1. The Journal follows the authorship guidelines of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (http://www.icmje.org/).

2. The Journal follows the standard definition and description of plagiarism.(http://facpub.stjohns.edu/~roigm/plagiarism/Index.html)

3. A plea of ignorance regarding plagiarism, its definition and detailed description the author(s) will not be entertained as a defense.

4. The Journal assigns equal responsibility of intellectual integrity of the manuscript to all authors whose names appear on the manuscript/article. When submitting a manuscript, the Journal requires that all authors sign a statement accepting this responsibility.

5. This statement must indicate that no part of the manuscript has been plagiarized.

6. The authors should also clearly provide information about all previous/simultaneous submissions to other journals or sources based on data contained within the submitted manuscript. These would include presentations that have been published, papers (in electronic or paper format) and reports, whether by the same author(s) or other authors.

7. Any such material should be made accessible to the Editor and should only be used with referencing according to the guidelines of authorship. This may otherwise form the basis of a redundant publication/duplicate publication/"salami slicing" and appropriate action may be taken by the Editor which may range from rejection of the manuscript to debarment of the authors(s) from further publication in the Journal.

8. It is emphasized that the Journal considers self plagiarism as equally unethical as plagiarism in any other form. Material from an article or book chapter etc that the author had written previously can only be used in a new submission if standard referencing guidelines are followed as in referencing any other source.

9. All manuscripts submitted to the Journal will be checked for plagiarism. If a manuscript submitted for publication (or a manuscript accepted for publication or an article that has already been published in the Journal) is found to be based on plagiarized material, the Editor will be obliged to write to the author(s) seeking an explanation. The corresponding author will be required to respond with an explanation within 30 days of receiving the letter from the editor.

10. Any such manuscript for review will be held up till the matter is resolved.

11. The Editor may also send a letter of information to the Head of the Institution or any other relevant authority at the author(s) institution. A similar letter may also be sent to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan medical and Dental Council for information and possible action.

12. In case an acceptable explanation is provided by the author(s), the Editor may recommend appropriate changes after which the review process for the submitted manuscript may commence.

13. In case of failure of author(s) to either respond within the stipulated time, or in case they are unable to provide a suitable explanation, the Editor will convene a meeting of the Plagiarism Committee of the Board of Editors of the Journal to consider further action.

14. Further action will depend upon the nature of the offence and may include rejection of the manuscript from publication along with possible debarment of the author(s) from further publishing in the Journal. The period of debarment will depend upon the nature of the offence and may range from a period of a few months to permanent.

15. Information regarding this action may be published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal on a numbered page.

16. In case of an offense being identified in an article that has already been published in the Journal, the author(s) explanation will be sought within the stipulated time of 30 days.

17. In case of failure of author(s) to either respond within the stipulated time, in addition to proceeding according to the already laid out guidelines (see above), the Editor will also withdrawn from the journal website as well as medline and pakmedinet.

18. The Editor may also send a letter of information to the Head of the Institution or any other relevant authority at the author(s) institution. A similar letter may also be sent to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and the Pakistan medical and Dental Council for information and possible action.