The “KHYBER MEDICAL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL (KMUJ)” is the official journal of Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan. KMUJ started its publications in 2009 From Kohat University of Science & Technology (KUST) as KUST Medical Journal (KMJ) and in 2012 was renamed as KMUJ and handed over to Khyber Medical University, Peshawar.

KMUJ is a quarterly, peer reviewed medical journal and follows the uniform requirements for Manuscripts (URM) submitted to Biomedical journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) as revised in 1997 published in N Eng J Med 1997; 336:309-15. Detailed information about updated URM can be downloaded from ICMJE. KMUJ is a member of Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and follows the COPE guidelines regarding publication ethics and malpractices.

Manuscripts must be original and not under consideration by another publication at the time of submission.

Ensure that you have read and understood the details noted in KMUJ’s Editorial Policies. Failure to comply can lead to delays in processing of the manuscript, or even rejection.

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPT

KMUJ is the first Pakistani medical journal that provides authors an easy and user friendly ONLINE SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES on its web site. We do not accept submissions via email, nor hardcopies by hand or post.


Manuscript Submission Guidelines

A guide has been prepared to help the authors upload the manuscripts on OJS, which can be retrieved here.

 

Note: WITHOUT Authors undertaking, ethical and/or institutional approval of the study and processing fee, the manuscript will not be processed further. Authors will have two weeks to complete the submission. Failure to do so within the time limit will result in automatic deletion of the article from the online submission system without prior notice.

 

1: AUTHOR’S DECLARATION

All submitted manuscripts submitted online or via email should be accompanied by a covering letter from the authors responsible for correspondence regarding the manuscript. The covering letter should contain the following copyright disclosure statement/undertaking, duly signed by ALL contributing authors. Please note that we cannot accept electronic signatures; all authors must sign by hand. Please complete multiple forms if necessary, and send the scanned copy with your submission through email to: kmuj@kmu.edu.pk; editorkmuj@kmu.edu.pk

AUTHORS UNDERTAKING FORM can be downloaded from

Original Articles

Case Reports

  • Authors must declare Any conflict of Interest
  • If there has been any prior publication of any part of the work, this should be acknowledged and appropriate written permission included.
  • Authors must declare Role of the funding source

Note: Authors submitting their article online, are assumed to agree with the Authors Undertaking and Contribution Statement and they have to check off the submission check list at step no 1 of the 5 steps of online submission of articles. However, they have to submit the scanned copy/hard copy of printed declaration, duly signed by all authors. Without author’s declaration, manuscripts will not be processed further.

 

2: ARTICLE PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION CHARGES

Details regarding the article processing and publication charges can be found here

 

3: WAIVER POLICY

The details regarding the waiver policy of KMUJ can be found here.

 

4: SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
All authors must ensure that they have the following supporting documents prepared before attempt to submit the manuscript.


DOCUMENT 1: COVER LETTER
A cover letter is an obligatory supporting document for all types of manuscripts except letter to the editor, without which the OJS will not upload and accept the manuscript.
A cover letter should be kept succinct and include the following information. (Maximum 200 to 250 words)

  • Title of the manuscript.
  • What is already known on the subject?
  • What will the results of your study add?
  • How will your results help in clinical practice and or further Research?
  • An explanation of any issues (if any) relating to KMUJ policies.

 

DOCUMENT 2: ETHICAL / INSTITUTIONAL APPROVAL OF RESEARCH
Ethical approval of research in the form of letters from the ethical review committee (ERC), ethical review board (ERB), institutional review board (IRB), advanced studies and research board (ASRB) or any other relevant form of ethical approval is mandatory for all manuscripts submitted to KMUJ. The only exceptions to this rule include letters to the editor based on some new information, narrative reviews, and special communications in the form of a review. Ensure that you have read our editorial policy on ethical approval here.

