Author Guidelines

AUTHORS' GUIDELINES 

Content
We aim to publish research that is clinically applicable, correct, ethical, innovative, and follows the principles and guidelines set out by COPE, WAME, ICMJE and EQUATOR.

About
JPPS is an international peer-reviewed journal owned and published by Pakistan Psychiatric Society. It publishes original work in all fields of psychiatry. Please refer to journal’s Aims & Scope for further information about its focus and readership.

The journal is not responsible for statements made by contributors, and material in JPPS does not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor-in-Chief, Editorial Board or Pakistan Psychiatric Society.

All Manuscripts should be submitted online as a Word document via the link: Submit an Article. Authors may check the progress of their manuscript(s) at any time via the submission website.

For assistance with online submission, please email editorjppspak@gmail.com or call +92 3312111525.

The JPPS agrees to accept manuscripts prepared in accordance with the “Uniform Requirements submitted to the Biomedical Journals” as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines, published in the British Medical Journal 1991; 302:334-41.

All material submitted for publication should be sent exclusively to the Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society. Work that has already been reported in a published paper or is described in a paper sent or accepted elsewhere for publication should not be submitted. However, a complete report following the publication of a preliminary report, usually in the form of an abstract or a paper that has been presented at a scientific meeting, if not published in full in a proceedings or similar publication, may be submitted. Press reports of meetings will not be considered a breach of this rule, but such reports should not be amplified by additional data or copies of tables and illustrations. In case of doubt, a copy of the published material should be included with a manuscript to help the editors decide how to deal with the matter.

Authors will be asked to confirm that the prerequisite elements are included during submission. Any omissions may cause delays.

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items (Submission Preparation Checklist), and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

POLICY ON PRIOR PUBLICATION
All manuscripts and material submitted for publication should be sent exclusively (should not be under consideration, accepted for publication or in press with a different journal, book or similar entity, unless disclosed fully and permission sought from all involved entities) to the Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society and Work that has already been reported in a published paper or is described in a paper sent or accepted elsewhere for publication should not be submitted. Multiple or duplicate submission of the same work to other journal should be avoided as it is considered publication fraud, and is liable for disciplinary consequences, including reporting to Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC) and Higher Education Commission (HEC).

A complete report following publication of a preliminary report, usually in the form of an abstract, or a paper that has been presented at a scientific meeting, if not published in full, in a proceedings or abstract book can be submitted. A copy of the published material should be included with a manuscript for editors' consideration.

PRE-PRINT ARTICLES PUBLICATION
Deposition of a preprint on the author’s personal website, in an institutional repository, or in a preprint archive will be considered as prior or duplicate publication, and such manuscripts shall not be acceptable.

SUBMISSION PORTAL
Authors can submit their manuscripts online via journal's online submission system at www.jpps.pk. Manuscripts must be submitted by the corresponding author of the manuscript, and should not be submitted by anyone on their behalf. A successful electronic submission of a manuscript is proceeded by a system-generated acknowledgement email to the corresponding author. Any queries should be addressed to editorjppspak@gmail.com

ARTICLE TYPES
JPPS accepts and publishes the following types of articles:
Original Research, Review Article, Special article, Editorial, Commentary, Short communication, Case Report, Recent Advances, New techniques, Debates, Print & e-Book Review on Clinical/Medical Education, Adverse Drug Reports and Letter to the Editor.

FEES
No Article processing charges or Publishing Fee.

ORCID
All corresponding authors are required to identify themselves using ORCID when submitting a manuscript to JPPS. ORCID is a unique identifier for researchers and, through integration with key research workflows such as manuscript submission and grant applications, provides the following benefits: Discoverability, Convenience, and Keeping Track.

If you do not have an ORCID, you need to create one to submit a manuscript to this journal. You can register at https://ORCID.org/register. However, if you already have an ORCiD, use this when submitting your manuscript, either by linking it to your JPPS OJS account, or by providing it during submission.

