Policy Document

Policy Document

AL-Misbah Research Journal

Frequency	Quarterly
Recognition	Recognized in Y
Indexation	WorldCat, EuroPub, ISI
ISSN-E	2790-8828
ISSN-P	2790-881X

 

Guidelines for Submission:

Our guidelines are fully consistent with the COPE Principles of Transparency and Best Practice Guidelines and the COPE Code of Conduct. More details can be found here: https://publicationethics.org

We encourage the best standards of publication ethics and take all possible measures against publication malpractices. We abide by strict ethical code of conduct to maintain transparency, merit and high-quality research.

A) Author Information

The authors provide their names, email addresses, phone number(s), present position/title besides the names of the universities/colleges on the title page of the manuscript. It would be placed before the main title of the article.

• Every author will provide a working email ID irrespective of whether he/she is corresponding or not.
• Both authors of an article must provide their ORCID.
• The Corresponding Author will indicate clearly who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that Mobile, WhatsApp and Fax numbers (with country and area code) will provide in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
• Please make ensure editing of the research paper according to the following guidelines before sending it for publication:
  1. Textual body of an article will be made using Calibri font for English, Jameel Noori Nastaleeq font for Urdu and Traditional Arabic for Arabic. Please Keep in mind that Quranic versus must be written in Muhammadi Quranic font, Hadiths would be written in PDMS Islamic font and any Arabic text would be written in Traditional Arabic Font. (These fonts may be downloaded from here.)
  2. For Main Body of the Text: Font size must be 12 for English, 14 for Urdu and Arabic, for Main Headings: Font Size is 16 for English and 18 for Urdu and Arabic in bold form.
  3. For Subheadings: Font Size must be 14 for English, 16 for Arabic and Urdu in bold form.
  4. For Endnotes: Font size is 10 for English and 11 for Urdu and Arabic
• By default, the submitting author is responsible for correspondence with the journal and he should ensure that second co-author is included in the author’s list
• Only those manuscripts will be considered for publication that have not been previously published anywhere nor is under consideration elsewhere.

B) Format, Requirement, Paper Structure

• The accepted length of the article is not more than 20 pages. Numbering of pages should be at the bottom of the page. References should be inserted as endnotes and numbered consecutively.
• The titles of Arabic and Urdu articles should be translated into English Language as well.
• It must be included in the submissions that their abstracts including key words that explain the gist of the research and arguments the writer has presented. The abstract must not be exaggerated or contain any new information that is not outlined in the main body of the text. It should briefly outline the purpose of the research as well as the methodology used and conclusions drawn by the author.
• The article must be composed in MS Word as a single file submission. Inpage & PDF files would not be accepted.

C)Citation Guideline

• All footnotes and Bibliographies should be cited in the Chicago Manual of Style (Full note). The Al-Misbah journal follows the Chicago Citation Style, Notes and Bibliography Style (17th) for citations. (any kind of citation engine may be used for citation. For instance Mendeley, Zotero, Zenodo etc.)

Endnotes:

While giving Endnotes, please keep in mind the following requirements.

1. Endnotes must be in Chicago style (full note), author(s) name(s), journal title/book title, chapter title/article title, translator/editor name, edition , publishing City, Publisher, year of publication, chapter/Column/figure/folio/issue/line/note/page/Paragraph/ part/Section/verse/volume.
2. To know further details of the Chicago Manual Style, 17th Edition (Full Note) visit the site. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
3. Note numbers should begin with “1” and follow consecutively throughout a given. End notes number must be added using English numeral (1, 2, 3). Roman numerals (i, ii, iii)would not be accepted.
4. Please keep in mind that every note number must be put in the text at the end of the sentence and after all punctuation where the reference occurs, even if the cited material is mentioned at the beginning of the sentence. In MS Word this can be achieved by clicking Alt+Ctrl+F for footnotes and ALT+Ctrl+E for endnotes. Moreover, note numbers are superscripted.
5. Never reuse a number - use a new number for each reference, even if you have used that reference previously.
6. To cite multiple sources in a single note, separate the two citations with a semicolon (;).
7. If citing the same work again immediately after you've already cited it, use of DOI is highly rcommended
8. All citations must be confirmed and fully-mentioned. Uncompleted citations' text would not be considered and immediately removed from the text. If, any details of publication is not provided, they will be removed wholly from the text by the editors.

