Challenges faced by new medical journals in Pakistan

Abstract

In the era of artificial intelligence and the rapidly changing landscape of medical research and publishing, new medical journals encounter various challenges that hinder their sustainability and growth. One of the primary challenges is acquiring high quality articles for newly established journals, especially in the initial phase, when these journals are not approved by the “Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PM&DC)” and “Higher Education Commission (HEC).” Research articles are mandatory for promotion and must be recognized by PM&DC and the HEC. Therefore, renowned authors with good-quality research work don’t prefer to publish in newly emerging journals ⁽¹⁾.

Moreover, there is no authentic research culture in the country. An alarming situation is that paid writing services for research articles are more readily available than accredited training courses. People prefer to pay to write their research articles instead of learning the skills needed to conduct quality research and write articles ⁽²⁾.

If such journals get submissions, they are not of good quality. Study designs are usually descriptive. Research topics are not innovative. Funding for research is often negligible, resulting in most research being primarily descriptive. Randomized controlled trials frequently go unregistered due to a lack of awareness. If a journal does not accept these trials, they may be registered retrospectively. The lack of training, personal interest, and the requirement for research publications leads to duplication of publication, fabrication, and data manipulation. Statistical analysis presents another challenge. As English is not the native language, proficiency in English language and grammar is an additional challenge. Writing styles often fall short.  We lack local editing services by trained professionals ⁽³⁾.

Due to a lack of awareness regarding ethical considerations, plagiarism is a significant issue. Inappropriate authorship, or gift authorship, is also a common practice. There may be a conflict of interest in clinical trials, particularly those involving the pharmaceutical industry. Lack of awareness and training about publication ethics among authors, editors, and reviewers can lead to unethical practices. Fake publications or data duplication is another challenge ⁽⁴⁾.

The editorial team is responsible for every publication in the journal. They often lack sufficient opportunities for formal training. Limited experience as an editor presents another dilemma. Editing is usually a part-time commitment, and the time constraints the editors face add a burden to their responsibilities. Minimal or no honorarium may result in decreased motivation ⁽⁵⁾.

Another issue is the lack of centers of excellence and dedicated research units. There are very few quality training courses available for authors and editors nationwide. Most of the time, journal staff are self-trained during the job. The authors and the editorial team's lack of familiarity with the online journal system is another obstacle faced in the initial phase ⁽¹⁾

Journal regulatory bodies at national and international levels mandate peer review for publishing new articles. However, most of the available reviewers are not well-trained. The experienced reviewers, due to busy schedules or a lack of rewards, may be least interested, especially in newly established journals. One of the major contributors to cross-sectional and descriptive research projects is the lack of sufficient funding to conduct quality randomized controlled trials. This compromises the novelty of research on the one hand and the ability to meet the basic requirements to run the publication process smoothly on the other ⁽²⁾.

All these can lead to indexing problems with national and international databases.  So, site visibility and getting citations are the subsequent challenges. In the age of digitalization, to meet the rapidly evolving situation, academic institutions, the medical community, research monitoring authorities, and the government organizations of Pakistan must go hands-on to combat these challenges ⁽⁶⁾.

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