Submissions

Author Guidelines

Author Guidelines

The PJO agrees to accept manuscripts prepared in accordance with the 'Uniform Requirements submitted to the Biomedical Journals' as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, http://www.icmje.org.

Scope: The journal will cover clinical and scientific studies related to health, ethical and social issues in the field of ophthalmology and vision science. Preference will be given to topics of clinical interest.

Ethical / Legal Considerations: A submitted manuscript must be an original contribution not previously published (except as an abstract or preliminary report), must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Each person listed as an author is expected to have participated in the study to a significant extent. Although the editors and referees make every effort to ensure the validity of published manuscripts, the final responsibility rests with the authors, not with the Journal, its editors, or the publisher. All manuscripts must be submitted by logging into www.pjo.org.pk. 

Article submission and publication charges:  Authors from Pakistan are charged Pak rupees 10,000/ for original articles/clinical practice articles/review articles (Non-refundable) and 5000/ (Non-refundable) for case reports/brief communication/Commentary, after the manuscript is accepted for publication. There are no initial processing charges.  Authors should pay the publication fee by online Bank Transfer. Publication fee is not accepted through cheque or Bank Draft. The relevant bank account details are as under:

Title of Account-   Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology

Account Number-  17074001412711

Name of Bank and branch : National bank of Pakistan (Sheikh Zayed hospital branch)  

Once you have made a transaction, send a screenshot or copy of the transaction by email. The publication details (Issue Number and date) will be communicated to you as soon as publication charges have been received.

There are no charges other than the publication fee (stated above), which is received only after acceptance of manuscript.

Waiver requests: There is no waiver or discount on publication fee.

Conflict of interest: A sample definition by WAME (https://www.wame.org/) states that conflict of interest “exists when a participant in the publication process (author, peer reviewer, or editor) has a competing interest that could unduly influence (or be reasonably seen to do so) his or her responsibilities in the publication process. "Any conflict of interest should be declared by all authors. This may include grants or honorarium, credits and promotions, memberships or any personal or professional relationships, which may appear to influence the manuscript. Such competing interests are not unethical but should be declared.

Original articles should normally report original research of relevance to Ophthalmology. It should contain a structured abstract of about 250 words. Three to 10 keywords should be given for an original article as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). There should be maximum of upto five tables or illustrations. The data should be supported with 20 to 25 references. Most of the references should be from last five years from the data of submission.

The article must be submitted in the following format:

Type single – spaced in MS Word using "Times New Roman" font size 12 leaving ONE INCH margin on ALL SIDES. Arrange contents as follows:

1. Title page should be numbered as page 1, and should not have on it the name(s) of the author(s) and the institution(s) of author(s) to warrant double blind peer review process. 
2. List of author(s) and affiliation should be sent as a separate file.  
3. Structured Abstract. The abstract should be divided into four sections with the following headings: Purpose, Material and Methods, Results, and Conclusion.
4. Text. The introduction should be pertinent to the study but not an in-depth review of the literature. The materials, subjects, and methods should be clearly defined. Make the results as concise as possible. The discussion is an explanation of the results of the study and should limit itself to the subject matter of the paper. Write the whole paper in "active voice", and avoid "passive voice".
5. Acknowledgements: Keep these to an absolute minimum, and be specific, e.g. "Thanks are due to Mr...for Fig. 2".
6. References: must be numbered consecutively, according to their appearance in text according to Vancouver style of referencing. Once a reference is cited, all subsequent citations should be to the original number. Reference to studies that have been accepted but not yet published should indicate where they will be published. The author is responsible for complete and accurate references, including the proper capitalization and accent marks used in foreign – language publications. References to journal articles should include (1) author, (2) title, (3) journal name (as abbreviated in Index Medicus), (4) year, (5) volume number, and (6) inclusive page numbers, in that order. References to books should include (1) author(s), (2) chapter title (if any), (3) editor (if any), (4) title of book, (5) city of publication, (6) publisher, (7) year, and (8) page numbers. Volume and edition numbers, and names of translator should be included when appropriate. A. For articles: 1. Humayun M: Awan's syndrome (primary orbital hypertelorism, narrow – angle glaucoma and lean physique) in two women. Jpn J Ophthalmol 1991 (1); 35: 428-434. (Give names of all the authors, and do not use "et al" etc. in the reference section) B. For books 1. Newell FW: Ophthalmology: Principles and Concepts. 6th ed., St. Louis. C.V. Mosby Company, 1986, p. 73. 2. Duke – Elder S, and Leigh AG: Diseases of the Outer Eye. Cornea and Sclera. In Duke-Elder S (ed): System of Ophthalmology, vol. 8, part 2. St. Louis, C.V. Mosby Company, 1965, pp. 110-114. (Recheck publisher, city, etc.)
7. Figures should be numbered in order of appearance in the text. Each figure should have a figure's number, the last names of authors. Legends for the figures should be typed SINGLE – SPACED and should include description of features shown, names of authors, names of structures, kind of stain, magnification, etc. Example: Figure 1 (Khan, Chaudhry, and Sheikh). Right eye. Histologic section of tumor. Spindle – B type malignant melanoma cells form the main part of tumor with a few mitotic figures. Arrow points to a nodule of epithelioid cells at the right upper corner, (Hematoxyline and eosin X400).
8. Tables: Should be typed single – spaced, with nothing underlined. Please triple – check all numbers and percentages. Previously published material and figures should include permission to reproduce from the original publication and original author. Photographs with faces should be accompanied by permission to publish from the subject of the photograph or by a parent in case of minor. Coloured photographs should be submitted in JPEG format. Magazine reserves the right to charge authors for reproduction of coloured pictures. The journal only accepts manuscripts in English.

