KARACHI: Pakistan Association of Medial Editors (PAME) in collaboration with Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medial Editors (EMAME) organized a day long training course for Editors at Karachi on Saturday July 14rh 2012. It was attended by fifteen editors from the province of Sindh. Similar courses are planned to be organized at other major cities of Pakistan to provide an opportunity to maximum number of editors to attend and share their knowledge and experience.

Pakistan Association of Medical Editors (PAME) in collaboration with Eastern Mediterranean Association of Medical Editors (EMAME) organized a training course for Editors at Karachi on Saturday July 14^th. Group photograph taken on this occasion shows sitting from (L to R) Dr. Jamshed Akhtar, Dr. Fatema Jawad, Dr.Maqbool H.Jafary, Mr.Shaukat Ali Jawaid and Mr. Najeeb Ansari. Standing from (L to R) Dr. Masood Jawaid, Dr. Yasmin Wajahat, Prof. Sina Aziz, Dr.Saba Sohail, Dr. S.Mohammad Mobeen, Dr. Syed Qaiser Hussain Naqvi, Mr. Mubarak Ali, Prof. Waris Qidwai and Dr. Ali Ammar Zaidi .Prof. Nazeer Khan joined late hence he is not seen in the picture.

Addressing the course participants, President of EMAME Dr.Maqbool H. Jafary highlighted the aims and objectives of EMAME i.e. education and training of medical editors to improve the quality of editing and publishing in the region. He further stated that what EMAME has tried to do is to ask the EMAME member counties to form their own Association of Medical Editors and EMAME can cooperate with them in such academic activities. We also need to strengthen EMAME as well as Editors Associations in different countries in the region by collaborating and cooperating in organizing such training courses, he added.

The participants who attended the course at Karachi included the following:

1.Dr. Maqbool H. Jafary
President EMAME

2. Dr. Fatema Jawad
Editor-in-Chief
Journal of Pakistan Medical Association

3. Dr. Jamshed Akhtar
Editor,
Journal of College of Physicians Surgeons Pakistan

4. Shaukat Ali Jawaid
Managing Editor
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences

5. Dr. Najeebur Rab Ansari
Editor,
Journal of College of Physicians Surgeons Pakistan

6. Dr. Masood Jawaid
Assistant Editor,
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences

7. Mr. Mubarak Ali
Production Editor
Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences

8. Dr. Yasmeen Wajahat
Editor,
Pakistan Jojrnal of Medcial Ethics

9. Dr. Ali Ammar Zaidi
Pakistan Journal of Chest Medicine

10. Prof. Nazeer Khan
Editor,
Journal of Dow University of Health Sciences

11. Dr. Saba Sohail
Journal of College of Physicians Surgeons Pakistan

12. Dr. Waris Qidwai
Journal of Liaquat Univeristy of Medical
and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, Hyderabad.

13. Dr. Syed Qaiser Hussain Naqvi
Editor, Journal of Peoples Women University of
Medical and Health Sciences, Nawabshah, Sindh..

14. Dr. Sina Aziz
Journal of Pakistan Medical Assocaiton

15. Dr. Syed Mohammad Mobin
Journal of Pakistan Medical Association

The participants were provided specially prepared Training Manual Exercise Book compiled and edited by Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid Managing Editor Pak J Med Sci and Secretary General of EMAME. It was based on WHO Training course, and the COPE Congress held at Shiraz in Iran besides training workshop for Editors at APAME Congress held in Seoul, South Korea last year.
The topics which were discussed included Overall Journal Environment in the World and in Pakistan, How to plan success of your journal, What are Journals, To whom it serve, Vision of a Journal, likely contents, authorship issues, credit criteria, listing of authors, Editorial Team and their role, Editorial Work Flow, Editor's Triage, Pressures on Editors and how to overcome them, Different forms of Peer Review, Plagiarism, role of Medical Writers, Publication Misconduct, Ethical Conundrums, Journal Management Policies, Journal author relationship, Electronic publishing, Digital Object Identifier, .Most of it is was accompanied by exercises.

The training manual also included COPE Discussion Paper on How should Editors Respond to Plagiarism. Finally there was an exercise regarding evaluation of Journal. The participants were provided ample opportunity to contribute to the discussion and share their own knowledge and experience on various issues.

Dr.Jamshed Akhtar from JCPSP during the discussion particularly highlighted the issue of authorship and said that many a times they receive manuscripts in which Vice Chancellor of the university or Principal of Medical College, Head of the institution is also included as one of the authors though he or she has not contributed anything. We usually ask them to change this but at times they withdraw the manuscript and get it published in other journals. Similarly when we ask the authors to change their category from original article to brief communication of clinical case series, they do not agree and get it published by withdrawing it from us and it is published in journals with Impact Factor or indexed in Medline. It was pointed out that it is the decision of every journal and Editor how to deal with such a situation but efforts should be made to check this intellectual corruption, abide by the ICMJE criteria of authorship though it is also controversial and was being debated. Some editors feel that it should be replaced with contributor-ship but even then people will lie, hence this acute problem will not get resolve easily. The solution will be easy if every body starts speaking the truth, we all be honest to our profession. However, efforts must go on to highlight all these unethical practices, issues to educate all those concerned.
Earlier Mr. Shaukat Ali Jawaid welcomed the course participants on behalf of Pakistan Association of Medical Editors. Fateha was also offered for the departed soul of late Dr. Sarwar J. Zuberi former Chief Editor of JPMA, Prof. Manzar Saleem former General Secretary of PMJA both from Karachi and Prof. Ijaz Ahamd from Lahore for their contribution and serves to promote the cause of medical journalism in Pakistan.