Ethical Statement

Pakistan Social Sciences Review (PSSR) is committed to the highest standards of publication ethics and academic integrity. This Ethical Statement is developed with reference to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines, the DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing, and generally accepted publication ethics criteria applied during Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) evaluations.

1. Aims and Scope of Ethics

PSSR upholds ethical publishing practices to ensure the integrity, credibility, and transparency of scholarly research. All stakeholders—authors, reviewers, editors, and the publisher—are expected to adhere to these principles.

2. Editorial Board Independence

Editorial decisions at PSSR are made independently by the Editor-in-Chief and the Editorial Board.

  • The publisher has no role in editorial decision-making.
  • Acceptance or rejection of manuscripts is based solely on academic merit, originality, relevance, and methodological rigor.
  • Editorial decisions are free from commercial, institutional, or political influence.

3. Peer Review Process

PSSR operates a double-blind peer review process.

  • All submissions are reviewed by at least two independent experts.
  • Reviewers and authors remain anonymous.
  • Reviews are objective, confidential, and free from conflicts of interest.
  • Editors base decisions on reviewers’ reports and journal scope.

4. Authorship and Contributorship

Authorship is limited to individuals who have made substantial contributions to:

  • Research conception or design
  • Data acquisition, analysis, or interpretation
  • Drafting or critically revising the manuscript
  • Final approval of the version to be published

All contributors who do not meet authorship criteria must be acknowledged. The corresponding author is responsible for communication and ethical compliance.

5. Research Integrity and Misconduct

PSSR strictly prohibits:

  • Fabrication or falsification of data
  • Plagiarism or self-plagiarism
  • Image manipulation that misrepresents findings
  • Fraudulent or deceptive research practices

Allegations of misconduct are investigated according to COPE guidelines.

6. Plagiarism Policy

All submissions are screened using iThenticate (CrossCheck).

  • Manuscripts with significant plagiarism are rejected.
  • Plagiarism detected post-publication may result in retraction.

7. Duplicate and Redundant Publication

Authors must not submit manuscripts that substantially overlap with previously published work.

  • Duplicate publication and salami slicing are not permitted.
  • Prior publications must be clearly disclosed and cited.

8. Ethical Approval for Human Research

Research involving human participants must:

  • Obtain approval from a recognized Institutional Ethics Committee
  • Include informed consent from participants
  • Protect participants’ dignity, privacy, and welfare

Ethical approval details must be stated in the manuscript.

9. Conflicts of Interest

All authors, reviewers, and editors must disclose any financial or non-financial conflicts of interest.

  • A conflict of interest statement is mandatory at submission.
  • Undisclosed conflicts discovered later may lead to correction or retraction.

10. Funding Declaration

Authors must clearly disclose all sources of funding.

  • If no funding was received, authors must state:
    “The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.”

11. Article Processing Charges (APCs)

Details of APCs are available at the journal’s APC page.

Any changes to APC policies are publicly announced and do not influence editorial decisions.

12. Data Availability and Transparency

Authors are encouraged to:

  • Retain original research data
  • Provide data upon reasonable request
  • Deposit datasets in recognized repositories where possible

A data availability statement is recommended.

13. Corrections, Retractions, and Expressions of Concern

PSSR follows COPE Retraction Guidelines.

  • Corrections are issued for honest errors
  • Retractions occur in cases of serious ethical breaches
  • Expressions of Concern are published when investigations are ongoing

14. Copyright and Licensing

All articles published in PSSR are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

  • Authors retain copyright
  • Articles may be shared and reused for non-commercial purposes with proper attribution

15. Advertising and Marketing Ethics

Advertising and marketing activities:

  • Do not influence editorial decisions
  • Are clearly separated from editorial content
  • Follow ethical publishing standards

16. Complaints and Appeals

Complaints regarding editorial decisions, peer review, or ethics should be directed to:

Email: editor@pssr.org.pk

All complaints are handled according to COPE procedures.

17. Compliance Statement

PSSR endeavors to follow internationally recognized best practices in scholarly publishing. The journal’s ethical policies are informed by:

  • COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors
  • DOAJ Principles of Transparency and Best Practice in Scholarly Publishing
  • Widely accepted publication ethics standards applied by abstracting and indexing services, including Scopus

Reference to these frameworks indicates alignment with best practices and does not imply endorsement, approval, or indexing by any organization.