Other Instructions

1. The first page of the article should be contained title of the research paper, name of the author (s), designation, institution affiliation and contact number (s), and email (s). A brief account of the area of interest (s) of the author may also be added.
2. Academic jargon that is specific to a particular discipline needs to be thoroughly elaborated upon or footnoted.
3. The Manuscript must be ‘spell-checked’ and grammatically corrected.
4. The authors must get the article’s language edited to avoid.
5. Authors should attach a plagiarism report with a manuscript.
6. Al-Misbah reserves the right to do necessary editing, addition and deletion.
7. Articles that are unoriginal and heavily plagiarized will be rejected immediately.
8. Articles not following Reference Guidelines e., Chicago Manual of Style for footnotes/Endnotes and Bibliography will not be entertained.
9. Al-Misbah Research Journal, strictly follows Plagiarism Policy as per guidelines of HEC. The Similarity Report on Turnitin should be below 19 percent.
10. All articles should be uploaded via our Online Journal System (OJS). Please submit your articles on this email. Only submitted articles will be processed.
11. The articles are blind peer reviewed by the experts before publication. However, the Editorial Board reserves the right to exclude the paper without showing reason. The decision of the Editorial Board will be exclusive for publication of the article.
12. The Editorial Board does not necessarily agree with the views of the authors, and cannot be held responsible for any statement, comment or information.
13. All accepted articles will become the property of the publisher.
14. The elements of article writing research results are:
    • Title (if Urdu and Arabic Article it must be translated in Egnlish)
    • Author's detail (Name, Email, Cell No, Institute, Designation, Orcid, Country etc
    • Abstract (English) and keywords
    • Introduction
    • Research Methods
    • Result of research
    • Discussion
    • Conclusions and suggestions
    • Bibliography

Declaration

• Authors are required to provide an undertaking/declaration stating that the manuscript under consideration contains solely their original work that is not under consideration for publishing in any other journal in any form.
• A manuscript that is co-authored must be accompanied by an undertaking explicitly stating that each author has contributed substantially towards the preparation of the manuscript to claim the right to authorship.
• It is the responsibility of the corresponding author that he/she has ensured that all those who have substantially contributed in the manuscripts have been included in the author list and they have agreed to the order of authorship.

Review Procedure:

All submitted manuscripts are reviewed through 'double-blind' peer review process that means the identities of the authors are kept confidential from the reviewers, and vice versa. To make this possible, anonymized version of the manuscript are sent to referees.

Desk Review

Submitted papers are first considered by the editor after submission. Papers that do not fall within the scope of the journal are 'desk-rejected'. In addition, papers that fail to meet a minimum threshold for quality and originality are also rejected without being sent out to the reviewers.

The standard procedure of an initial editorial review by the internal editorial committee consists of the content, scope, formatting, citations according to recommended Style, i.e., Chicago Manual of Style, and is usually completed in three to four weeks.

Peer Review Policy

Papers passing through this initial editorial scrutiny are then typically sent out to minimum two referees (one national and two international). ". If one or more of these turn down the invitation to provide a review, other referees will subsequently be appointed. The authors will be informed when Editors decide further review is required. All publication decisions are made by the journal’s Chief Editor on the basis of the referees’ reports (reviewers report).

Please bear in mind that the peer review process takes another two- three month. Therefore, the contributors are expected to bear with us as we complete the process to ensure, that the Al-Misbah adheres to the highest quality standards.

In case if a manuscript is found to be plagiarized (see plagiarism policy) after publication, the Chief Editor will conduct a preliminary investigation, maybe with the help of a suitable committee constituted for the purpose. If the manuscript is found to be plagiarized beyond the acceptable limits, the journal will contact the author’s Institute / College / University and Funding Agency, if any.

We are advising all the author(s), do not submit the same paper to multiple journals. Author(s) should wait for the review status of the paper.

