Journal of Islamabad Medical & Dental College (JIMDC); 2012(2):55-55 

 55 

Editorial 
 

Medical Research- Local Perspective 
 

Saeed Alam 
Professor, Department of Pathology, Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamabad 

(Bahria University, Islamabad) 
 
Research in any field has primary importance for survival 
and progress of a nation. As compared to many other 
developing countries, Pakistan is lagging much behind even 
in the field of medical research.1 “Research is creating new 
knowledge” and it is through this new knowledge that we 
can identify and find a solution to our health issues with the 
ultimate goal of improving health of our population. 
We are all aware of the fact that academic success depends 
on research and publication, but traditionally the impetus 
behind research activities has remained the same for the past 
few decades; essentially it is either for completing the 
requirements for a post graduate qualification or for 
promotion in teaching cadre. A limited number of practicing 
physicians are sincerely involved in research and the 
situation is more discouraging in basic sciences. The strong 
reasons appear to be lack of motivation and scarcity of 
available funds.  
The importance of inculcating research culture at 
undergraduate level cannot be overemphasized and 
establishment of new medical colleges in private sector can 
contribute to a large extent, by promoting research activities 
amongst medical students. Special incentives and awards 
can be introduced as a component of co-curricular activity. 
The faculty can play a pivotal role by providing guidelines 
and encouragement towards research and short term 
research proposals approved and monitored by faculty can 
easily be implemented. As the students get exposed to 
clinical teaching their interest in research grows. In a study 
at one of the institutions in Karachi 49% of medical students 
had journal reading habits due to requirement of institution 
and 41% had already participated in research work to some 
extent.2 In another study positive attitude towards research 
was observed amongst post graduate trainees but 
deficiencies were found in terms of reading and writing 
literature.3 
Before undertaking any research project it is important to go 
through various guidelines on research methodology and 
objectives should be clearly defined. Selecting appropriate 
study type, considering various variables and research 
questions for appropriate data collection and properly 
planned analysis are important parameters to be addressed 
thoroughly for drawing useful inferences. A comprehensive 
knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics is essential for 
a meaningful message in any study.  Hands on workshop on 
medical writing should be conducted in every medical 
institution on regular basis and analyses have shown that 

such short interactive hands on workshops are helpful and 
beneficial in improving the knowledge and skill of 
participants.4 
Only good quality of research can earn respect to a medical 
journal, peer reviewing of articles has raised the standard of 
journals to some extent, but still the menace of plagiarism 
and bogus research is prevalent. It is needless to highlight 
the low standards of ethics and professional honesty we are 
practicing and medicine is no exception. Someone has 
rightly said “If you steal from one author it is plagiarism and 
if you steal from many it is research” this holds true in our 
scenario where compulsive research dominates voluntary 
research.  Criteria for authorship and “ghostwriting” are 
other major issues that need to be addressed. Enlisting a 
name in authors list with no contribution what so ever is not 
something unusual. There are guidelines available and many 
journals have endorsed “Uniform Requirements of 
International Committee of Medical Journal Editors” 
(ICMJE) criteria for enlisting authors names. Accordingly 
an author should have made a substantial contribution to i) 
study conception and design ii) drafting the article or 
revising it critically for important intellectual content and iii) 
final approval of the version to be published. Authors must 
fulfil all three criteria and everyone who meets the criteria 
should only be listed.5 We can just ask a question to ourself 
whether we meet the above criteria, before inserting our 
name as an author, Without professional honesty and hard 
work we cannot improve the quality of medical research but 
still progress has been made in number and quality of 
medical journals during the past few years which is 
indicative of better times ahead 
 

References 
1. Abdul Majeed, Noor Muhammad Awan. Procedures for developing a 

medical research studyJ Rawal Med Coll Jan - Jun 2011;15(1):62 
-4.  

2. Kiran Ejaz, Muhammad Shahid Shamim, Syed Abid Hussain, 
Muhammad Shahzad Shamim. Involvement of medical students and 
fresh medical graduates of Karachi, Pakistan in researchJ Pak Med 
Assoc Feb 2011;61(2):115-20).  

3. Aslam F, Qayyum M A, Mahmud H, Qasim R, Haque I U. Attitudes 
and practices of Postgraduate Medical Trainees towards Research - a 
Snapshot from Faisalabad J Pak Med Assoc Oct 2004;54(10):534 
-6.  

4. Masood Jawaid, Shaukat Ali Jawaid, Zubia Masood, Shams Nadeem 
Alam. An analysis of interactive hands-on workshops on medical 
writingJ Pak Med Assoc Jan 2011;61(1):66-70.  

5. Current Medical Research and Opinions Vol21 No2 2005 317-321