PMDC holds symposium to enhance quality of medical journals

Islamabad : Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and King Edward Medical University (KEMU), held an important event aimed to address and improve the standards of medical publications in Pakistan. A symposium/one-day training workshop on “Accreditation, transparency, capacity building and enhancing the quality of medical journals” was held at KEMU. Almost 200 participants attended the symposium across the Punjab Province. The symposium/workshop was based on presentations and panel discussions on global best ethical practices, improving the editorial process, managing peer reviews, and ensuring unbiased publication. Strategies to improve the indexing of medical journals in international data­bases like PubMed, Excerpta medica, Index Medicus and Scopus.

The objective of the symposium/workshop was to discuss strategies to enhance the quality of medical journals, ensuring rigorous peer review processes, ethical publication practices, and adherence to international standards. Provide training and development opportunities for editors, reviewers, and authors to improve their skills and knowledge.

Promote ethical standards in medical publishing, including issues related to plagiarism, data fabrication, and authorship disputes. Explore ways to increase the indexing of Pakistani medical journals in reputable databases and improve their impact factors. It will also maintain collaboration among medical professionals, researchers, and academic institutions to enhance research quality and dissemination.

Prof. Dr. Tahmina Asad member of the PMDC Council and Chairperson Journal committee welcomed all the participants. She extended her appreciation to Vice-Chancellor KEMU and his esteemed team for providing this platform to bring PM&DC and editors together from across the country.

During the symposium, Maj. Gen (r) Prof. Dr. Muhammad Aslam explained the Accreditation benchmarks of HEC for Health Journals. Prof Saira Afzal briefed maintaining of Peer Reviews in Medical Journals.

Shaukat Jawaid briefed the Salient features of the assessment and evaluation of Medical Journals by PMDC. Prof Akhtar Sherin Identified Errors, oversights, and Challenges in PMDC indexation, Compliance, Copy Editing and formatting in Pakistani Medical Journals.

President PMDC Prof. Dr. Rizwan Taj expressing the importance of the symposium told media that the symposium will improve the quality and credibility of medical journals published in Pakistan. He emphasised better-trained editors, reviewers, and authors with enhanced skills in medical publishing. He pointed out the importance of establishing networks and collaborations among academic and research institutions. This will help our Pakistani doctors to improve their skills for publication quality and standards comparable to international criteria. President PMDC appreciated the team effort of KEMU and the Journals Committee.