How to cite this article: Muhammad Saaiq, Khaleeq-Uz-Zaman.

Five years of Annals

of PIMS: Eventful journey and the way forward. Ann Pak Inst Med Sci 2010; 6 (1)
:1-3

FIVE YEARS OF ANNALS OF PIMS:

EVENTFUL JOURNEY AND THE WAY FORWARD

Muhammad Saaiq*, Khaleequz-Zaman**

*Coordinator,
**Director,
Department of Medical Education, PIMS, Islamabad.

The role of medical journals is well established. They provide a vibrant platform for

dissemination of scientific information, help to initiate new changes and are pivotal for

evidence based practice. Medical journals operate through the peer-review system in

which the scientific information is validated and refined by suggestions of field experts

before final acceptance for publication. This system also helps to refute any faulty

information or misleading evidence.

The last issue of Annals of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Annals of PIMS)

marked the successful completion of the first five years of its continuous publication. It

started its journey in January 2005 as the official journal of PIMS, following

amalgamation of its predecessor sister journals of the Journal of PIMS and Journal of

surgery. Since then Annals of PIMS has been enjoying an eventful journey of innovation

and integration. It has been regularly published as quarterly journal, with no backlog in

pending. It has been attracting medical writings from all over the country. The Editorial

committee comprising of the editors, is responsible for processing of articles (editing and

peer-reviewing, correspondence with authors etc.), publishing and dissemination of the

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journal. The Editorial board comprising of the academic council is the supreme advisory

body. The journal is supported by a rich galaxy of peer-reviewers from all over the

country.

Recognition of any journal by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) is an

important yardstick that indicates that the journal meets the minimum accepted standards

of medical journalism. PMDC is the leading governing body that has long been trying to

rectify and streamline local medical journals through its guidelines and recognition/ de-

recognition policy. In 2002, PMDC came up with a comprehensive set of guidelines

entitled “Essential guidelines for authors, reviewers and editors of medical and dental

journals" These guidelines are in conformity with those made by the international

committee of medical journal editors (ICMJE) and have been refined from time to time.

Presently, PMDC recognises 36 local medical journals including Annals of PIMS. 1-3

Online availability on PakMediNet, which is the largest local medical database, is also

an important feature of medical journals. Presently it indexes 63 publishing local

journals including Annals of PIMS. PakMediNet provides abstracts only. Annals of

PIMS has also developed its own website. This helps to ensure worldwide availability of

the journal, resulting in greater input and contribution from a wide variety of people, both

locally as well as internationally. 4

The College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) has a phenomenal contribution

to the promotion of postgraduate medical education and research in Pakistan. It has been

organizing workshops on medical research and writing for its trainees as well as

trainers. CPSP offers its fellowship trainees the choice of publishing two research papers

in lieu of dissertation. Such papers are required to be published in nine local journals

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including Annals of PIMS. 5 With interest, we are looking forward to our fellowship

trainees who will be increasing motivated by the CPSP’s incentive of writing research

papers instead of dissertation.

Publication Audit of the First 5 Years (2005-2009):

A total of 335 manuscripts of different categories were published in Annals of PIMS

during the five years period ( 2005-2009 ). Original articles constituted the bulk of these

publications. This reflects the growing interest, especially among youngsters, towards

research and medical writing in Pakistan. ( Table I)

Specialty-wise, highest number of publications were from hematology, general medicine

and general surgery. Encouraging trend of medical writing has also been witnessed in the

areas of medical education, psychiatry and various disciplines of basic sciences. ( Table

II )

Majority of the studies belonged to the category of Case series studies. Also there were a

reasonable number of case reports. ( Table III ) Although these constitute level IV

evidence, these are still good studies as, on one hand, they provide a true picture of the

issues in question and on the other hand they serve as precursors to further research via

synthesis of a hypothesis.

The published manuscripts were a good mix of contribution from PIMS and other

institutions from all over the country. ( Table IV )

CHALLENGING ISSUES AND THE WAY FORWARD:

Regarding the editorial staff, clear institutional protocols are being developed for

transparent selection of editors and the conduct of various editorial responsibilities. The

editors should be capable, highly dynamic and expert in editing and should also have a

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voluntary spirit for dedicated work. They should be capable of carrying out the initial

review and editing of the submitted manuscripts. Managing editorial would be the focal

person responsible for the online communication/ correspondence with authors,

reviewers, and readers. He would have a dedicated office and full time secretarial staff.

Regarding editorial decisions, there would be a clear objective policy of manuscript

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 patronship 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 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.

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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 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
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credibility of our journals. 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

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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.

Table I: Various Categories of Publications in Annals of PIMS.

( n=335 )

S. CATEGORY OF YEAR
No. PUBLICATION 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
1 Original Articles 49 57 56 49 58
2 Review Articles 3 4 2 1 -
3 Case Reports 7 6 4 10 5
4 Editorials 4 4 2 5 4
5 Miscellaneous 2 - - 1 1
TOTAL NUMBER 66 71 64 66 68

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Table II: Specialty-Wise Distribution of Publications in Annals of
PIMS. ( n=335 )

S. SPECIALTY YEAR
No. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
1 HEMATOLOGY 10 10 6 8 6
2 SURGERY 6 5 12 3 8
4 MEDICINE 6 4 6 6 5
4 GYNAE & OBS 7 4 8 2 6
5 PAEDS MEDICINE 1 2 2 6 8
6 PLASTIC SURGERY 2 3 4 2 3
7 CARDIOLOGY 5 4 2 - 3
8 UROLOGY 1 3 2 4 3
9 MICROBIOLOGY 2 6 - 2 3
10 MEDICAL EDUCATION 1 4 - 6 2
11 NEUROSURGERY - 4 1 2 1
12 PAEDS SURGERY 2 2 1 1 -
13 GASTROENTEROLOGY 2 6 1 2 1
14 HISTOPATHOLOGY 1 1 2 2 2
15 ORTHOPEDICS 2 - 1 - 2
16 PSYCHIATRY 3 1 4 - -
17 CARDIAC SURGERY 1 - 1 - 1
18 ENT 1 2 - 2 2
19 ANESTHESIOLOGY 5 3 - 1 -
20 NEUROLOGY - 1 1 3 -
21 RADIOLOGY 1 2 1 - -
22 MISCELLANEOUS 5 4 9 14 12

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Table III: Types of Studies Published in Annals of PIMS. ( n=335 )

S. TYPE OF STUDY YEAR

No. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
1 Case Series Studies 45 44 49 42 52
2 Retrospective Chart 8 5 6 4
Reviews
3 Quasi-Experimental 4 4 2 - -
Studies
4 Case Controls 1 - 1
5 Randomized Controlled - 1 1
Trials
6 Case Reports 7 6 4 10 5
7 Miscellaneous Others 10 8 4 7 5

Table IV: Distribution of Publications in Annals of PIMS, By

Institutional Contribution. ( n=335 )

S. YEAR PIMS OTHER

No. INSTITUTIONS
1 2005 44 22
2 2006 34 37
3 2007 35 29
4 2008 31 35
5 2009 30 38