Authorship Policies

Being an author

  • All authors of a single manuscript are not required to communicate to the journal editor.
  • The copyright form should be sent by the corresponding author only.
  • The corresponding author is accountable for coordination between the journal and all co-authors of the submitted manuscript before and after publication.
  • The corresponding author has to report any alterations made before publication.
  • For changes in the authorship sequence, the addition or deletion of authors from the list requires approval from all authors, including ones being terminated.
  • The copyright statement requires the authors to declare that they will abide by the authorship sequence and that the affiliations mentioned are accurate and approve the manuscript submission to the Pakistan Heart Journal.
  • The authorship sequence should be formed in accordance with the level of individual contribution made to the submitted manuscript.
  • Authors are supposed to resolve potential disputes regarding the sequence of authorship; however, if the matter escalates, it must be communicated to the editors.
  • Pakistan Heart Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines to resolve instances of disputes between the authors before and after the publication of the journal.
  • Once the submission has been made, the corresponding author is accountable for the submitted manuscript in order to guarantee the originality of the content.

Author contributions statements

  • Authors are advised to include a statement of contribution in the manuscript. The statement must include details of their contribution to the formation of the submitted manuscript, keeping the manuscript category and individual or group work in mind.
  • An author must be able to identify which co-author is responsible for the specific part of the work. In addition, the corresponding authors should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of every other co-author. Pakistan Heart Journal includes only one corresponding author per article to avoid all sorts of miscommunication while the rest can be mentioned in the author list.

Corresponding Author - Prepublication responsibilities

  • The corresponding author is in charge of any and all communication with the journal about the submission of the manuscript and publication process as its core responsibility. The corresponding author must confirm that all authors are mentioned in the authors' list prior to the final submission. He/She must verify that the authors have acknowledged and approved the sequence of the authors. The corresponding author must confirm that all of the journal's administrative standards are met, and the manuscript is not under consideration or perhaps published already.

Corresponding Author - Responsibilities after acceptance

  • After multiple rounds of review and editing, the final copy-proof is sent to the corresponding author, and it is now the corresponding author's responsibility to distribute or circulate the copy proof among other co-authors and coordinate with the journal on their behalf. The corresponding author must ensure that the list of names, spellings, addresses and affiliations mentioned are accurate and relevant to all the co-authors.

Corresponding Author - Responsibilities after publication

  • Any published correction requires the consent of all co-authors. In cases where one or some authors do not agree with the correction statement, the corresponding author must include a statement highlighting correspondence to and from the dissenting author(s).
  • Pakistan Heart Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for disagreement between the authors before and after publication.

Co-authorship

  • The Pakistan Heart Journal criteria suggests that contributors whose names are not mentioned in the authors’ list are to be included with details of their contributions in the acknowledgment section at the end of the manuscript.

Alteration to authorship or co-authorship

  • Before publication, it is possible to make alterations in the list of authors and contributors; any changes in order, addition or deletion of specific people can be entertained if the request is approved by all authors. The editor must be contacted regarding the potential alterations and has the responsibility to further confirm with authors to ensure everyone's approval of the change requests.
  • The editor may consider requests for changes in authorship after the manuscript's acceptance, in exceptional circumstances. However, the publication of the manuscript will be temporarily suspended.
  • In case of authorship conflicts that arise after publication, the Pakistan Heart Journal follows Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines for disagreement between the authors before and after publication.

A confidential process

  • Pakistan Heart Journal always seeks to protect the identities as well as communication between its authors and reviewers. Likewise, we require the authors to also respect the confidentiality of the manuscript before its publication, and the authors are also expected to keep review reports and other relevant material secure. The manuscript will be rejected in case the documents are publicized without obtaining permission.

Reviewer suggestions

  • Pakistan Heart Journal allow authors to suggest two reviewers. Recommended reviewers should be experts in their fields and should be able to provide an objective assessment of the manuscript.
  • We respect authors suggestions for the selective reviewers but the peer-reviewers are selected by the editors only. Although upon request a few may be excluded while making the choice.

Consortia authorship

  • Pakistan Heart Journal facilitates consortium authorships as well. In this case, we recommend highlighting the members of the consortium who agree to the responsibility of the author separately from those who do not.