Author Guidelines

Information for Authors

Last updated 05/03/2025

CONSORT Statement—Checklist of information to include when reporting a randomised trial
STROBE Statement—Checklist of items that should be included in reports of observational studies

Manuscript and all editorial correspondence should be submitted on the PAFMJ portal.

Note:

Any article submitted to PAFMJ must be original and not previously submitted to or published by any other journal, either in part or in full. Authors are required to confirm that their submission is original by signing a submission agreement. Authors retain the copyright to their work but grant PAFMJ the exclusive right to publish, reproduce, and distribute the work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial License (CC BY-NC). Authors will be required to assist the editors in the final proofreading of their articles before publication.

All such articles should aim for development of medical concepts rather than mere recording of facts. 

DO NOT STATE THE AUTHORS’ NAMES, AFFILIATIONS OR CONTACT DETAILS ANYWHERE ON THE MAIN MANUSCRIPT. 

Clinical Trials: All Clinical Trials submitted for publication must be registered in a registry, provide registration proof and all RCTs must be based on CONSORT statement.

A study more than 5 years old at the time of submission will not be accepted for submission.

• At submission, authors  should disclose whether they used artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in the production of submitted work. Authors who use such technology should describe, in both the cover letter and the submitted work in the appropriate section if applicable, how they used it.
• If AI was used for grammatical corrections it should be described in the acknowledgment section. For data interpretation, analysis, or figure generation author should describe this use in the methods.
• For a published article, the allegedly plagiarized article will be temporary retracted from publication and author will serve an explanation demand. The subject case will be highlighted in the user section of the journal for the period of one year.
• Plagiarism involves the use of someone else's work, ideas, or intellectual property without proper acknowledgment, presenting it as one's own. This includes, but is not limited to, verbatim copying, paraphrasing, or closely mimicking the structure or concept of another source without appropriate attribution. Manuscripts with similarity index of more than 19% are not proceeded further unless rectified.
• If plagiarism is identified post-publication, affected articles may be retracted.
• Withdrawal request can only be made at stage of initial review, if the manuscript has undergone peer review, the editorial team will notify the Department/Institute of the Author. In case of simultaneous or duplicate submission is identified then HEC/PM&DC will be notified.
• A maximum of one article of an author in an issue, either as principal author (1st or corresponding) or as co-author, is allowed, as per revised HEC Guidelines with effect from 1st Oct 2024

• Significant Errors identified after publication by authors or readers are corrected in a PDF copy of the online version.

   

EDITORIAL
Each editorial is either written by one member of the editorial board or published as invited manuscript from guest authors. The editorial is scientific review on one or two of the current topics pertaining to medical sciences .If you are interested in writing one, kindly email at pafmj@pafmj.org.

SUBMISSION OF ARTICLE

Original Paper:
This includes randomized controlled trials, intervention studies, and studies of screening /diagnostic test, outcome studies and cost- effectiveness analysis. Manuscript must be accompanied by a certificate signed by author and all co-authors that they have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and they have not submitted the manuscript to any other journal. Manuscript should include the name/s of supervisor/s, consultant/s of primary place (institute) of study. All manuscript should be typed in double spacing on A-4 paper (8.25” x 11.70” = 21.0 cm x 29.70 cm) with one inch (2.5 cm) margin on both sides. The article words count for quantitative study should be in range 2000 - 2500 words (excluding references and abstract) with at least 18-25 references and upto-5 figures or tables. For qualitative study article word count should be in range of 3000-4000 words (excluding references and abstract) with at least 20-30 references and upto 5 figures or tables.