 

DOCUMENT 3: AUTHORS UNDERTAKING AND CONTRIBUTION STATEMENT

AUTHORS UNDERTAKING FORM
 can be downloaded from
Original Articles
Case Reports 

Ensure that you have the following information in hand while filling out the form:

  • Details of the contributions made by each author
  • List of disclaimers if required
  • List of possible conflict of interests for disclosure
  • List of possible sources of funding for disclosure
  • Details regarding all authors including:
    • Full names of all authors
    • Email addresses of all authors
    • Phone numbers of all authors

Note that the order of the authors will not be changed at any stage. Authors can read the full details regarding our policy regarding authorship here.
All authors must read the copyright statement and the undertaking detailed on the form before signing it. KMUJ assumes that all authors comply with the editorial policy on receipt of the signed submission form.

 

DOCUMENT 4: PROCESSING FEE

  • All manuscripts from Pakistan should be accompanied with a payment of 2,000/-(Non-refundable) article processing charges.
  • Processing charges for Manuscript submitted from overseas is USD 25.
  • Articles are processed only after the receipt of processing fee.

Details regarding the article processing and publication charges can be found here

 

4: FORMAT/ REQUIREMENTS

While submitting manuscripts, please carefully follow the instructions given below:-

Summary of Technical Requirements

  • The journal will accept:
  1. Original research articles
  2. Review articles
  3. Case reports
  4. Editorials
  5. Special communication
  6. Short communications
  7. Letter to the Editor.
  • For submission and review, please submit the manuscript in a WORD document. Please do not submit your manuscript in PDF format
  • Manuscript should be typed in 12-point font size, single space with clear margins on both sides.
  • Title and Headings in the manuscript should be in 14-point font size, in upper case and left aligned.
  • Begin each section or component on a new page.
  • Review the sequence: title page, abstract and key words, text, acknowledgments, references, tables (each on separate page), figures.
  • Illustrations, unmounted prints, should not be larger than 203 × 254 mm (8 × 10 inches).
  • There should be no more than 25 references in original article, <10 references in case report and no more than 50 references in a review article.
  • Include permission to reproduce previously published material or to use illustrations that may identify human subjects.
  • Keep copies of everything submitted.
  • Approval certificate from Institutional review board for bioethics (IRBB)/research ethical committees. From July 2016 onward no article will be processed without IRBB approval certificate.

 

5: MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION

All manuscripts of original research should contain following sections:-

  1. a) Title Page

The title page should carry

1) The title of the article, which should be concise, specific and informative. Authors should include all information in the title that will make electronic retrieval of the article both sensitive and specific
2) Full name of each author, with his or her highest academic degree(s) and institutional affiliation. Authors are encouraged to provide their ORCID ID
3) The name of the department(s) and institution(s) to which the work should be attributed.
4) Disclaimers, if any.
5) The name, email and postal address of the author responsible for correspondence about the manuscript.
6) The name and address of the author to whom requests for reprints should be addressed, source(s) of support in the form of grants, equipment, drugs, or all of these.

 

  1. b) Abstract and Key Words

The second page should carry structured abstract of not more than 250 words.

The abstract should state the:

OBJECTIVE: purpose of the study or investigation;

METHODS: study design, place and duration of study, basic procedures as selection of study subjects or laboratory animals, observational and analytical methods;

RESULTS: main findings giving specific data and their statistical significance, if possible and CONCLUSION: the principal conclusion.

It should emphasize new and important aspects of the study or observations.

KEY WORDS: Below the abstract authors should provide, and identify as such, 3 to 10 key words or short phrases that will assist indexers in cross-indexing the article and may be published with the abstract. Terms from the Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) list of Index Medicus should be used. If suitable MeSH-terms are not yet available for recently introduced terms, present terms may be used.

 

* The main manuscript of original article is divided into subsections according to “IMRAD” structure, with the headings Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussion.

 

  1. c) INTRODUCTION

Provide a context or background for the study (that is, the nature of the problem and its significance).
State the rationale, specific purpose or research objective of, or hypothesis tested by, the study or observation. Cite only directly pertinent references, and do not include data or conclusions from the work being reported.
Introduction section should not exceed 500 words.

