Number and order of authors

The number of authors is not restricted, but it should not be disproportionally more than the work done. The order of authors should be based on the contribution to the work. Number and order should be mutually agreed by all authors.

Principal and corresponding authors

The one with most contribution should be principal/ first author. Principal author may himself be the corresponding author or he may designate another author for it with mutual consensus of all the authors.

Acknowledgements
Authors may acknowledge individuals or organisations that 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). We are aware that authors sometimes receive assistance from technical writers, language editors, artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and/or writing agencies in drafting manuscripts for publication. Such assistance must be mentioned 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 ineligibility of the paper. 

Informed consent & maintaining the confidentiality of research participants

1. The authors must obtain appropriate consents, permissions and releases when they wish to include case details or other personal information or images of patients and any other individuals in their work to take care of the Data Protection and Privacy Laws of the concerned country/region.
2. Each individual, or the individual's legal guardian or another person with legal authority to act on the individual's behalf who appears in any video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or case report (or in any other identifiable form) is made aware in advance of the fact that such photographs are being taken or such video, recording, photograph, image, illustration or report is being made, and of all the purposes for which they might be used, including disclosure in any work or product. That individual, legal guardian or person with legal authority must give his/her explicit written consent. If such consent is made subject to any conditions (for example, adopting measures to prevent personal identification of the person concerned), the journal must be made aware in writing of all such conditions. Written consents must be retained by the author and copies of the consents or evidence that such consents have been obtained must be provided to this journal on request.
3. The form of written consent must comply with each requirement of all applicable Data Protection and Privacy Laws. Particular care should be taken with obtaining consent where children are concerned (in particular where a child has special needs or learning disabilities), where an individual's head or face appears, or where reference is made to an individual's name or other personal details.
4. In the case of a child, if parents or guardians disagree on the use of the images of that child, then consent should be deemed not to have been given and those images should not be used. It is also important to ensure that only images of children in suitable dress are used to reduce the risk of images being used inappropriately.
5. Even if consent has been obtained, care must be taken to ensure that the portrayal and captioning of the individual concerned are respectful and could not be seen as denigrating that individual.
   6. Authors have to satisfy the editors that “informed consent to participate” was sought from all adult subjects or from parents/guardians of the subjects less than 16 years age.
6. Patients’ and research subjects’ names, initials, hospital or social security numbers, date of birth or other personal or identifying information should not be used.
7. Images of patients or research subjects should not be used unless it is essential for scientific purposes and that the patient (or parent/ guardian) has given written, informed consent for publication. Even where consent has been given, identifying details should be omitted if they are not essential. Editors may ask to provide the written consent.
8. Informed consent is necessary when there is any doubt regarding anonymity.
9. When masking the subjects, the authors should ensure the editors that scientific meaning is not distorted.
10. Formal consents are not required for the use of entirely anonymized images from which the individual cannot be identified, e.g. X-rays, ultrasound images, pathology slides, or laparoscopic images, provided that these do not contain any identifying marks and are not accompanied by text that might identify the individual concerned.
11. If consent has not been obtained, it is generally not sufficient to anonymize a photograph simply by using eye bars or blurring the face of the individual concerned.
12. Authors should follow the CARE guidelines for case reports.

Similarity Index & Plagiarism Policy

JPPS follows the ICMJE and HEC guidelines/criteria (https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/policies/Documents/Plagiarism-Policy.pdf ) for all types of plagiarism. Manuscripts submitted for publication to JPPS are subjected to Turnitin. Minimum similarity index is desirable. Maximum upper limit is 20% overall and 5% from a single source as allowed by the HEC.

Manuscripts with a similarity index of more than 50% are not processed further; these are rejected. Those with less than 50% are sent to authors for correction. It is the authors' responsibility to apprise them of plagiarism in any form, including paraphrasing and self-plagiarism. Manuscripts submitted to JPPS can be sent to HEC, other medical journals' editors, and international agencies for authentication of originality. The disciplinary committee of JPPS shall deal with cases of plagiarism and will comprise of the Editorial team and the Editor-in-Chief or his representative.

For a plagiarised article (multiple submissions) in processing, the identification of the act will lead to dropping of article from further processing / consideration for publication. The corresponding author will be required to give an explanation on demand. In case of an unsatisfactory reply, the matter will be referred to the disciplinary committee that may decide the course of action.
For a published article, the allegedly plagiarised article will be temporarily retracted from publication and a notice to the effect will be published in the JPPS. The author will provide an explanation on demand. In case of non-response in the stipulated time or unsatisfactory explanation, the article will be permanently retracted and the author will be blacklisted.
HEC, PMDC, and the author's institution will also be notified. In the case of multiple submissions, other editors will also be informed. The author(s) will have to provide documentary proof of retraction from publication, if such a defense is pleaded. Those claiming intellectual/ idea, or data theft of an article must provide documentary proof in support of their claim.

AI Policy
Artificial Intelligence (AI) or any digital language tool used for entirely producing a text, editing, and polishing authors' work is not allowed.
Any similarity found in the manuscript with AI-generated text will be considered as plagiarised material and, hence, subject to rejection by the editorial team.

Conflict of Interest

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

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.

Funding

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

Disclaimer

JPPS is not responsible for statements made by contributors. Unless so stated, material in this journal does not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor-in-Chief, the JPPS, its Editorial Board, or the Pakistan Psychiatric Society. The publishers are not responsible for any error of omission or fact.