About the Journal
The Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties is a double-blind, peer-reviewed, open-access electronic journal that focuses on all aspects of cancer care. It is currently indexed in PubMed (National Library of Medicine), Google Scholars, Semantic Scholars, CORE (UK), Dimensions, and Directory of Open Access Journals.
More details about the journal are given below:
Open Access Policy
The Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties is an Open Access journal. Each article accepted by the journal will be made freely available online.
Focus and Scope
The Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) is an electronic (online only), open-access journal that aims to publish high-quality original research articles, clinical case reports, and review articles on topics relevant to cancer care.
Following aspects of experimental and clinical cancer research would be covered:
- Epidemiology
- Diagnostics
- Genomics
- Epigenomics
- Pathophysiology
- Biology
- Immunology and Immunotherapy
- Chemotherapy
- Radiotherapy
- Surgical therapeutics
- Palliative care
- Adjunct supportive care
Peer Review Process
The Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) is a double-blinded peer-reviewed journal with a robust and rigorous multi-stage editorial screening and assessment process.
Once a manuscript is submitted, it undergoes a thorough and meticulous quality check for compliance with author guidelines by the editorial staff. Furthermore, manuscripts are assessed for potential issues such as compliance with ethical standards as per the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki (if indicated), competing interest, financial disclosures, plagiarism, data availability, and other scientific and policy requirements. The submission may be returned to authors for clarifications or alterations at this stage.
Following the quality check, the relevant experts of the field will subject manuscripts to critical assessment. The mandatory minimum number of reviewers is two (this may or may not include a member from the Editorial Board). Reviewers may recommend rejecting, inviting revision, or accepting the submitted manuscript.
Please note that in any papers where the member of the Editorial Staff or Editorial Board is an author, they will not be allowed to participate in the reviewing or editorial decision-making process of the manuscript.
Publication Frequency
As of October 2019, the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties is published semi-annually.
Note: All articles are assigned a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), year of publication, volume number, and an issue number. Pages are numbered for each individual article and not for the volume.
Corrections, Retractions, Republications, and Version Control
Any correction of facts, retractions, republications, and version control is going to be handled as per the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Editors (ICJME).
Scientific Misconduct, Expressions of Concern, and Retraction
Scientific misconduct in publications includes but is not limited to data fabrication, citation manipulation, data falsification including deceptive manipulation of images, purposeful failure to disclose conflicts of interest, and plagiarism. When such claims are alleged, or concerns are otherwise raised (anonymously or not anonymously) about the conduct or the integrity of work described in submitted or published manuscripts, the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties will take appropriate actions as per recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Preprints or Prepublications
Prior publication of research as a thesis, presentation at medical or scientific conferences, or posting on preprint servers will not preclude consideration of a manuscript.
Authorship
It is the responsibility of the submitting author to ensure that all those individuals whose work contributed to the paper are acknowledged as contributing authors. Likewise, the manuscript should only be submitted for consideration once all authors give consent.
The criteria for someone to be considered as an author of a manuscript for the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties are as follows:
- They have made a significant contribution to the concept or design of the work or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data.
- Drafted the article or revised it critically for important intellectual content.
For further clarification, please refer to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) document on what constitutes authorship.
Note: If concerns of ghost, guest, or gift authorship are raised, the journal will follow recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Similarly, the journal will act in accordance with COPE guidelines to handle any potential authorship disputes, which may take place before or after publication.
Plagiarism
Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) considers any breach of best practice in a publication such as the issue of copyright infringement and plagiarism very seriously. JCAS pursues to protect the rights of its authors and will investigate claims of plagiarism or misuse of its publications.
Likewise, in order to protect its own reputation against malpractice, all submitted articles are checked using duplication-checking software during the quality review for plagiarism. If an article is suspected of plagiarising other work, appropriate action as per COPE and ICMJE guidelines will be taken.
Competing Interest
A competing interest is anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, all types of manuscripts that are submitted to the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) for peer-review and editorial decision-making process.
Competing interests can be financial or non-financial, professional, or intimate. These may arise in relation to an institution, organization, or another person. Declaring all potential competing interests is a requirement at JCAS and is integral to the transparent reporting of research.
Failure to declare competing interests can result in immediate rejection of the manuscript. If an undisclosed competing interest is discovered after publication, JCAS will take action in accordance with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines and issue a public notification.
Appeals
If you wish to appeal a decision made by the journal, please submit an appeal letter, explaining in detail your reasons for the appeal. Please note that timely review and decision-making process for new submissions will take precedence over appeals. We may or may not seek external advice on the appeal. Appeals should be sent to the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties online editorial office as follows:
Khawaja S. Nasir
Managing Editor,
Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties
Email: editor@skm.org.pk
Article Processing Charge (APC)
Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties does not have any APC or any article submission charges.
Sponsor and Publisher
Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties is sponsored and published by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust.
Copyrights Policy
Authors retain copyright and grant the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) right-of-first publication. In addition, the work will be simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. This license allows others to share the work in whole or part (for non-commercial purpose), with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in JCAS.
Furthermore, authors are free to enter into separate contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work, with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to share their work online or in medical or scientific conferences prior to or during the submission process.
Journal History
The Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties (JCAS) was launched in 2015 as an open-access, electronic journal. It is the first journal from Pakistan, which focuses on experimental and clinical cancer research.
It is supported and published by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Trust (SKMT). This journal adheres to the mission statement of SKMT. The aim is to provide education to health care professionals and the general public, as well as to promote cancer research.
Archival System
All publications are archived and can be accessed through the journal's website by selecting the 'Archives' label on the top left corner of the screen. Currently, the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties is using PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) as an archival system.
Additional Information
Any correspondence, queries, or additional requests for information on the manuscript submission process or journal policies, and complaints against journal policies should be sent to the Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties editorial office as follows:
Khawaja S. Nasir
Managing Editor,
Journal of Cancer & Allied Specialties Editorial Office,
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre,
7A Block R-3 MA Johar Town,
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
54782
Telephone: +92 42 35905000 Ext 4450/4452
Email: editor@skm.org.pk
Note: The date of the last revision was 01.08.2024.
