Submissions

Author Guidelines

Submission guidelines

Instructions for Authors

 Authors are requested to review the journal’s Guidelines for Authors before submitting their work. Completed manuscripts should be emailed to jgmc@gmcg.edu.pk. Please note that manuscripts must be submitted by the author themselves and not by anyone else on their behalf.

 Article Types

Journal Gujranwala Med College publishes original Research, Review, Letter, Case Report, and Commentary.

• Research: the articles should limit to about 20,000 words in the main text (excluding the title page, references, figure legends, tables and figures) and have no more than 65 references, 5 figures and 5 tables in total
• Review: A wide variety of the topic's advancements should be covered in the review paper, which should be around 25,000 words long and contain no more than 10 figures and tables.
• Letter: Letters offer a quick and clear report on a fresh discovery that is brief yet broadly relevant to the area. The primary text should consist of no more than 2500 words, 1 figure or table, 10 references, and no more than 2 figures or tables.
• Case report: accounts of clinical instances that may provide instructional value, highlight a significant adverse event, explain a diagnostic or treatment conundrum, or imply a relationship. Every case report article should state that the patients or their guardians gave their informed consent for the information to be published. The primary text should not exceed 4,500 words, and there should be a maximum of 25 references, 3 figures, and tables overall.
• Commentary: brief, opinionated, and narrowly focused essays on any topic covered by the publication. These pieces are often commissioned from thought leaders in the area and frequently address a current subject, such as new research results. The primary text should not exceed 3000 words, and there should only be 20 references, 2 figures, and 2 tables overall.

When the final corrected proofs are sent in, it is the Corresponding Author's obligation to make sure that the author sequence, names, affiliations, and addresses are right. Please remember that once something is published online, it cannot be corrected. Any further revisions will result in the publishing of an erratum that will be hyperlinked to the article and require the approval of the Editor-in-Chief.

Manuscript Submission

When a manuscript is submitted, it is assumed that the work has never been published before, that it is not being considered for publication elsewhere, and that the responsible authorities at the institute where the work was conducted, as well as any co-authors, have given their tacit or explicit approval for the publication of the work. If there are any demands for compensation, the publisher will not be held legally liable.

Plagiarism

JGMC abides by the Plagiarism Policy introduced by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. Authors are expected to adhere to the plagiarism policy when submitting their manuscripts. In this regard, a cover letter should be submitted as part of the manuscripts which certifies that the content has not been plagiarized. 

Cover Letter

A cover letter should include the following: An explanation of why the manuscript should be published in the Journal of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences, indication of any issues related to the journal’s policies, confirmation from all authors regarding submission of the manuscript and confirmation that the manuscript has not been submitted for publication elsewhere. 

Permissions

When submitting their papers, authors must include proof that they have permission from the copyright owner(s) for both the print and online forms in order to incorporate figures, tables, or text sections that have already been published elsewhere. If such proof is not provided, it will be presumed that the content came from the writers.

Online Submission

Please follow the hyperlink “Submit manuscript” Manuscripts to be typed in Microsoft Word in Times New Roman font size 12 with double spacing. A complete manuscript must include a cover letter, title page, abstract, text, references and appendices where applicable and upload all of your manuscript files following the instructions given on the screen.

Title Page

Please make sure your title page contains the following information.

Title

The title should be concise and informative.

Author information

• The name(s) of the author(s)
• The affiliation(s) of the author(s), i.e. institution, (department), city, (state), country
• A clear indication and an active e-mail address of the corresponding author
• The 16-digit ORCID of the author(s)

Use of an LLM (Large Language Models) or ChatGPT should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript.

Abstract

Please provide a structured abstract of 200 words which should be divided into the following sections:

• Background and Objectives
• Materials & Methods
• Results
• Conclusion
• Keywords

• For studies that are prospectively registered, the trial registration number and registration date
  • For trials that are retroactively registered, the trial registration number and registration date are followed by "retrospectively registered."

Keywords

Please provide 4 to 6 keywords which can be used for indexing purposes.

