the manuscript during the submission and the entire peer-review process. The corresponding author must ensure that all other authors of the manuscript have read and approved the submitted version of the manuscript. For submission of the manuscript, the author must Register and Login into the OJS.

Letter of Undertaking

Title of the Manuscript

Title Page: The complete title of the manuscript, the name of all the authors with qualifications, the affiliated department or institution, address for correspondence with telephone numbers, cell phones, email, and a short running title of the article, source of funding, and total word count.

Specimen for Title Page

Abstract:

  • All original articles must accompany a structured abstract of up to 250 words. It should include the Objective of the study, Methodology, Results & Conclusions.  Emphasize new and significant aspects of the study or observations. This page should contain structured abstracts and keywords only.
  • The abstract should reflect the content of the article accurately.  Abstracts for case reports, short communications, Mini Reviews, clinical notes, letters to the editor and narrative reviews should be non-structured up to 150 words.
  • Authors submitting review manuscript should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data, the databases searched, and the time period. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.
  • The Abstract should be in Structured format with following sub-headings: 
  • i.  Background & Objective
  • ii. Methodology
  • iii. Results
  • iv. Conclusion
  • Keywords: Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of index Medicus, if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.

Introduction: This manuscript part should be composed of a deductive approach. This should specify the background and the rationale for the study, with reference to national, regional and international literature. It should also briefly describethe purpose of the study. By the end of the introduction, the author should provide a road map that outlines your main points

Methodology: This section should include the following without subheadings in an organized manner.

  • Ethical review statement
  • Study design and settings
  • Study duration
  • Define how you collected or generated data, Sampling method and sample size calculations 
  • Inclusion and exclusion criteria
  • Details of apparatus (if applicable with manufacturer's name and address) and or drugs/chemicals used. Use generic name/s of drugs/ chemicals along with dose (s) and route(s) of administration
    Statistics should include the tests applied along with the statistical software package used with the version.

For patients, age, and sex with mean age ±standard deviation must be given. The statistical method must be mentioned and specify any general computer program used.

Results: The results should justify your claims. This section should summarize your results through text, graphs, tables and figures, to report your statistical findings. Avoid repetitions of data shown through tables and figures in the text. 

Discussion: The purpose of the discussion is to interpret and describe the significance of your findings in light of what was already known about the research problem being investigated and to explain any new understanding or fresh insights about the problem after you've taken the findings into consideration. It must be mentioned whether the hypothesis mentioned in the article is true, false, or no conclusions can be derived. Strengths and limitations should be mentioned at the end of this section.

Conclusion(s): Briefly summarize the net findings of your study without overemphasizing them.  It should not include any findings/benefits not mentioned in the results. 

Acknowledgment: Names and contributions of people who do not qualify for the authorship but helped in the study may be listed in this section with their permission.

Disclosure/Conflict of Interest: Disclose if the current manuscript has been presented or published in a conference or abstract book or if it is a part of the thesis/project. Any conflict of interest should be declared.  It may include honorarium, funding, credits, and promotion which are not unethical but should be declared. The authors must disclose all sources of funding received along with their expenditures. If there are no funding sources, the authors should include “none to declare”.  When a manuscript is submitted by authors, then editors, reviewers, employees, or members of the editorial board must disclose all financial and personal relationships that might bias their work.  Authors must state explicitly whether potential conflicts do or do not exist. They should do so in the manuscript on the title page. 

Authorship Criteria Recommended by ICMJE:

The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following criteria:

  • 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.

Tables and Figures: These should be included in the text as per manuscript requirements. These should be easy to interpret and not be repetitive of results/data already discussed in the text. Tables should be numbered in Roman numerals. The title should be short and explanatory and written on the top. A footnote should explain abbreviations if used. Statistical results should include the standard deviation and standard error of the mean. The source should be given of any data/table from published articles. The maximum number of tables/ figures in original articles should be 6, for review articles should be 6, for case reports should be 6, and for short communication should be 2. Refer to the table number in the relevant section of your manuscript. Additional 1000 PKR./- (USD 10) will be charged for each figure & table if exceeds the maximum number.

Units of Measurement: For reporting in the text, they should be conventional with System International (SI) units given in parenthesis.  The names of drugs should be written in generic terminology.

