Instructions to author

The editorial team of Journal of Fatima Jinnah Medical University (JFJMU) welcome contributions in the form of original articles and case reports from all biomedical disciplines, including but not limited to medicine, public health, trauma, medical education, surgery, pathology, infectious diseases, allied health sciences, dentistry, nursing, epidemiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, microbiology, etc.

This page contains information regarding preparation of the manuscript for submission, general formatting requirements and authorship criteria. Information about the journal's policies (open access, ethical considerations, peer review, copyright and privacy policeis) can be accessed at Policies tab in the menu bar.

The sections below contain important information regarding the submission and formatting of the manuscripts and ethical considerations. Therefore, authors are strongly advised to read these guidelines and prepare manuscripts accordingly before submitting them to JFJMU to avoid any unnecessary delays. Manuscripts not prepared according to these guidelines will be returned to the authors for changes before proceeding any further. Only those manuscripts which will be of scientific importance and substantiate the existing knowledge will be accepted for publication.

PREPARATION OF THE MANUSCRIPT FOR SUBMISSION
Manuscripts should be submitted in electronic form through the online submission system under the submission drop-down menu above. Following documents must be submitted along with the manuscript:

a. Cover Letter
Each manuscript should accompany a cover letter addressed to Chief Editor JFJMU (on official letterhead) signed by the corresponding author on behalf of all co-authors. It must contain a statement that the manuscript is submitted for exclusive consideration for publication in the JFJMU and is not published or under consideration by any other scientific journal. It should also state that all the authors have read the manuscript and approved the final version for submission. It is advised to include a paragraph explaining the significance of the study being submitted. The letter must be signed by the corresponding author.

b. Undertaking/Contribution form
The undertaking form is available under the "Submission" drop-down menu above. The form should be duly filled and signed by all contributing authors. The authors should certify that the submitted article has not been published nor considered for publication elsewhere. Accepted manuscripts must not be published elsewhere without prior permission of JFJMU.

c. CARE Checklist [for Case Reports only]
For case reports, JFJMU follows the Care guidelines (http://www.care-statement.org). The CARE checklist should be provided separately at the time of submission of the manuscript. Submissions received not according to CARE guidelines will be considered incomplete and returned to the authors. The manuscript not conforming to the guidelines will not be processed and will be immediately returned to the authors for changes.

d. Initial Article Processing Charges (non-refundable)
Authors are required to upload evidence of payment of initial article processing charges. Please see the sidebar for details.

GENERAL FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS
The manuscript should be written in the English language in Microsoft™ Word software on an A4 size page, with margins of 1-inch from each side, and should use appropriate font style (e.g. Times New Roman) size 12. The lines should be double-spaced and numbered consecutively. Pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the title page. The body of the manuscript must be structured according to the headings given below (see sections a to l for the preparation of the manuscripts):

a. Title page
The first page of the manuscript must contain the following information:
      (1) Concise and informative title of the manuscript
      (2) Correct/complete names of all byline authors
      (3) Designation, institutional affiliation, and addresses of each author
      (4) Short running title (up to 50 characters)
      (5) Name, street address, and email address of the corresponding author, under the heading of "Correspondence to:"

For case reports, it is recommended that the number of authors should be limited to three. For complete authorship criteria and ethical issues, please see "Authorship criteria" at the bottom of the page. Authors should also enter complete/correct names of the authors, affiliations, and email addresses while submitting the manuscript online.

Conflict-of-interest statement
A conflict of interest statement must also be provided on the title page before the abstract. All authors should declare any conflict of interest involved in the study.  In case of no conflict of interest following statement must be included in the manuscript:

                   "All authors declared no conflict of interest exist"

 b. ABSTRACT
All original articles must contain a structured abstract of not more than 250 words on the second page of the manuscript. Break it into four paragraphs: Background, Subjects and Methods, Results, and Conclusion. Background: State why the study was done, and its objectives. 
Subjects and methods: Describe patients, laboratory material, and other methods used. It is important to identify the nature of the study; randomized controlled trial, retrospective review, experimental study, etc. In the case of a wet-lab study, authors could write "Materials and methods" instead of "Subject and methods" in the abstract as well as in the methodology section.
Results: State the main findings of the study; include important numerical values.
Conclusion: State the main conclusion drawn from the results of the study.  A non-structured abstract should be written in case of a case report with keywords.
Keywords
Three to six keywords should be provided according to Mesh (Medical Subject Headings) immediately below the abstract. The first word of each keyword should be capitalized and they must be separated by a comma.

