HEC and PMDC: Understanding Pakistan’s Research Regulatory Landscape

The Journal That Did Not Exist
It started with a WhatsApp message at 11:43 PM.

Dr. Hammad Ali (fresh PGR, General Surgery Year 1, the most enthusiastic and the most reckless member of The Research Clinic) sent a screenshot to the group chat with three celebration emojis and the caption: “ACCEPTED! My first paper got accepted! They said it will be published in 2 weeks!”

Dr. Sumaira Talib was the first to respond: “Congratulations! Which journal?”

Hammad typed the name proudly: “International Archives of Advanced Medical Research.”

Silence. The kind of silence that happens in a WhatsApp group when everyone is thinking the same thing, but nobody wants to be the first to say it.

Dr. Bushra Fatima broke it. She had three papers of her own, all accepted quickly by journals that had emailed her directly, and she was proud of them.

“Hammad,” she typed carefully, “how long between your submission and the acceptance?”

“Four days! Amazing, right? They said my paper was excellent!”

Bushra sent a thumbs-up. “Mine took about two weeks each. Fast journals are the best!” Sumaira did not reply. Something about the story worried her.

The next morning, Dr. Muhammad Yaqoob called an unscheduled session. Hammad walked in beaming. He walked out educated.

“Hammad,” Dr. Yaqoob began gently, “I need you to check something for me. Search for your journal’s name in the Web of Science Master Journal List and in Scopus Sources. HEC now takes its categories from these indexes. Tell me what you find.”

Hammad pulled out his phone, opened the Web of Science Master Journal List, typed the journal name, and hit search.

Zero results.

He tried again, thinking he had misspelled it. Zero results. He tried Scopus Sources. Zero results.

“Sir, maybe they haven’t updated their lists?” Hammad offered hopefully.

Dr. Hassan Raza, sitting in his usual spot near the door, raised his hand. “Sir, I have a basic question. What exactly is HEC recognition? Why does it matter? Can’t we just publish anywhere?”

Dr. Zunaira Malik, quiet as always from the back row, leaned forward slightly. She had been wondering the same thing, but would never have asked.

Dr. Yaqoob smiled. “That,” he said, picking up a marker and walking to the whiteboard, “is the most important question anyone has asked in this room so far. And to answer it, I need to draw you a picture.”

He drew two overlapping circles on the whiteboard and wrote the letters HEC and PMDC.

“Welcome,” he said, “to Pakistan’s research regulatory landscape. It looks complicated. But by the time we finish today, you will understand exactly how these two bodies connect, what each one demands, and why publishing in the wrong journal is worse than not publishing at all.”

The Two Pillars: HEC and PMDC

Every Pakistani doctor and dentist who wants to publish research, earn a postgraduate degree, or get promoted in academia must navigate these regulatory bodies. Each has different roles, different requirements, and different journal recognition criteria. But they are deeply interconnected, and understanding this interconnection is the key to building a research career that actually counts.

1. HEC: The Higher Education Commission

The Higher Education Commission is Pakistan’s apex body for higher education quality assurance. When it comes to research, HEC’s most important function is its journal recognition system, which classifies journals into W, X, and Y categories.

Think of HEC as the quality control department. Until 30 September 2024, HEC scored journals through its own system, HJRS (HEC Journal Recognition System). Under the revised HEC journals policy, applicable from 1 October 2024, a journal’s category comes directly from where it is indexed. HEC also uses the Cabells predatory journals list: any journal on that list is not recognised, whatever it claims about its indexing.

Here is what each category means:

1. W Category (the Gold Standard): These are journals indexed in the Web of Science Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) or Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI). W category journals meet the highest international standards. Publishing in a W-category journal is the strongest possible entry on your academic CV.
2. X Category (Strong Recognized Journals): These are journals in the Web of Science Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), plus Pakistani Scopus-indexed journals that meet extra HEC criteria (international authorship, an online journal system, limits on papers from the journal’s own institution, and international peer review). Pakistani medical journals that meet these criteria fall into this category.
3. Y Category (Recognized but Lower Tier): These are all other Scopus-indexed journals (national and international) that are not in Web of Science; journals in MEDLINE/PubMed, CNKI or DOAJ that are not in Web of Science or Scopus; and national journals recommended by HEC committees, which must gain international indexing within five years. While Y category publications are recognized by HEC, many selection boards and university promotion committees may give them less weight. A journal’s category changes when its indexing changes, so check the journal yourself before you submit (see the practical steps below).
   The critical point: if a journal is not in any HEC category, not on the PMDC list, and not indexed in PubMed, Scopus or Web of Science, it will not count for academic purposes in Pakistan. This is exactly where Hammad’s “International Archives of Advanced Medical Research” fell: entirely outside the system.