References: All references should be cited in Vancouver style and give citations in the text as superscript. While citing articles use references of published articles, and avoid personal communications and unpublished observations. These references should also be marked in the text. To minimize errors, the author should verify references against the original documents. The references should be written in Vancouver style as per "Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly work in medical journals, updated in December 2015. Available at: http://icmje.org/recommendations/". List all authors when there are six or fewer. If there are seven or more, list the first six followed by ”et al” reference should provide the following information: Author’s name with initials, the full title of cited article, name of the journal in which the article appeared (in Full form), Year of Publication, journal’s volume number, and finally first &; the last page numbers. Write page no. like this 120-126. Add DOI number of those references where it is available. Make sure at least 50% of references pertain to the last five years.

Examples

Reference from the original article: Hall RR. The healing of tissue by C02 laser. British Journal of Surgery: 1971; 58:222-225.

Reference from books: Talaro KP, Talaro A. Foundations in Microbiology: Basic principles. Boston: McGraw-Hill; 2002

Reference from the website (Other than the original article): Lewis A. How Microbes May Influence Our Behavior. The scientist: exploring life, inspiring innovation; 2017 Sep 1 [cited 2017 Sep 19]. Available from:  http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/50146/title/How-Microbes-May-Influence-Our-Behavior/

Word limits and number of references: Word limit for submission of each manuscript is as under excluding abstract & references. The maximum length of the manuscripts should be: Original Articles: 3500 words and, in exceptional cases 4000, Case Reports/Brief Communications/Mini Review: 2000 words, Review Articles: 4500 words including summary describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting and synthesizing data. Maximum References: Original Article 25, Mini Review 25, Case Report 12, Short Communication 20, Reviews 40. These references should also be marked in the text.

Case Reports: These consists of unique cases, either diagnosed or reporting of treatment, in general, all case reports include the following components: an abstract, an introduction, a case, and a discussion. Have an unstructured abstract of approximately 150 words, up to 12 references, six tables and figures. Figures should be submitted as sperate files. Consent needs to be obtained prior to taking any patient’s photographs.

  1. Abstract
  2. Introduction
  3. Case Report
  4. Discussion
  5. References

Abstract: A non-structured abstract should be written as a case statement for a case report with minimum of three keywords.

Introduction: Provided a clear statement of the problem, the relevant literature on the subject,

Case Report: This section should provide the details of the case in the following order: Patient description, Case history, Physical examination results, Results of pathological tests and other investigations, Treatment plan, Expected outcome of the treatment plan, Actual outcome.

The author should ensure that all the relevant details are included and unnecessary ones excluded.

Discussion: Describes detailed interpretation of data. Pertinent literature support is provided for any statement, and no assumption is made. 

Table/Figures: Either three concise tables or three figures. Figure legends should be typed in numerical order.

References: References are listed at the end of the paper in numerical order.  Journal names are according to Vancouver style. The number of references for the Case Report should be 12.  Fifty percent of these must be from the last five years.

Policy of Screening Plagiarism:  JUMDC follows the standard definition and description of plagiarism and we endorse The COPEICMJE, & Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan policies regarding plagiarism. JUMDC is equipped with Turnitin (text-matching/anti-plagiarism software provided by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan). This is used to check for plagiarism and redundancy in submitted manuscripts. All submitted manuscripts are first checked for similarity index on Turnitin. 

Manuscript extracted by an author from his/her M.Phil. Or Ph.D. thesis must have to declare the “title of the thesis”, “Supervisor name”, Department and University name, “year of submission” on the title page submitted during the submission process.
Note: Authors must not check plagiarism through unreliable or unauthentic websites or softwares.

  • Allegation of Misconduct:Those found guilty or involved in publication misconduct are liable to be blacklisted. The source of funding for the study should be clearly mentioned. Authors involved in scientific misconduct may be blacklisted and barred from further submissions.

Processing and Publication Charges:  All manuscripts from Pakistan should be accompanied with a payment of Rs. 7,000/- FOR overseas (US$ 55)/- (Non-refundable). APC charges, once submitted, are non-refundable. Once the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors are required to pay publication charges of Rs.18,000/- For Overseas US$ 200/- (Due to increasing cost, we have revised our publication charges) (NEW) in the name of (Journal of University Medical and Dental College), Faisalabad; send us on the address given below. (Usage policy is according to the CC-BY license).

