Ethical Policy
The Journal of Education and Social Sciences (JESS) is
committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics and
academic integrity throughout the editorial and publishing process. The Journal
follows internationally recognized principles of ethical publishing and adheres
to the ethical standards and best practices recommended by the Committee on
Publication Ethics (COPE) and the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan.
All participants in the publication process, including authors, editors,
reviewers, and the publisher, are expected to comply with these ethical
principles.
Publication Ethics
JESS is dedicated to ensuring that all published research is
original, reliable, transparent, and conducted responsibly. Editorial decisions
are based solely on the scholarly merit, originality, methodological rigor, and
relevance of the submitted work, without discrimination based on the authors'
nationality, gender, institutional affiliation, ethnicity, religion, or
political beliefs.
Responsibilities of Authors
Authors submitting manuscripts to JESS are expected to:
- Submit only original and unpublished work
that is not under consideration elsewhere.
- Ensure that all data presented are
accurate, authentic, and honestly reported.
- Properly acknowledge the work of others
through appropriate citations and references.
- Avoid plagiarism, self-plagiarism, data
fabrication, data falsification, and image manipulation.
- Include as authors only those individuals
who have made substantial scholarly contributions to the research.
- Disclose any financial or non-financial
conflicts of interest that may influence the research or its
interpretation.
- Obtain ethical approval for studies
involving human participants or animals where applicable and provide
evidence upon request.
- Promptly notify the Editorial Office if a
significant error is discovered after publication so that appropriate
corrections or retractions can be made.
Responsibilities of Editors
The Editor-in-Chief and Editorial Board are responsible for
ensuring a fair, transparent, and unbiased editorial process. Editors shall:
- Evaluate manuscripts solely on academic
merit and relevance to the journal's scope.
- Maintain confidentiality of all submitted
manuscripts.
- Ensure that manuscripts undergo an
objective double-blind peer review process.
- Avoid conflicts of interest in editorial
decision-making.
- Take appropriate action in cases of
suspected ethical misconduct, including plagiarism, duplicate publication,
fabricated data, authorship disputes, or unethical research practices.
- Publish corrections, expressions of
concern, or retractions whenever necessary to preserve the integrity of
the scholarly record.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Peer reviewers play a vital role in maintaining the quality of
published research. Reviewers are expected to:
- Conduct reviews objectively,
constructively, and within the specified timeframe.
- Maintain strict confidentiality regarding
all manuscript content.
- Declare any conflict of interest before
accepting a review assignment.
- Identify relevant published work that has
not been cited by the authors.
- Report any suspected plagiarism, duplicate
publication, ethical concerns, or research misconduct to the Editor.
Plagiarism Policy
JESS maintains a zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism. All
submitted manuscripts are screened using plagiarism detection software before
entering the peer review process. Manuscripts containing unacceptable levels of
textual similarity, copied content, or evidence of plagiarism will be rejected
immediately. Proven cases of plagiarism discovered after publication may result
in correction, retraction, and notification of the authors' affiliated
institutions where appropriate.
Conflict of Interest
All authors, reviewers, and editors are required to disclose any
personal, professional, financial, or institutional relationships that could
influence the publication process. Such disclosures enable the Editorial Office
to ensure objective and impartial decision-making.
Research Ethics
Research involving human participants, personal data, or animals
must comply with internationally accepted ethical standards and the regulations
of the relevant institutional ethics committee. Authors should clearly state
the approval obtained from the appropriate ethics review board and confirm that
informed consent was obtained whenever required.
Complaints and Appeals
JESS provides a transparent mechanism for handling complaints
related to editorial decisions, peer review, publication ethics, or allegations
of misconduct. Appeals against editorial decisions are reviewed fairly and
independently by the Editor-in-Chief or an appropriate Editorial Committee.
Corrections and Retractions
Where significant errors or ethical concerns are identified after
publication, JESS will publish corrections, corrigenda, expressions of concern,
or retractions in accordance with internationally accepted publication ethics
standards to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record.
Research Misconduct
The Journal investigates all allegations of research misconduct,
including but not limited to plagiarism, duplicate publication, data
fabrication, data falsification, unethical research practices, inappropriate
authorship, citation manipulation, and peer-review manipulation. Confirmed
cases may lead to manuscript rejection, article retraction, notification of
authors' institutions, and other appropriate editorial actions.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tools
Artificial intelligence and generative AI tools may only be used to
support language editing or improve readability. Such tools must not be listed
as authors because they cannot assume responsibility for the integrity,
originality, or accuracy of the work. Authors remain fully accountable for all
content submitted to the Journal and should disclose any significant use of
AI-assisted tools in manuscript preparation where appropriate.
Ethical Commitment
JESS is committed to safeguarding research integrity by promoting
transparency, accountability, fairness, and responsible scholarly
communication. The Journal continuously updates its editorial practices in
accordance with internationally recognized ethical standards to ensure the
credibility and quality of the research it publishes.