INTRODUCTION should be framed on the below mentioned guidelines in 2-3 paragraphs

  • Already KNOWN (Existing state of knowledge)
  • General area-
    • the big picture-significance & importance/burden of the problem
    • A brief Literature review of what is already known on the subject
    • Give pertinent references (International & national)
  • UNKNOWN (Gaps in knowledge which research will fill
    • WHY was this study needed?
    • Rationale/justification of the study
    • QUESTION to be answered (State what you Intend to do)
    • Objective of your study

 

  1. d) METHODS
  • Describe your selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or laboratory animals, including controls) clearly.
  • Identify the age, sex, and other important characteristics of the subjects. Because the relevance of such variables as age, sex, and ethnicity to the object of research is not always clear, authors should explicitly justify them when they are included in a study report.
  • The guiding principle should be clarity about how and why a study was done in a particular way. For example, authors should explain why only subjects of certain ages were included or why women were excluded.
  • Authors should avoid terms such as “race,” which lacks precise biological meaning, and use alternative descriptors such as “ethnicity” or “ethnic group” instead.
  • Authors should specify carefully what the descriptors mean, and tell exactly how the data were collected (for example, what terms were used in survey forms, whether the data were self-reported or assigned by others, etc.).
  • Identify the methods, apparatus (give the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses), and procedures in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results.
  • Give references to established methods, including statistical methods (see below); provide references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well known; describe new or substantially modified methods, give reasons for using them, and evaluate their limitations.
  • Identify precisely all drugs and chemicals used, including generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.
  • Reports of randomized clinical trials should present information on all major study elements, including the protocol (study population, interventions or exposures, outcomes, and the rationale for statistical analysis), assignment of interventions (methods of randomization, concealment of allocation to treatment groups), and the method of masking (blinding). Authors submitting review manuscripts should include a section describing the methods used for locating, selecting, extracting, and synthesizing data. These methods should also be summarized in the abstract.

 

  1. e) Ethics
    When reporting experiments on human subjects, indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 1983. Do not use patients’ names, initials, or hospital numbers, especially in illustrative material. When reporting experiments on animals, indicate whether the institutions or a national research council’s guide for, or any national law on, the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Send the copy of approval certificate from Institutional review board for bioethics/ research ethical committees. You can read the full details regarding KMUJ policy regarding research and publication ethics here.

 

  1. f) Statistics

Describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results. When possible, quantify findings and present them with appropriate indicators of measurement error or uncertainty (such as confidence intervals). Avoid relying solely on statistical hypothesis testing, such as the use of P values, which fails to convey important quantitative information. Discuss the eligibility of experimental subjects. Give details about randomization. Describe the methods for and success of any blinding of observations. Report the complications of treatment, if any. Give numbers of observations and report losses to observation (such as dropouts from a clinical trial). References for the design of the study and statistical methods should be to standard works when possible (with pages stated) rather than to papers in which the designs or methods were originally reported. Specify any general-use computer programs used. Put a general description of methods in the Methods section. When data are summarized in the Results section, specify the statistical methods used to analyze them. Restrict tables and figures to those needed to explain the argument of the paper and to assess its support. Use graphs as an alternative to tables with many entries; do not duplicate data in graphs and tables. Avoid nontechnical uses of technical terms in statistics, such as “random” (which implies a randomizing device), “normal,” “significant,” “correlations,” and “sample.” Define statistical terms, abbreviations, and most symbols.

  1. g) RESULTS
  • Present your results in past tense in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations in results section.
  • Do not repeat in the text all the data in the tables or illustrations; emphasize or summarize only important observations.
  • List the experiments in order listed in the methods section
  • State ALL the findings, whether significant or not, without bias or interpretation, do not include weaknesses, strengths of study, i.e. don’t discuss results.
  • Authors should present the results in short and to the point sentences with main or most important findings FIRST.
  • Authors should present only data directly relevant to the study.
  • Authors should not repeat methods but may remind the reader briefly how they measured something.
  • Authors should allow the data to speak for itself — use tables/figures — construct them first and use as a basis for writing
  1. h) DISCUSSION
  • Emphasize the new and important aspects of the study and the conclusions that follow from them.
  • Do not repeat in detail data or other material given in the Introduction or the Results section.
  • Include in the Discussion section the implications of the findings and their limitations, including implications for future research. Relate the observations to other relevant studies.
  • Link the conclusions with the goals of the study but avoid unqualified statements and conclusions not completely supported by the data.
  • In particular, authors should avoid making statements on economic benefits and costs unless their manuscript includes economic data and analysis.
  • Avoid claiming priority and alluding to work that has not been completed. State new hypothesis when warranted, but clearly label them as such. Recommendations, when appropriate, may be included.
  1. i) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