c. INTRODUCTION
It should briefly state the purpose of the study performed by giving the latest references (preferably from the last 5 years) from the literature where required.

d. SUBJECTS AND METHODS
It should explain the methodology followed by the researchers in sufficient detail so that readers and reviewers can understand precisely what has been done. It should provide information about the study design and methods, diagnostic criteria, the population or patient samples, and laboratory and statistical methods used in the study. Authors are encouraged to register clinical trials with the suitable publicly available registry, like WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform or U. S. NLM Clinical Trials registry, etc. In case of registration, the name of the registry and the number of the clinical trial must be mentioned in the methodology section.

e. RESULTS
Authors should concisely present the results of the study in a logical manner. Results should not be duplicated in the tables and figures.

f. DISCUSSION
It should state conclusions based on the findings, evidence from the literature that supports the conclusions conflicting evidence, the applicability of the conclusions, and implications for future research of clinical applications.

g. Acknowledgments
All those who contributed intellectually but do not qualify for authorship should be acknowledged, as per the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) Recommendations for Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals  (available at: http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/). Furthermore, funding agencies should also be acknowledged for their financial support.

i. Supporting agency
It is mandatory to disclose any funding received to support the research work submitted for publication in JFJMU.  Disclosure will not only acknowledges the contributions of the funding agency but also promotes transparency in the process. Therefore, all authors are required to individually declare all sources of funding they received for the research work under consideration. In case of funding, the following information must be provided in the manuscript: name of the funding agency, the role of the funding agency in research work, and web address of the funding agency. The information should be provided in the form of one or two sentences that will be published in the manuscript. Authors are required to declare any role played by the funding agency in writing the methodology, data collection, preparation of the manuscript, and decision to publish the article. If no funding is received, authors should write "No funds received" in the supporting agency field in the manuscript file as well as in the metadata while submitting online.

j. REFERENCES
The authors should follow the Vancouver Style in both the text and reference section. The first six authors should be listed however, for seven or more authors, list the first six, followed by “et al.” In-text citations should be indicated with appropriate superscript and bold number(s) for example Heart3,6,9, Dengue4-6,25, 30. Help may be taken from online ICMJE recommendations and following citing guidelines available at the link: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/citingmedicine. The list of references should be double spaced, in consecutive numerical order (the order of citation in the manuscript, not alphabetically). Once a reference is cited, all subsequent citations should refer to the original numbers. Unpublished data and personal communications will not be accepted as references. Reference to journal articles should include in the following order: (1) authors, (2) title of the published article, (3) journal name abbreviation, as mentioned in Index Medicus (for more information, please see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals), (4) year of publication, (5) volume, (6) issue number and page number(s), while (7) publisher, volume and edition number must be mentioned in case of book.  

k. Illustrations/Figures
All figures should be numbered as cited in the text in consecutive numeric order (e.g. Figure 1, Figure 2, and so on). The photographs/images must be of high resolution (preferably in TIFF or BMP format) for final printing. Authors are required to incorporate figures and legends in the same file, at the time of initial submission. However, after acceptance of the manuscript for publication, the high-quality figures (300dpi to 600dpi) must be submitted separately. Figure legends should be detailed enough to explain the figure completely including. For photomicrographs, the legends should include the original magnification and scale used. The photographs should be clear and of high resolution. Gel diagrams should be of high resolution, properly labeled, and submitted in TIFF or BMP format. Gel diagrams labeled in Microsoft word in the text form will not be acceptable. The printing cost of the manuscript and the cost of more than two colored figures will be borne by the contributors. However, no additional fee will be charged up to two colored figures or black and white/grayscale figures.

l. Tables
All Tables should be numbered as cited in the text in consecutive numeric order (e.g. Table 1, Table 2, and so on). Tables should be simple and should supplement and not duplicate information already provided in the text. Authors should verify tabular statistics to make sure they tally and match data cited in the text. Any abbreviations and symbols if used should be explained in the footnotes.