The editor takes reasonably responsive measures when ethical complaints have been presented concerning a submitted manuscript or published paper, in conjunction with the publisher. Such measures will generally include contacting the author of the manuscript or paper and giving due consideration of the respective complaint or claims made, but may also include further communications to the relevant institutions and research bodies, depending on the misconduct seriousness.

Minor misconduct might be dealt with/without the need to consult more widely. In any event, the author is given the opportunity to respond to any allegations.

Serious misconduct might require application of one or more of the following measures:

• Informing or educating the author or reviewer where there appears to be a misunderstanding or misapplication of acceptable standards.
• Publication of a formal notice detailing the misconduct.
• A formal letter to the head of the author's or reviewer's department or funding agency.
• Formal retraction or withdrawal of a publication from the journal, in conjunction with informing the head of the author or reviewer's department
• Imposition of a formal embargo on contributions from an individual for a defined period.

Data access and retention

Authors may be asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, and should be prepared to provide public access to such data (consistent with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases), if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.

Disclaimer

The Editor reserves the right to copy-edit and make necessary amendments to the submitted text. The editor also reserves the right to modify or omit material if deemed unsuitable for publication. However, all responsibility for opinions expressed in articles as well as the precision of stated facts rests with the author and not with the editors of the Al-Misbah.

Digital Archiving

We, at Al-Misbah Research Journal duly maintain a digital archive of all issues of AL MISBAH, our archiving based on LOCKSS and CLOCSS.

Article Processing Charges

AL-Misbah is not funded by any University or Government grants. To bear the cost of Publishing Research manuscripts, website running, long time archiving, reviewing, copyediting etc.

Administration has decided APC (Article Processing Charges), Publication fee and Rapid review fee (upon author request).

• Article Processing Charges (Rs. 5000 PKR Non-Refundable)
• Publishing Charges Rs. 20000 PKR. (For Selected Articles after successful peer-review)
• Rapid Review 10000 PKR Local & External

but no charges applied on submission of article. To help recognize the vital contribution our research associates make to the publishing process, REINCI has introduced a reward scheme based on open access discounts. Researchers are entitled discount from those institutions whom we have signed MIOU, Research Institute of Culture and Ideology can publish with a discount on the publication fee through the agreement with REINCI.

When you submit an article, you may claim a 10% credit towards the cost of publishing an article in the institute's journals on a gold open access basis.

Confidentiality

A strict confidentially is maintained while the articles are under review.

Originality and Plagiarism:

• It is the author’s responsibility to ascertain that she/he has submitted an entirely original work, giving due credit, by proper citations, to the works and/or words of others where they have been used.
• Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is not acceptable. Material quoted verbatim from the author's previously published work or other sources must be placed in quotation marks.
• As per HEC policy, in case the manuscript has a similarity index of more than 19%, it will either be rejected or left at the discretion of the Editorial Board for the purpose of a conditional acceptance. For further guidance please see

https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/Plagiarism/Pages/default.aspx

Ethical Guidelines:

 

This Journal’s publication ethics and publication malpractice statement is loosely based on the Code of Conduct and Best-Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors (Committee on Publication Ethics, 2011).

