Submissions

Author Guidelines

Authors should read these guidelines in full before submission. Manuscripts must fall within the journal’s scope, follow the applicable study-design reporting guideline, provide complete ethical and authorship documentation, and be submitted as separate title-page and blinded-manuscript files.

JPMHR follows the ICMJE Recommendations, relevant EQUATOR Network reporting guidelines, and the journal’s published policies.

Accepted Article Types and Word Limits

Word limits exclude the abstract, references, tables, figure legends, and supplementary files. Editors may approve a justified exception before submission.

• Original Research Article: 3,000–4,500 words; structured abstract of 250–300 words; normally up to 50 references and six tables or figures.
• Systematic Review or Meta-Analysis: 4,000–6,000 words; structured abstract of 250–300 words; references and display items as scientifically required.
• Brief Report or Pilot Study: 1,500–2,500 words; structured abstract of 200–250 words; normally up to 30 references and four tables or figures.
• Diagnostic, Prognostic, or Prediction Study: 3,000–4,500 words; structured abstract of 250–300 words; normally up to 50 references and six tables or figures.
• Methodology or Validation Paper: 3,000–4,500 words; structured abstract of 250–300 words; normally up to 50 references.
• Research Protocol: 3,000–5,000 words; structured abstract of 250–300 words; normally up to 50 references.
• Case Report: 1,500–2,500 words; abstract of 150–250 words; normally up to 20 references and four tables or figures.
• Perspective or Scholarly Commentary: 1,500–3,000 words; abstract of up to 200 words where appropriate; normally up to 40 references.
• Letter to the Editor: 500–1,000 words; no abstract; normally up to 10 references and one table or figure.

General Manuscript Format

• Submit the manuscript in editable Microsoft Word format.
• Use a clear 11- or 12-point font, 1.5 or double-line spacing, page numbers, and continuous line numbering.
• Use clear academic English and apply one spelling convention consistently.
• Define abbreviations at first use and avoid unnecessary abbreviations.
• Use International System of Units wherever applicable.
• Report generic drug names. Proprietary names may be added in parentheses where scientifically necessary.
• Do not place author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, institutional logos, or identifying file names in the blinded manuscript.

Title Page

Upload the title page as a separate file not shared with reviewers. It must include:

• Full manuscript title and a concise running title.
• Article type.
• Full names of all authors in the intended publication order.
• Highest relevant academic or professional qualification, where required.
• Department, institution, city, postal code, and country for every affiliation.
• Numeric superscripts connecting each author to the correct affiliation.
• Full corresponding-author name, postal address, institutional email, and telephone number.
• Full ORCID URL for the corresponding author and all available co-authors.
• Total word count and number of tables, figures, and supplementary files.
• CRediT author-contribution statement.
• Acknowledgements.
• Funding statement.
• Conflict-of-interest declaration.
• Ethics approval and informed-consent statements.
• Trial or study-registration information where applicable.
• Data-availability statement.
• Generative-AI disclosure where applicable.

Blinded Manuscript

The blinded manuscript should contain:

• Manuscript title.
• Structured abstract and keywords.
• Main manuscript text.
• References.
• Tables and figure legends.
• Relevant declarations written without identifying authors or institutions.

Replace identifying institutional information with wording such as “[institution blinded for peer review]” where necessary. Complete unblinded information must remain on the title page. Remove author names from document properties and file metadata.

Abstract and Keywords

Original research, clinical trials, observational research, diagnostic studies, and systematic reviews should use:

• Background
• Objective
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusion

Protocol abstracts should normally use Background, Methods, and Discussion. Case reports should normally use Background, Case Presentation, and Conclusion.

The abstract must:

• Reflect the manuscript accurately.
• Include essential numerical results and effect estimates where applicable.
• Avoid references, tables, figures, and undefined abbreviations.
• Include the trial-registration number at the end where applicable.
• Be followed by three to six keywords, preferably selected from the Medical Subject Headings database.

Authorship, ORCID and Contributions

Authors must satisfy the ICMJE authorship criteria. All listed authors must approve the submitted version, accept accountability for their contributions, and agree to the author order.

The corresponding author must provide an authenticated or verifiable ORCID iD. ORCID iDs are strongly expected for all authors and should be entered as complete URLs.

Each manuscript must include a contribution statement using the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy, as applicable:

• Conceptualization
• Data curation
• Formal analysis
• Funding acquisition
• Investigation
• Methodology
• Project administration
• Resources
• Software
• Supervision
• Validation
• Visualization
• Writing—original draft
• Writing—review and editing

Contributors who do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged with their permission. Artificial-intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors.