Clinical case reports must be of academic and educational values and provide relevance of the disease being reported as unusual. Brief or negative research findings may appear in the section. It should have a non-structured abstract of about 100-150 words (case specific) with around 5-6 references and 3 keywords.

 Review article should consist of critical overview/analysis of some relatively narrow topic providing background and the recent development with the reference of original literature. It should incorporate author's original work on the same subject. The length of the review article should be of 2500 to 3000 words with minimum of 40 and maximum of 60 references. It should have non-structured abstract of 150 words with minimum 3 key words. An author can write a review article only if he/she has written a minimum of three original research articles and some case reports on the same topic.

Between 3 to 10 key words should be given for all the categories of manuscripts under the abstracts as per mesh [medical subject heading].

Short Communications should be of about 1000, having a non-structured abstract of about 150 words with two tables or illustrations and upto 10 references.

Double Blind Peer Review Every paper will be read by at least two editors of the Editorial Board. The papers selected will then be sent to two external reviewers. If statistical analysis is included, further examination by a staff statistician will be carried out. The staff Bibliographer also examines and authenticates the references and checks for plagiarism.

Manuscript Processing Time: Maximum time duration between the complete submission of a manuscript and publication of article is 6 months.

Authorship Criteria: 

The ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/) recommends that authorship be based on the following 4 criteria:

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 integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Up to five authors are allowed. In a multi institution and international collaboration research Editorial Board shall guide on individual case basis.

PJO strongly discourages gift authorship. Moreover, supervision, collection of data, statistical analysis and language correction do not grant authorship rights. Ideally all authors should belong to same department of an institute, except for multi-centre and multi-specialty studies. The Journal discourages submission of more than one article dealing with related aspects of the same study. The Journal also discourages the submission of case reports unless unreported from Pakistan. Unusual but already reported cases should, therefore, be submitted as letters to the editor or short communication.

AI tools cannot be listed as an author of a paper.AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work.

Plagiarism Policy PJO observes/follows the ICMJE (http://www.icmje.org/), Higher Education Commission guidelines/criteria (https://hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/Plagiarism/Pages/default.aspx) for all types of plagiarism. It is the authors' responsibility to apprise themselves of plagiarism in any form including paraphrasing and self – plagiarism. Manuscripts submitted to PJO can be sent to HEC, other medical journals' editors and international agencies for authentication of originality. The disciplinary committee of PJO would deal with cases of plagiarism and comprise of the staff, editors and the Chief Editor or his representative.

For a plagiarized article in processing, the identification of act will lead to dropping of article from further processing/consideration of publication. The author will be required to give an explanation on demand. In case of an unsatisfactory reply, the matter will be referred to the disciplinary committee that may decide the course of action. For a published article, the allegedly plagiarized article will be temporarily retracted from publication and a notice to the effect will be published in the PJO. The author will be served an explanation demand. In case of non response in the stipulated time or unsatisfactory explanation, the article will be permanently retracted and the author will be on watch. HEC and the author's institute will also be informed. The author(s) will have to provide documentary proof of retraction from publication, if such a defense is pleaded. Those claiming intellectual / idea or data theft of an article must provide documentary proof in their claim.

Acceptance of Articles: : : Please check all grammatical mistakes using MS word spell checker before submission. Incomplete manuscripts and papers with excessive number of grammatical mistakes will not be acknowledged and will be returned to the authors. All papers will be subject to peer review and if necessary revisions will be requested. The journal will also consider for publication letters, short notes on useful diagnostic and therapeutic tips, announcements, and interesting photographic documentations.

Prof. Tayyaba Gul Malik
Editor-in-Chief
Pakistan Journal of Ophthalmology
4-A LDA Flats, Lawrence Road, Lahore – Pakistan
Ph: 042 36363325-6
E-mail: pjoosp@gmail.com
Web: www.pjo.org.pk