Five years of Annals of PIMS: Eventful Journey and the Way Forward Muhammad Saaiq and Khaleeq-uz-Zaman

Editorial
Muhammad Saaiq*
Five years of Annals of PIMS: Khaleeq-Uz-Zaman**

Eventful Journey and the Way *Coordinator

**Director

Forward Department of Medical Education,

PIMS, Islamabad

The role of medical journals is well established. comprising of the academic council is the supreme
They provide a vibrant platform for dissemination of advisory body. The journal is supported by a rich galaxy
scientific information, help to initiate new changes and of peer-reviewers from all over the country.
are pivotal for evidence based practice. Medical journals
operate through the peer-review system in which the Recognition of any journal by Pakistan Medical
scientific information is validated and refined by and Dental Council (PMDC) is an important yardstick
suggestions of field experts before final acceptance for that indicates that the journal meets the minimum
publication. This system also helps to refute any faulty accepted standards of medical journalism. PMDC is the
information or misleading evidence. leading governing body that has long been trying to
This issue of Annals of Pakistan Institute of rectify and streamline local medical journals through its
Medical Sciences (Annals of PIMS) marks the guidelines and recognition/ de-recognition policy. In
successful completion of the first five years of its 2002, PMDC came up with a comprehensive set of
continuous publication. It started its journey in January guidelines entitled “Essential guidelines for authors,
2005 as the official journal of PIMS, following reviewers and editors of medical and dental journals"
amalgamation of its predecessor sister journals of the These guidelines are in conformity with those made by
Journal of PIMS and Journal of surgery. Since then the international committee of medical journal editors
Annals of PIMS has been enjoying an eventful journey (ICMJE) and have been refined from time to time.
of innovation and integration. It has been regularly Presently, PMDC recognizes 36 local medical journals
published as quarterly journal, with no backlog in including Annals of PIMS. 1-3
pending. It has been attracting medical writings from all
over the country. Online availability on PakMediNet, which is the largest
local medical database, is also an important feature of
Table I: Various Categories of Publications in medical journals. Presently it indexes 63 publishing local
Annals of PIMS. (n=335) journals including Annals of PIMS. PakMediNet
provides abstracts only. Annals of PIMS has also
S. Category Of YEAR developed its own website. This helps to ensure
No. Publication worldwide availability of the journal, resulting in greater
2006-2009 input and contribution from a wide variety of people,
05 06 07 08 09 both locally as well as internationally. 4
1 Original Articles 49 57 56 49 58
The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan
2 Review Articles 3 4 2 1 - (CPSP) has a phenomenal contribution to the promotion
of postgraduate medical education and research in
3 Case Reports 7 6 4 10 5 Pakistan. It has been organizing workshops on medical
research and writing for its trainees as well as trainers.
4 Editorials 4 4 2 5 4 CPSP offers its fellowship trainees the choice of
5 Miscellaneous 2 - - 1 1 publishing two research papers in lieu of dissertation.
Such papers are required to be published in nine local
TOTAL NUMBER 66 71 64 66 68 journals including Annals of PIMS. 5 With interest, we
are looking forward to our fellowship trainees who will be
The Editorial committee comprising of the editors, is increasing motivated by the CPSP’s incentive of writing
responsible for processing of articles (editing and peer- research papers instead of dissertation.
reviewing, correspondence with authors etc.), publishing
and dissemination of the journal. The Editorial board

Ann. Pak. Inst. Med. Sci. 2009; 6(1): 1-3 1

Five years of Annals of PIMS: Eventful Journey and the Way Forward Muhammad Saaiq and Khaleeq-uz-Zaman

Publication Audit of the First 5 Years they serve as precursors to further research via
synthesis of a hypothesis.
(2005-2009):
Table III: Types of Studies Published in
A total of 335 manuscripts of different categories were
published in Annals of PIMS during the five years period Annals of PIMS. (n=335)
(2005-2009). Original articles constituted the bulk of
these publications. This reflects the growing interest,
especially among youngsters, towards research and S. TYPE OF STUDY YEAR
medical writing in Pakistan. (Table I) 05 06 07 08 09
1 Case Series Studies 45 44 49 42 52
Specialty-wise, highest number of publications was from 2 Retrospective Chart 8 5 6 4
hematology, general medicine and general surgery. Reviews
Encouraging trend of medical writing has also been 3 Quasi-Experimental 4 4 2 - -
witnessed in the areas of medical education, psychiatry Studies
and various disciplines of basic sciences. (Table II) 4 Case Controls 1 - 1
5 Randomized - 1 1
Table II: Specialty-Wise Distribution of Controlled Trials
Publications in Annals of PIMS. (n=335) 6 Case Reports 7 6 4 10 5
7 Miscellaneous Others 10 8 4 7 5