Each manuscript should include:
1. Title page
Please give complete title as well as a short title of the study

• Name of author(s)
• Department(s)
• Institution(s) at which work was performed
• Author Affiliation (Double affiliation should be mentioned in case of multi-institutions authors)
• Subject Specialty ( Specialties of all the  authors should be relevant to the study)
• Official phone No., cell No.,  e-mail address (to whom correspondence is to be addressed) in case of job transfer, please provide new address
• Short running title for header

2. Structured Abstract

• Objective
• Study Design
• Place and duration of study
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusion
• Keywords 3–10 (Medical Subject Headings – MeSH) in alphabetical order
• Abstract should be upto 250 words

3. Manuscript Text

• Introduction: This section must include problem statement, study gaps, international, regional and Pakistani statistics. The last paragraph of this section should include appropriate rational for conducting the study.  No more than 10 references are cited in numerical order.
• Methodology:  This section must include appropriate study design, settings, duration, well defined inclusion & exclusion criteria, ethical considerations, complete data collection procedure, sample size, sampling technique, study protocol, details of data analysis. There should not be any sub heading in this section except well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.

This section should include exact study methods  or observation or experiment. If an apparatus is used, its manufacturer’s name and address should be given in parenthesis. If the method is established, give reference but if the method is new, give enough information so that another author is able to perform it. If a drug is used, its generic name, dose and route of administration must be given.

Reference number of the Institution Review Committee (IRC)/ Ethical Review Board (ERB) certificate to be mentioned in the methodology section along with date of approval.

Patient Consent

Authors must state that the consent of the patient/ guardian was taken prior to writing of the manuscripts if applicable.

• DISSERTATION / THESIS BASED ARTICLE: A copy of Approval letters of synopsis and dissertation obtained from REU [Research Evaluation Unit] of CPSP, any other institute must be submitted with the research paper.
• Results: This section must include total study outcomes, brief details of demographic variables, least and most common findings, comparison, association and statistical significance. The contents of the tables should not be repeated in the text. Instead, a reference to the table number may be given. Extra or supplementary materials and technical details can be placed in an appendix where it is accessible. It may be omitted from the printed version but may be published in the electronic version of the journal.
• Discussion: This section must include critical comparison of study findings with existing literature. Interpretation of data should not be repeated what is already written in result part. Limitations of the study must be described and future directions mentioned.

This section should emphasize present findings & the variations or similarities with other work done in the field by other authors. Detailed data should not be repeated in the discussion again. Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them.

Conclusion: must relate to the outcome of the study and no recommendations must be put in this section.

• Conflict of Interest & financial disclosure: When authors submit a manuscript they must disclose all financial disclosure (grant support) and personnel relationship 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. Additional details can be provided if necessary in a covering letter which accompanies the manuscript. Authors of study funded by an agency with proprietary or financial interest in the outcome must sign a statement that they had full excess to all the data in the study and take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. This statement should be submitted along with the manuscript.
• Acknowledgements (if any): All contributors who do not meet the ICJME criteria for authorship should be covered in the acknowledgement section. It should include persons who provided technical help, and departmental head that only provided general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged.

• Disclosure: Presentation of the study in any conference, seminar, symposium before submission to PAFMJ. Dissertation/ THESIS based studies should be mentioned in the disclosure heading.

• Key Words: Key words should  not be than ten. Use terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) listed in Index Medicus, if suitable MeSH terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.
• Authors Contributions: Authorship credit should be based on:
  1) Substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data.
  2) Draft the article or critically review for important intellectual content.
  3) Final approval of the version to be published.
  4) 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. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4.
  (For details of authorship criteria kindly consult ICMJE guidelines).
  Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone does not justify authorship. All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship & all those who qualify should be listed.
  · Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.
  · In case of more than one author in a manuscript, the contributions of each person listed as author in the study should be mentioned.
  .Those who provide technical support, writing assistance, or department chair who provided just general support should also be mentioned in acknowledgment
  .If there is any conflict of interest, please mention in the manuscript

When a large, multi-center group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship defined above and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific authorship criteria and conflict of interest disclosure forms. When submitting in a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Other members of the group should be listed in the acknowledgement. Addition, deletion and change in sequence of authors names is not permitted after submission with authorship proforma duly signed.

