All rights are reserved. No part of this journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or by any other means; electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except for internal or personal use, without the prior permission, in writing, from the Annals of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical and Dental College.

A paper is accepted for publication on the understanding that it has not been submitted simultaneously in another journal, has been read and approved by all the authors, and that the work has not been published before.

The editorial board members and the publisher cannot be held responsible for any errors or repercussions resulting from the use of any information published in the journal.

The articles published represent the exclusive opinion of authors. The editors reserve the right to make editorial and literary corrections and content editing.

Any opinion expressed or policies advocated do not necessarily reflect the opinion and policies of the editors.

Annals of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical and Dental College is published biannually, composed and downed by Karachi Medical and Dental College.

1. Initial assessment

Initial assessment is done on a routine basis for each article submitted. The decision regarding further processing, that is external peer review, is confirmed by the editorial board.

2. Peer Review

Our peer review process ensures complete objectivity to our articles. Each manuscript undergoes the following stages:

The author submits the manuscript which has to be approved by relevant Board of Ethics prior to submission, and agrees to the terms of submission. The peer reviewer discloses whether or not the original manuscript has content which can be published. The editor-in-chief reviews these comments on the article and responds to the author regarding acceptance or rejection of the article accordingly. If the article is accepted, a detailed analysis along with the peer review's comments and the editor-in-chief's review is forwarded to the author for correction. The author makes the changes accordingly and returns the manuscript. The revised manuscript is reviewed by the editor-in-chief and if the manuscript requires further revision, the article is returned with additional comments to the author for correction and updates.

3. Malpractice Statement

Plagiarism: All articles submitted will be checked for plagiarism. In case of plagiarism on an already published article, the editor would be obliged to withdraw the article from the journal website and Pakmedinet. Plagiarism, if detected and proved, will result in rejection of the manuscript from publication, along with possible debarment of the author(s) from publishing in the journal. The period of debarment will depend upon the extent of the offence and final decision would be taken by the editorial board of the journal.

Confidentiality: Peer reviewers evaluate the article. Anonymity of both the authors as well as the reviewer is maintained so as to omit any conflict of interest, ensuring complete objectivity and transparency regarding the article.

The journal also considers it mandatory that every article should include a statement of conflict of interest to this effect at the end. For example, if the research work has been supported by a pharmaceutical agency, this must be declared. A further detailed example is in case a specific food supplement which has been prescribed to the children for a specific disease. This supplement should be provided free of cost, be beneficial to the patient, supported by published research, preferably randomised controlled trials with a clinical trial registration number provided by recognised international organisations. This can be expanded to include all the investigations conducted during the research, should be beneficial and free of cost, for example CT scans, MRIs, etc.

If the conflict of interest has not been declared or is unjust, the final decision rests with the editor-in-chief who will decide whether to accept or reject the manuscript based on the conflict of interest. .