AUTHORSHIP CRITERIA
Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society (JPPS) follows the ICMJE definition of authorship (http://www.icmje.org/icmje-recommendations.pdf), and expects that any person listed as an author in the article submitted to this journal to fulfil the criteria listed and that no author(s) who would be considered an author have been omitted. In case of a dispute or change request, during the publishing process, this journal will be guided by the relevant COPE flowchart in deciding the appropriate action(s).

Eligibility for authorship should be based on these four criteria (ICMJE recommendations):

1. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and
2. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
3. Final approval of the version to be published; and
4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

NOTE: all authors of a manuscript have a shared duty for maintaining the integrity of the work, regardless of their individual contributions.

A maximum of six authors are allowed in a single-institution or discipline study. However, for a multi-institution or discipline and international research collaboration, the Editorial Board will decide on the basis of individual cases.

JPPS discourages gift authorship(s). Mere supervision, collection of data, statistical analysis and language correction do not qualify as authorship rights. It is preferable that all authors should belong to the same department of an institute, except for multi-centre and multi-specialty studies.

The corresponding author is responsible for communicating with the co-authors. Anyone who does not meet the criteria should be listed in the Acknowledgement section with their permission. The corresponding author's precise responsibilities include:

• Manuscript correction and proofreading. Handling the revisions and re-submission of revised manuscripts up to the acceptance of the manuscripts.
• Agreeing to and signing the Author Publishing Agreement on behalf of relevant co-authors and/or arranging for any third-party copyright owners’ signature.
• Acting on behalf of all co-authors in responding to queries from all sources post-publication, including questions relating to publishing ethics, reuse of content, or the availability of data, materials, resources etc.

Requests to change the corresponding author after submission will be subject to scrutiny and a formal process, as with any authorship change. This applies to both pre- and post-publication of the article.

A final list of authors MUST be provided with their contact details, such as workplace, telephone/cell numbers and e-mail addresses on the manuscript at the time of submission, ensuring the correct sequence of the names of authors, which will not be considered for any addition, deletion or rearrangement after final submission of the manuscript.

PROCESSING AND PUBLICATION FEE
Submission Fee / Manuscript Processing Fee: No Charges
Manuscript Publication Fee: No Charges

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
The manuscript must be typed in MS Word. The sentences should not begin with a number or figure. Components of manuscript should be in the following sequence: a title page (containing names of authors, their postal and email addresses, phone numbers, including mobile phone number of the corresponding author), abstract, key words, text, references, tables (each table, complete with title and footnotes) and legends for illustrations and photographs. All illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end. The manuscript should be typed in double spacing as a single column with 12-point font. British spellings must be used in the text.

Sub-headings should not be used in any section of the script except in the abstract. In survey and other studies, comments in verbatim should not be stated from a participating group. Authors may acknowledge individuals or organisations who provided non-financial advice and/or support. Names and descriptions of the contributions of all non-author contributors should be included (as identified in the ICMJE guidelines).

All randomised trials should also provide a proof of being registered at the International RCT Registry.

PREPARING YOUR SUBMISSION
Checklist: What to Include

Authors will be asked to confirm the following elements are included during submission. Any omissions may cause delays.

Manuscript file in Word Document:

1. Title: The title should be brief and relevant. Titles should not announce the results of articles and (apart from editorials), they should not be phrased as questions.
2. Author(s) Names: The full names of the author(s) should appear on the title page in the form and sequence that is desired for publication. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, please specify the name of the group and identify the group members on the title page who can take credit and responsibility for the work as authors. Other group members (non-author contributors) should be listed under Acknowledgements.
3. Main Text: See relevant Article Type (Material of Publication) for individual specification.
4. Clinical Trials Registration: As per ICMJE guidelines, JPPS requires all clinical trials to be registered in a public trials registry at the beginning of the research process (prior to patient enrolment). Trial registration numbers should be included in the abstract, with full details of the trial in the Method section.
5. Ethics Statement: Authors must follow the ICMJE guidelineson the protection of research participants. Reports on research involving human participants must include the following statement in the Method section:  All procedures involving human subjects/patients were approved by [name of the relevant local, regional or national review body and approval number, date of letter]. 

