Editorial Guidelines

Editorial Policies Aims and Scope Peer Review Policy Open Access Publication Plagiarism Policy Processing fees
Data Sharing Archives Policy   Advertising Direct Marketing

About the Journal

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Surgery is a quarterly multidisciplinary, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access, quarterly journal, published in both printed and online versions. The journal is published by the Pakistan Society of Neurosurgeons (PSN) and Department of Neurosurgery, Punjab Institute of Neurosciences (PINS), Lahore, by the “Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals” as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) in May 2023. 

It has now enhanced the rules about the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Works in Medical Journals. Visit the following links for more details: www.icmje.org

and https://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf

Aims and Scope ||

1. Encourage all neuroscientists to exchange their research, opinions, and ideas in all fields of neuro and spine surgeries, clinical neuroscience/neurology, and other similar sub-specialties.
2. PJNS provides a platform for the readers regarding the transfer of knowledge.
3. In the PJNS domain, the journal covers a range of unique research, reviews, commentary, and case reports in all areas of neuroscience.
4. The journal facilitates communication between neurosurgeons and related specialists around the world by providing an integrated and balanced vision of basic clinical research in neurosurgery.

Peer Review Policy ||

The peer-reviewed journal uses "double-blind" reviews and reviewers and authors are still unknown in the entire review procedure. Submitted manuscripts are initially screened by the section editors to check the scope, suitability, plagiarism, and formatting. Rejected manuscripts are sent back to the authors. After initial screening recommended manuscripts are then sent to reviewers who are requested to respond within three weeks. If there is no reply from the reviewer within the given time, they may be replaced with other suitable to keep the review process without any delay. Should the referees' reports contradict one another or a report is unnecessarily delayed, a further expert opinion will be sought.
Note: The authors are requested not to check plagiarism themselves from unauthorized software for plagiarism detection.

Open Access Publication and Creative Commons Licensing ||

The work published by PJNS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

The work published in PJNS may be “Shared copied and redistributed in any medium or format” and “Adapt remix, transform, and build upon the material.” Authors retain the rights of free downloading/unlimited e-print of full text and sharing/disseminating the article without any restriction, by any means including Twitter, scholarly collaboration networks like Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Academia.edu, ResearchGate, Twitter, Facebook, and any other professional or academic networking site.

Plagiarism Policy ||

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Surgery is equipped with Turnitin (text-matching / anti-plagiarism software. The software checks for plagiarism and repetition in submitted manuscripts. All submitted manuscripts are firstly screened for similarity index on Turnitin software. As per HEC policy, The similarity index (SI) must not be greater than 19%. From a single source, it must be below 5%. The similarity index greater than 19% will be automatically rejected and sent back to the authors.

Manuscript extracted by an author from his/her M.Phil. Or Ph.D. thesis must have to declare the “title of the thesis”, “Supervisor name”, Department and University name, and “year of submission” on the original later paid and submitted during the submission process.
Note: Authors must not check plagiarism through unreliable or unauthentic websites or software.

Text Recycling ||

Publications effectively publish accepted manuscripts for text recycling before publication. Text recycling is not a tolerated practice. Manuscripts containing high levels of self-plagiarism will be reviewed by the Editor-in-Chief for originality. Authors found to have self-plagiarized will be asked to rewrite selected portions of their accepted manuscripts and or to quote exactly and cite the source.

The Journal management team will investigate any allegations of publication misconduct and may contact the authors' institutions or funders if necessary. If proof of misconduct is found, appropriate action will be taken to correct or retract/withdraw the publication. The editors of PJNS consider such distributing publishing ethics issues very seriously and are trained to continue in such cases with a zero-tolerance policy.

Processing fees ||

Revenue Source:

Authors are required to pay the amount as decided by the editorial board for handling and publication of the manuscript. The title of the account for the cross cheque/pay order is “Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences”. Publication fee may also be transferred online, details are given below:

Account Type: Current Account          Branch Code:1607                   
Account No: 4003291465              
Bank Name: National Bank of Pakistan, New Muslim Town Lahore

Publication Fee Details

  • Original Article, Case Report, Review Article, etc.: Rs. 17000/- (for local authors)
  • Original Article, Case Report, Review Article, etc.: USD 200 (for international authors)

Wavier Policy: 

Eligibility Criteria to Apply for Waiver

  • Waivers will be provided to authors who are from low or middle-income countries defined by the World Bank. https://data.worldbank.org/income-level/lower-middle-income
  • The waiver policy will not be applicable if the research is funded.
  • Applicable for Undergraduate students.

    Data Sharing
  • Data sharing enables greater transparency in scholarly communications, increases the reproducibility of experimental results, and hastens the pace of important discoveries. When data generated as a result of academic research is well managed and shared openly, it enables ideas to flourish and allows for stronger, more rigorous academic debate.  PJNS, wherever possible, supports the sharing of data generated during a research project, regardless of discipline, content, or publication format.

    Archiving Policy

    PJNS application is currently in process with Portico Digital Preservation. Meanwhile, other preservation methods like CLOCKSS and LOCKSS are available via OJS PKP PN.


Advertising

  • Any form of advertising that harms the PJNS brand or is inappropriate for the content available on the PJNS network may be rejected by PJNS at its discretion.
  • Advertising for goods or services that are known to be unhealthy (such as alcohol and tobacco products) will not be accepted by PJNS.

    Direct Marketing

    Since the journal is open-access, it can be read by anyone without paying a fee and without subscribing.
    Media tools (television, radio, newspaper, magazine) are not used to promote or market the journal.
    PJNS does not carry out any direct marketing like Direct Mail, Telemarketing, Direct Response Advertising to authors, or calls for papers.