It is mandatory that all authors be affiliated with the same institute & department, otherwise evidence should be provided for multi-affiliation or double affiliation with proof in the form of official letter from both institutes.

• References: Maximum 18-25 references are allowed for quantitative studies and 20-30 for qualitative studies. Fifty Percent References should be from the last five years and all references should be listed consecutively as superscript. The final bibliography should be in the order in which they are quoted in the text and written in Vancouver Style. References appearing in a table or figure should be numbered sequentially with those in text. DOI link of references should also be cited. PAFMJ follows Index Medicus style for references and abbreviated journal names according to the list of Journals indexed in Index Medicus. 
• Journal Citation: List all authors when six or less; when seven or more, list only first six and add et al.
• Example of journal article citation: Oczka D, Augustynek M, Penhaker M, Kubicek J. Electrogastrography measurement systems and analysis methods used in clinical practice and research: comprehensive review. Front Med 2024;11(2):1369753. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2024.1369753
• Chapter in a book: Weinstein L, Swartz MN. Pathogenic properties of invading micro organisms.In: Sodeman WA Jr, Sodeman WA, eds. Pathologic physiology: mechanisms of disease. WB Saunders, Philadelphia 1974; 457-72.

4. Tables and Figures: Upto five figures/ tables are allowed (each table should have complete legends and footnotes). All abbreviations in tables should be explained properly. Adherence to correct nomenclature (generic names of the drugs, enzymes, organisms, S.I. units for measurement should be used). Tables and figures should be embedded and not supplied separately.

• Tables: All tables should be numbered with Roman numerals (I,III,V). Headings should be placed above tables, left justified.
• Figures: All figures should be numbered with Arabic numerals (1,2,3). Headings should be placed below figures, left justified.
• Photographs, X-Rays, CT Scans, MRI, Lab Reports and Photomicrographs should be sent in the Digital format, with a minimum resolution of 3.2 megapixels in JPEG/TIFF compression. Patient’s identification should not be visible on Photographs, X-Rays, CT Scans, MRI, Lab Reports and Photomicrographs.
• Proof Reading: Final version of manuscript is sent to corresponding author for proof reading before publication to avoid any mistakes. Corrections should be conveyed clearly to the Editor through  e-mail.

Short communication: Short communication or short report of research works, containing new findings. The short communication consists: Title, Abstract (structured - no more then 150 words), Keywords (max. 5), Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion, Ethical Consideration, Acknowledgment and References. Short report should not exceeding 1500 words from introduction through references. Short communications should contain no more than 1500 words in total. The number of tables/figures should not exceed 3.

Review Article: Types of review articles include: Critical review, Literature review/Narrative review, Mapping review, Meta analysis, Mixed study review, Overview, Systematic review, Scoping review, Systemized review, Umbrella review. They should be written by authors considered expert on the subject. Summary must have the time period and the databases searched, number of articles selected for review as per ICMJE guidelines. For review articles word count should be in the range of 3000-4000 words (excluding references and abstract) with minimum 30 and maximum 50 references and 3–5 figures or tables.

Case Report: Short report of cases, clinical experience, drug trails or adverse effects may be submitted. The word count should not exceed 1000 words, 10 bibliographic references and either one concise table or  figure. The report must contain genuinely new information.

All case reports require an approval on the institutional letterhead from the head of the department. A statement should be included that participants have given informed consent before being included in the study or for publication of a case report. Prior permission should be sought before adding pictures, evidence of which should be shared. The face should be partially obscured.

Case Series: A group or series of case reports involving patients who were given similar treatment. Reports of case series usually contain detailed information about the individual patients. This includes demographic information (for example, age, gender, ethnic origin) and information on diagnosis, treatment, response to treatment, and follow-up after treatment. The word count should not exceed 1000 words, 10 bibliographic references and either one concise table or figure.