Ethical Oversight / Research with Humans or Animals: It is expected that any author(s) who submit their content to JPPS to have obtained the necessary ethical approvals and consents for their research and its publication, and to be able to produce evidence of this if requested.

6. Consent Statement: Author(s) must include a statement in the Methods section detailing the procedure for obtaining consent from study participants. For example:
   • Written [or verbal] informed consent was obtained from all subjects/ patients.
   • Verbal consent was obtained from all subjects/patients. Verbal consent was witnessed and formally recorded.

This confirms that any participant has consented to the inclusion of material pertaining to themselves, that they acknowledge that they cannot be identified via the manuscript; and that the participant has been fully anonymised by the author.
If consent was not obtained from all participants, please state the reasons for this and note whether this was approved by the ethics committee.
If research participants are identifiable, authors should complete and upload a Consent Form. Where someone is deceased, please ensure you have written consent from the family.

7. Author(s) Details: At the end of the manuscript, list the affiliations and countries at the time the work described in the paper was carried out. Identify one corresponding author with an email address appropriate for publication.
8. References: References should be numbered in the order that they appear in the text as superscripts and listed at the end of the manuscript using the Vancouver style. Unpublished doctoral theses may be cited, but no other citation of unpublished work, including unpublished conference presentations, is permissible. Authors are responsible for checking all references for accuracy and relevance before submission.

Required Statements:

1. Declaration of Interest: Author(s) must include a Declaration of Interest statement in their manuscript, detailing all conflicts of interest. Conflicts of interest are situations that could be perceived to exert an undue influence on an author’s presentation of their work. They may include, but are not limited to, financial, professional, contractual or personal relationships or situations. Conflicts of interest do not necessarily mean that an author’s work has been compromised. Authors should declare any real or perceived conflicts of interest in order to be transparent about the context of their work. If the manuscript has multiple authors, the author submitting the manuscript must include a Declaration of Interest statement relevant to all contributing authors. If no Conflicts of Interest exist, your declaration should state “Declaration of Interest: None”.
2. Funding: Author(s) should include a Funding Statement in their manuscript. In this statement, please provide details of the sources of financial support for all authors, including grant numbers. Where no specific funding has been provided for research, you should include the following statement: “Funding Statement: This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.”
3. Acknowledgements: Authors may acknowledge individuals or organisations who provided non-financial advice and/or support. Names and descriptions of the contributions of all non-author contributors should be included (as identified in the ICMJE guidelines). Authors who receive assistance from technical writers, language editors, artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and/or writing agencies in drafting manuscripts for publication, such assistance must be noted in the Acknowledgements section. Failure to acknowledge assistance from technical writers, language editors, AI tools and/or writing agencies in drafting manuscripts for publication in the Acknowledgements section may lead to disqualification of the paper.
4. Author(s) Contribution: All authors must meet all four ICMJE criteriafor authorship. Please provide a very brief description of the contribution of each author to the research including their roles in formulating the research question(s), designing the study, carrying it out, analysing the data and writing the article by completing the Author(s) Contribution/Undertaking Form. The journal will follow COPE guidance to investigate if ghost, guest or gift authorship is suspected in a paper.

Data Availability and Sharing
For research transparency, author(s) must maintain accurate records of data associated with their manuscript, and to provide access to these data on reasonable request for purposes of reproducing results or replicating procedures. The authors are encouraged to deposit data in a recognised data repository that issues a persistent digital identifier (e.g., DOI), provides timestamped entries and recognises a long-term preservation plan. Please include a brief statement indicating whether or not the data and materials supporting the findings are available to other researchers, and if so, where and how they may be accessed.

Dissertation/Thesis Citing
JPPS accepts research that has been completed as part of a dissertation/thesis. All submissions are required to meet the standards of the journal and will be subject to the usual peer review process. 

