Editorial Policies

1. Article Processing 7. Copyright Policy
2. Article Submission 8. Ethical Approval
3. Authorship Criteria 9. Funding Disclosure
4. Authorship List 10. Appeal for Rejected Articles
5. Corresponding Authorship 11. Reproducing Material from other Sources
6. Conflict of Interest 12. Reproducing Material Published by KJMS

Article Processing

Manuscripts not submitted according to instructions will be returned to the author for correction prior to the beginning of the processing. Submission of a manuscript to a KJMS implies that all authors have read and agreed to its content and that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s policies. The received article first passes through the editorial check for covering letter, Ethical review committee and Institutional Review Board (IRB) certificate and required attachments. All manuscripts are processed for similarity index using the Turnitin service, and articles exceeding the limit of 19% similarity are returned for clarification and/or correction. Passing through this stage the corresponding author is requested for submitting the processing fee as per instructions. All manuscripts submitted to KJMS initially undergo internal peer review. A manuscript not found suitable for publication as regards to the topic or poor writing is likely to be rejected on the internal peer review. After in-house peer review, the manuscript is sent for external peer reviews. This is a double-blind process. Research articles are reviewed by two peer reviewers. Original articles authored by the editorial board are also externally peer reviewed. Editorials, Letters to editors, short communication, case reports are not subjected to an external peer review

Article Submission

IMG

Authorship Criteria

The Khyber journal of medical sciences accepts the authorship based on the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines mentioned below;

  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.

All those designated as authors should meet all four criteria for authorship.

Authorship List

The Khyber journal of medical sciences give honor only to six authors (including the corresponding author) except when the research is conducted in multiple centers / countries. The KJMS does not allow alteration in the authors’ list after the initial submission.

Corresponding Authorship

The corresponding author is the one who holds the primary responsibility for communication with the journal. The corresponding author should be available throughout the submission and peer review process to respond to editorial queries in a timely way, and should be available after publication to respond to critiques of the work and cooperate with any requests from the journal for data or additional information should questions about the paper arise after publication.

Conflict of Interest

The KJMS endorses the World Association of Medical Editors guidelines for the conflict of interest stated as  “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.

Authors should state the conflict of interest clearly in the submission form. This statement should also appear at the end of the text before the references in the declaration section under subheading of conflict of interest. If there are no conflicts of interests, the authors should state, “none to declare.”

All the authors of manuscripts submitted to and published in the KJMS agree to transfer all copyright ownership of the manuscript to KJMS. All authors are required to sign the copyright policy statement which is found on the submission form and submit it with the manuscript. In case the manuscript is rejected, the copyright transfers back to the authors.

Ethical Approval

The KJMS adheres to latest version of Helsinki Declaration for experiments involving the human subjects, and the International Association of Veterinary Editors’ Consensus Author Guidelines on Animal Ethics and Welfare for experiments on animals. Every manuscript submitted to KJMS should have ethical approval by the ethical review board of the institution. The KJMS does not accept retrospective ethical approval. If an official approval was not required, an explanatory statement as to why it was not needed should be given along with a letter of approval from the head of the department/institution. If an institution does not have an ethical review committee, the institution’s approval from the concerned department may be submitted.

Funding Disclosure

All authors are required to declare the funds/grants received and its spending at the end of the manuscript before the references in the declaration section under the subheading of funding disclosure. If there are no funding sources, the authors should state “none to declare”.

Appeal for Rejected Articles

The corresponding author of a rejected article reserves the right for appeal to KJMS. The corresponding author is instructed to write a letter with brief explanation. The editorial board will decide after reviewing the appeal.

Reproducing Material from other Sources

The KJMS does not hold responsibility for the published material from other sources. It is the authors’ responsibility to secure all permissions prior to submission of the manuscript. Any part of the manuscript reproduced from another source, should be accompanied by a signed letter of consent from the copyright holder which may be the author, the journal or the publisher.

Reproducing Material Published by KJMS

No part of the KJMS may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the editor, KJMS.