Changes to authorship after submission require a written explanation and signed agreement from all affected authors. Authorship must not be changed to avoid journal or issue-level compliance requirements.

References and Citation Style

JPMHR uses the Vancouver numbered-reference system following the National Library of Medicine’s Citing Medicine guidance.

• Number references consecutively in the order first cited.
• Cite references in the text using Arabic numerals in square brackets.
• Use official NLM journal-title abbreviations.
• Include all required authors, article title, journal title, year, volume, issue, pages or article number, and DOI.
• Display DOIs as complete links in the format https://doi.org/....
• Verify every reference against PubMed, Crossref, the publisher’s record, or another authoritative source.
• Authors may use the Crossref Simple Text Query to identify and verify DOIs.
• Do not cite retracted articles as valid evidence. Where discussion of a retracted article is essential, identify its retracted status clearly.
• Preprints must be identified as preprints and replaced with the peer-reviewed version when available.
• Artificially generated, unverifiable, incomplete, or inaccurate references may result in return or rejection of the manuscript.

Example—Journal Article

Author AA, Author BB, Author CC. Article title. Abbreviated Journal Title. Year;volume(issue):pages. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Example—Book

Author AA. Book title. Edition. City: Publisher; Year.

Example—Dataset

Creator AA. Dataset title [dataset]. Repository; Year. https://doi.org/xxxxx

Tables and Figures

• Number tables and figures consecutively according to first mention in the text.
• Cite every table and figure in the manuscript.
• Provide a concise title for each table and a complete legend for each figure.
• Tables must be editable and must not be submitted as screenshots.
• Define abbreviations and statistical symbols in table footnotes.
• Submit figures as clear PNG, TIFF, or high-quality JPEG files, normally at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
• Line drawings may require higher resolution.
• Do not duplicate the same results extensively in the text, tables, and figures.
• Explain image grouping, enhancement, cropping, or composite construction where relevant.
• Manipulation that changes, hides, fabricates, or misrepresents data is prohibited.
• Obtain written permission for previously published or copyrighted material.
• Written consent for publication is required for identifiable patient images or information.

Statistical Reporting

The Methods section must describe:

• Study design and analysis plan.
• Sample-size or power calculation where applicable.
• Sampling method and eligibility criteria.
• Statistical software and version.
• Tests and models used.
• Assumptions assessed.
• Handling of missing data, outliers, clustering, repeated measures, and multiplicity.
• Prespecified and exploratory analyses.
• Sensitivity and subgroup analyses where applicable.

Results should report:

• Absolute participant numbers with percentages.
• Appropriate descriptive statistics.
• Effect estimates with 95% confidence intervals.
• Exact p-values, normally to three decimal places; use p < 0.001 for smaller values.
• Numerators and denominators for proportions.
• Clinically meaningful interpretation rather than reliance on statistical significance alone.
• Model-performance measures, calibration, discrimination, and validation for prediction or artificial-intelligence studies.
• Participant flow, protocol deviations, and intention-to-treat analysis for clinical trials where applicable.

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

Research involving humans, identifiable information, biological material, or clinical records must comply with applicable ethical requirements and the principles described in the Declaration of Helsinki.

The manuscript must state:

• Full name of the ethics committee or institutional review board.
• Approving institution.
• Approval or reference number.
• Approval date.
• Whether written or verbal informed consent was obtained.
• The basis and approving authority for any consent waiver.
• Whether consent for publication was obtained for identifiable information.

Ethics approval must normally precede recruitment or data collection. Authors must retain the approval letter and provide it confidentially when requested.

Animal research must identify the approving committee, approval number, and applicable institutional and national standards. Authors should follow the relevant animal-research reporting guideline.

Prospective Registration

Clinical trials must be registered prospectively in a public registry acceptable under the ICMJE clinical-trial registration policy, such as a registry within the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform or ClinicalTrials.gov.

Registration should occur at or before the first participant’s consent or enrolment. Include the registry name, registration number, and registration date in the abstract and Methods section.

Retrospective registration must be disclosed and justified, but does not guarantee consideration.

Systematic-review and protocol registration in PROSPERO, the Open Science Framework, or another recognized registry is encouraged where eligible.

Data Availability and Research Transparency

A Data Availability Statement is required for every research article. Authors should state whether data are:

• Publicly available in a named repository with a DOI or permanent link.
• Available from the corresponding author under stated conditions.
• Available through controlled access.
• Restricted because of ethical, legal, contractual, privacy, or confidentiality requirements.
• Not applicable because no new data were generated.