In accordance with the journal’s Publishing Policy, it is mandatory for authors to disclose whether the research is part of a thesis by following the below points: 

• Author(s) are required to indicate in JPPS OJS account and disclose in their covering letter their work is part of or is a whole thesis.
• Author(s) are required to update the title page of the thesis with a link to the new version of record.
• Authors are required to cite and reference their thesis. 

• Authors should refer to the general rights detailed in the thesis and confirm they hold copyright/have permission to reuse this material in the new paper.
• Authors are reminded that final decisions are at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. Authors will be asked to confirm that the prerequisite elements are included during submission. Any omissions may cause delays.
  Failure to disclose this information will result in the submission being withdrawn and the University/ Institution notified.
• Such articles, if approved, shall be published under the disclosure by author that 'This is a dissertation/thesis-based article'.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT
All submitted manuscripts are evaluated by at least two staff editors for archival and statistical analysis, if applicable. These papers are then sent to two external reviewers. The assigned editor also examines and authenticates the references and checks for plagiarism.

PEER REVIEW
JPPS is a double-blind, peer-reviewed journal. Each manuscript is presented to two reviewers who are experts in the field.
The comments of reviewers are shared with the author(s) for incorporation in the manuscript. The revised manuscript is further evaluated by the respective section editors and finally by the Editor-in-Chief. If accepted, authors are accordingly informed and the manuscripts are kept for publication. In case of rejection, authors are accordingly notified and the manuscripts are archived.

All submissions are initially assessed for suitability by the Deputy Editors. After the initial assessment, submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed by two independent, anonymous experts and the assigned Editor. This handling editor will recommend a decision to the Editor-in-Chief who is the final decision-making authority.

The revised manuscripts may be subject to the same review process as original submissions. The editors reserve the right to approach additional reviewers as needed. Decisions on revised submissions may also be based entirely on the assessments of the Editor-in-Chief and/or the assigned Editor.

All types of Special articles (Review Articles, Case Reports, Commentaries, Book Reviews, Debates, Recent Advances, New Techniques, Adverse Drug Reactions, and Letter to the Editor) are also subject to the double-blind peer review process.

Recommended reviewers are treated as suggestions only and with no guarantee that they will be approached. Authors with grave concerns about potential reviewers should write to the journal to explain why they would like reviewers to be excluded. The journal editors reserve the right to invite excluded reviewers at their discretion.

The author and reviewer should not have any contact without the permission of the journal during the peer review process and before a final decision has been made. The system is designed to blind the reviewer’s name to the author. If the reviewer includes their name in the review, it may be visible to the author.

No person is permitted to take any role in the peer-review of a paper in which they have an interest, defined as follows: fees or grants from, employment by, consultancy for, shared ownership in, or any close relationship with, an organisation whose interests, financial or otherwise, may be affected by the publication of the paper. In case of conflict or disputed articles, the matter is discussed with the Editor-in-Chief and finally sent to a third reviewer as nominated by him.

See JPPS Peer Review Guidelines for details on all instructions and ethical considerations.

MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION
The material submitted for publication may be in the form of an Original research, a Review Article, Special article, Commentary, Short communication, a Case Report, Recent Advances, New techniques, Debates, Book Review on Clinical/Medical Education, Adverse Drug Reports or a Letter to the Editor.

Original articles should normally report original research of relevance to clinical medicine, and may appear either as papers or as short communications. The paper should be of about 2500 words (excluding references, tables and figure legends), with no more than five tables or illustrations (in total); There should be no more than 25 references in an Original Article.

Short communications should be of about 600 words, with one table or illustration and no more than five references.
Clinical case reports and brief or negative research findings may appear in this section.

A Review article should consist of a structured overview of a relatively narrow topic, providing background and recent development with reference to original literature. The length of the review article should be of 3000 to 3500 words (excluding references, tables and figure legends). An author can only write a review article if he or she has written a minimum of three original research articles and some case reports on the same topic. There should be no more than 50 references in a Review Article.

