Author Guidelines

Important Submission Guidelines

• Manuscript Particulars
• Ethical Approval
• Plagiarism
• Peer Review Process
• External Reviewers
• Non Refundate & Publication Charges (Revised Dated Sept 20, 2024)
• References

Please note that this journal does not offer a fast-track option for papers to be published within a week or 30 days. The processing time for the fast-track option is approximately 5-6 weeks. Authors requiring a review process within 30 days are kindly requested to submit their papers to other journals.

The complete review process (normal submission) will take approximately 60-90  days & fast track will take approximately 60 days.

Step I: Authors are requested to submit their research work via email at jsogp.articles@gmail.com for initial screening and verification, rather than submitting directly through the OJS website. This initial screening will include plagiarism checking, verification of ethical approval/review, and submission of a screenshot confirming the payment of the non-refundable fee of Rs. 5,000 (normal submission).
For authors opting for the fast-track option, a non-refundable fee of Rs. 10,000 is required. (see publication charges)

Please note that case reports and editorials are exempt from initial screening and verification, and the non-refundable fee does not apply. The same policy applies to authors of foreign studies.

Papers submitted via email will be reviewed by our expert editors. A decision will be made within 30 days (normal proccessing)  and 20 days (fast track processing) regarding whether the submitted paper is accepted for further review by two external peer reviewers or if it is declined/rejected.

An email will be sent to authors whose manuscripts are initially cleared for evaluation, providing instructions to submit the manuscript through the Open Journal System (OJS) for proper paper ID tracking. A unique ID number will be shared via email upon completion of the document upload; authors should include this ID in the “Comments for the Editor” section.

Following the successful initial review, the recommended paper will be sent to our dedicated panel of paid reviewers, who will complete their review.

Minor and major revisions, along with the initial assessment report, will be shared with authors for their revisions.

Please note that the publication fee will be charged after final approval of the study and prior to publication on the journal's website (see publication fee details).

Foreign studies are exempt from the publication fee.

• The Journal of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan (JSOGP) is a peer reviewed journal and agrees to accept manuscripts prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to the Biomedical Journals” as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), last updated in January2024(and retrieved on 27-05-2024). It has now enhanced the rules about the Conduct, Reporting, Editing and Publication of Scholarly Works in Medical Journals _ www.icmje.org

  The ICMJE recommendations are recognized by PMDC and Higher Education Commission(HEC).

  Authors are advised to read the instructions carefully, before submitting their manuscripts for publication.

  A manuscript is considered for publication on the understanding that it has been submitted exclusively to JSOGP and nowhere else, not even in the past. Furthermore the material published in the journal, may not be reproduced later, without the written permission of the Editor- in-Chief of the journal.

  This journal follows English spellings

  MANUSCRIPT PARTICULARS

  The material submitted may be as Original Research Articles which could be in the form of Randomized controlled trial (RCT), Meta analysis of RCT or other recognised forms of studies (about 2000-2500 words excluding abstract and references) with a structured abstract (upto 250 words) and 16 to 25 references. Clinical audit (with demonstrable benefit) of reasonable length, can also be accepted. Short Communications (upto 1000words) with a non structured abstract (up to 150 words) and 5-10 references, Review Articles(with 3000 to 3500 words) and from 35 to 50 references, Commentaries (up to 2000 words) and 16 to 20 references, Case Reports of academic and educational value (750 words) with 5 to 10 references and a non-structured abstract of about 100 words, clinical opinion, current controversy, symposium reviews or reports, education for learning and teaching, articles of historic interest and Letters to the Editor, etc.

  The manuscript should be submitted Electronically through Open Journal system, in Microsoft (MS) word format including the supporting documents  like, ethical approval letter from IRB and Undertaking. 

  The sentences should not start with a number or a figure. Past tense and third person form of addressing should be used and not me, I, he/she etc.

  TITLE PAGE: the first page of all materials submitted must clearly give the Title of the article, as well as the Name of Author(s), their highest qualification and Institutional affiliation and must conform to the authorship entitlement as detailed after the end of these instructions. The corresponding author’s particulars should vividly show the designation, institutional affiliation, address, electronic and telephonic contact. Any grant or support should also be mentioned here. Any conflict of interest should be disclosed on this page.

  ABSTRACT:for original articles the second page should contain a structured abstract of afore mentioned length. To avoid various instructional confusions, the abstract should be divided into the followingcomponents  i.e.

  1. Objective (why was the study started)
  2. Design (how was it conducted)
  3. Place and Duration of study
  4. Methodology (what was done) which should include patients/subjects, interventions and major outcome measures
  5. Results(what was found) and
  6. Conclusion(s) (what did it mean)

  Statistical methods used should also be given briefly in the abstract, however the details are not required in the abstract.

  The Non-Structured abstracts are used for case reports or other manuscriptsas the case or subject specific statements.

  KEY WORDS: three to ten words, in the form of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of Index Medicus, should be added at the end of the page of the Abstract, as well as after the Non-structured abstract.

  Abbreviations

  Title must not have abbreviations(except units of measurements). In other places for the first usage of the word the whole word should precede the acronym (in parenthesis).