List all contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship, such as a person who provided purely technical help, writing assistance, or a department chair who provided only general support. Financial and material support should also be acknowledged. Groups of persons who have contributed materially to the paper but whose contributions do not justify authorship may be listed under a heading such as “clinical investigators” or “participating investigators,” and their function or contribution should be described for example, “served as scientific advisors,” “critically reviewed the study proposal,” “collected data,” or “provided and cared for study patients.” Because readers may infer their endorsement of the data and conclusions, all persons must have given written permission to be acknowledged.

  1. j) REFERENCES
  • References should be numbered consecutively in the order in which they are first mentioned in the text.
  • Identify references in text, tables, and legends by Arabic numerals, in superscript and without parentheses.
  • References cited only in tables or figures legends should be numbered in accordance with the sequence established by the first identification in the text of the particular table or figure.
  • Use the style of the examples below, which are based on the formats used by the NLM in Index Medicus.
  • The titles of journals should be abbreviated according to the style used in Index Medicus.
  • Consult the List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus, published annually as a separate publication by the library and as a list in the January issue of Index Medicus. The list can also be obtained through the library’s web site.
  • Avoid using abstracts as references.
  • References to papers accepted but not yet published should be designated as “in press” or “forthcoming”; authors should obtain written permission to cite such papers as well as verification that they have been accepted for publication.
  • Information from manuscripts submitted but not accepted should be cited in the text as “unpublished observations” with written permission from the source.
  • Avoid citing a “personal communication” unless it provides essential information not available from a public source, in which case the name of the person and date of communication should be cited in parentheses in the text.
  • For scientific articles, authors should obtain written permission and confirmation of accuracy from the source of a personal communication.
  • The references must be verified by the author(s) against the original documents.
  • The Uniform Requirements style (the Vancouver style) is based largely on an ANSI standard style adapted by the NLM for its databases. Notes have been added where Vancouver style differs from the style now used by NLM.

For detailed examples of reference style of KMUJ please visit KMUJ Reference Style

  1. k) Illustrations and legends
  • Illustrations should be numbered in the order of their mention in the text.
  • Special charges will be made by the publisher for publishing figures in color. Before publication the corresponding author will be sent a cost estimate; at that time he or she may decide to pay the costs or print the illustration in black and white.
  • Only good photographic prints of original drawings should be supplied. All lettering must be done professionally.
  • Do not send original artwork, x-ray films, or ECG tracings. Photographs are preferred; good black and white contrast is essential.
  • Preferred size for submitted illustrations is 5 x 7 inches. Suitable figure legends should be typewritten in 12-font size, in sentence case and single spaced below the illustration. Each figure/Illustration should be on separate page.
  • If a figure has been taken from previously copyrighted material, the legend must give full credit to the original source and letters of permission must be submitted with the manuscript. Articles appear in both the print and online versions of the Journal, and wording of the letter should specify permission in all forms and media. Failure to get electronic permission rights may result in the images not appearing in the online version.
  • Illustrations cannot be returned by the publisher. Figures may be submitted in electronic format. All images should be at least 5 inches wide. Graphics software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, not presentation software such as PowerPoint, CorelDraw, or Harvard Graphics, should be used in the creation of the art.
  • Color images need to be CMYK, at least 300 DPI, and be accompanied by a digital color proof, not a color laser print or color photocopy. Please include hardware and software information, in addition to the file names.
  1. l) Tables
  • Tables should be self-explanatory and numbered in Roman numerals in the order of their mention in the text.
  • Provide a brief title for each table in upper case.
  • Type each table on a separate page.
  • Abbreviations should be defined in a footnote at the end of the table.
  • If any material in a table or a table itself has been taken from previously copyrighted material, a footnote must give full credit to the original source and permission of the author and publisher must be obtained. Send letters of permission to the Editor with the manuscript.
  1. m) Conflict of Interest Notification Page

Authors should declare any potential conflict of interest and any financial support for the study may be disclosed as well.

