KARACHI, Jan 24: Tributes were paid by senior professors and junior doctors to Prof Sarwar Jahan Zuberi, who has been editing the Journal of Pakistan Medical Association (JPMA) for the last 30 years , at a special reference held in the PMA House on Saturday.
The speakers were of the opinion that it was largely because of the high standards maintained by Prof Zuberi that the JPMA became the first locally produced medical journal which was cited and indexed internationally.
They thanked her profusely for managing to do this, and much more besides, in her honorary capacity as the editor of the JPMA.
The professor got a standing ovation from the audience. She was also presented with a shawl and two bouquets, each of 30 flowers, as mementos. Prof Ejaz Vohra gave her a 25-year-old photograph.
In his citation, Prof Naeem Jafarey, the former vice-chancellor of Ziauddin Medical University observed that Prof Zuberi was a devoted professional with a lot of perseverance. "I also edited the JPMA for two years but couldn't continue because of the problems confronting us at the time," he recalled.
Prof Zuberi should be lauded wholeheartedly for taking on the onerous responsibility and then sticking it out for the last 30 years. Prof Jafarey added that there was a lack of appreciation of the dedication required in taking out a scientific journal on the part of the people who mattered.
He said the JPMA had a presence on the internet. "However, because we cannot afford to spend too much on the website, its quality is not too great."
Prof Haroon Ahmed, a well-known psychiatrist, remarked that the little that he knew about research was mainly due to Prof Zuberi. "We, as a people, can never repay her for her services to the cause of medical education and learning."
Prof Tipu Sultan pointed out that for more than 15 years the JPMA remained the sole internationally cited and indexed medical journal. Prof Zuberi managed to steer it right through difficult financial times when the business organizations were reluctant to give advertisements to it.
He observed that Prof Zuberi never entertained papers of dubious quality. But at the same time several papers which were poorly written but which were interesting were rewritten by her and then carried.
Dr Fatema Jawad, the journal's joint editor, said Prof Sarwar Zuberi was in the forefront when it came to handling complaints and charges of bias and impartiality in selection of the papers to be published. "That is why we, as editors and assistant editors, kept on doing our work regardless of everything basically."
Dr Baseer Achakzai, who came from Quetta, said almost all the learned people of Balochistan respected Prof Zuberi. He observed that if people started emulating the professor, the journey would be smooth as the flames illuminating the pathway had already been lit by her.
Prof Zuberi, in her speech, said editing the JPMA had been a rich experience. "About the allegations that I was favouring one organization or another by publishing most of the articles submitted by its staff, and rejecting those submitted by people from the other organizations, I was least bothered because I was not doing anything of that sort."
She was of the opinion that the trend of getting one's research papers published abroad should be discouraged.
"Many of my papers could easily have been published abroad. But I preferred to have these published in the JPMA because if the Pakistani doctors will not publish in our journal, who will?" She said the credit for maintaining the high standards at the JPMA should also go to her team, comprising Dr Fatema Jawad, Dr Huma Qureshi, Naqi Zafar and Dr Amir Umair.
Prof Shershah Syed, Dr Kaleem Butt, Dr Shafiqur Rehman, Naqi Zafar, Prof Sirajudaula Syed, Dr Amir Umair and Farhan Essa also spoke.
The ceremony was organized by the Pakistan Medical Association.