Prof Dr. Muhammad Akram Malik
Chief Editor, JUMDC

The University of Faisalabad,
Sargodha Road, Faisalabad,
Pakistan.
Phone: +92-41-111-111-883
Fax: +92-41-8868220
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.jumdc.com

Note: Processing and Publication charges from authors are taken to ensure their Open Access availability for the readers.

Title of Account: Journal of University Medical and Dental College
Account Number: 06-98-46-029301-714-000102390
Name of Bank: 
Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited The University of Faisalabad, Sargodha road Branch.

Editing Charges (Optional) Rs. 5000/-  For overseas (US$ 100)

It will cover the following aspects of the manuscript

  • Focus on the logic and flow of the manuscript's content
  • Manuscript formatting meets the requirements
  • Check for consistency, completeness, and structure
  • Language Check

Printed Copy: One printed copy will be supplied to the correspondence author. Authors can order additional copies at the rate of Rs. 1000/- per copy which includes courier charges and US$ 20/- per copy for overseas. Payment for additional copies should be added in the publication charges.

Annual Subscription Rates for Print Copy

Annual Subscription:

Rs. 2500/-

3 Year’s Subscription:

Rs. 5000/-

5-Year’s Subscription:

Rs. 8000/-

Fast Track Processing of Manuscript: The duration of the fast-track processing is approximately 40 days. If the author wants to get his/her manuscript through fast-track, He/she should clearly mention it on the cover letter. Rs. 10,000 additional fee will be charged (other than the processing fee of Rs. 7000/- US$ 50 for overseas) at the time of submission (Due to the increasing cost of publication, the management has imposed a fast-track fee of Rs. 10,000/- US$ 200 for overseas). The fast-track charges are non-refundable. The rest of the terms and conditions will remain constant. There is no guarantee of acceptance or publication in fast-track. Authors are requested not to opt for fast track processing unless it is extremely essential. 

Waiver Policy:

Eligibility criteria to apply for waiver:

  • The waiver policy will not be applicable if the research is funded.
  • Applicable for Undergraduate students.

Review Procedure :

The review process for submitted articles involves an initial acknowledgment through an email upon receipt. Manuscripts undergo a comprehensive evaluation for appropriateness of the article within the journal's research scope, originality, significance, documentation adequacy, and overall composition.

Following the initial assessment by the Editorial Staff, all submissions proceed through the Higher Education Commission (HEC) recommended external  "Peer Review Process." The assessment criteria include:

  1. Technical quality of the scientific research presented.
  2. Utilization of TURNITIN software to check for plagiarism, with a requirement of a similarity index below 19% for eligibility to proceed to the "preliminary review."
  3. Inclusion of an ethics statement, along with the Institutional Review Committee/Ethical Review Board number and a copy of the certificate/letter.

Manuscripts meeting the initial assessment criteria undergo a "double-blind peer review" process involving at least three reviewers, two from the subject specialty and another preferably with a research background, as per HEC guidelines. National and international reviewers are engaged in this process.

Peer Review Policy:

Once a manuscript clears the initial screening, it is sent for peer review.

  • Double-blind: We use a review process in which, the names of reviewers and authors are not revealed to each other. Generally, we send the article to 3-4 reviewers.

http://jumdc.com/public/site/images/jumdc786/Reviewprocess.png

The peer review is completed once all the reviewers send a detailed report to the journal with their comments on the manuscript and their recommendations. We request the reviewers to complete their reviews within 3-4 weeks.

Final decision: The journal editor or editorial board considers the feedback provided by the peer reviewers and arrives at a decision. The following are the most common decisions that are made:

  • Accept without any changes (acceptance): the journal will publish the paper in its original form.
  • Accept with minor revisions (acceptance): the journal will publish the paper and asks the author to make small corrections.
  • Accept after major revisions (conditional acceptance ): the journal will publish the paper provided the authors make the changes suggested by the reviewers /or editors.
  • Revise and resubmit (conditional rejection): the journal are willing to reconsider the paper in another round of decision making after the authors make major changes.
  • Reject the paper (outright rejection): the journal will not publish the paper or reconsider it even if the authors make major revisions.
  • The first option (accept without any changes) is rare. The second decision (accept with minor revisions) is typically the best outcome authors should hope for. Once a journal rejects a paper outright, authors are well-advised not to resubmit to the same journal. If the journal wanted to reconsider the paper, they would have issued a conditional rejection. An outright rejection means the journal thinks the paper will not meet its publication standards or interests even after heavy revisions.