Shared datasets, code, protocols, instruments, and supplementary materials should be cited and versioned where possible. Authors must not publicly share identifiable or inadequately de-identified participant information.

See the journal’s Data Sharing and Research Transparency Policy.

Funding and Conflicts of Interest

All financial and non-financial support must be disclosed. State:

• Funder name and grant number.
• Role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, and publication decisions.
• Whether authors had access to the underlying data.
• Any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationship that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the work.

Where no funding or conflict exists, state “None declared.”

Authors should follow the ICMJE disclosure guidance and the journal’s Conflict of Interest Policy.

Use of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies

Authors must disclose any use of generative AI or AI-assisted technology beyond routine spelling, grammar, or reference-management functions.

The disclosure must identify:

• Tool name and version.
• Provider.
• Purpose of use.
• Manuscript sections or research processes affected.
• How the output was reviewed and verified.

Authors remain fully responsible for accuracy, originality, confidentiality, citation support, data integrity, and the submitted text. AI tools must not be listed as authors. Authors must not use AI to fabricate data, references, images, analyses, ethics documentation, reviewer identities, or author contributions.

Confidential participant information, unpublished third-party material, or restricted data must not be uploaded to an AI platform without lawful authorization.

See the journal’s Generative AI Policy and the ICMJE guidance on AI use.

Prior Publication, Related Work and Preprints

The manuscript must not be simultaneously submitted to another journal or already published substantially elsewhere.

Authors must disclose:

• Preprints.
• Conference abstracts or proceedings.
• Theses and dissertations.
• Repository versions.
• Related manuscripts submitted, accepted, or published elsewhere.
• Previous publications using the same participants, trial, dataset, protocol, or analysis.
• Translations or secondary-publication proposals.

A disclosed preprint does not automatically make a manuscript ineligible. Authors must provide its URL or DOI, identify it as non-peer-reviewed, and update the preprint record to link to the final published article.

Secondary analyses must cite the primary publication and explain clearly how the research question and analysis differ.

See the journal’s Prior Publication Policy and the ICMJE guidance on overlapping publications and preprints.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors must use the reporting guideline appropriate to the study design and upload the completed checklist and flow diagram where applicable.

• Randomized trials: CONSORT 2025
• Observational studies: STROBE
• Systematic reviews and meta-analyses: PRISMA 2020
• Scoping reviews: PRISMA-ScR
• Diagnostic-accuracy studies: STARD
• Prediction-model and AI studies: TRIPOD+AI
• Case reports: CARE
• Interview and focus-group studies: COREQ
• Other qualitative research: SRQR
• Clinical-trial protocols: SPIRIT
• Systematic-review protocols: PRISMA-P
• Animal research: ARRIVE
• Other designs: use the relevant guideline available through the EQUATOR Network.

Submitting a checklist without complying with its reporting items is insufficient.

Plagiarism and Similarity Assessment

All submissions are screened for text overlap, duplicate publication, unattributed reuse, citation manipulation, and related integrity concerns.

JPMHR ordinarily expects an overall similarity index below 20% after appropriate exclusion of references, quotations, and unavoidable standard terminology. No substantial unattributed overlap from an individual source is acceptable.

A similarity percentage does not by itself establish or exclude plagiarism. Editors assess the nature, location, attribution, and scholarly significance of the overlap. Undisclosed text recycling, duplicate data publication, copied tables or figures, fabricated citations, and inappropriate paraphrasing may result in revision, rejection, investigation, correction, or retraction.

Issue-Level Authorship and Editorial Restrictions

JPMHR applies the following issue-level requirements:

• An individual may appear in no more than one article in the same issue, whether as first author, corresponding author, or co-author.
• Editors and Editorial Board members are not eligible to publish manuscripts in JPMHR during their active appointment.
• Issue composition is managed to remain within applicable self-institutional publication limits.
• Acceptance does not guarantee placement in a particular issue.
• Publication may be deferred to a later issue where necessary for compliance.
• Authorship must not be removed, added, or reordered to circumvent these requirements.

Article Processing Charge and Waivers

The current Article Processing Charge is PKR 25,000, or the stated equivalent for international authors, and is payable only after formal acceptance.

• No submission or peer-review fee is charged.
• Payment does not guarantee acceptance or affect editorial assessment.
• Authors must not make payment before receiving an official acceptance and payment notice.
• Requests for a waiver or concession should be submitted with the initial manuscript and supported by a brief justification.
• Waiver decisions are administrative and independent of peer review.
• Waivers are subject to the journal’s published criteria and available resources.

See the Author Charges and Publication Fee Policy.

Author Guidelines last reviewed: 2 August 2026