The major goal of our ethical policy is to maintain scholarly integrity of the journal and to advice our contributors regarding best academic practices in contemporary academic world. We expect our contributors to read this policy before signing a contact with us.
For Writers
- The research articles, book reviews and review articles must be an original contribution.
- All sources in the submission must be accurately acknowledged.
- In case, several persons write an article, all should be mentioned in the submission. The misuse of assignments/data of supervisees/students by academics is not acceptable.
- Contributors must avoid including unacknowledged statements/ideas. Plagiarism is considered a crime in today’s academic world. They must acknowledge third party material. Writers should expect that editors and publishers would check plagiarism.
- Provide to the editors and press accurate emails, affiliations, postal addresses and names.
- Writers must indicate any conflict of interest (whether the article is written to benefit any company, business/group or community).
- Writers must take care of the religious and cultural sentiments of communities, they are working on. They must carefully use hate-material for constructing their arguments. They must not promote biases/stereotypes against any community.
- Following the COPE’s advice, we do allow editors and members of the advisory board to publish with the journal through a transparent and rigorous review process. To minimise bias, another associate editor manages the review process independent of his/er colleague.
- Writers should delete self-references or any indications which could reveal their identity to the referees.
- Writers must be ready to fully cooperate in case the editors and publisher demand any source of information. We do not publish articles which mention/quote anonymous sources.
- Writers must be ready to fully co-operate in case of investigation regarding plagiarism.
For Reviewers
- Strictly follow the policy of blind review. In case you know the contributor, do not review the paper and send regrets.
- Only accept papers for review which are related to your expertise.
- Return submission form within stipulated time.
- Report any ethical misconduct, plagiarism.
- Accept the responsibility for reviewing the revised drafts.
- Contact with the concerned editor in case of any problem/confusion.
For Editors
We follow the publication codes and ethics outlined by the COPE available online at http://publicationethics.org/, which are stated here:
1. General duties and responsibilities of editors
- Editors will be accountable for everything published in their journals.
This means the editors will
- strive to meet the needs of readers and authors;
- strive to constantly improve their journal;
- have processes in place to assure the quality of the material they publish;
- champion freedom of expression;
- maintain the integrity of the academic record;
- preclude business needs from compromising intellectual and ethical standards;
- always be willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.
2. Relations with authors
- Editors’ decisions to accept or reject a paper for publication will be based on the paper’s importance, originality and clarity, and the study’s validity and its relevance to the remit of the journal.
- Editors will not reverse decisions to accept submissions unless serious problems are identified with the submission.
- New editors will not overturn decisions to publish submissions made by the previous editor unless serious problems are identified.
3. Relations with reviewers
- Editors will provide guidance to reviewers on everything that is expected of them including the need to handle submitted material in confidence.
- Editors will require reviewers to disclose any potential competing interests before agreeing to review a submission.
- Editors will ensure that peer reviewers’ identities are protected.
4. Relations with editorial board members
- Editors will provide new editorial board members with guidelines on everything that is expected of them and should keep existing members updated on new policies and developments.
5. Editorial and peer review processes
- Editors strive to ensure that peer review at their journal is fair, unbiased and timely.
- Editors will ensure that material submitted to their journal remains confidential while under review.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please feel free to contact Hussain Ahmad Khan, Associate Editor.