I. Editors’ Duties

• The editor will use his/her intellectual discretion in deciding which of the manuscripts submitted will be forwarded for This decision is solely based on the research conducted in the manuscript, originality, clarity of narrative, language and grammar as relevance to the paradigm of the journal. The important factors of copyright infringement, intellectual plagiarism and libel will also be accounted for.
• The authors’ gender, race, religious belief and political background will not be a definitive factor in the decision process.
• Editors’ need to outline clearly and concisely what is expected of authors in the form of regularly updated guidance. This link should be mentioned: http://publicationethics.org/resources/code-conduct.
• Editors need to provide guidance to reviewers on what exactly is expected of them. This includes the information on confidentiality. This guidance should be regularly updated.
• Editors should encourage good practice and comment on the originality of the research and be alerted to plagiarism.
• Editors should have the resources to be able to check plagiarism. (e.g. software, searching for new titles).
• The Editor will not use any additional material from his own
• Editors should try and improve the journal and take it towards betterment by taking the views of the board members and reviewers into consideration.
• Be generally cognizant of new peer reviews and publishing methods and constantly reassess the processes of the Journal.
• They should ensure that all published reports and reviews of research have been reviewed by suitably qualified reviewers.
• Peer reviewers should be encouraged to comment on ethical questions and misconduct raised by
• Academic institutions should be encouraged to recognize peer reviewing as being part of the scholarly
• Editors should have a maintained database on the reviewers and consistently update the reviewer’s
• Editors should use a range of sources to look at potentially new reviewers. They should not just use personal contacts.
• Manuscripts should be handled with utmost care and
• Editors should protect the identities of peer They should have a system in place that ensures that manuscripts submitted for publication retains confidentiality whilst being processed.
• Reviewers’ comments and suggestions should be openly forwarded to authors, unless they contain malicious language, libel or offensive remarks.
• Editorial board members should be consulted annually to get their feedback on the
• Journals should have policies and systems in place to ensure that commercial considerations do not affect editorial decisions.
• A general description of the Journal’s income sources should be declared (e.g. print charges, reprint sales).

Contribution to editorial decisions

• Peer review assists the editor in making editorial decisions and through the editorial communications with the author may also assist the author in improving the paper. Peer review is an essential component of formal scholarly communication. Authors who wish to contribute to publications have an obligation to do a fair share of reviewing.
• Promptness
• Any selected referee who feels unqualified to review the research reported in a manuscript or knows that its prompt review will be impossible should notify the editor and excuse himself from the review process.
• Confidentiality
• Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents. They must not be shown to or discussed with others except as authorized by the editor.
• Standards of objectivity
• Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

 

II. Authors’ Duties

• The work should be as original as possible and appropriately cite the work or words and ideas of others. Borrowing of ideas and knowledge and research is also permitted provided it is cited correctly. If the work and/or words of others have been used, this has been appropriately
• Authors should present an objective discussion of the significance of research work as well as sufficient detail and references
• Authors should follow the submission guidelines of the Journal. These are outlined at:
• https://reinci.com/ojs3308/index.php/almisbah/info_author
• The manuscript should only be submitted and published in one paper and multiple publications of the same manuscript is unacceptable and completely unethical. Previously published manuscripts cannot be submitted under any circumstances.
• Authorship should be limited to those who have made a substantial contribution to the body of work and to its genesis. Those who have made a significant contribution should be listed as co-
• In any event, authors should ensure accessibility of such data to other competent professionals for at least ten years after publication (preferably via an institutional or subject- based data repository or other data centre), provided that the confidentiality of the
• Authors should use well reputed, substantiated and well-known sources
• Authors should provide a plagiarism report along with the submission of the

 

III. Reviewers’ Responsibilities:

• Manuscripts should be treated as confidential documents. They must not be disclosed or discussed with other persons apart from the editor.
• An editor must not use unpublished information in the editor's own research without the express written consent of the author.
• Editors should evaluate manuscripts exclusively on the basis of their academic
• Reviews should be conducted in an objective Personal remarks should not be passed and will be regarded as inappropriate. Supporting arguments in the case of disagreements should be presented.
• Reviewers should not consider manuscripts in which they have conflicts of interest resulting from competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions connected to the papers.
• Peer reviewing process is in place in order to help the editorial changes to be made in addition to ensuring the quality of the journal is maintained.

Privacy Statement:

Al-Misbah follows an open-access publishing policy and all articles are free to access. Any submission to Al-Misbah must be original, that is, neither published previously nor accepted/under consideration for publication elsewhere. On acceptance of a manuscript, the corresponding author on the behalf of all co-authors will submit a Copyright and Author Consent Form.

The author(s) shall be solely responsible for any information written/informed/reported in the submitted manuscript. It is the author's responsibility to obtain signed permission from the copyright holder to use and reproduce text, illustrations, tables, etc., published previously in other journals, electronic or print media. Articles can be reproduced, distributed, derived and may be used commercially_ provided the original work is properly cited. Author(s) possesses the full rights of their published articles.