  • All accepted manuscripts are subject to editing by the Editor's office for scientific accuracy and clarity.

Deadline of Process:

Publishing Schedule:

Open Access Statement: Journal of University Medical & Dental College, JUMDC, is the official peer-reviewed Journal of University Medical & Dental College, constitution college of The University of Faisalabad. JUMDC is an open-access journal being published quarterly.

Original research articles, review articles, practical updates, case reports, and letters to the editor of medical and allied health sciences are being evaluated by the editorial board and peer reviewers before publication in the journal. Under the following terms:

    • Attribution: — you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
    • No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
      Creative Commons License
      This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Journal of University Medical & Dental College is an open-access journal being published since Jan 2010. The journal only publishes open access content and legacy. These articles are published in open-access under CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The CC BY license allows for maximum dissemination and re-use of open access materials and is preferred by many research funding bodies. Under this license users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the contribution, including for commercial purposes, providing they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor.
Under Creative Commons, authors retain copyright in their articles.
Visit our open research site for more information about Creative Commons licensing.

Benefits of open access:

Open access publications lead to:

    • Increase citation and usage
    • Faster public engagement
    • Greater impact
    • Broader collaboration
    • Increased interdisciplinary interaction

Ethical Approval of the Research: Ethics approval is normally required from the organization is responsible for the participants in a study that is mandatory.

Examples of research which has implications requiring ethical approval include in particular:

    • Any data collection that involves an individual, such as questionnaires, interviews, clinical trials or direct observation.
    • Research on any of the following, including the use of questionnaires and surveys: children (those under 18), those unable to give informed consent, minority groups, vulnerable categories, pregnant women or women in labor, and persons with a physical or mental disability.
    • Any research involving the collection of personal information, whether directly from individuals or via individual records.
    • Research on human tissue or involving a direct physical intervention.
    • Research involving animals.

Strict adherence to ethical standards should be observed while dealing with subjects. Studies on human subjects must indicate explicitly that the procedures followed were in line with the revised “Helsinki Declaration” of 1983. Detailed guidelines are available from the following link: https://www.wma.net/what-we-do/medical-ethics/declaration-of-helsinki/doh-oct1983/. Manuscripts of animal studies should clearly indicate that National Research Council guidelines on the care & use of laboratory animals were followed. The guidelines on animal research ethics are available from; http://veteditors.org/ethicsconsensusguideline.html to safeguard the rights and welfare of human subjects participating in biomedical research, ethical approval must be obtained for all manuscripts from the Hospital/ Institutional Ethical Committee(s) of the concerned organization(s). All the ethical approval(s), in the case of multicenter studies, should accompany the manuscript in writing. Conflict of interest any conflict of interest should be declared. It may include honorarium, funding, credits, and promotion which are not unethical but should be declared.

Policy Framework for Research Involving Vulnerable Populations:

  1. Prior to the enrollment of any vulnerable participant, explicit informed consent is imperative. In cases involving minors, consent must be obtained from their legally authorized guardians. Additionally, considering the participants' age and maturity, assent from minors should be actively sought whenever practicable.
  2. The process of obtaining informed consent should involve a comprehensive disclosure of information concerning the study's nature, objectives, potential risks, benefits, and available alternatives to participation. This disclosure should be conveyed in a clear, understandable manner appropriate to the participants' level of comprehension.
  3. Upholding participants' autonomy and decision-making capacity is essential, ensuring their unrestricted right to withdraw from the study at any stage without incurring any adverse consequences.
  4. For vulnerable populations lacking decision-making capacity, such as individuals with severe cognitive impairments, consent should be sought from their legally authorized representatives or next of kin. This ensures decisions are made in the best interest of the participant.
  5. All research protocols involving vulnerable populations necessitate meticulous scrutiny and approval by an independent ethics committee or institutional review board (IRB). These review bodies should comprise members possessing expertise in the specific vulnerabilities of the population under study.
  6. Researchers are obligated to conscientiously mitigate potential risks and discomforts to vulnerable participants. Rigorous risk-benefit analyses must be conducted to ascertain that the potential benefits of the research significantly outweigh any potential risks.
  7. Continuous monitoring and assessment of participants' well-being throughout the research process is paramount. Robust measures should be in place to promptly address any unforeseen adverse effects that may arise.