2. PMDC: The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council

We covered PMDC’s promotion requirements in detail in the previous post, but let me connect it to the bigger picture here.
PMDC regulates the medical and dental professions in Pakistan. For research purposes, PMDC’s role is primarily about setting publication requirements for academic positions. Under the PMDC Teaching Regulations 2025, a paper counts for promotion only if the journal is on the PMDC approved list of journals, or is indexed in Medline/PubMed, PubMed Central, Index Medicus, Excerpta Medica/Embase, Web of Science or Scopus.

PMDC maintains its own list of approved journals. It does not simply rely on HEC categories. So you need to check both: the journal’s indexing for the HEC category, and the PMDC list or the indexing databases for PMDC credit. HEC categories still matter for university roles and for FCPS trainees: since the CPSP notification of 22 July 2025, the published synopsis-based article needed for the FCPS Part-II theory examination must be in an HEC W or X category journal, or in a Y category journal that is also on the PMDC list. Rules change, so always check the latest regulations.

As I explained to the team, “PMDC sets the destination: how many publications you need, and which journals count for promotion. HEC gives the categories that universities and CPSP use. You need to read both maps.”

Dr. Hassan, the eternal shortcut-seeker, perked up. “So if I do my thesis properly and publish it in the right journal, it counts for everything?”

“Now you’re thinking, Hassan,” I said.

Dr. Junaid Rashid, sitting quietly with his notebook open, still processing his own promotion rejection, asked the question that was on everyone’s mind: “Sir, what about doctors like me who did not plan this way? Who are now senior but have few publications?”

“You start now,” I said. “You have clinical experience that juniors do not have. You have observed patterns in disease, treatment outcomes, and patient responses over fifteen years. Every one of those observations is a potential research question.

“The knowledge is already in your head; we just need to put it on paper, in the right way, in the right journal.”
Something shifted in Dr. Junaid’s expression. Not hope exactly, but the beginning of something that could become hope.

The Predatory Journal Trap: Why “Published” Is Not Always Published

Before we left the whiteboard, I turned back to Hammad. He had been quiet since discovering his journal was not HEC-recognized.

“Hammad, I am not going to embarrass you. What happened to you happens to many Pakistani doctors. Predatory journals deliberately target researchers in developing countries. Their emails are designed to look legitimate. Their journal names sound impressive. They promise fast publication because they have no real peer review.”

I shared the warning signs that every Pakistani doctor must memorize:

The journal sends you an unsolicited email inviting you to submit. Legitimate journals do not cold-email researchers asking for papers. The acceptance comes within days, with no meaningful review comments. Real peer review takes weeks to months. The journal charges a publication fee but is not indexed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, or HEC’s recognized list. The journal’s editorial board members cannot be verified, or their names appear on dozens of similar journals. The journal name sounds grand and general, like “Global Journal of Universal Medical Excellence” (a made-up name), or copies the name of a respected journal with one small change.

I looked around the room. “Imagine you list papers like these on your CV for a teaching post,” I said. “The selection committee checks the PMDC list and the HEC categories. None of your journals are there.”

Bushra uncrossed her arms. “Sir, what would happen then?” she asked. “They would not just ignore those papers,” I said. “They would question your judgment. You would go from having publications to having a credibility problem.” Bushra nodded slowly. She did not say anything else, but she opened her notebook and wrote down the names of her own three journals.

The room was silent.

“This is why understanding the regulatory landscape matters,” I said. “Publishing in the wrong journal is not neutral. It is negative. It marks you as someone who either does not know the system or has tried to game it. Neither impression helps your career.”

Practical Steps: Navigating the System

First, make it a habit to check the journal before submitting your paper. Use the Web of Science Master Journal List (mjl.clarivate.com) for SCIE, SSCI, AHCI and ESCI, Scopus Sources (scopus.com/sources), the NLM Catalog for MEDLINE, DOAJ (doaj.org) and HEC’s list of recognised national journals. Also make sure the journal is not on the Cabells predatory list and that the website is the real journal, not a hijacked copy; HEC leaves this check to authors and universities. If a journal falls in none of the W, X or Y categories, it will not count for HEC or CPSP purposes, simple as that.

Second, be clear about your target category: for strong promotion cases, aim for W and X category journals, while Y category journals can be a reasonable starting point if you are early in your career and building experience. For the CPSP publication rule, though, a Y category journal counts only if it is also on the PMDC list.

Third, don’t rely on HEC alone; also, verify whether the journal appears on the PMDC accepted list, or is indexed in PubMed, Scopus or Web of Science, to ensure it meets promotion requirements.

Finally, to save time, you can also refer to the compiled PMDC- and HEC-accepted journal lists available through UPMED, which provide a quick reference when shortlisting journals. Link: https://upmed.net/pmdc-hec-approved-journals-archives/