Version 1.0
Approved in Editorial Board Meeting dated 12 February 2022.

The Pashto Journal is a peer-reviewed, bi-lingual, and a bi-annual research journal published by the Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar. The journal publishes papers in both Pashto and English on topics related to Pashto language, literature, history, art, and culture. Pashto is an open-access journal, where full articles are available with immediate access to general reader-ship. Print versions, however, are available on subscription.

This document presents policies governing operations of the Journal. In general, these will be aligned with SOP’s of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan, and guidelines provided by COPE.  

Editorial Policy

1. Editors have full authority to accept or reject any research paper keeping in view the publishing policy of the Journal, and/or the standard of the topic/ references/ material/ presentation/ language of the submitted paper.
2. Retractions/Corrections: Editors are authorized to make corrections in an article after placing contents online, whenever reported. Editor would provide corrigendum for any correction. Once articles go to print, corrections will not be allowed. In case of ethical violations, the article will be retracted with notice.
3. Editor will ensure Plagiarism Check of every paper and strictly follow the HEC Plagiarism Policy.
4. Editor is bound to follow the journal's policy without any institutional pressure.
5. Editor may appoint Members of Editorial Board/ Advisory Board and change them anytime.
6. Editor ensures smooth functioning of the journal and conduct the editorial board meeting on regular basis.
7. Editor would disregard the 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.
8. Review Guideline: Editor will submit article for review to at least 2 reviewers.
9. Conflict of Interest: Editors will declare conflict of interest for any submitted manuscript. Likewise, editors will not submit article to reviewers who have conflict of interest.
10. Editor will ensure the confidentiality of the content of manuscript prior to publishing.
11. Editor will ensure that an issue will have good coverage of topics such as Pashto Language & Literature, Culture, Civilization, History, Geography and Folklore, etc.
12. Review Guideline: Editor will ensure that review process is completed within 3 months of submission for review. This will include both reviewing period, as well as corrections to be made by authors.
13. Review Guideline: Editor will make decision on publication of article, based on provided comments of reviewer. In case of ambiguity or complaint, editor is authorized to submit paper for another round of review, or for getting opinion from additional reviewers. The final decision of paper publication rests with the editor.
14. Review Guideline: Editor has the right to perform desk reject of submitted paper, without any review process, if the submitted manuscript does not fulfil the basic criteria of submission guidelines.

Policy for Authors

1. Authorship Criteria: Author who have significant contribution to the research paper will be considered as principal author. Authors who have contribution in form of concept and analysis of article will be considered as co-author.
2. Author would be fully responsible for the presented study.
3. It is the author’s responsibility to ensure that the paper contains sufficient detail along with suitable references. Fraudulent or knowingly inaccurate statements would be considered as unethical behavior.
4. Corresponding Author will confirm at the time of submission, that the submitted manuscript is original work, and no material has been copied without reference from anywhere.
5. Article once submitted by the author to Pashto Journal will not be submitted to any other journal till the time decision is made by
6. Conflict of Interest: The author will disclose conflict of interest, if any, within the submitted manuscript.
7. Authors will comply with submission guidelines issued by the journal from time to time.
8. Data Fabrication/Falsification: Authors will understand that data falsification or fabrication will lead to penalties, including rejection of the paper.

Policy for Reviewers

1. Reviewers for articles will submit review as per provided format.
2. If reviewer does not have subject expertise, he/she should immediately inform the editor.
3. Reviewer should be punctual and submit review report on time. They should immediately inform the editor of any possible delays.
4. Reviewer will take care of the confidentiality of research paper submitted to him/her for review. The reviewer is not allowed to share contents of the paper with anybody else, nor use the contents of the paper for his/her personal study or any other academic or professional purpose.
5. If reviewer needs to share or discuss content of paper with any other expert, it should be with consent of editor.
6. Conflict of Interest: A reviewer must declare any conflicting interests (e.g. personal, financial, intellectual, professional, political or religious). She/he should declare if the research paper under review is the same as to his/her presently conducted study.
7. The reviewer may justifiably criticize a manuscript. However, personal criticism of authors is not allowed. The review should be performed with a consideration of high academic, scholarly, and standards of research methodology.
8. If reviewer feels that the article is based on any previous research study, or is a copy or replica of previous work, or if article is plagiarized, he/she should inform the editor about this in confidential comments to the editor, as prescribed in the review proforma.
9. Data Fabrication/Falsification: If the reviewer suspects the given results to be untrue/unrealistic/fake, or there has been an indication of violating ethical, social, and ideological and religious norms, including treatment of human beings (e.g. children, female, poor people, disabled, elderly, etc.), all these points should be identified to the editor, in confidential comments to the editor, as prescribed in the review proforma.
10. The reviewer will accept the decision of editor on final outcome of the submitted manuscript.

Plagiarism Policy

1. The journal will fully comply with HEC Plagiarism Policy.

Ethical Policy

1. The journal will fully comply with ethical policy and best practices guidelines issued by COPE.

Copyright Policy

1. Copyright of the published article will be held by Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar.
2. The Pashto Academy reserves the right to initiate legal course of action against violators in light of copyright and intellectual property laws.
3. No article is allowed to be republished elsewhere, either in full, or in substantial parts, without the permission of the Pashto Academy.

Archival Policy

1. Archive of all articles published after 2005 will be maintained on both the journal website, as well as Pashto Academy Library. Articles of earlier issues will be maintained in library of the Pashto Academy, University of Peshawar.
2. Journal articles will be indexed with national indexing agency (Tehqeeqat).