Editorials are written by invitation only.

Each manuscript should include a title page (containing the e-mail address, and phone numbers of the corresponding author), an abstract, text, acknowledgements (if any), references, tables, and legends. Each component should begin on a new page, in the following sequence: Title page; Abstract and at least five key words; text; acknowledgements; references; tables (each table, complete with title and footnotes, should be merged in the manuscript); and legends for illustrations.
The manuscript should be typed in double spacing with font size 12. It should not exceed 20 pages, excluding tables and references.

TEXT ORGANISATION & FORMAT
Manuscripts except Short Communication and Letter to the Editor should be divided into the following sections:

TITLE PAGE

• Word count: The number of words in the manuscript (including abstract, text, and references) and the number of tables and figures should be noted in the upper right-hand corner of the title page. Tables and figures are no longer included in the word count.
• Title: The title should be informative and as brief as possible. JPPS style for titles is not to use declarative sentences.
• Authors: Author(s) full names. Degrees should be included after each author’s name.
• Previous presentation: If the paper has been presented at a meeting, give the name of the meeting, the location, and the inclusive dates.
• Location of work and address for reprints:Provide the department, institution, city, and where the work was done. Include a full address for the author who is to receive correspondence and reprint requests.
• Disclosures: As outlined in Declaration of Competing Interests and Funding, all financial relationships with commercial interests for all authors must be disclosed, whether or not directly related to the subject of their paper. Such reporting must include all equity ownership, profit-sharing agreements, royalties, patents, and research or other grants from private industry or closely affiliated non-profit funds. For income from pharmaceutical companies, the purpose must be specified. If author(s) have no interests to disclose, this must be explicitly stated and will be acknowledged in print.
• Acknowledgments: Any individuals or organisations who provided non-financial advice and/or support.
  
  ABSTRACT
  Abstracts of original articles should be in structured format with the following sub-headings:
  i) Objective. ii) Study Design. iii) Place & Duration of study iv) Method v) Results vi) Conclusion.
  Four elements should be addressed: why did you start, what did you do, what did you find, and what does it mean. Why did you start is the objective. What did you do constitutes the method and could include design, setting, patients or other participants, interventions, and outcome measures. What did you find is the results, and what does it means would constitute your conclusions? Please label each section clearly with the appropriate sub-headings.
  Background is not needed in an abstract. The total word count of abstract should be about 250 words. A minimum of 5 key words as per MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) should be written at the end of abstract.
  
  A structured abstract for an original article should not be more than 250 words. The main text should include the following sections: Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion and Conclusion.
  For a Review article, please include a structured abstract of up to 250 words with the headings: Objective, Method (including data sources, study selections, synthesis approach), Results, Conclusion.

Case report and other require a short, unstructured abstract of about 200-250 words and a Minimum of 5 (MeSH) Keywords.
Commentaries do not require an abstract.

INTRODUCTION

This should include the purpose of the article after providing brief literature review strictly related to objective of the study. The rationale for the study or observation should be summarised. Only strictly relevant references should be cited and the subject should not be extensively reviewed. It is desirable not to cite more than 10 references in this section. Appropriate use of reference to augment support from literature is warranted i.e., not more than 2 to 3 references be used for an observation. Data, method or conclusion from the work being reported should not be placed in this segment. It should end with a statement of the study objective.

METHOD
Study design and sampling methods should be mentioned. Obsolete terms, such as retrospective studies, should not be used. The selection of the observational or experimental subjects (patients or experimental animals, including controls) should be described clearly. The methods and apparatus used should be identified (with the manufacturer’s name and address in parentheses) and procedures described in sufficient detail to allow other workers to reproduce the results. References to established methods should be given, including statistical methods; references and brief descriptions for methods that have been published but are not well-known should be provided; new or substantially modified methods should be described, giving reasons for using them and evaluating their limitations. All drugs and chemicals used should be identified precisely, including the generic name(s), dose(s), and route(s) of administration.
The following statements should be included in the Method section:

• Ethics Statement: All authors are required to follow the ICMJE guidelineson the protection of research participants. Reports on research involving human participants must include the following statement: All procedures involving human subjects/patients were approved by [name of the relevant local, regional or national review body and approval number-if applicable].
• Consent Statement: Authors must include a statement in the Methods section detailing the procedure for obtaining consent from study participants as mentioned earlier.