  1. n) Randomized Controlled trials
  1. o) Systematic review article

A systematic review paper should have a structured Abstract of no more than 250 words using headlines as Objective, Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction, Data Synthesis and Conclusions and with 3-10 key words for indexing.

Objective: Give precise statement of the primary objective for the review. Define if the review emphasizes cause and diagnosis, prognosis, therapy and intervention, or prevention. Define if the review would be highly selective as including only randomized controlled trials (RCT) or have wider inclusion criteria.

Data Sources: Present data sources used, including any time restriction.

Study Selection: Describe criteria to select studies for detailed review. Specify methods used, as blinded review, consensus, multiple reviewers.

Data Extraction: Describe how extraction was made, including assessment of quality and validity.

Data Synthesis: Present the main results of the review and state major identified sources of variation between studies.

Conclusion: Give a clear statement of the conclusions made, its generalizability and limitations. The Introduction of the paper could be similar to an original report, but without any longer literature survey, only reviewing shortly previous structural reviews and stating the reason and aim of the present review.

The Methodology section may have subheadings corresponding to the Abstract (Data Sources, Study Selection, Data Extraction) and should include clearly defined and reported inclusion and exclusion criteria, and specification of databases and other formal register, conference proceedings, reference lists and trial authors, which are used as sources. The full search strategy should be given so that it is easy to reproduce. If it is considered too long to be published in the article, an electronic document as an Appendix may be alternative. The stages of selection usually include several steps, each undertaken by at least two independent researchers (identified in the Methods). There will be an initial selection from titles/ abstracts to select the articles to be examined in full. The full articles should be re-screened against the selection criteria. The articles fulfilling the criteria should be subjected to quality assessment. Summarize in a flow chart with the number of articles selected and reasons for rejection at each stage. The quality of the methodology should be assessed having an appropriate tool and also for outcome measures and blinding of outcome assessors. The tool that is most appropriate will depend on the extent and nature of the anticipated research evidence.

The Result section corresponds to Data synthesis in the Abstract and may present tables with long lists of selected articles. Extracted data from trials should, when available, include report of randomization method, study population, intervention methods and delivery, reasons to losses at follow-up, information related to treatment monitoring, post-intervention assessments and follow-up. Report the major outcomes, which were pooled, and include odds ratios or effects sizes. Use when applicable meta-analysis. Numerical values should, when possible, be accompanied with confidence intervals. State the major identified sources of variation between reported studies, as differences in treatment protocols, co-interventions, confounders, outcome measures, length of follow-up, and dropout rates. Tables and figures must be self-explanatory and have appropriate title or caption. The methods for synthesis of evidence should be pre-determined. Sometimes it may not be possible to pool the data, but a synthesis of best evidence ought to be given.

The Discussion section should be structured similar to an original report. The findings should be discussed with respect to the degree of consistency, variation, and generalizability. New contribution to the literature based on the review conducted and where information is insufficient must be stated. Providing the limitations of the review would be helpful. Suggest the need for new studies and future research agenda.

Length of paper: The total length of the text should usually not be more than 5000 words (corresponding to 8-9 printed pages) and in addition tables and the reference list. The reference list should be comprehensive and will therefore often be rather long. However, in the printed version of a review paper normally not more than 100 references will be accepted. If needed and without an upper limit, additional references may be published only electronically with a link to such an Appendix given in the original version of the paper.

  1. p) Narrative review article

A narrative (educational) review should have a structured Abstract which should not exceed 250 words, under the following headlines Background, Objectives, Methods, Review, Conclusion  summarizing the current status of the knowledge about the topic reviewed followed by 3-10 key words for indexing.

