Copyright Policy

1. Introduction

The Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal (PAFMJ) adheres to ethical and legal standards regarding copyright to protect the rights of authors and maintain the integrity of published content. This Copyright Policy outlines the rights and responsibilities of authors, the journal, and users of PAFMJ content.

Copyright Statement

Any article submitted to PAFMJ must not be previously submitted to any other journal and must not be published in part or total. The authors will be requested to sign an agreement to give copyright to the publishers. The authors will also be requested to assist the editors in final proof reading of their articles before publication.

  • On submitting article to PAFMJ we agree that all copyright ownership is transferred to the PAFMJ even the article can be declined after the acceptance as per decision of the competent authorities.
  • All the content available on PAFMJ website is the property of PAFMJ if created by PAFMJ, or of the person or entity who or which owned it prior to submission to PAFMJ.
  • The copyright in the text of individual articles (including research articles, review articles, book reviews, conference proceedings and abstracts) is not the property of PAFMJ, and its ownership is not affected by its submission or publication by PAFMJ.

Data Sharing Policy

PAFMJ has policy on data sharing. We require that the data generated by research supporting the article be made openly and publicly available upon publication of article.  PAFMJ require data from clinical trials to be made available upon reasonable request.

Clinical trials that begin enrolling participants on or after 1 January 2019 must include a data sharing plan in the trial's registration according to the ICMJE's policy regarding trial registration. If the data sharing plan changes after registration this should be reflected in the statement submitted and published with the manuscript and updated in the registry record.

Data sharing statements indicates the following: whether individual deidentified participant data (including data dictionaries) what data in particular is shared; whether additional, related documents is available (e.g., study protocol,  informed consent form, statistical analysis plan, clinical study report etc.); when the data is available and for how long; by what access criteria data is shared (including with whom, for what types of analyses, and by what mechanism).Data are available indefinitely immediately after publication of article.

2. Copyright Ownership

2.1 Author Retention of Rights:

Authors retain copyright ownership of their work and grant PAFMJ the right to publish, reproduce, and distribute the work under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License (CC BY-NC) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2.2 Exclusive License:

Authors grant PAFMJ an exclusive license to be the sole publisher of the work, allowing PAFMJ to take legal action against unauthorized commercial use.

3. Use and Distribution

3.1 Permissions:

Users are permitted to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work, as well as create derivative works, for non-commercial purposes, provided proper attribution is given.

3.2 Commercial Use:

Commercial use of the work requires additional permissions and licensing from the copyright holder (authors).

4. Attribution and Citation

4.1 Attribution Requirement:

Users are required to provide appropriate attribution to the original work, including the author's name, the article title, and the source (PAFMJ), in accordance with the chosen Creative Commons License.

4.2 Citation Guidelines:

Proper citation guidelines, as specified by PAFMJ, must be followed when citing articles from the journal.

5. Copyright Infringement

5.1 Reporting Infringement:

Authors and users are encouraged to report any suspected copyright infringement to the PAFMJ editorial office.

5.2 Action on Infringement:

PAFMJ will take appropriate action to address copyright infringement, including legal action if necessary.

6. Review and Updates

This policy will be periodically reviewed to ensure its effectiveness. Updates will be made as necessary to align with evolving copyright laws and best practices in scholarly publishing.