Policies
Open Access Policy
Muhaqqaq will be published through an open-access journal system that allows readers to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of its articles. All current/previous issues and complete articles can be viewed or downloaded from Muhaqqaq 's Website.
Policy for the Editor
- The editor is wholly responsible to establish/maintain the quality of the journal.
- He/ She has full authority to accept or reject any research paper keeping in view the publishing policy of the Journal or the standard of the topic/ references/ material/ presentation/ language of the submitted paper and professional demands as well.
- The editor ensures the process of blind peer review of every paper.
- The editor ensures the Plagiarism Check of every paper and strictly follows the HEC Plagiarism Policy regarding this matter.
- The editor is bound to follow the journal's policy without any institutional pressure.
- The editor would provide a corrigendum for any correction, clarification, and apologies when required.
- The editor may appoint Members of the Editorial Board/ Advisory Board and change them anytime.
- The editor ensures the smooth functioning of the journal and conducts the editorial board meeting on regular basis.
- The editor would disregard the discriminating factors, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, cultural sentiments, political affiliation, seniority, and/or institutional association of the author(s) while selecting articles for publication.
- The editor would try to promptly respond to the author (s) of the papers submitted for publishing, for any query.
- The editor will not edit any submitted paper which would have any conflict of interest. He/She is responsible to ask the reviewers/evaluators also for disclosing any conflict of interest regarding the submitted research paper to ensure impartiality.
- The editor ensures the confidentiality of the content of the manuscript before publishing at his and the reviewer's end.
Review Policy & Process
Muhaqqaq 's review process allows the author(s) to improve their manuscript through editorial communications. Scholars/ Reviewers accepting to review a research paper have an ethical responsibility to complete this assignment professionally. The quality, credibility, and reputation of a journal also depend on the peer-review process. The peer-review process depends on trust and demands that a reviewer is supposed to fulfil ethically. The reviewers should:
- Immediately inform the editor if they do not have the subject expertise required to carry out the review.
- Be responsible to act punctually and submit review reports on time. They should immediately inform the editor of any possible delays.
- The data included in the research paper is confidential and the reviewer is not allowed to use it for his/her personal study or any other academic or professional purpose.
- Reviewers would consider the research paper a confidential document. They must not discuss its content on any platform except in cases where professional advice is being sought with the authorization of the editor. They are bound not to disclose the details of any research paper before its publication without the prior approval of the editor.
- A reviewer must declare any conflicting interests (e.g. personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political, or religious). She/he should declare if the research paper under review is the same as his/her presently conducted study.
- A reviewer should be honest enough to declare if she/he is biased at any level toward the manuscript submitted.
- The reviewer may justifiably criticize a manuscript but it would be inappropriate to resort to personal criticism of the author(s). He/she is supposed to objectively review with consideration high academic, scholarly, and scientific standards.
- A reviewer should bring to the editor's notice, before writing the evaluation report, if the research paper is based on any previous research study or is a replica of an earlier work, or work is plagiarized. Moreover, if the reviewer suspects the given results to be untrue/unrealistic/fake, or there has been an indication of violating ethical norms in the treatment of human beings (e.g. children, females, poor people, disabled, elderly, etc), all these points should also be identified to the editor.
- For writing an evaluation report, reviewers are sent a prescribed form(s) from the editor and they are supposed to share their comments on that form.
- The editor will surely consider the reviewer's comments and may send the paper to someone else for another opinion or send it back to the author(s) for revision before making any decision. But the final decision about publishing a research paper (either accept or reject) will solely rest with the editor. A reviewer cannot challenge the decision of the editor in any forum.