Disclaimer

Al-Misbah follows the licensing agreements by Creative Common Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). This indicates that you are free to:

Share -copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt- remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, provided that you follow license terms.

https://reinci.com/ojs3308/index.php/almisbah/license

Author E-prints

Al-Misbah supports a range of author benefit policies with respect to providing authors with an e-print and the opportunity to purchase offprints. E-prints are sent out automatically to the corresponding authors of the published articles ahead of print and in print issues. A link is provided allowing the author to download the article directly from the Al-Misbah journals’ website and forward the link onto their co-authors. Please refer to the manuscript submission guidelines for the policy of the Al-Misbah journals in submitting or publishing your article. You agree to the terms and conditions of the privacy policy by using the website. We may make changes in the privacy policy in the case of exceptional circumstances. We recommend that to check the privacy statement regularly to keep you updated about such changes. You have to exit the site immediately if you don’t agree to any term and condition of privacy statement.

Publication Process Map:

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest:

A Declaration of Conflicting Interests policy refers to a formal policy a journal may have to require a conflict-of-interest statement or conflict of interest disclosure from a submitting or publishing author.

The Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) states in its Guidelines on Good Publication Practice (2003) that: “Conflicts of interest arise when authors, reviewers, or editors have interests that are not fully apparent and that may influence their judgments on what is published. They have been described as those which, when revealed later, would make a reasonable reader feel misled or deceived.”

Many scholars, researchers, and professionals may have potential conflicts of interest that could affect their research. As a result, the journal requires a formal declaration of conflicting interests enabling a statement to be carried within the paginated published article. A potential conflict of interest may arise from relationships, allegiances, or hostilities to particular groups, organizations or interests, which may influence one’s judgments or actions excessively. The issue is particularly sensitive when such interests are private and/or may result in personal gain.

All manuscripts submitted to the journal are evaluated fairly and are not necessarily rejected when any competing interests are declared.

Examples of conflicts of interest might include the following, although it is not an exhaustive list:

• Having received fees for consulting.
• Having received research funding.
• Having been employed by a related company.
• Holding stocks or shares in a company that might be affected by the publication of your
• Having received funds reimbursing you for attending related symposia, or talk.

If there are other interests that the reasonable reader might feel has affected your research you may also wish to declare them. (Please note that it is not expected that details of financial arrangements be disclosed when a competing interest is declared.)

Conflict of Interests_

Upon identification of any conflict of interest, the editors may require more information from the author that may include the following:

1. Acknowledgement of financial support/sponsorship in their
2. Any commercial or financial involvements that might present an appearance of a conflict of interest related to the contribution are disclosed in a covering letter accompanying the contribution and all such potential conflicts of interest will be discussed with the editor as to whether disclosure of this information with the published contribution is to be made in the journal.

• If they have signed an agreement with any sponsor of the research reported in the contribution that prevents you from publishing both positive and negative results or that forbids you from publishing this research without prior approval of the sponsor.

1. If they have checked the manuscript submission guidelines to ensure whether the journal requires a Declaration of Conflicting Interests and have complied with the requirements specified where such a policy exists.

The Authors are required to fill and sign the Copyright and Author Consent Form upon submitting the manuscript.

 

Editor obligations regarding conflicting interests_

The same obligations equally apply to the editors or guest editors writing an editorial for the journal. When you are submitting or publishing your article in a journal which requires you to make a Declaration of Conflicting Interests, please include such a declaration at the end of your manuscript after any Acknowledgements and prior to the Funding Acknowledgement, Notes (if relevant) and References, under the heading 'Declaration of Conflicting Interest'. If no conflict exists, please state that 'The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest'.

*Please note, a Conflict-of-Interest Statement will not appear in journals that do not require a declaration of conflicting interests. Where a declaration is required the disclosure information must be specific and include any financial relationship that all authors of the article have with any sponsoring organization and the for-profit interests the organization represents, and with any for- profit product discussed or implied in the text of the article.

