Policy Document for BUJHSS

 

Detail of Frequency of publication of Volume/ Issues:

The ‘BUJHSS’ is a Refereed Biannual Journal having an Advisory Panel from subject specialist of diverse academic platforms. The Journal welcomes articles in all areas of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Journal employs double blind and peer reviewed process. Its primary goal is to provide a platform to academicians and researchers from diversified disciplines of study to publish their papers in one source. ‘BUJHSS’ accepts research articles and discussions for publication.

To bring quality to the published work in BUJHSS, we have established an internationally renowned large Advisory/Review Board. In order to ensure that the research published is filtered through double-blind peer review process, it is also put through desk evaluation under the Editor thereby ensuring accuracy, clarity and quality to the work published.

In order to ensure research dissemination, besides a print version of the journal we are also maintaining an electronic archive of the published articles available in the downloadable form.

Timeline of publication:

	First Half Yearly Issue (July Every Year)	Second Half Yearly Issue (December Every Year)
Paper Submission	1st January- 28th February	1st July – 30th August
Review Process	March to April	September to October
Acceptance/Rejection Notification to Authors	May	November
Publication	July	December

 

Guidelines for Submission of Research Article & Peer-Reviewed

Manuscripts will be evaluated by at least two reviewers in addition to the editor. The research manuscripts will be processed through double blind peer review process. Submission should comply with the ethical considerations laid down by the APA in its latest publication manual. As per HEC policy, the manuscript will be published subject to plagiarism clearance. The other guidelines are as follows:

Submission Preparation Checklist 

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
• The submission file is in Open Office, Microsoft Word, or RTF document file format.
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• The text is single-spaced; uses a 12-point font; employs italics, rather than underlining (except with URL addresses); and all illustrations, figures, and tables are placed within the text at the appropriate points, rather than at the end.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.

Submission
Articles submitted to ‘BUJHSS’ can be in areas of Humanities and Social Sciences mentioned in scope and mission of BUJHSS both theoretical, applied manuscripts in English and should be electronically submitted at http://bujhss.bahria.edu.pk/index.php/ojs

Manuscripts should be submitted as a single ‘Word File’ including all materials. Information about the author should be submitted as separate MSWord file including name, designation, affiliation, email and contact number of all the authors.

The opinions expressed in articles are only those of authors and not those of the editors or publisher. Authors are personally responsible to obtain permission for reprint of previously published material in other sources. Further details related to call for papers and previous issues of journal are available at Bahria University Website BUJHSS under Bahria University Karachi Campus.

Article Structure

• Text types and Subdivision- Numbered sections
  The main text; type font size:
• Paper Title – Arial 12 Bold, 1.5 line-spacing
• Headings – Arial 10 Bold, 1.5 line-spacing numbered as 1, 2, 3;
• Subheadings – Arial 10 pts Bold, numbered as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3;

General Style:

Preparation of the Manuscript: Articles written only in English language are accepted for publication. Spellings should follow Webster’s Dictionary or Oxford English Dictionary. All submissions may have a title, abstract, keywords, introduction, relevant work, proposed methodology, result & analysis, discussion and conclusion sections.

• The suggested limit for the paper is 5000 to 8000 words.
• Figures and tables should be captioned and numbered clearly.
• Font style and size should be Arial 10.
• Please be sure that your paper is 1.5 line-spacing including references and uses 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Your text including title of sections must be justified, start a new paragraph by indenting it from the left margin; for the figures and tables, use Arial 9 bold with single line spacing.
• Some flexibility of the presentation will be allowed but authors are urged to arrange the subject matter clearly under such headings as:
• Introduction
• Purpose and Scope
• Research Methodology
• Results and Analysis/ Discussions
• Conclusions
• Recommendations.(if applicable)

• Illustrations must be placed as close as possible to where they are mentioned in the main text. They must be numbered consecutively (e.g. Fig.1. Fig.2….) Bold, centered with caption on top and source should be placed below figure.
• Tables must be numbered consecutively (e.g. Table. 1). Table headings should be placed above the table.
• Divide your article into clearly defined and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2, …), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to ‘the text’. Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its own separate line.

A typical article might include the following: -

Abstract
The abstract section is the mandatory part for all articles. An abstract is a concise summary of the whole paper, not just the conclusions. It should state the purpose of the study, hypothesis, method, analysis, main findings and conclusions.

A factual abstract is required consisting 150-250 words. An abstract is often presented separately from the article so it must be able to stand alone. Also, non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.

Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a minimum of 5 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, ‘and’, ‘of’). Be sparing with abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible. These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.

Introduction
State the objectives of the work and provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or summary of the results. The introduction should also justify why the topic of the paper is important and that the content is original. The summary of results should have been dealt with in the abstract.

It may also contain the theoretical framework, rationale of the study and the litreature review of updated and relevant researches. However, Research objectives and / or hypotheses should be clearly listed.

Literature Review (if applicable):

This section should extend (but not repeat) the background to the article already dealt with in the introduction and lay the foundation for the work being reported. It should identify the most relevant previous literature on the topic (but not in excessive detail) in order to position the paper and demonstrate how it will make a significant contribution. It (or a separate section) should set out (and justify) the theoretical or conceptual framework adopted in the paper. It may identify a number of hypotheses to be tested. In short, this section (or sections) should explain what the motivation for the paper is and why its contribution is original and significant.

Research/Proposed Methodology:  This section should include the design of the study, description of the study sample, assessment protocols, ethical considerations  and the procedure of data collection.