All case series require an approval on the institutional letterhead from the head of the department. A statement should be included that participants have given informed consent before being included in the study or for publication of a case series. Prior permission should be sought before adding pictures, evidence of which should be shared. The face should be partially obscured.

Clinical Audit: A process for monitoring standards of clinical care to see if it is being carried out in the best way possible (known as 'best practice'). Clinical audit can be described as a systematic 'cycle'. It involves measuring care against specific criteria, taking action to improve it if necessary, and monitoring the process to sustain improvement. As the process continues, an even higher level of quality is achieved. The word count should not exceed 1000 words, 10 bibliographic references and either one concise table or figure.

Systematic Review Article/Meta-analysis:

The systematic review paper should have a structured abstract of not more than 250 words using headlines as Objective, Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction, Data Synthesis and Conclusions and with 3-10 key words.

Objective: Give precise statement of the primary objective for the review. Define if the review emphasizes cause and diagnosis, prognosis, therapy and intervention, or prevention. Define if the review would be highly selective as including only randomized controlled trials (RCT) or have wider inclusion criteria.

Data Sources: Present data sources used, including any time restriction.

Study Selection: Describe criteria to select studies for detailed review. Specify methods used, as blinded review, consensus, multiple reviewers.

Data Extraction: Describe how extraction was made, including assessment of quality and validity.

Data Synthesis: Present the main results of the review and state major identified sources of variation between studies.

Conclusion: Give a clear statement of the conclusions made, its generalizability and limitations.

The Introduction of the paper could be similar to an original report, but without any longer literature survey, only reviewing shortly previous structural reviews and stating the reason and aim of the present review.

The Methodology section with subheadings corresponding to the Abstract (Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction) and should include clearly defined and reported inclusion and exclusion criteria, and specification of databases and other formal register, conference proceedings, reference lists and trial authors, which are used as sources. The full search strategy should be given so that it is easy to reproduce. If it is considered too long to be published in the article, an electronic document as an Appendix may be alternative. The stages of selection usually include several steps, each undertaken by at least two independent researchers (identified in the Methods). Initial selection from titles/ abstracts to select the articles to be examined in full. The full articles should be re-screened against the selection criteria. The articles fulfilling the criteria should be subjected to quality assessment. Summarize in a flow chart with the number of articles selected and reasons for rejection at each stage. The quality of the methodology should be assessed having an appropriate tool and also for outcome measures and blinding of outcome assessors. The tool that is most appropriate will depend on the extent and nature of the anticipated research evidence.

The Result section corresponds to Data synthesis in the Abstract and may present tables with long lists of selected articles. Extracted data from trials should, when available, include report of randomization method, study population, intervention methods and delivery, reasons to losses at follow-up, information related to treatment monitoring, post-intervention assessments and follow-up. Report the major outcomes, which were pooled, and include odds ratios or effects sizes. Use when applicable meta-analysis. Numerical values should, when possible, be accompanied with confidence intervals. State the major identified sources of variation between reported studies, as differences in treatment protocols, co-interventions, confounders, outcome measures, length of follow-up, and dropout rates. Tables and figures must be self-explanatory and have appropriate title or caption. The methods for synthesis of evidence should be pre-determined. Sometimes it may not be possible to pool the data, but a synthesis of best evidence ought to be given.

The Discussion section should be structured similar to an original report. The findings should be discussed with respect to the degree of consistency, variation, and generalizability. New contribution to the literature based on the review conducted and where information is insufficient must be stated. Providing the limitations of the review would be helpful. Suggest the need for new studies and future research agenda.

Length of paper: The total length of the text should usually not be more than 5000 words. The reference list should be comprehensive and not more than 100 references will be accepted.

Narrative Review Article:

The narrative review should have a structured abstract which should not exceed 250 words, under the following headlines Objectives, Methods, Review, Conclusion summarizing the current status of the knowledge about the topic reviewed followed by 3-10 key words.