Introduction: This should provide a background to a review which focuses on relevant literature published over the last few years that has advanced our understanding of the issue under consideration. The headlines in the review have to be chosen according to the need of that particular review.

Methods section. Proper Research strategy should be given. Give in detail the strategy for inclusion of article in the review. Details of the database searched and the time period for which it was searched should be stated.

The Review and Discussion section could be structured along the lines for an original report. At the end of discussion, limitations of the study and key message may be given.

Conclusions: Conclusions of the article also highlighting the problems, or areas for future research may be included.

Word count: Between 2000 and 5000 words.
Tables: up to 5.
Illustrations: up to 3.
References: up to 100.

  1. q) Case reports
  • A Case Report should have a structured Abstract which should not exceed 250 words, under the following headlines Background, Case Presentation, Conclusion summarizing the current status of the knowledge about the topic reviewed followed by 3-10 key words for indexing.
  • Case Reports should be limited to three type written pages, including a structured abstract, a short introduction, details of the case report followed by discussion and 6 to 10 Relevant documentary proof including pictures of the case (with the consent of the patient) or investigations like radiological or histopathological evidence should be submitted along with manuscript.
  • Authors are advised to follow the CARE guidelinesfor case reports.
  1. r) Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor are considered for publication (subject to editing and abridgment) provided they do not contain material that has been submitted or published elsewhere. The letter must be typewritten and single-spaced. Its text, not including reference, must not exceed 250 words if it is in reference to a recent journal article, or 400 words in all other cases (please provide a word count). It must have no more than five references and one figure or table. Letters referring to a recent journal article must be received within four weeks of its publication. Please include your full address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address.

  1. s) Guidelines

Authors should take help from the following guidelines in writing manuscripts. For further details of various reporting guidelines for main study types consult: https://www.equator-network.org/

 

  1. CHECKLIST FOR THE AUTHOR
  • Covering letter (should include section for which manuscript is submitted)
  • Section of Journal to be published in (or note if a review article)
  • Title Page including
    • Title of article
    • Authors, academic degrees, and affiliations
    • Author to whom correspondence and reprint requests are to be sent, including address, business phone and fax numbers, and e-mail address
  • Structured abstract, 250-words (maximum) and Keywords
  • Text (including Introduction, Methodology, Results and Discussion)
  • References
  • Illustrations, properly labeled
  • Tables (provide brief title for each), typed on separate sheets
  • Permission to reproduce published material in all forms and media
  • Informed consent to publish patient photographs
  • a completed CONSORT 2010 checklist and flow diagram when reporting the results of a randomized trial.

6) AUTHORSHIP

Authors can read the full details regarding our authorship policy here.

 

7) CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Authors can read the full details regarding our Conflict of Interest policy here.

 

8) ROLE OF THE FUNDING SOURCE

Authors can read the full details regarding our financial disclosure policy here 

 

9) PATIENTS’ CONSENT AND PERMISSION TO PUBLISH

Authors can read the full details regarding our research and publication ethics policy here.

 

10) MANUSCRIPT EVALUATION

Authors can read the full details regarding our manuscript evaluation policy here

 

11) DECISION MAKING AND COMMUNICATION TO AUTHORS

Authors can read the full details regarding our decision making and communication to authors policy here (https://www.kmuj.kmu.edu.pk//manuscript-submission-review-policy; https://www.kmuj.kmu.edu.pk//peer-review-policy)

 

12) PLAGIARISM

Authors can read the full details regarding our plagiarism policy here.

 

13) PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION

  • KMUJ is published on controlled circulation basis and distributed among the faculty of all medical colleges and tertiary referral centers, main libraries and private clinics throughout Pakistan and abroad. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, except for internal or personal use, without the prior permission of the publisher. The publisher and the member of the editorial board cannot be held responsible for errors or for any consequences arising from the use of the information contained in this journal.

 

  • PUBLICATION OFFICE

KHYBER MEDICAL UNIVERSITY JOURNAL
KMU INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES (KIMS)
DHQ TEACHING HOSPITAL, KDA,
KOHAT, PAKISTAN