  SUBJECT MATTER OF THE MANUSCRIPT

  The Review articles can be classified as necessary, but the Original articles must include the following sections:

  Introduction: should describe brief review of the topic and the purpose of the study.

  Methodology: this can be sub classified into various sections, as and when applicable.

  Statistical methods used should be given here in sufficient detail and any new procedures carried out, should be described well. The author should must provide the sampling techniques, sample size calculation method and data analysis plan to avoid further peer review/prolong review process. (original articles only). Before sending the Original article author should try to consult/onboard any biostatistician regarding the correct study design and other statistical method given above.

  Results: The logical conclusions of the study must be mentioned and be emphasized upon and summarized by tables and or figures, which are referred to in the text. Do not repeat all the data in the tables or figures in the text; emphasize or summarize only the most important observations. Provide data on all primary and secondary outcomes identified in the Methods Section.

  Discussion: the views of the author(s) and the comments aught to be given here, supported by reference to other studies.

  Conclusion(s):these take into consideration the problems which necessitated the study, inference drawn from the study and suggestions for further betterment or need for wider studies.

  TABLES: they should not exceed 2-3 generally, but occasionally they may be 4.

  Each table must be referred to in the text by its number, sequentially and be detailed on a separate sheet, numbered and arranged in the order in which it appears in the text. Every table should have its title, placed as a “Caption” above it after the number in Roman numericals. There should be no vertical rules in the tables.

  FIGURES & ILLUSTRATION:these should not exceed 2, generally.

  They should be referred to in the text sequentially, by their number and each is to be placed on a separate sheet. A brief description of it is given as a “Legend” under it, preceded by its number in Arabic numericals.

  Detailed duplication of results given in tables and figures must not occur in the text of the manuscript.

  Units of measurement: for reporting in the text they should be Conventional with System International (SI) units given in parenthesis. The names of drugs should be written in generic terminology.

  Study limitations must be given.

  In future, studies conducted more than 5 years ago, will not be accepted for publication in JSOGP but (in exceptional cases for valuable/informative studies up to 7 years old can be considered for publication).

  WRITTEN INFORMED CONSENT

  As the patients and people have a right to privacy, written Informed Consent, for written, photographic, pedigree or any other form of scientific publication, must be obtained from the concerned subjects or their guardians (if applicable). A copy of this must accompany the manuscript submitted for publication in JSOGP, over and above its inclusion in the text of the article. In high risk cases the consent must be stated as __ High Risk Written Informed Consent.

  MEDICAL ETHICS

  To safe guard the rights and welfare of human subjects participating in biomedical research, ethical approval must be obtained for all manuscripts, based on general global codes of medical ethics, along with the consent of the Institutional Ethical Committee(s) of the concerned organization(s). All the ethical approval(s), in case of multicenter studies should accompany the manuscript in writing. The approval(s) must be accompanied by the Registration number(s)of the letter(s) of approval of trial/study, if available.

  CONFLICT OF INTEREST

  Disclosure form for any Conflict of Interest must accompany the manuscript.

  PLAGIARISM

  Plagiarising the works of others in any form as one’s own is totally prohibited. The authors should therefore scrutinize the manuscript for any such act, before submission of manuscript to JSOGP. Appropriate quotations, references and citations must be provided for the material taken from other sources.

  PEER REVIEW PROCESS[Back]

  The peer-reviewed journal follows a "double-blind" review process, where both the reviewers and authors remain anonymous throughout the entire procedure. Submitted manuscripts are initially screened by the assistant editors for scope, suitability, plagiarism, and formatting. Rejected manuscripts are returned to the authors. Manuscripts that pass the initial screening are forwarded to a dedicated panel of reviewers, who are asked to provide feedback within 2-3 weeks. If a reviewer does not respond within the given time, they may be replaced with another suitable reviewer to prevent delays in the review process. The journal does not require authors to suggest reviewers for their manuscript.

  EXTERNAL REVIEWERS[Back]
  
  The journal has a dedicated panel of reviewers and pays a professional fee of Rs 2000 to 2500 per manuscript, which includes the involvement of one epidemiologist/biostatistician.

  Publication Charges [Back]

  Due to inflation affecting printing, postage, internet, web, and hosting services, the publication fee has been increased. The journal also utilizes CrossRef DOI and CrossMark services, which further impact the budget. The publication fee covers the cost of two external reviewers' fees, journal printing, postage, website hosting and annual domain payments, website maintenance, DOI and CrossMark services, and IT personnel payments.

  Note: The journal does not charge any additional fees beyond the stated publication fee. The updated publication fee is outlined below:

  Publication Type	Non Refundable Fee	Publication Fee after acceptance and online	Total
  Original Article	5,000	15,000	20,000
  Fast Track	10,000	20,000	30,000
  Systematic Review	5,000	15,000	20,000
  Fast Track	10,000	20,000	30,000
  Review Artricle	3,000	7,000	10,000
  Fast Track	5,000	10,000	15,000
  Case Report	-	3,000	3,000
  Foreign studies are exampted of all type of APC/publication fee

  Account Title: Society of Obstetrician & Gynecologist of Pakistan (Journal)
  IBAN: PK84ASCM0002170420001112
  Bank Name: ASKARI BANK LTD