Statistical analysis: the specific test used should be mentioned, preferably with reference for an uncommon test. Exact p-values and 95% confidence interval (CI) limits must be mentioned instead of only stating greater or less than level of significance. All percentages must be accompanied with actual numbers. SPSS output sheet must be attached with manuscript to clarify results (p-values).

RESULTS
These should be presented in a logical sequence in the text, tables, and illustrations. The data in the tables or illustrations should not be repeated in the text; only important observations should be emphasised or summarised. In total, up to five tables and figures may be included (e.g., three tables and two figures). Authors are encouraged to present key data within smaller tables within the article itself.

DISCUSSION
The author’s comment on the results, supported with contemporary references, including arguments and analyses of identical work done by other workers. A summary is not required. A brief acknowledgement may be made at the end.
It should always include strengths and limitations of the paper to ensure balance and use of subheadings is encouraged in this section. Authors should summarise the conclusions of the study at the end of the Discussion.

CONCLUSION
A conclusion should be provided under a separate heading and highlight new aspects arising from the study. It should be in accordance with the objectives. Recommendations and clinical implications should be mentioned here as subheading(s).

The following statements with headings must be provide (details mentioned above):

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Any conflict of interest should be declared by all authors. This may include grants or honorarium, credits and promotions, memberships or any personal or professional relationships which may appear to influence the manuscript. Such competing interests are not unethical but should be declared. If there are no conflict of interests, authors should still include this heading and write "none to declare." or "Authors declared no conflict of interest".

FUNDING
Any company or institution who has financially contributed to the study must be acknowledged.

DISCLOSURE
Nonmonetary disclosures regarding being part of a thesis or dissertation, a pilot project or an ongoing study should be made explicitly at the time of submission.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT (if any)

REFERENCES

References should be numbered in the order in which they are cited in the text. At the end of the article, the full list of references should be in Vancouver style and give the names and initials of all authors (unless there are more than six, when only the first six should be given, followed by et al). The authors’ names are followed by the title of the article; title of the journal abbreviated according to the style of the Index Medicus (see "List of Journals Indexed," printed yearly in the January issue of Index Medicus); year, volume and page number. References to books should give the names of the editors, place of publication, publisher, and year. The author must verify the references against the original documents before submitting the article.
Abbreviations of journal names should conform to the style used in “NLM Catalog: Journals referenced in the NCBI Databases” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/journals); journals not indexed there should not be abbreviated.
The majority of references should be from the last five years since the date of submission.
All references must be listed in Vancouver Style only. They should be numbered sequentially as superscripts in the text and listed in the same numerical order in the reference section.

Note:

• The majority of references should be recent (from last 5 years)
• Citing non-English sources is discouraged.
• All references must be complete and accurate, and provide DOI (Digital Object Identifier) where available.
• List all authors if the total number of authors is six or less, and for more than six authors, use et al. after 6th author.
• Date of access should be provided for online citations.
• Journal names should be abbreviated according to the NLM catalogue abbreviations only, other wise full names must be provided.
• Punctuation should be properly applied.
• Self-citation should be avoided.
• Authors are responsible for checking all references for accuracy and relevance before submission.
  
  

TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Tables and illustrations should be merged within the text of the paper, and legends to illustrations should be typed on the same sheet. Tables should be simple, and should supplement rather than duplicate information in the text; tables repeating information will be omitted. Each table should have a title and be typed in double space without horizontal and vertical lines. Tables should be numbered consecutively with in the order they are mentioned in the text (e.g., Table 1, Table 2...). The page number should be in the upper right corner. If abbreviations are used, they should be explained in footnotes and when they first appear in text. Please ensure tables are a reasonable size, as tables over two typeset pages (around 1,400 words) will not be printed.