Provide sufficient detail to allow the work to be reproduced. Methods already published should be indicated by a reference: only relevant modifications should be described. The reader needs to know that the empirical data and/or other material are relevant, reliable and capable of supporting robust conclusions, and that the methodology is appropriate, systematic and rigorous.

Results and Analysis/Discussions
Results should be clear and concise.

The results should be presented in a logical sequence in the text utilizing tables and illustrations (figures). Do not state the information that has been already presented. Tables, figures and illustrations must be prepared according to prescribed referencing format. Each table must have a title, and must be numbered in sequence. Clear notes should be made by the author(s) at the approximate point of insertion in the text.This section includes major findings; and emphasize new and important aspects of the study including conclusion and implications. It should explore the significance of the results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussions section is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published literature

Conclusions and Recommendations

The main conclusions of the study be presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section. This section should also may make clear what is the original contribution of the paper, discuss the policy or management implications of the findings, provide a critical assessment of the limitations of study, and outline possible fruitful lines for further research.

References

References to the literature should be mentioned in the main text by writing the author and year in brackets. List these at the very end of your paper (under the heading ‘References’); the references should follow the APA- style also you can find details in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association)

Authors Note: Include the names of all authors, according to their position in authorship, their organizational / departmental affiliations, contact details and complete postal as well as email address(es) of the corresponding author.

Article length

The standard length of articles for BUJHSS is between 5000 to 8000 words including foot notes/in-text citations, and other in-text material and References. However special cases may be considered after prior permission from the editor by writing the letter describing valid reasons for extended length.

Essential Title Page Information

• Title. Concise and informative. Titles are often used in information- retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors’ affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the author’s name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name and, the e-mail address of each other.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication. Ensure that contact number and fax numbers (with country and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address. Contact details must be kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a ‘Present address’ (or ‘Permanent address’) may be indicated as a footnote to that author’s name. The address at which the author actually did the work must retain as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
• Maximum number of authors for a paper is three.

Abbreviations
Any word or words to be abbreviated should be written in full when first mentioned followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis.

Tables and Supplementary Material

Data must be kept to a minimum. Tables should be numbered and headed with short titles. As with illustrations, they should not be inserted in the manuscript but supplied either after the main body of the text or uploaded as separate files.

Copyright
Submission of a paper to BUJHSS will be taken to imply that it presents original unpublished work in any form, not under consideration elsewhere. Authors are themselves responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce copyright material from other sources. Authors are responsible to ensures academic integrity.

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.

BUJHSS does not require all the authors of a research paper have to sign the letter of submission. Submission to BUJHSS is taken by the journal to mean that all the listed authors have agreed all of the contents. The corresponding (submitting) author is responsible for having ensured that this agreement has been attained and for managing all communication between the journal and all co-authors, before and after publication. Any change to the authors list after submission, such as a change in the order of the authors or the deletion or addition of authors needs to be approved by a signed letter from every author. 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.

 Editorial and Peer Review Policy

BUJHSS has a double blind peer review policy. Initial screening for the suitability of the article for publication is carried out by the editorial committee and subsequently the manuscript is processed for a blind paper review. 

Every manuscript submitted to BUJHSS is initially evaluated at Editor’s desk in accordance with Journal Publishing guidelines and Aims and Scope of the journal. This decision (acceptance/Rejection) is communicated to the author within one month of submission. Finding it suitable for sending to the next stage of peer review process, manuscript is then independently reviewed by at least two reviewers in the form of "double-blind review".

Decision for publication, amendment, or rejection is based upon their Review reports. Authors are informed about the comments or suggestions of the reviewers and are required to revise their paper within a stipulated time period. It takes approximately 2 months however it could be earlier or later than that as well due to reviewers’ other professional commitments. BUJHSS aims to expedite the publishing process and do not let its authors be delayed. 

Article Acceptance Policy

The submitted manuscripts are accepted for publication only after the acceptance from two reviewers. 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.

Article Publication Policy

The journal 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, the journal holds the rights to retract the publication at any point based on the publication policy and HEC guidelines for research article publications.

 Ethical Guidelines

Papers must be submitted with the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by or any other publisher. The submitting (corresponding) author is responsible for ensuring that the article's publication has been approved by all the other co-authors. It is also the authors' responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular institution are submitted with the approval of the necessary institution. Only an acknowledgment from the editorial office officially establishes and confirms the date of receipt. Further correspondence and proofs will be sent to the corresponding author(s) before publication unless otherwise indicated. It is a condition for submission of a paper that the authors permit editing of the paper for readability. All enquiries concerning the publication of accepted papers should be addressed to bujhss.bukc@bahria.edu.pk

Originality and Plagiarism Policy

BUJHSS 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, plagiarism detecting software (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. BU is following the HEC Plagiarism Policy, the details of the same can be found on the given link: https://hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/Plagiarism/Pages/default.aspx

Article processing fee

BUJHSS does not charge APCs, submission charges, or another fee. All processes of article publication are free of charge.

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.

Policy for the Correction and Retraction of the Research Article

BUJHSS retains all the rights to correct or retract the articles that have been published or 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.

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. Journal will not accept more than two affiliations for a single author. 

Steps Involved in the Publication of the Article

The following publication steps are followed by the journal:

• After submission of the manuscript the authors receive the acknowledgement from the journal.
• The submitted manuscript is sent for a desk review to the editorial committee. It examines the manuscript for appropriateness and relevancy for the journal.
• 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.
• 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.
• After the revision of the manuscript by the author, it is again revaluated by the editorial committee to ensure that the manuscript conforms to the journal’s guidelines for publication.
• After copy editing, the manuscripts are sent in online and print publications.

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.