Ethical Guidelines for Editors

The Editor’s Responsibilities

Establishing and maintaining quality of the journal by publishing quality papers.
Promotion of freedom of expression within the cultural, constitutional/legal framework

Good practices

Encouraging new ideas and suggestions for improving quality of AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ).
Appling the process of blind peer review in its true letter and spirit,
Promoting & implementing anti plagiarism & journal’s policy without institutional pressure.

Editorial Board Members are prohibited to publish their papers in AL-HAYAT Research Journal (AHRJ).

Ethical Guidelines for Editors

The Editor’s Responsibilities

Establishing and maintaining the quality of the journal by publishing quality papers.
Promotion of freedom of expression within the cultural, constitutional/legal framework

Good practices

Encouraging new ideas and suggestions for improving quality of AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ).
Appling the process of blind peer review in its true letter and spirit,
Promoting & implementing anti plagiarism & journal’s policy without institutional pressure.
Editorial Board Members are prohibited to publish their papers in AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ). Self-Institutional publication is not allowed as well, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest.

Fair play and Impartiality

Will ensure impartial evaluation of the content of research papers,
Disregard the all discriminating factors during selection of articles, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, etc. of author(s)

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of the author(s) and reviewers during the peer review process will be ensured
Confidentiality of the participants of the research should also be ensured.
Prior to publication, the content of the manuscript would be kept confidential

Editing and Formatting Guidelines

Clear guidelines about preparing and formatting of a paper are available on AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ) webpage.

The Review Process

Articles are initially scrutinized and then go through double-blind peer review process.
Sufficient guidelines along with a Reviewer’s Proforma are provided to reviewers (see: Reviewer’s Proforma download section)
Sharing the reviewer’s comments with author and incorporation of suggested corrections.
Referring troublesome cases to Advisory Committee.

Dealing with Misconduct

Will encourages reviewers to comment on ethical issues and possible misconduct.
Confirmation of plagiarism through Turnitin and/or searching for similar titles etc.
Will publish a corrigendum, remove and retract a plagiarized article.

Transparency

Only one paper as a PI (Principle Investigator) should be published in the same issue.
Editorial Board Members are prohibited to publish their papers in AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ). Self-Institutional publication is not allowed as well, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest. After the adoption of the HEC's new policy for research journals for July 2019 onwards, AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ) does not allow Editorial Board and Self-institutional publications, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest (if any).
Authorship & co-authorship policy will be strictly adopted.

Conflict of Interest

The editors and reviewers will not edit a submitted paper for those author(s) and/or institution against which s/he has any conflicts of interest.
Editorial Board Members are prohibited to publish their papers in AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ). Self-Institutional publication is not allowed as well, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest. After adoption of HEC new policy for research journals for July 2019 onwards, AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ) does not allow Editorial Board and Self-institutional publications, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest (if any).

Disclosure

will not use any unpublished information/data from the submitted research paper without the permission of the author(s)

Publication Decisions

Only shortlisted research papers relevant to the scope of the journal will be published after completion of the review process
Acceptation or rejection of a paper will be based on academic standards.
The Editor will justify the reason (s) of rejecting a research paper and will timely communicate the editorial decision to the author(s)

Procedure for Appeal

The Editor is responsible for establishing a proper mechanism for appeals launched against:

The rejection of a research paper.
Objections to publications causing harm to any party.

Infringement of Ethical boundaries in any manner.

. Self-Institutional publication is not allowed as well, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest.

Fair play and Impartiality

Will ensure impartial evaluation of the content of research papers,
Disregard the all discriminating factors during selection of articles, e.g. gender, race, ethnicity, religious belief, etc. of author(s)

Confidentiality

Confidentiality of the author(s) and reviewers during the peer review process will be ensured
Confidentiality of the participants of the research should also be ensured.
Prior to publication, the content of the manuscript would be kept confidential

Editing and Formatting Guidelines

Clear guidelines about preparing and formatting of a paper are available on AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ) webpage.

The Review Process

Articles are initially scrutinized and then go through double-blind peer review process.
Sufficient guidelines along with a Reviewer’s Proforma are provided to reviewers (see: Reviewer’s Proforma download section)
Sharing the reviewer’s comments with author and incorporation of suggested corrections.
Referring troublesome cases to Advisory Committee.

Dealing with Misconduct

Will encourages reviewers to comment on ethical issues and possible misconduct.
Confirmation of plagiarism through Turnitin and/or searching for similar titles etc.
Will publish a corrigendum, remove and retract a plagiarized article.

Transparency

Only one paper as a PI (Principle Investigator) should be published in the same issue.
Editorial Board Members are prohibited to publish their papers in AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ). Self-Institutional publication is not allowed as well, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest. After adoption of HEC new policy for research journals for July 2019 onwards, AL-HAYAT RESEARCH JOURNAL (AHRJ) does not allow Editorial Board and Self-institutional publications, to ensure transparency and avoid conflict of interest (if any).
Authorship & co-authorship policy will be strictly adopted.

Conflict of Interest/Competing Interest Policy

All participants in the publication process—including authors, reviewers, editors, and staff—must disclose any financial, personal, institutional, or intellectual conflicts of interest that may influence objectivity.

Disclosed conflicts are evaluated by the Editor-in-Chief, and appropriate measures are taken to ensure impartial decision-making.

Editorial and Advisory Board Conflicts

Editorial and advisory board members must declare conflicts related to submitted manuscripts. Members with conflicts are excluded from editorial decisions involving the affected manuscripts.

Handling Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts are reviewed confidentially and managed through reassignment of reviewers or editors, or by seeking independent expert opinions. Relevant disclosures may be published where appropriate.

Disclosure

will not use any unpublished information/data from the submitted research paper without the permission of the author(s)

Publication Decisions

Only shortlisted research papers relevant to the scope of the journal will be published after completion of the review process
Acceptation or rejection of a paper will be based on academic standards.
The Editor will justify the reason (s) of rejecting a research paper and will timely communicate the editorial decision to the author(s)

Procedure for Appeal

The Editor is responsible for establishing a proper mechanism for appeals launched against:

The rejection of a research paper.
Objections to publications causing harm to any party.

Infringement of Ethical boundaries in any manner.

Authors may appeal editorial decisions by contacting the Editor at editor@hrj.com.pk, providing a reasoned and evidence-based justification. The Editorial Board’s decision on appeals is final.