Publication Ethics and Mal-Practice Statement (PEMS)

The Pakistan Journal of Criminology is committed to the academic community and the lay world in ensuring ethics in publication and quality of articles in publication. Plagiarism is strictly condemned and papers found to be plagiarized will be removed or not published in the Pakistan Journal of Criminology. While signing the publication agreement the author(s) have to warrant that the article and associated materials are original and it does not infringe the copyright of anyone. Also the authors have to warrant that there was a full consensus of all the authors and it was neither submitted nor published previously. We state the following principles of Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement based on the Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors of the Committee on Publication Ethics. The Pakistan Journal of Criminology has adopted and applies the ethical rules for  publication in accordance with the guidelines of the COPE (Publication Ethics Committee) (available at http://publicationethics.org/).

Editor Ethics

The Editor-in-Chief of Pakistan Journal of Criminology, is responsible for deciding which of the articles submitted to the journal should be published in current volume of the journal. He may be guided by the policies of the journal’s editorial board and constrained by such legal requirements as shall then be in force regarding libel, copyright infringement and plagiarism.

An editor at any time evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to the nature of the authors or the host institution including race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

The editor must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s own research without the express written consent of the author.

When genuine errors in published work are pointed out by readers, authors, or members of editorial board, which do not render the work invalid, a correction (or erratum) will be published as soon as possible. The online version of the paper may be corrected with a date of correction and a link to the printed erratum. If the error renders the work or substantial parts of it invalid, the process of retraction can be initiated. In such case, the retraction communication with explanations as to the reason for retraction will be published as soon as possible. Consequently, the message about retraction will be indicated on article page and in pdf version of retracted article.

If serious concerns are raised by readers, reviewers, or others, about the conduct, validity, or reporting of academic work, editor will initially contact the authors and allow them to respond to the concerns. If that response is unsatisfactory, Pakistan Journal of Criminology will take this to the institutional level.

Pakistan Journal of Criminology will respond to all allegations or suspicions of research or publication misconduct raised by readers, reviewers, or other editors. Cases of possible plagiarism or duplicate/redundant publication will be assessed by the journal. In other cases, Journal of Research in Medical and Dental Science may request an investigation by the institution or other appropriate bodies (after seeking an explanation from the authors first and if that explanation is unsatisfactory).

Retracted papers will be retained online, and they will be prominently marked as a retraction in all online versions, including the PDF, for the benefit of future readers.

Guest Editors’ Ethics

Guest editors are responsible for defining the subject matter and role of every article in a thematic issue;

Providing clear guidelines to authors regarding the topic and boundaries of their contributions and the overall design of the issue;

Ensuring, in collaboration with the executive editorial board, that appropriate reviewers are selected for all the articles (whether they have been commissioned or submitted as a result of a call for papers);

Establishing a timeline for draft paper submission, peer review, revision and final paper submission with the executive editorial board, and ensuring that all deadlines are met;

 

Reviewer ethics (Duties of the Reviewers)

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.

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.

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.

Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate. Referees should express their views clearly with supporting arguments.

Reviewers should identify relevant published work that has not been cited by the authors. Any statement that an observation, derivation, or argument had been previously reported should be accompanied by the relevant citation. A reviewer should also call to the editor’s attention any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under consideration and any other published paper of which they have personal knowledge.

Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be kept confidential and not used for personal advantage. 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.

Editor will take reviewer misconduct seriously and pursue any allegation of breach of confidentiality, non-declaration of conflicts of interest (financial or non-financial), inappropriate use of confidential material, or delay of peer review for competitive advantage. Allegations of serious reviewer misconduct, such as plagiarism, will be taken to the institutional level.

Authors and Authors Responsibilities

The author is responsible for the manuscript sent to the journal and declares that the manuscript sent is the correct manuscript as the result of his own research or his thought, original as his own work and does not manipulate data, honestly and freely plagiarism.

The author should inform that the manuscript submitted / submitted to the editor is a script that has never been submitted / submitted to the publisher of another journal / publication. If there is any redundancy in the submission of a manuscript to another publisher, then the editor will reject the submitted manuscript.

The author shall indicate quotations and references obtained from the work of others and may not alter or alter the source.

The author will not object if the script is edited without changing the substance or main idea of writing.

The author must understand the ethics of scientific publications above to avoid any conflict of interest with other parties, so the script can be processed smoothly and safely.

Publication Ethics

Publisher and editor is responsible for publishing articles after going through the process of editing, peer review, layout in accordance with the rules of publishing Scientific Journal.

Journal editor is responsible for ensuring academic freedom for editors and reviewers in performing their duties.

Publisher is responsible for maintaining privacy and protecting intellectual   property and copyright, and editorial freedom.

Publishers and editor is willing to publish corrections, clarifications, retractions and apologies when needed.

Copyright and Access

Authors are required to assign copyright to Pakistan Society of Criminology, subject to retaining their right to reuse the material in other publications written or edited by themselves and due to be published at least one year after initial publication in the journal.

Archiving

The electronic backup and open access to the journal content is available in the journal webpage as well as on the society webpage as well. Moreover, we publish/print more than 1000 hard copies in press of each issue which is available in our library and the same is also shared with the authors and all the libraries nationwide in the country.

Ownership and management

The Pakistan Journal of Criminology is an official publication of the Pakistan Society of Criminology. The journal is the only research journal in the field of criminology recognized by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.

Web site

The journal has its own web site i.e. https://www.pjcriminology.com/

Publishing schedule

Pakistan Journal of Criminology is published quarterly mean four issues in a year.

Name of journal

Pakistan Journal of Criminology (PJC) is the only HEC recognized journal in the field of Criminology in Pakistan. The Journal is published quarterly by Pakistan Society of Criminology (PSC). The journal ISSN is 2074-2738 (Print), and ISSN 2222-6648 (online).