 

 

Correction and Retraction Policy:

 

Authors who discover errors in articles they have published should have the corresponding author contact the journal’s editorial office with a detailed description of the correction that is needed. Corrigenda (corrections of author’s errors) and errata (corrections of publisher’s errors) will be published at no charge to the authors. Requests for corrections that affect the interpretation or conclusions of a published article will be reviewed by the editors. An article may be retracted when the integrity of the published work is substantially undermined owing to errors in the conduct, analysis, and/or reporting of the study. Violation of publication or research ethics may also result in a study’s retraction. The original article is marked as retracted but a PDF version remains available to readers, and the retraction statement is bi-directionally linked to the original published paper. Retraction statements will typically include a statement of assent or dissent from the authors. In exceptional circumstances, the editorial office reserves the right to remove an article from the journal’s online platforms. Such action may be taken when (i) the editorial office has been advised that content is defamatory, infringes a third party’s intellectual property right, right to privacy, or other legal rights, or is otherwise unlawful; (ii) a court or government order has been issued, or is likely to be issued, requiring removal of such content; (iii) content, if acted upon, would pose an immediate and serious risk to health. Removal may be temporary or permanent. Bibliographic metadata (e.g. title and authors) will be retained and will be accompanied by a statement explaining why the content has been removed.

Contribution and consents of each author and any other information:

Authorship Policy

1. Authorship Credit

Authorship credits may only be given to those who have made a substantial contribution in constructing the article.

The corresponding author of the article holds the responsibility to give credits to the co-authors that are significantly involved in the work. Also, the corresponding author should make sure that all the co-authors have approved the final submission and ready-to-publish version of the article. Others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research should be acknowledged for their contribution in an "Acknowledgement" section.

b.  Changes in Authorship

The authors are fully responsible to provide the names of the authors upon submitting the article to the journal. Once the article is accepted for publication, any addition, deletion, or rearrangement of the authors’ names will not be entertained unless approved by the journal’s editor. To request such a change, the corresponding author must provide the journal’s editor with: (a) the reason for the change in the author list and (b) written confirmation (e-mail, letter) from all authors that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement, along with the confirmation from the author being added or removed. Only in exceptional circumstances and with considerable reason/s will the editor may consider the addition, deletion, or rearrangement of authors after the manuscript has been accepted. While the editor considers the request, the processing of the manuscript for publication will be put on hold. If the manuscript has already been published in an online issue, any requests may not be entertained by the editor.

c.  Order of Authors

It the responsibility of the authors to have a mutual agreement on the order of the authors before submitting the article to the journal. Any such disagreements must be ruled out before the submission.

d.  Guest Authorship

The “guest” author makes no significant contributions to the study, hence, do not qualify for authorship. The Al-Misbah journals do not allow the appearance of guest authorship on the articles.

e.  Anonymous Authorship

Because authorship should be transparent and requires public accountability, it is not appropriate to use pseudonyms or to publish scientific reports anonymously. In extremely rare cases, when the author can make a credible claim that attaching his or her name to the document could cause serious hardship (e.g., a threat to personal safety or loss of employment), a journal editor may decide to publish anonymous content.

f.  Acknowledgment

In the Acknowledgments section, authors may wish to include the names and contributions of those whose involvement in a study did not qualify them for authorship (because of the journal policy) but have contributed to the article in some way.

g.      Contributors

"Ghost" and/or "Guest" author phenomenon has been common in the traditional listing of research papers. This has been raising inappropriate authorship practice in which some individuals did not have an actual input in the experiment. For this, the journal highly recommends that only authors who have made a significant scientific contribution to the research in the manuscript shall be listed individually in the submitted manuscript (including students and lab technicians).

h. Duplicate Submission

Articles that are found to have been published elsewhere, or are under consideration for publishing elsewhere, will be considered as "duplicated" material. In case the author(s) have used their own previously published work (or work that is currently under review), they are asked to cite the previous work and indicate how their submitted manuscript offers novel contributions and adds value differently (from the previous work).

i.  Citation Manipulation

Submitted manuscripts that are found to include citations in order to increase the number of citations to a given author’s work, or to articles published in a particular journal, will be considered as a "citation manipulation"-containing material