For smaller data, authors are advised to prepare charts and figures while larger data might be summarized in the form of tables. 

Units of measurement
All units of measurement (except blood pressure) and laboratory values must be expressed in SI units; conventional units may be included parenthetically. 

Names of the species
Species names of the organisms (animals, plants, microorganisms, etc.) given in the manuscripts must be italicized (e.g. Staphylococcus aureus (or S. aureus), etc.).

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA
Authorship should be based on intellectual contribution as per criteria given in the recommendations of the International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE):  

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
3. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or
the integrity of any part of the work is appropriately investigated and resolved.

All the authors listed in the manuscript should meet all four criteria listed above. All authors must declare their contributorship in the undertaking form. "Acquisition of funding, collection of data or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship (ICMJE)."

JFJMU generally discourages addition/removal or changes in the order of byline authors after submission of the manuscript, however, it follows COPE guidelines while deciding in these matters. The journal will not consider multiple submissions and duplicate publications.

ARCHIVING
The journal is committed to providing uninterrupted access to the published articles to the research community, therefore, journal backup is maintained at a publisher's domain. However, a suitable archive facility will be adopted (CLOCKS or PubMed, etc.) soon in the future.

COMPLAINTS PROCESS

The Journal of Fatima Jinnah Medical University is committed to upholding the highest standards of ethical conduct in all aspects of scholarly publishing. If an author has a complaint regarding the publication process or the content of a published article, the following procedures should be followed:

  1. The author should submit a detailed complaint in writing to the Editor-in-Chief, providing specific details of the concerns raised.

  2. The Editor-in-Chief will acknowledge receipt of the complaint within two weeks and will initiate an investigation into the matter. This may involve seeking input from relevant parties, such as peer reviewers, editorial board members, or the publisher.

  3. The Editor-in-Chief will provide the author with a written response outlining the outcome of the investigation, including any actions that will be taken to address the issue.

  4. If the author is dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation, they may submit a formal appeal to the publisher, who will review the case and provide a final decision.

The Journal of Journal of Fatima Jinnah Medical University is committed to handling author complaints promptly and fairly, and to ensuring that any issues raised are addressed appropriately to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

APPEAL PROCESS

If an author is dissatisfied with the outcome of a complaint investigation, they may submit a formal appeal to the publisher. The following procedures should be followed:

  1. The author should submit a written appeal to the publisher within 30 days of receiving the outcome of the investigation, outlining the reasons for the appeal and providing any additional evidence or information.

  2. The publisher will acknowledge receipt of the appeal within two weeks and will initiate a review of the case. This may involve seeking input from relevant parties, such as the Editor-in-Chief, peer reviewers, or editorial board members.

  3. The publisher will provide the author with a written response outlining the outcome of the review, including any actions that will be taken to address the issue.

  4. If the author is still dissatisfied with the outcome, they may request a further review by an independent body, such as a committee appointed by a relevant professional society or association.

The Journal of Fatima Jinnah Medical University is committed to handling appeals promptly and fairly, and to ensuring that any issues raised are addressed appropriately to maintain the integrity of the scholarly record.

PUBLICATION CHARGES
Only a minimal fee is charged from the authors to cover printing charges only, therefore, it will not be possible to grant any waivers to the authors. Details of the Article Processing Charges (APC) is given below:

For submissions from Pakistan

Initial processing fee (nonrefundable): PKR 1500
Printing fee: PKR 8500

For international submissions
Initial processing fee (nonrefundable): $10
Printing fee: $85

An additional Rs. 1000 (or $10) per figure will be charged for more than two colored figures. Printing fee will be charged only upon acceptance of the manuscript for publication.

Payments in cash will not be accepted and all payments including processing fee, printing fee, subscription charges, and any other payments should be made only to the following official bank account:

Bank Account Title: Journal of FJMU
Bank Account Branch: HBL Queen's Road, Opposite Emergency Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Lahore
Bank Account Number: 12527901543703