Karachi:Luminaries in the field of medicine and science on Wednesday celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA), the country’s first indexed journal of medical science.

Prof. Anwar Naseem, Adviser, Science, COMSTECH, the guest speaker on the occasion, paid glowing tributes to Prof. Sarwar Jehan Zubeiri (late), who for 30 consecutive years edited the journal and managed to gain international recognition for it.

“The success story of the JPMA is a source of satisfaction that excellence is still achievable in Pakistan,” he commented.

Focussing on “Human Health, Public Awareness, and the Role of Medical Journals”, Dr. Anwar Naseem said constant developments in the field of medicine and medical science was an emerging challenge for the editors and contributors of medical journals.

Appreciating the strict criterion adopted by the editorial board of the JPMA for publication of articles, he frequently referred to other extremely relevant challenges and required strategies for the medical journals in the country.

Dr. Naseem urged medical scientists and health care providers to realise the relevance of “knowledge management” in the backdrop of the knowledge explosion. “Even knowledge management has become a discipline,” he said mentioning that a set of principles and tools were required to create awareness among people.

He also discussed difficulties faced by editors of journals with specific reference to assessing the needs and interests of the readers, maintenance of the integrity and confidentiality of authors’ works, editorial freedom, and dealing with people more knowledgeable and more talent.

Dr Anwar Chaudhri, President, PMA Centre, felicitated the editor and editorial board for making merit and quality as the sole criterion for the journal. Earlier, Dr Fatema Jawwad, Editor of JPMA, said the journal, which started in 1953 led to increased awareness about ethics among the medical professionals and researchers.

Dr Jawwad said JPMA had a strict policy on plagiarism and that it also held workshops on medical writing, research methodology and ethics for the doctors. These, she said, were conducted on a regular basis in collaboration with Pakistan Medical Research Council (PMRC), PMA, AKUH, Bahria University, Hamdard University etc.

Other speakers, who in one or the way had remained associated with JPMA, appreciated the regularity maintained by JPMA. Prof. Masood Shaikh, Chairman, Editorial Board, in his concluding remarks, said that the journal may be expanded for inclusion of quality articles by larger number of authors belonging to the country. The news