Publication Policy

KEENJHAR- Research Journal (KRJ) adheres to the following policy parameters:

  • It publishes once a year;
  • Currently, it falls in the "Y" category.
  • It does not charge any processing fee, however; it may do so when genuinely justified;

  • It observes a double-blind peer review process in case of both national as well as international evaluation of the accepted manuscripts; after initial desk review by the editorial team and upon final approval by the publication committee;

  • It observes a strict annual task/work calendar: two (02) months for Anti-Plagiarism by HEC focal person office at the University, two (02) months for initial desk review and evaluation by publication committee, four (04) months for double-blind peer review by national and international reviewer respectively including revision process where necessary, one (01) month for final desk editing and formatting by the journal publication team/officer, one (01) month for sending and receiving author disclaimer and final manuscript details check and two (02) months for publication of the journal at the authentic registered press outlet;

  • It maintains proper archives wherein interested readers/scholars/researchers can access contents of any of its volume/issue starting from its inceptions up to the latest one;

  • It publishes research papers falling within its prescribed and stated scope;
  • It practices a zero-tolerance approach in terms of an anti-plagiarism policy;
  • It encourages original, authentic, and innovative research work;
  • It seeks to implement its policy without institutional pressure and also ensures revising it from time to time;

  • It operates under a competent editorial board comprising reputed national and international scholars;

  • It remains fluid in terms of the appointment of scholars on the editorial board and makes changes in the same as mandated by HEC and good research practice;

  • It is guided and supported by an efficient scaffold of eminent in and outside the country researchers as members of its scientific and review committee;

  • It remains flexible towards the formation and continuation of scientific and review committees and brings about necessary changes from time to time;

  • It believes in and practices fair play and impartiality by disregarding 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;

  • It implements complete confidentiality by protecting the research paper, author (s), and reviewer details; keeping the entire submission and evaluation process under strict cover;

  • It explicitly states author, reviewer, and publication requirements and guidelines in an open and accessible form;

  • It constantly strives to enrich and enlarge the panel of competent and qualified reviewers by identifying and inviting reviewers from Publications and other international reviewer databases;

  • It harbors a no-tolerance approach to issues pertaining to misconduct. In such cases, the editor acts promptly as per the policy of the journal and publishes a corrigendum, removes and retracts an article;

  • It declares and acts upon a clear-cut “conflict of interest” policy for his/her own submission and a research paper submitted by an Editorial Board / Scientific and Reviews Committee member in the interest of good practice, unbiased and transparent evaluation of submissions;

  • It does not use any unpublished information/data from the submitted research paper without the permission of the author(s); keeps all information received after peer review confidential and does not also use it for personal gains;

  • It executes a policy wherein the decision to accept or reject a paper for publication is based purely on merit, academic standards, and the professional demands of the journal. The decision to reject a paper is motivated by the reason (s):

  • Failure to fit in the scope of the journal (maybe communicated after preliminary review)
  • Insufficient depth of content
  • Major errors related to design, analysis, write up, and format
  • Any misconduct or conflicting factors (e.g. plagiarism, copyright infringement, legal issues, fake data, authorship issues)

In cases as indicated above, the Editor timely communicates the decisions to the author(s) and never reverses such a decision; 

  • Any claim to authorship, sequence of authorship, permission, or objection to publishing must be made prior to the publishing of the journal in response to the final confirmation email we will send, or on the author (s) own. Any such claim after the publishing of the journal in response to the final confirmation email we will send, or on the author (s) own. Any such claim after the publishing of the journal would not be entertained as legal.

  • The responsibility of the views expressed in the research paper, implicit and explicit, citations made thereby, data presented therein, and conclusions drawn shall remain solely with the author (s); and either the editor or entire editorial team shall not in any way be responsible for those.

  • The editor and the editorial team reserve the right to edit, soften, alter and amend language items i-e; words, phrases, clauses, and sentences in case those are too strong controversial, or capable of triggering disrespect/offense to individuals, ideologies, faiths, institutions and state policies.

  • The editor and the editorial team also reserve the right to decline the publication of submission at any stage of the submission—publishing process without the obligation to explain or assign any reason whatsoever.

  • KRJ practices a zero-tolerance policy as regards the use of “taboo language” and defines “taboo language” as words, phrases, sentences, observations, remarks, and opinions that may be inappropriate with reference to the context. In addition, the Keenjhar Research Journal consider “taboo language” that may fall under any, many, or all of the following categories:

  • It implements ethical guidelines as per HEC policy which states that it remains the author (s) responsibility to ensure that the data submitted is original, within the allowed limit of similarity index, including declarations of originality, authorship, and publication; acknowledges and credits all sources cited, respects the privacy of participants, provision of data on demand and ensuring that images are not manipulated.

  • Offending people personal, social, cultural, religious, and political beliefs
  • Offending individuals, institutions, and policies enjoying constitutional immunity cover

  • Biased language: Gender or any other bias
  • Bowdlerism:  Capable of disrespect
  • Cursing: Foul vocabulary and expressions
  • Dysphemism: Words that abuse, insult and disparage
  • Grawlix: Comic symbols and caricature unless justified by context
  • Orthophemism: Evasive blunt, too straightforward expression
  • Pejorative language: Words that hurt, humiliate and derogate
  • Language compromising pragmatic and politeness strategies
  • Swear words
  • Prejudiced, offensive, and hurtful expressions