S. YEAR The published manuscripts were a good mix of

No. SPECIALTY 2005-2009 contribution from PIMS and other institutions from all
05 06 07 08 09 over the country. (Table IV)
1 Hematology 10 10 6 8 6
2 Surgery 6 5 12 3 8 Table IV: Distribution of Publications in Annals
4 Medicine 6 4 6 6 5 of PIMS, By Institutional Contribution. (n=335)
4 Gynae & Obs 7 4 8 2 6
5 Paeds Medicine 1 2 2 6 8
6 Plastic Surgery 2 3 4 2 3 S. YEAR PIMS OTHER
7 Cardiology 5 4 2 - 3 No. INSTITUTIONS
8 Urology 1 3 2 4 3 1 2005 44 22
9 Microbiology 2 6 - 2 3 2 2006 34 37
10 Medical Education 1 4 - 6 2 3 2007 35 29
11 Neurosurgery - 4 1 2 1 4 2008 31 35
12 Paeds Surgery 2 2 1 1 - 5 2009 30 38
13 Gastroenterology 2 6 1 2 1
14 Histopathology 1 1 2 2 2
15 Orthopedics 2 - 1 - 2
16 Psychiatry 3 1 4 - -
CHALLENGING ISSUES AND THE WAY
17 Cardiac Surgery 1 - 1 - 1 FORWARD:
18 Ent 1 2 - 2 2
Regarding the editorial staff, clear institutional protocols
19 Anesthesiology 5 3 - 1 -
are being developed for transparent selection of editors
20 Neurology - 1 1 3 -
and the conduct of various editorial responsibilities. The
21 Radiology 1 2 1 - - editors should be capable, highly dynamic and expert in
22 Miscellaneous 5 4 9 14 12 editing and should also have a voluntary spirit for
dedicated work. They should be capable of carrying out
Majority of the studies belonged to the category of Case the initial review and editing of the submitted
series studies. Also there were a reasonable number of manuscripts. Managing editorial would be the focal
case reports. (Table III) person responsible for the online communication/
Although these constitute level IV evidence, these are correspondence with authors, reviewers, and readers.
still good studies as, on one hand, they provide a true He would have a dedicated office and full time
picture of the issues in question and on the other hand secretarial staff. Regarding editorial decisions, there
would be a clear objective policy of manuscript

Ann. Pak. Inst. Med. Sci. 2009; 6(1): 1-3 1

Five years of Annals of PIMS: Eventful Journey and the Way Forward
evaluation, processing to reviewers, acceptance/
rejection and the order of publication.
The Editorial board comprising of the academic council,
is assuming more proactive role to streamline the
journal and the day to day editorial business. It will also
further strengthen institutional sponsorship of the journal
and will ensure regular institutional funding of the
journal. The Dean, who represents the academic
leadership of the institution, would assume the patron
ship of the journal
The annals of PIMS would continue its genuine efforts to
get indexation with higher education commission (HEC),
MEDLINE/ Index Medicus, Excerpta Medica/ EMBASE,
Scientific citation index expansion (SCIE), CINAHL and
Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) database in
future.
Regular online availability of free full text articles of all
the issues of Annals of PIMS on its website will be
ensured. This will help to disseminate research findings
and also ensure more frequent citations of its articles by
other research workers. This will also serve to address
the WHO’s Research Initiative of Health Inter Network
Access. Inclusion of greater number of scholarly
reviews, commentaries, systematic reviews and Meta
analyses will also increase the potential for citations and
more wide spread readership. These measures will, in
the long run help to ensure the availability of the journal
on popular web sites such as OpenJGate and Google
Scholar etc.
Impact factor (a measure of the citation of articles of a
journal by other authors) has become the buzzword of
scientific journalism in the developed world, however
there is no Pakistani medical journal presently indexed
for Impact factor measurement. Where applicable,
impact factor is certainly one tool of objective
assessment of the quality of a journal. The ISI regularly
publishes ranking of over 6000 journals on the basis of
impact factor. Generally, higher the impact factor of a
Ann. Pak. Inst. Med. Sci. 2009; 6(1): 1-3
Muhammad Saaiq and Khaleeq-uz-Zaman
journal, greater is its importance, however publication of
an article in low-impact factor journal does not
necessarily mean that the article is less important. What
about non-Impact factor journals like ours? In fact we
need to devise some local instrument other than impact
factor to measure the quality and credibility of our
journals. 6-8 Factors such as circulation, readership,
letters to the editors, share of systematic reviews, meta
analyses, innovations, and new interventions etc may
be taken into consideration in this regard.
References
1) Essential Guidelines for Authors, Reviewers and Editors
of Medical and Dental Journals. Pakistan Medical and
Dental Council, Islamabad 2003.
2) Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. Index Pakistan of
our recognised journals. ( Serial online ) 2010 ( Cited Jan
29, 2010). Available from: URL:
http://www.pmdc.org.pk/journal.htm 2010
3) International committee of medical journals editors
(ICMJE). Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted
to biomedical journals: Writing and editing for biomedical
publication. ( Serial online ) Oct 2008 ( Cited Dec 02,
2009). Available from : URL:www.icmje.org
4) Pakmedinet. Jan 2010 ( Cited Jan 29, 2010). Available
from: URL: http://www.pakmedinet.com
5) College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. List of
notifications.( No. Secy/Notif-1/CPSP/03/2027-A ).
Available from: URL: http://www.cpsp.edu.pk. Jan 2010.
6) Sohail S. Impact factor: uses, abuses, obstacles and
alternatives. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak 2007; 17: 311-2..
7) Nakayama T. Comparison between impact factors and
citations in evidence-based practice guidelines. J Am Med
Assoc 2003;290:755-6.
8) Shiwani MH. Quality of a Medical Journal: Where do we
stand ? J Pak Med Assoc 2006; 56: 570-2.
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