Statements and Declarations

The following statements should be included under the heading "Statements and Declarations" for inclusion in the published paper. Please note that submissions that do not include relevant declarations will be returned as incomplete.

• Competing Interests: Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

Text

Text Formatting

Manuscripts should be submitted in Word.

• Use a Times New Roman font style (e.g., 11-point) for text.
• Use italics for emphasis.
• Use the automatic page numbering function to number the pages.

Headings

Please use up to three levels of displayed headings.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and used consistently thereafter.

Acknowledgments

On the title page, acknowledgements of individuals, grants, finances, etc., should be listed in their own section. The whole names of the financing organizations must be written.

References

Citation

Cite references in the text by name and year in parentheses. Some examples:

1. This research has many disciplines (Ahmad 1990).
2. This opinion was later contradicted by Shahid and Salman (1996).
3. This impact has been widely looked (Abbott 1991; Barakat et al. 1995; Kelso and Smith 1998; Medvec et al. 1999).

Reference list

The list of references should only include works that are cited in the text and that have been published or accepted for publication.

Reference list entries should be alphabetized by the last names of the first author of each work.

• Journal article

Ahmad JJ. The world of science. Am J Sci. 1993; 36:232–235.

• Book

Blenkinsopp A, Paxton P. Symptoms in the pharmacy: a guide to the management of common illness. 3rded. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1998.

• Book chapter

Ahmad AH, Haider JFR, Shahid AR. Cell: the significance of cell lines. In: Luqman GH, Rehman JF, editors. International review of cytology. London: Academic; 1980. pp. 251–306.

• Online document

Koi J. Title of document. In: The dictionary of substances and their effects. Royal Society of Chemistry. 1999. Available from: http://www.rsc.org/dose/title of subordinate document. Accessed on: 15 Jan 1999.

Tables and Figures

• Arabic numerals must be used for all table numbers, and tables must always be mentioned in text in the order that they appear.
  •Please include a table caption (title) for each table that lists the table's components.
  • Indicate any content that has already been published by providing a reference to the original source at the conclusion of the table caption.
• Arabic numerals must be used to number each figure.
  • In the text, figures must always be mentioned in sequential number sequence.
  • Lowercase letters (a, b, c, etc.) should be used to indicate the sections of figures.
• Every figure should include a brief caption that precisely describes what the picture shows. Put the captions in the manuscript's text file rather than the figure file.
  • There shouldn't be any punctuation following the number or at the conclusion of the caption.
  • To indicate content that has already been published, include a reference citation at the conclusion of the figure caption for the original source.
  
  Permissions

For both print and online formats, you must get permission from the copyright owner(s) if you incorporate figures that have previously been published elsewhere.

Data availability statements

A data availability declaration has to be included with every original study. This statement should include links or citations to publicly preserved datasets that were analyzed or created during the study, as well as information on how to obtain the data that supports the analysis and conclusions in the paper.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Authors should provide information about funding sources, potential conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), informed consent if research involves human participants, and a statement on animal welfare if research involves animals in order to ensure objectivity, transparency, and adherence to accepted standards of ethical and professional conduct.

Authors should include the following statements (if applicable) in a separate section entitled “Compliance with Ethical Standards” when submitting a paper:

• Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
• Research involving Human Participants and/or Animals
• Informed consent

Ethical Responsibilities of Authors

This journal is committed to upholding the integrity of the scientific record. As a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) the journal will follow the COPE guidelines on how to deal with potential acts of misconduct.

It is important for writers to avoid misrepresenting study results since doing so might undermine the credibility of the journal, the professionalism of scientific writing, and eventually the entire field of science.

Important note: the journal uses Turnitin software to screen for plagiarism. As per HEC guidelines, the similarity index should be less than 19%. The SI should be less than 5% from a single source.

Competing Interests

Authors are requested to disclose interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

Authors should mention about funding, Financial interests, Non Financial interests etc.

