Peer Review Policy And Process

The Avicenna Journal of Health Sciences (AJHS) has a well-established double blind peer review policy to ensure the authenticity and quality of the published articles. The submissions are immediately acknowledged, and initial screening is done for its suitability according to journal guidelines, originality,  similarity index in accordance with HEC guidelines and checking of mandatory documents i.e Authorship form, ICMJE form and ethical approval.

The manuscripts received by the AJHS are read by the Editor and initially scrutinized within a week for completeness and formatting. The manuscripts not prepared according to the author's guidelines are returned to the authors for any corrections/modifications before sending them for peer review. The manuscript is found satisfactory, it is sent to two external peer reviewers (National as well as International)  in accordance with double-blind peer-review process in which both the reviewer and the author remain anonymous throughout the process of review.  Two weeks are given to reviewers for review. A reminder is sent if the reviewer doesn’t submit the review in 2 weeks. If the reviewer doesn’t respond within one week after the reminder, the manuscript is sent to 3rd reviewer for review. 

The AJHS maintains the policy of double-blind peer review for all publications with the anonymity of the identity of both the author and reviewer. The details that may reveal the author’s identity are removed and kept unknown between the author and the reviewer. The reviewers’ comments on the manuscript are kept confidential and feedback is provided to the author for improvement of the manuscript. It is ensured to provide the comments of reviewers to the authors promptly and provide them ample time to make changes.

All parts of accepted manuscripts are subject to editing for scientific accuracy and clarity by the office of the Editor. The manuscripts are undergone copyediting (including modifications in the text, table, figures) and layout formatting by the editorial staff. The corresponding author is receive an edited manuscript (galley proof) for final approval before publishing. All co-authors should review this carefully as they are also responsible for all changes in their work, including changes made by the copy editors

The Editor is responsible to safeguard the privacy of the manuscript and remove the relevant information about the author and the contributors prior to sending the article for the double-blind peer review. The entire review process is kept nondiscriminatory and highly professional. The review procedures are conducted through a database i.e. Open Journal System (OJS).

Each reviewer is asked to evaluate not more than one manuscript for each issue of this quarterly journal. The authors can suggest reviewers themselves with affiliation and contact details of the reviewers in a cover letter, but it is up to the editor to accept it. We prefer reviewers of our own journal’s database.

Note: Due to blind peer review policy, review details are not shared publicly, however can be shared to International Indexing agencies, Higher Education commission Pakistan & Pakistan Medical & Dental Council on demand or during journal evaluation process, as the case may be.