Figures should be numbered (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3…) and referenced in the text of the manuscript. Authors must indicate the desired position of the figure in the manuscript. When graphs, scattergrams, or histograms are submitted, the numerical data on which they are based should be supplied. All graphs should be made with MS Excel and sent as a separate Excel file, even if merged in the manuscript. For scanned photographs, the highest resolution should be used.

FIGURES AND PHOTOGRAPHS
Figures and photographs should only be sent when data cannot be expressed in any other form. Photographs, X-rays, CT scans, MRI and photomicrographs should be sent in a digital format with a minimum resolution of 3.2 mega pixels in JPEG compression file. Photographs must be sharply focused, and most photographs taken with a mobile phone camera do not fulfil the requirements, thus not acceptable for printing. The background of photographs must be neutral and preferably white. The photographs submitted must be those originally captured by a camera and free from any digital manipulation. Scanned photographs must have 300 or more dpi resolution. These figures and photographs must be cited in the text in consecutive order (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2...). Legends for photomicrographs should indicate the magnification, internal scale and the method of staining. If photographs of patients are used, either they should not be identifiable or the photographs should be accompanied by written permission to use them.

S.I. UNITS
System International (S.I.) Unit measurement should be used, and imperial measurement units like inches, feet, etc. shall not be accepted.

ABBREVIATIONS
Except for units of measurement, the first time an abbreviation appears, it should be preceded by the words for which it stands.

DRUG NAME
Generic names should be used rather than trade names. When proprietary brands are used in research, include the brand name and the name of the manufacturer in parentheses after first mentioning the generic name in the Method section.

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS
Manuscripts should be written in English (United Kingdom), in past tense and third person indirect form of narration. Manuscripts with major language inconsistencies will not be published. Authors may seek professional assistance for correction of grammatical, scientific and typographical errors before submission of the revised version of the article for publication, and acknowledge the same.

SUBMISSION
Submit the article in MS Word format with the following documents:

A. Letter of Submission: A Letter of Submission should declare the following:

1. The conception, conduction, Analysis, and reporting of the research are the original ideas and efforts of the authors.
2. The manuscript has not been published or submitted to be published in part or full anywhere else in any capacity.
3. All the authors mutually agree to publish the manuscript, along with the name, signature, and contact information of the Author.T
4. he understanding that all authors stand informed that as the article is accepted by JPPS, copyrights would be transferred to Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society (JPPS), published by Pakistan Psychiatric Society (PPS) for all purposes, so that the author(s), JPPS and PPS are protected from misuse of copyrighted material.
   B. Author(s) Contribution/Undertaking Statement
   The undertaking statement should list each of the authors, their affiliation, contribution in the study/manuscript, along with signatures in tabular format (as shown below).

Author(s) Contribution: All authors should meet all four ICMJE criteria for authorship. Please provide a very brief description of the contribution of each author to the research, including their roles in formulating the research question(s), designing the study, carrying it out, analysing the data, and writing the article.
JPPS will follow COPE guidance to investigate if ghost, guest, or gift authorship is suspected in a paper.

C. A copy of the Ethical Approval of the research from the concerned competent authority, with the reference number of the letter and the signature of the designated member of the authority.  

In case of experimental interventions, permission from ethical committee of the hospital should be taken beforehand. Any other conflict of interest must be disclosed. All interventional studies submitted for publication should carry institutional ethical & research committee approval letter. Ethical consideration regarding the intervention, added cost of test, and particularly the management of control in case-control comparisons of trials should be addressed: multi-centric authors' affiliation will be asked to be authenticated by provision of permission letters from ethical boards or the heads of involved institutes.

                                                               Sample of Author(s) Contribution/Undertaking Form

*Note: The submitted manuscripts will not be accepted without the Submission Letter, Ethical Approval and Undertaking Statement. (The Contact numbers will not be published).