Objective: This should provide a background to a review which focuses on relevant literature published over the last few years that has advanced our understanding of the issue under consideration.

Methods Section: Proper Research strategy should be given. Give in detail the strategy for inclusion of article in the review. Details of the database searched and the time period for which it was searched should be stated.

The Review and Discussion section could be structured along the lines for an original report. At the end of discussion, limitations of the study and key message should be written.

Conclusions: Conclusions of the article also highlighting the problems, or areas for future research to be included.

Word count: Between 2000 and 3500 words.
Tables: up to 5.
Illustrations: up to 3.
References: up to 50.

Mix Methods Study:

The mix methods study should have all the heading and subheading of original article. The word count of the study should be between 2000-3000 words with 18-30 references in Vancouver style.

Qualitative study format

1. Abstract (Maximum 250 words. It is structured as Objective, Study design, Place and Duration of study, Methodology, Results, Conclusion and (Medical Subject Headings – MeSH) in alphabetical order)
2. Introduction
3. Methodology (Qualitative Approach, Participant selection strategy and Data collection strategy)
4. Results (Themes generation)
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
7. References

Letter to Editor: Opinions on topics and articles recently published in the journal will be considered for publication if they are constructive in nature and provide academic/clinical interest. These letters will be forwarded to author of the cited article for possible response. The editor reserves the right to shorten these letters, delete objectionable comments, make other changes, or take any other suitable decision to comply with the style of the journal.

Letters could be of two types:

1. Commenting either on recently published articles in the journal
2. The scientific letter include: reporting cases, outbreaks, or original research.

Institutional Review Board / Biomedical Ethical Committee/ Ethical Review Committee:

• Authors are required to send letter from Institutional Review Board / Biomedical Ethical Committee/Ethical Review Committee along with Original articles, Clinical Audit, Case Reports, Short Report and Short Communications.
• None of the authors should be among the final signatories of ERC/IERB of the institution.
• If an institution does not have an ethical review committee, the approval should be sought from another institution adhering to ethical norms and govern research involving humans by means of Ethical Review Committees that are willing to cooperate in the enhancement of ethical standards.

PROCESSING /PUBLICATION FEE

For Local Authors (Pakistan)

1. Processing Fee:
• Clearly mention the author name, title, and article number on the fee slip.
• After deposit/transaction, email a scanned copy of the fee slip to pafmj@pafmj.org.
• Upload the fee slip to the "Discussion" tab on the OJS portal.
• Send a hard copy of the fee slip to the PAFMJ Office, C/O Army Medical College, Abid Majeed Road, Rawalpindi-Pakistan, within 3 working days.
• Amount: Rs. 2,000/- (non-refundable)
• Payment Details:
  Payment must be made via Online Transfer or Bank Deposit to the PAFMJ-AMC account.
2. Publication Fee (Payable Upon Acceptance):
• For All Categories: Rs. 15,000/-
• Case Reports, and Short Communications: 50% of the above charges.

Fast Track Processing Charges for Manuscripts (Optional)

1. Local Authors (Pakistan):
   • Submission Fee: Rs. 3,000/- (non-refundable)
   • Publication Fee: Rs. 20,000/- (payable before issuance of acceptance letter).

For International Authors

• Submission Fee: USD 20/- (non-refundable)
• Publication Fee: USD 100/- (payable before issuance of acceptance letter).

Account Details

Recipient Name: PAFMJ-AMC
Bank Name: HBL Bank
Bank Account Number: PK10HABB 00 24597000012201
Swift Code: HABBPKKA007
Postal Code: 46000

Refund Policy
The publication fee is non-refundable if the author withdraws the article after the acceptance letter is issued.

OPEN ACCESS POLICY
This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.
PAFMJ follows Budapest Open Access Initiative definition for Open Access which states that, "Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of articles and use them for any other lawful purpose."

LICENSE TERMS
The Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal follows "CC BY NC "creative commons" licensing.
http://creativecommons.org/