Publication Policy

Publication Policy

Publication/Editorial Policies

 Overview

This document highlights the mission, aims, objectives, ethical and editorial policy of “The Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences” (hereafter JHSS) in regard to publication process by adhering to the guidelines by COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics). Each component of the editorial policy is explained below

 

  • Open Access Policy

The JHSS is an open-access journal which means that all contents are freely available without charge to the users. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles but only for non-commercial lawful purposes, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. Opinions and view expressed in the articles published in the JHSS are exclusively those of the authors and shall not be attributed to the University of Peshawar. 

  • Plagiarism Policy

The JHSS is following the plagiarism policy of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. To verify the originality of articles submitted to JHSS, all submitted manuscripts are scanned and compared with the Turnitin database. If plagiarism is detected by the editorial board member, reviewer, editor etc., in any stage of article process, before or after acceptance, it is communicated to the author(s) with the instructions to rewrite the content and cite the references from where the content has been taken. If the similarity index is more than 19%, the article is rejected and notified to the author. 

  • Copyright Policy

Authors retain the rights without any restrictions to freely download, print, share and disseminate their article(s) for any lawful purpose. It includes scholarly networks such as Research Gate, Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Academia.edu, Twitter, and other academic or professional networking sites. Users are permitted to read, copy, print, distribute, download, search, or link the complete texts of the articles or use them for any other lawful purpose (to comply with Directory of Open Access Journal).

 No part of the material published in this journal be reproduced, reprinted, or copied without the prior permission of the editor.

  • Peer Review Policy

The JHSS complies with the well-established peer review processes and maintains high publishing standards. Upon submission of a manuscript on OJS, the document undergoes a preliminary open (un-blinded) review in the office of the editor. The document is either accepted for further review or sent for revision back to the authors or rejected on the spot.

Once passed through the initial desk review, the article is sent to 2 reviewers, a local and an international. During this process, all the relevant information about the authors and reviewers is kept confidential. The JHSS is under no obligation to send submitted manuscripts for review, and under no obligation to follow reviewer recommendations, favourable or negative at all times. The editor is ultimately responsible for the selection of all content of the journal. Editor can reject any article at any time before publication, including after acceptance, if concerns arise about the integrity of the work.

  • Authorship

The JHSS allows paper(s) having maximum of three authors, i.e., a principal and two co-authors, taking responsibility for the authenticity and integrity of all the research process. The co-author should declare their roles and contributions in the research process explicitly. If authors request removal, addition or change in the sequence of an author after manuscript submission or publication, the editor seeks an explanation and signs statement of agreement for the requested change from all listed authors and from the author to be removed or added. The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal during the manuscript submission, peer review, and publication process. The corresponding author has to ensure that all the journal’s administrative requirements, such as providing details of authorship, ethics committee approval, clinical trial registration documentation, and disclosures of relationships and activities, are properly completed and reported. 

  • Submission of manuscript

The manuscript should be submitted through the Online Journal System (OJS). The article should have the following format:

  • The abstract should be structured with word count of not more than 250 words.
  • The font should be times new roman, with 12-point size, and spacing of 5, with justified margins in MS office format.
  • Manuscript size should be in the range of 6000 to 7000 words.
  • The text/s of the articles should be in British style of English writing.
  • The journal follows APA Style of Citation (6th edition). 

 

  • Confidentiality

The editorial board in no way should publicize the work of a researcher in any form unless it is published. They should not publicize the comments and critique given by reviewers. Similarly, the reviewers are bound to keep the confidentiality of the work of researchers during and after the review. The work of researchers and the critique should never be discussed or exemplified in forums. The confidentiality of the researchers should be maintained in every possible way when the documents are sent for review.  The only situation where confidentiality needs to be breached is when a situation of fraud or misconduct is found during the review process or after publication. Still, the authors and sometimes the reviewers, have to be notified.  

  • Correspondence

Correspondence for submitting an article in the JHSS will be through a corresponding author. The duties of a corresponding author have already been outlined in a previous section.

 

  • Fee submission process

The JHSS charges Rs. 3000/- as paper processing fee since. The fee should be submitted as bank draft/online payment through account to Editor JHSS, University of Peshawar Bank Name: Habib Bank Limited, Campus Branch, Jamrud Road Peshawar, Pakistan Bank Code:  0404 Swift No. HABBPKKAA Routing No. 026007809 A/c No. 04040019607301 A/c Title: Editor, JHSS at the time of submission of the manuscript. 

 Roles of Editorial Board, Editors and Members

The editorial board of the JHSS works in accordance with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) policy for research journals. The roles of the editorial board for the JHSS are mentioned below: 

The Roles of the Editorial Board are

  • To offer expertise in their specialist area. 
  • To advise on journal policy and scope.
  • To work with the Editor to ensure ongoing development of the journal.  

Editor

The criteria for selection of Editor are:

  1. Expertise and experience in the specialist field related to the JHSS.
  2. Senior research position with equivalent experience in research and scholarship
  3. Publication record of a number of articles and/or books (usually in/related to the specialist field)
  4. A reviewer for an international or national peer reviewed journal

 The roles of Editor are the following:

  1. The key role of the editor is to promote scholarship in the specialized field associated with the journal, whilst also promoting the journal as the best journal to publish in.  For any journal, the editor will need to encourage new and established authors to submit articles and set up a reliable panel of expert reviewers. Editors are also responsible for offering feedback to reviewers when required and ensure that any feedback to authors is constructive.
  2. An editor should also familiarize themselves with the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) ‘Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors’.
  3. Editor may have to make all the decisions regarding which articles to accept or reject for publication.
  4. To evaluate the research articles presented for publication
  5. To help the editorial board in policy making
  6. To help the editorial board in smooth publishing
  7. To communicate with reviewers and collaborate with external agencies for relevant purposes

Managing editor/Assistant Editor

The roles of managing editor are:

  1. To help the editor to achieve the above-mentioned goals.
  2. To communicate with the authors, reviewers, publishers and other agencies for smooth running of the journal.
  3. To communicate with funding and regulating agencies (HEC and others) for grants and accreditations. 

Editorial Advisory Board:

Editorial advisory board members consist of national and international senior academicians, specialists, researchers, clinicians and others in subject area to help the current editorial board in designing, implementing and evaluating policies regarding upgrading the quality of research work. These people also share best practices to help the editorial team to refine their research work. 

Contact information

The office of managing editor or editor should be contacted anytime in working hours or can be contacted through their emails for correspondence.

Editor: jhss@uop.edu.pk 

Contact: 091-9216833

References:

  • Committee on Publications Ethics (COPE) guidelines
  • SCOPUS

 

Editor, Faizullah Jan, Ph.D. (American University)