Policies

Bahria Research Journal on Iqbal Studies (BRJIS) is a biannual research journal. The policies followed by the journal are as under:

1. Frequency

پیام اقبال Bahria Research Journal on Iqbal Studies (BRJIS) is a biannual journal with the following publication schedule: Call for Paper	1st January – 28th February & 1st July- 31st August
Publication of the Issue	1st March - 30th Aug & 1st Sep- 28th Feb

 

2. Peer Review Policy

BRJIS has a double-blind peer review policy. Initial screening for the suitability of the article for publication in BRJIS is carried out by the editorial committee and subsequently the manuscript is processed for a blind paper review. Each article is reviewed by two professionals. Authors are informed about the comments or suggestions of the reviewers and are required to revise their papers within a stipulated time period.

3. Plagiarism Policy

BRJIS has zero tolerance for plagiarism and follows the guidelines given by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan. Each submitted manuscript will be evaluated for plagiarism using Turnitin (follow the link: https://www.turnitin.com/ ). The journal only accepts papers that have a similarity index score of less than 19%. Moreover, no single source should have a matching similarity index score of greater than 5%. It is expected that the submitted manuscript is not under review of any other journal or has not been published before. The detailed policy currently being followed can be found on the given link: https://hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/Plagiarism/Pages/default.aspx

4. Paper Submission Policy

The call for papers for BRJIS starts from ‎ 1^st January – 28^th February & 1^st July- 31^st August. Correspondence regarding publication should be addressed to the Editor at BRJIS@bahria.edu.pk . Initial papers are evaluated by the editorial committee of the journal for the suitability and appropriateness of the manuscript for BRJIS. After this process, if the manuscript is considered relevant for double-blind review for the journal it is forwarded to the reviewers. Previously published or plagiarized manuscripts are not considered for publication by the journal.

Submission of work to اقبال پیام Bahria Research Journal on Iqbal Studies is taken to imply that the same manuscript is not under consideration by another journal. If the submitted manuscript forms part of a book currently in press, advise the editors at the time of submitting: details of the book's publisher; its projected publication date; and the precise relationship between the material in the submitted manuscript and in the book

5. Manuscript Reviewing Policy

BRJIS follows the double-blind review policy where both the reviewer and the author are anonymous and the identities of both reviewers and authors are concealed from each other throughout the review. Every manuscript is assigned with a number for further processing. To facilitate this, authors must ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in such a way that they do not reveal their identities to reviewers, either explicitly or implicitly.

6. Article Acceptance Policy

The submitted manuscripts are accepted for publication only after the acceptance from two professionals in the respective capacity. If the manuscript is rejected by any of the reviewers it is sent for the review process again (to a reviewer of the same capacity) and if that reviewer also rejects the manuscript, then the authors are informed about the decision of the reviewers. Only those manuscripts are eligible for publication which are either accepted “without any revision” or “with minor or major revisions” by the reviewers.

7. Article Publication Policy

BRJIS follows the general publication guidelines that are provided by HEC where the journal holds the rights of publication and distribution of the accepted manuscripts. However, the authors have the rights for the commercial and non-commercial utilization of the published material. Moreover, BRJIS holds the rights to retract the publication at any point based on the publication policy and HEC guidelines for research article publications.

8. Policy for the Timeline of Publication of the Journal

There is a biannual call for the papers initiated during 1st January – 28th February & 1st July- 31st August of every fiscal year. The issues are published during 1st March – 30th June & 1st September- 31st December. Any manuscript received by the journal after the expiry of the call for papers for a specific issue is not considered for publication.

9. Steps Involved in the Publication of the Article

The publication steps that are followed by BRJIS are as under:

1. After submission of the manuscript the authors receive the acknowledgement from the journal.
2. The submitted manuscript is sent for a desk review to the editorial committee. It examines the manuscript for appropriateness and relevancy for the journal.
3. If the editorial committee finds that the manuscript does not meet the journal’s standards the paper is rejected and the author(s) are informed of the decision. If the manuscript is found to meet the standards of the journal, it is then sent to the reviewers for the blind review process.
4. As per the article reviewing policy the accepted manuscripts remain in the publication process are sent to authors for further processing while the rejected manuscripts are retracted from the publication process.
5. After the revision of the manuscript by the author, it is again reevaluated by the editorial committee to ensure that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s guidelines for publication.
6. After copy editing, the manuscripts are sent in online and print publications.

10. Policy regarding the Conflict of Interest

At the time of submission, the author(s) should make it clear that they do not have any conflict of interest. If author(s) have received any funding or grant for the research they have to report all the relevant details.

11. Policy for the Correction and Retraction of the Research Article

BRJIS retains all the rights to correct or retract the articles that have been published or are under the publication process. However, the author(s) are encouraged to notify the editorial committee of any error they find in their publication. In case of any dispute between the journal and the author(s), the decision will be taken by the Editor as per HEC guidelines. Moreover, the author(s) are duly responsible for any error and intentional or unintentional damage caused by their publication in the journal.

12. Policy for the Contribution and Consents of the Author(s)

At the time of submission, the corresponding author should ensure that all authors agree to the order of authorship shown in the manuscript. All the content of the manuscript is pre-approved by all the authors and there should be no conflict of interest. Furthermore, all the relevant information regarding all the author(s) and their respective affiliation must be updated and complete. BRJIS does not accept more than two affiliations for a single author.

  13. Copyright Policy

1. Copyright Ownership and License Agreement

Upon acceptance of a manuscript for publication, the author(s) agree to transfer the copyright of the published article to the journal. The journal holds exclusive rights to publish and distribute the article, including in digital and print formats. In return, the journal grants the author(s) the following rights:

• The right to share the article in academic settings, such as conference presentations and classroom teaching.
• The right to include the article in a thesis or dissertation.
• The right to reproduce the article for personal use or institutional repository (with acknowledgment of the original publication).

2. Author Warranties

The author(s) must ensure that:

• The submitted work is original and has not been published elsewhere.
• The manuscript does not infringe any existing copyright or other intellectual property rights.
• Any material reproduced from other sources (such as figures or tables) is properly credited, and written permission has been obtained where necessary.

3. Copyright Violations

Any copyright infringement or violations related to the submitted manuscript are the sole responsibility of the author(s). The journal reserves the right to withdraw published articles in case of confirmed violations of copyright.

14. Ethics for Authors

1. Authorship Contribution

All authors must have made significant contributions to the research, including design, data analysis, or manuscript preparation. Each author shares responsibility for the manuscript's content.

2. Unethical Practices

• Gift Authorship: Listing individuals who made no contribution.
• Ghost Authorship: Omitting those who contributed significantly.
• Plagiarism: Presenting others' work without proper citation.
• Self-Plagiarism: Using one’s own work redundantly without citation.
• Data Fabrication/Falsification: Providing false or misleading data. BRJIS reserves the right to request raw data.

3. Conflict of Interest

Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including financial, commercial, or professional relationships that may bias the research. Authors can disclose their conflict of interest by writing to the BRJIS editor at BRJIS@bahria.edu.pk

4. Misconduct Allegations

Authors are required to read the journal’s author instructions and ethical policies carefully and to adhere to the terms before submission. BRJIS follows a structured process for addressing allegations:

• Complaints are investigated, and the corresponding author(s) are contacted.
• If misconduct is confirmed, corrective actions (e.g., retraction) may be taken.

5. Complaints and Appeals

BRJIS deals with complaints and appeals in accordance with the recommendations of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE): https://publicationethics.org/appeals.  Authors can request reconsideration of rejected manuscripts by contacting the Editorial Office, explaining their reasons for reconsideration.