Publication Ethics

In keeping with international standards, PJSCP strives to ensure transparency in all aspects of the publication process and to curb ethical violation. For this purpose the following guidelines have been set:

	Submission Policy: All articles will be submitted via journal email and will be addressed to the Editor. Authors are not allowed to contact members of the editorial board on their personal email addresses or phones. Authorship & Contribution: At the time of submission, authors are required to submit an Agreement Form (sample available on the website) that clearly deals with authorship concerns and contributions by all authors. Conflict of Interest: It is essential for all authors to comment upon and discuss any conflicts of interest within the same agreement form. A duly signed and scanned copy must be submitted at the time of submission for the manuscript to be accepted to the publication process.
	Data Sharing & Reproducibility: As per international research standards, authors are advised to keep data of submitted/published manuscripts for five years. If data has been lost, please do not submit the manuscript. Furthermore, if required the editorial committee can request authors to submit their data sheets (for validation).
	Ethical Oversights: Authors must strictly follow the research ethics and guidelines outlined in the American Psychological Association (APA) publication manual 6th edition (please consult the manual for a detailed guideline). All manuscripts must address ethical considerations. Any manuscript found to be in violation of the ethical guidelines will not be catered and will result in a minimum 2 year ban.
	Human and Animal rights: When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should clearly indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national). When reporting experiments on animals, authors may be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
	Plagiarism: In accordance to the standards set by the Higher education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, the similarity index/plagiarism of all articles must be below 15% and AI should be 0% as per the HEC Rules. A similarity index report MUST be sent through at the time of submission.
	Letter of Acceptance: If required, an acceptance letter can be issued for an article that has been peer-reviewed by the national and international reviewers and proof read by the Editorial board. However, the acceptance granted for the article is subject to withdrawal on the recommendation of the Editor in case the author fails to incorporate corrections and revisions in the final proof in a timely manner.
	Allegations of misconduct & Complaints: Any allegations of misconduct should be reported to the Chief Editor directly. The editor is then liable for responding to the complainant and dealing with such complaints in accordance to the Journal’s policies.
	Post Publication Corrections: A final copy of the manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author, who would then notify the editorial board of any required changes with 24-48 hours. In case the author requires post-publication corrections, an application will be emailed to the Editor directly. The corrections will then be incorporated in the copy available online. Please note: any post-publication changes cannot be made in the hard copy of the Journal.