Abstract
In a recent Journal Citation Reports (JCR) by Thomson Reuters only two Pakistani journals from clinical
sciences were awarded impact factor.1
The Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) in an up
dated list of medical journals, placed two journals in W
category and two in X category while most are assigned Y category. There is a long list of medical journals that are kept at lowest rating, the Z category. This
is an alarming trend. With presence of large number of
medical universities and colleges quality research is
still non-existent. The reasons behind this status are
well known but nothing concrete has been done to
address them. A factor not much appreciated is the
role of editors of medical journals in the promotion of
research.
Editors play a key role in publication of articles.2
They
have to be extra careful in fulfilling their responsibility
because by publishing low quality articles they encourage the faculty members not to pursue the hard
course of conducting truly scientific research. Similarly
the selection boards at various medical colleges and
universities fall short of recognizing worth of published
articles. They are only interested in number of publications. HEC and Pakistan Medical & Dental Council are
also part and parcel of this nexus. The credibility of
Journals Recognition Committees is questioned at
many forums. The selection criteria of these committees is largely not known though recently HEC has
announced a new induction to this committee including representatives of impact factor journals and representative of Pakistan Association of Medical Editors
(PAME).
Jamshed Akhtar. (2012) Role of the Editors in Improving Quality of Medical Journals, Journal of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Volume-11, Issue-2.
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