Clinical Trials Involving Vulnerable Populations:

  1. Clinical trials involving vulnerable populations, including children, pregnant women, or individuals with cognitive impairments, are bound by stringent ethical guidelines that surpass those applied in standard research practices.
  2. In certain circumstances, the appointment of an independent advocate or guardian ad litem might be necessary to safeguard and represent the best interests of vulnerable participants throughout the trial duration.
  3. Given the amplified vulnerability of participants, clinical trials involving such populations necessitate an intensified risk-benefit analysis. This is crucial to ensure the safety and well-being of the participants involved.
  4. Continuous monitoring, stringent reporting of adverse events, and the establishment of mechanisms for immediate intervention or termination of the trial in the face of unforeseen risks should be in place to uphold participant safety and ethical integrity.

Appeal Process: JUMDC relies on a qualified editorial board to make these editorial decisions and to provide feedback to authors. If you would like to appeal the rejection of an article submitted to the JUMDC, please first contact the Editor-in-Chief (Eic) of the journal.

Self-Archiving Policy of JUMDC:

 a: Preprint: A preprint is described as the author’s version of the manuscript before peer-review. Journal of University Medical & Dental College neither accepts nor publishes pre-prints.

 b: Author’s Accepted Manuscript before Publication (AAM):  There is an embargo period on all submitted   manuscripts till the time of publication on JUMDC website. This embargo period does not apply on abstracts.

 C: Published Article (Version of Record): The version of the manuscript that is published (online/print) in a journal following peer review, copyediting and typesetting.

Complaint Process: Journal of University Medical & Dental College ensure to have transparency at every step. The author have the right to complaint and ask for an explanation if they peceive any misconduct in ethical guidelines and policies.  JUMDC will acknowledge receipt of an email sent to [email protected]  within 5-6 working days. The committee will investigate the complaint on merit, and a decision will be taken based on the available evidences. The decision is taken in and the same is forwarded to the concerned scholar through his submitted email ID. If the author wishes to pursue their complaint further, they may contact COPE directly. Information can be found on the COPE website: Facilitation and Integrity Subcommittee | COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics. Complaints may also be submitted regarding issues related to inappropriate authorship, gift and ghost authorship, salami publication; undeclared conflicts of interests, plagiarism, multiple, duplicate, concurrent publication/simultaneous submission, unethical research; fabrication/falsification of results, selective reporting; research standards violations, reviewer bias/competitive harmful acts by reviewers or any contribution to JUMDC that violates the copyright or other intellectual property rights.

Withdrawal Policies: According to JUMDC’s copyright policy, the copyright belongs to JUMDC submission. Furthermore, it is considered unethical to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. Withdrawal of the manuscript during its editorial workflow has been divided into parts.

      • Manuscript Withdrawal (Before Acceptance): The author may request manuscript withdrawal after submission but before its Acceptance by giving a compelling reason. Withdrawal requests received before initiating the peer-review process (normally within three days of submission) will be considered immediately without asking for any reason. However, after the review process is initiated, an email has to be sent notifying their intention by providing a compelling ethical reason. If any unethical reason for the manuscript withdrawn get detected (even after completely withdrawn), we might take corresponding ethical action. Without a formal letter of withdrawal, a manuscript is not considered withdrawn, and the use of such article elsewhere will be construed as an ethical misconduct. Processing charges are non-refundable. Visit the link for detail of processing charges

      • Manuscript Withdrawal (After Acceptance): The article cannot be withdrawn after its Acceptance and submission of publication charges (whether published galley/early version or not) visit the link for detail of publication charges. If manuscripts that have been accepted for publication include scientific errors or discovered to be accidental duplications of other published article(s) or determined to violate our publishing ethics guidelines; such as multiple submissions, bogus claims of authorship, plagiarism, reviewer biasing, fraudulent use of data or research misconduct, it will be handled according to the COPE guidelines

If you have concerns or questions about it, please contact us for further discussion. We welcome your input.

Refund Policy: The author assumes the responsibility for the payment, and no refunds will be issued. We do not issue refunds for APC/Fast Track once the payment is confirmed and paid. We recommend contacting us for assistance if you experience any issues making an online payment. Let us clarify once again. The APC of the article is applicable per paper one time which is not refundable. In the case of withdrawal of the paper from the journal, APC will not be refunded to the author.