Ethics approval

Authors should certify that the study was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards outlined in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments, or comparable ethical standards, and include a statement confirming that the study was approved (or granted exemption) by the appropriate institutional and/or national research ethics committee (including the name of the ethics committee). This is especially important when reporting a study that involves human participants, their data, or biological material. If there is any doubt as to whether the research was carried out in compliance with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration or similar standards, the authors must justify their methodology and provide evidence that the study's dubious components were expressly approved by an impartial ethics committee or institutional review board. If funding for a research was approved

Clinical Trial Registration

"Any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes" is how the World Health Organization (WHO) defines a clinical trial. Authors are required to register prospective clinical studies (phase II to IV trials) in appropriate publically accessible archives in order to guarantee the integrity of the reporting of patient-centered trials. For instance, any of the main registries that take part in the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, or www.clinicaltrials.gov.

The trial registration number (TRN) and date of registration should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

For clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, authors are encouraged to register retrospectively to ensure the complete publication of all results. The trial registration number (TRN), date of registration and the words 'retrospectively registered’ should be included as the last line of the manuscript abstract.

Reporting Standards

Checklists are available for a number of study designs, including:

Randomised trials (CONSORT) and Study protocols (SPIRIT)

Observational studies (STROBE)

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and protocols (Prisma-P)

Diagnostic/prognostic studies (STARD) and (TRIPOD)

Case reports (CARE)

Clinical practice guidelines (AGREE) and (RIGHT)

Qualitative research (SRQR) and (COREQ)

Animal pre-clinical studies (ARRIVE)

Quality improvement studies (SQUIRE)

Economic evaluations (CHEERS)

Authorship clarified

The Journal and Publisher assume all authors agreed with the content and that all gave explicit consent to submit and that they obtained consent from the responsible authorities at the institute/organization where the work has been carried out, before the work is submitted.

The Publisher does not prescribe the kinds of contributions that warrant authorship. It is recommended that authors adhere to the guidelines for authorship that are applicable in their specific research field. In absence of specific guidelines it is recommended to adhere to the following guidelines*:

All authors whose names appear on the submission

1) made significant contributions to the work's conception or design; 2) drafted the work or critically revised it for important intellectual content; 3) approved the version to be published; and 4) agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work, including the identification, gathering, analysis, and interpretation of data; and 4) created new software utilized in the work.

 Based on/adapted from:

ICMJE, Defining the Role of Authors and Contributors,

https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

Disclosures and declarations

All authors are requested to include information regarding sources of funding, financial or non-financial interests, study-specific approval by the appropriate ethics committee for research involving humans and/or animals, informed consent if the research involved human participants, and a statement on welfare of animals if the research involved animals (as appropriate).

The decision whether such information should be included is not only dependent on the scope of the journal, but also the scope of the article. Work submitted for publication may have implications for public health or general welfare and in those cases it is the responsibility of all authors to include the appropriate disclosures and declarations.

Role of the Corresponding Author

One author is assigned as Corresponding Author and acts on behalf of all co-authors and ensures that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately addressed.

Author contributions

In absence of specific instructions and in research fields where it is possible to describe discrete efforts, the Publisher recommends authors to include contribution statements in the work that specifies the contribution of every author in order to promote transparency. These contributions should be listed at the separate title page.

Changes to authorship

It is highly recommended that writers verify that the author group, corresponding author, and author order are proper at the time of submission. After a submission is accepted, modifications to the authorship—including adding or removing authors, altering the corresponding author, or changing the order of authors—are not allowed.
Please ensure that all author names are included, spelled correctly, and that affiliations and addresses are up to date.
At the editing stage, adding or removing authors is usually not allowed, however there are several circumstances in which it could be justified. There should be an explanation for these changes in authorship. Editor-in-Chief approval of the amendment is at his or her discretion. Note that different journals may have different guidelines on adding or removing authors while they are revising a work.

Confidentiality

Unless express permission has been obtained to share material, authors should treat all interactions with the Journal as confidential, including correspondence with editors-in-chief, handling editors, and reviewers' reports.

Editorial procedure

Double-blind peer review

This publication uses a single-blind review process.
Also published by this journal are special/guest-edited issues. The peer review procedure for these papers is the same as the journal's overall procedure.
Furthermore, guest editors will not be in charge of the peer review procedure if they write an article for their issue or collection.