Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Centre (PASTIC) is a premier organization for Collection and Dissemination of Scientific & Technological Information to cater to the information needs of the scientific community at National Level.

PASTIC in collaboration with University of Sindh, Jamshoro organised a one day project awareness and training workshop on 12th June, 2024 at Senate Hall, University of Sindh, Jamshoro to empower the Journal Publishers community with modern Journal publishing tools and techniques. Activity was performed under a development project titled “National Digital Archive of Research Published in Pakistani Journals” which aims to provide a single electronic-platform to Journals publisher’s community for preservation and dissemination of research published in indigenous research Journals. Sixty Five (65) consortium members from Sindh region, management of the University of Sindh, Jamshoro and a team comprising four members from the PASTIC participated in the project awareness and training activity. Professor (Meritorious) Dr. Muhammad Siddique Kalhoro, Vice Chancellor University of Sindh, Jamshoro was the chief guest and presided over the event.

In the opening ceremony, Mr, Saifullah Azim, Project Manager, PASTIC presented the details and the achievement of PSDP Project “Establishment of National Digital Archive of Research Published in Scientific Journals of the Pakistan”. He also focused on the need for promotion of indigenous scholarly contents through Development of National Repository of Research Published in Scientific Journals of Pakistan.

Professor Dr. Syed Tufail Hussain Shah Director, NCEAC, University of Sindh, Jamshoro and Ms Romila Qamar, Associate Managing Editor, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad were the Resource Persons of the training activity.

During the Technical Session, Romila Qamar delivered her talk online on “Role of Journal Indexation toward Academic Visibility”. She discussed the selection criteria and submission forms of major indexing databases such as WOS, Scopus, DOAJ, COPE, OASPA and Cabell’s

Professor Dr. Syed Tufail Hussain Shah spoke on the “Research Publications & Scientific Misconduct”. He said that research leads to the improvements of ranking of the universities while development of Universities is a key indicator of regional development. But, true publications with moral values are very important to the quality of scientific research. Unethical practices such fabricating, falsifying, plagiarizing or stealing lead to long-term damage to the journal, institutions, countries and scientific communities. Unfortunately, such practices are still found in each field. These shall be controlled by implementing strong institutional ethical policies, regular training, and editorial vigilance.

In the closing ceremony, Prof. Dr. Akram Shaikh DG Pakistan Scientific & Technological Information Centre introduced PASTIC services. He said that Pakistan Scientific and Technological Information Centre (PASTIC) is a premier organization for collection and dissemination of scientific & technological information to cater to the information needs of the scientific community at the national level. He provided an overview of PASTIC services and highlighted newly developed databases beneficial for researchers, setting the tone for the session and emphasizing the event’s significance. He described the current gap between the developed and developing countries were likely to widen as the former were mastering the tools of science and inventions.

Vice-Chancellor, University of Sindh Professor (Meritorious) Dr Muhammad Siddique Kalhoro during his presidential address said that the workshop, which had got a unique theme and topics, had concluded with guidelines on how to promote science through print and electronic media. He said that technology-based development could not be accelerated in the country as the required ‘connection’ between the industry and technology is missing. “Technology needs a complete structure for its transfer from laboratory to industry and finally to end users”. Professor Kalhoro advised that Pakistani technologists and researchers should be given market access and an environment leading to their cooperation with the public or private sector organizations. The Vice-Chancellor praised the efforts of PASTIC to initiate the establishment of national digital archive of research published in scientific journals of Pakistan. The Vice-Chancellor thanked the management of PASTIC for selecting University of Sindh, Jamshoro for the “one day project awareness and training workshop” for the Sindh region. He also thanked the all editors-in Chief, editors, associate editors of the journals and other contributors for their participation. The ceremony ended with the distribution of souvenirs, shields and certificates to the guests and participants.