Instructions for Authors

The Journal of Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (JPOA) follows the uniform requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical journals as approved by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors(ICMJE). The Journal of Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (JPOA) accepts and publish manuscripts that are prepared in accordance with the principles of International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE). The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).Authors are requested to read instructions at www.icmje.org and http://publicationethics.org/.

All authors are requested to submit their articles through Open Journal System(OJS) of Journal of Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (JPOA).

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All authors are requested to strictly follow authorship criteria. According to ICMJE Authorship Criteria (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) the author is one who 1) has made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) has been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) has given final approval of the version to be published. 4) All authors agree to be responsible for all aspects of this research work.

Each author of a manuscript should fulfil ALL 4 criteria.

Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not justify authorship.

Those personnel whose contributions do not justify authorship may be acknowledged individually or together as a group under a single heading (e.g. "Clinical Investigators" or "Participating Investigators"), and their contributions should be specified (e.g., "served as scientific advisors," "critically reviewed the study proposal," "collected data," "provided and cared for study patients", "participated in writing or technical editing of the manuscript").

Scientific misconduct relating to research and publication is resolved by Editorial Board JPOA in accordance with the guidelines formulated by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC).

All manuscripts submitted to The Journal of Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (JPOA) should be written in a sequence, i.e., title page, abstract and keywords, text, acknowledgment (contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship), disclosure (if any), references, tables (each on separate page) and legends. Page number should start from the title page.

• The manuscript should be written in New Times Roman 12 fonts, typed in double space with clear margins on either side. No bold fonts, capital letters, colour or underlined sentences are allowed.
• The Journal of Pakistan Orthopaedic Association (JPOA) does not issue acceptance letter for the manuscript only manuscript is acknowledged once received.
• Once authorship certificate is submitted no further changes in the authors’ list is allowed.
• All authors are directed to submit letter of undertaking signed by all authors with approval letter from Ethical Review Board (ERB) or Institutional Review Board(IRB) of the hospital and questionnaire/research proforma along with manuscript otherwise manuscript will not be processed.
• The editor has the right to do necessary changes in the manuscript during the final editing of the manuscript.
• All correspondence should be done at jpoaofficials@jpoa.org.pk
• Randomized controlled trial (RCT) must have registration number and name of trial registry
• JPOA prefers manuscript submission through Open Journal System(OJS) by logging in to its website at JPOA website

COPYRIGHT AGREEMENT [Download]

Title Page:
The title page should include title of the manuscript which must be concise and informative. Write category of the manuscript (original article, case report etc). Mention all authors full name, affiliations, contact numbers and emails. Write Corresponding authors’ name, present address, email and cell number. All authors must have substantial contribution to the study. Write total word count of the manuscript (excluding tables and references). Numbering of the pages should start from title page.

Abstract:
An abstract of 250 words, structured (for original article) with subheading of Objective, Methods (mentioning place, duration and design of the study), Results, Conclusion and Keywords ( 3 to 5) from Mesh is required. For case report/review article an unstructured abstract of 150 words is required.

Introduction:
Two or three paragraphs with not more than 10 references. Appropriate rationale for conducting the study must be written in the last paragraph. Data and conclusions from other studies must not be included.

Methods:
Details of data collection procedure, sample size calculation, inclusion, inclusion and exclusion criteria, brief procedure/intervention, statistical software for analysis and appropriatestatistical tests must be mentioned.  Ethical issues if any must be mentioned here.

Results:
Results should be presented clearly and in accordance with study objective. Results mentioned in text should not be represented in tables or graphs or vice versa.

Discussion:
Important findings of results should be interpreted/ analyzed. It should be written in separate paragraphs and each important variable of the study must be discussed in a single paragraph. Strength and weakness of the study and recommendations if any must be written in the last paragraph of discussion.

Conclusion:
Conclusion should be relevant to the aim and objective of the study.

References:
References should be written in Vancouver style (References preferably should not be more than 5 years old) cited in numerical order. (see Section Recommendations- Manuscript preparation and submission at: http://icmje.org/recommendations/" for correct referencing).Inclusion of  recent Pakistani research references are mandatory.

Sr. No.	Manuscript Type	Abstract	Abstract Word Count	Word Count	References	Tables and Figures (Total)
1	Review Article	Unstructured	150	4000	40	5*
2	Original Article	Structured	250	3000	25	3
3	Case Report	Unstructured	150	1250	10	2
4	Letters to the Editor	N/A	N/A	400	5	1
5	Response to Articles	N/A	N/A	250	5	1
6	Editorial	N/A	N/A	1500	12	1

Once the Copy Right Agreement Form is submitted to JPOA, NO further changes in the authors’ list (changes in the order of authors or co-author names, further inclusion or deletion of authors’ names) is allowed.

1. The Editor in Chief JPOA has the right to do necessary changes in the manuscript during the final editing of the manuscript.
2. ONLY the corresponding author (and NOT the author or co-authors) can correspond with JPOA in case of any query regarding manuscript or post publication.
3. The corresponding author/authors demand of withdrawn/retraction of their manuscript will NOT be accepted once Review and Scanning process of that manuscript has been completed by JPOA. (Except for a valid reason to the satisfaction of JPOA editorial board for withdrawal submitted in written and duly signed by all the authors). Unless a written withdrawn letter is issued to the author by JPOA the manuscript is not considered withdrawn and its submission to other journal for publication will be considered as ethical misconduct. 
4. The undersigned testify that this manuscript has not been previously submitted nor published in another journal.