Policies
The Journal of Education & Social Sciences (JESS) is a multidisciplinary journal in the field of Education & Social Sciences. The goal of JESS is to publish intuitive, original and impactful research in the relevant arena.
JESS welcomes submissions of research manuscripts in any sub-domains of Education and Social Sciences. Within our scope are all aspects of management related to strategy, innovation, inclusive education, early childhood education, ICT in education, economics of education, educational leadership and management, curriculum development and pedagogy, and organizations as well as all functional areas of education. JESS also welcome articles within the scope of social sciences. A free online access and free publication make it easily available. A high-quality Double-Blind Peer review ensures its quality and original contributions in the field of Education and Social Sciences.
We encourage authors to refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics' International Standards for Authors and view the Publication Ethics International Standards for Authors
Also, read Guidelines published on good publication and the Code of Conduct by the Committee of Publication Ethics (COPE).
PEER-REVIEW POLICY
All submissions made to the journal via the online submission portal are first reviewed for completeness, and only then sent to be assessed by an Associate Editor who will decide whether they are suitable for peer review based on the scope, quality of communication, and the similarity of the manuscript.
Editor(s) are expected to obtain a minimum of two peer reviewers (both national and international) for manuscripts reporting primary research or secondary analysis of primary research.Authors are then notified of the decision with a copy of suggested reviewer's comments if the manuscript is accepted or rejected.
The accepted ones will be resubmitted with their revised manuscripts along with a Response Sheet explaining how they incorporated the reviewer's suggestions.
PLAGIARISM POLICY
The authors should guarantee that their work is entirely original and that if they have utilized the work and/or words of others, this has been properly credited or quoted. All manuscripts submitted to the journal will be checked for originality using Turnitin software. The maximum amount of plagiarism that may be tolerated is 17%. The editor of the journal, on the other hand, may commence the investigation by evaluating any allegations of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, or text recycling. If the assertions are correct, all identified authors will be contacted in order to conduct an inquiry about the overlapping material. Further feedback from the Editorial Board members and the author's institution may be sought if needed.
The journal's decision will be based on the author's research and response (s). Depending on the nature and severity of the problem, the following steps may be taken:
- If the work is still being reviewed, it may be returned to the author with a suggestion that they rectify problems via proper citation, the use of quotation marks to indicate direct citations or rewriting.
- Manuscripts that are too similar to be edited may be rejected.
- If the information has already been published online, the author may supplement the work with a correction*, statement of concern, or retraction.
Note: In each of the scenarios, the author's institution may also be contacted.
CORRECTION AND RETRACTION POLICY
After a paper is published, we generally do not allow making any changes to the paper. However, the editorial board may allow corrections in the published paper in exceptional cases.
The corrections may be allowed to rectify unintentional miscalculations, human lapses or technical errors in the published paper.
The published papers may be retracted if a clear evidence of fraudulent data, plagiarism or unethical publication practices is found.
The copyright infringement or non-disclosure of conflict interest may also result in retraction of the published papers.
The decision of correction or retraction will be made on case to case basis following the COPE's Retraction Guidelines.
The decision of the editorial board with regards to correction or retraction will be final and cannot be challenged.
REPOSITORY POLICY
Our repository policy aims to increase the access and citation of the published articles in our Journal.
Journal of Education & Social Sciences allows authors to archive their published articles in an institutional repository which should be on a non-profit server. The authors can also self-archive their published articles on their personal website or web space.
A link to the Journal's home page or the article's DOI number must be mentioned along with the deposited article in the institutional or personal repository.
What is a DOI?
DOI stands for digital object identifier. It is a unique identifying code assigned to each article at the time of publication on the IQRA University website. DOIs are distributed by independent registration agencies, such as CrossRef.
ALL PAPERS MUST BE SUBMITTED VIA THE ONLINE SYSTEM
IMPORTANT: All papers will be acknowledged on receipt by email and will receive a preliminary editorial review within four weeks. Papers of high interest will be sent out for external review. We aim to notify authors of acceptance, rejection or need for revision within four months of submission. Recently, due to the high volume of submissions and demands on referees, it may not always be possible to meet this target, but we aim to have your manuscript reviewed within six months.
Data Access and Retention
Authors are asked to provide the raw data in connection with a paper for editorial review, if practicable, and should in any event be prepared to retain such data for a reasonable time after publication.
Authorship of the Paper
Authorship should be limited to those who have made a significant contribution to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the reported study. All those who have made significant contributions should be listed as co-authors. Where there are others who have participated in certain substantive aspects of the research project, they should be acknowledged or listed as contributors. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors and no inappropriate co-authors are included on the paper, and that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the paper and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Research Involving Animals and Human Subjects
While reporting research on human subjects, kindly demonstrate the methods used were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional or regional). The rights of the children should be protected and the consent form should be duly obtained from their parents or guardians before they participate in a research study. Include written approvals from an Institutional Review Board or an Animal Care and Use Committee. Authors must have informed consent from patients or guardians. If a patient is dead, the author should look for authorization from a family member. If an animal is used in experiments, authors must look for authorization from the relevant committee of the concerned department or institution.