Policy Document

Guidelines and Policies (Effective w.e.f. July 1, 2026)

Authors Guidelines

Author Guidelines for Writing an Article for Submission to the Journal

  1. General Formatting
  • Font: Use Times New Roman in English manuscript.
    • Use Jameel Noori Nastaleeq in Urdu manuscript.
    • Use Sakkal Majjalah in Arabic manuscript.
  • Font Size:
    • Main text: 12 pt
    • Headings (if used): 14 pt, bold
    • Subheadings (if used): 12 pt, bold
    • Footnotes and references: 10 pt
  1. Page Layout
  • Line Spacing: Use 1.15 line spacing throughout the entire document, including the references section.
  • No extra spaces between paragraphs.
  1. Title and Author Information
  • Title: The title should be in bold, 14 pt, and centered at the top of the first page.
  • Author Information: Below the title, include the following information (centered):
    • Full name(s) of the author(s).
    • Institutional affiliation(s) (e.g., department, university or research institute).
    • Corresponding author's email address and ORCID (if applicable).
  1. Abstract
  • Length: Provide an abstract of between 200-250 words.
  • Font: Use 12 pt Times New Roman, and it should be in a single paragraph (no headings or bullet points).
  • Keywords: After the abstract, list 3-7 keywords relevant to your article, separated by commas.
  • Reference Style: 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style
  1. In-text citations: In-Text Citations ( Endnotes)

Authors Responsibilities

Authors are expected to act according to the publication ethics international standards for authors developed by COPE during the 2nd World Conference on Research Integrity in Singapore in 2010. These are summarized as follows:

  1. The research being reported should have been conducted in an ethical and responsible manner and should comply with all relevant legislation.
  2. Researchers should present their results clearly, honestly, and without fabrication, falsification or inappropriate data manipulation.
  3. Researchers should strive to describe their methods clearly and unambiguously so that their findings can be confirmed by others.
  4. Researchers should adhere to publication requirements that submitted work is original, is not plagiarized, and has not been published elsewhere.
  5. Authors should take collective responsibility for submitted and published work.
  6. The authorship of research publications should accurately reflect individuals’ contributions to the work and its reporting.
  7. Funding sources and relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed.
  8. Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process.
  9. All authors have to contribute significantly to the research addressing a relevant topic in the area of the social sciences research from a multidisciplinary approach.
  10. All authors are obliged to provide retractions or corrections of mistakes.
  11. Authors are obliged to provide a list of references including the most relevant and current literature.
  12. Submitted manuscripts should not be under consideration for publication in other journals.

Plagiarism Policy

This journal has zero tolerance against plagiarism. All submitted papers are scanned through approved Plagiarism detection software. As per scanning report of the focal person, if the similarity index of plagiarized text of the research paper is found beyond the acceptable limits (Acceptable Similarity Index for Turnitin Software is less than or equal to 19% subject to know any single sourse contains similarity greater than 5%), the publication officer will return the same to the corresponding author for modification/refinement. It should be noted that the database of the software as well as internet material updates time to time, therefore similarity index may fluctuate with number of times the document is scanned. Mishkāt- ul-‘ilm strictly follows plagiarism policy as per HEC guidelines.

https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/Plagiarism/Pages/default.aspx

Ethical Policy

As per HEC guidelines, the Editor of a research journal plays an important role in establishing and maintaining the professional standards. Publication of a paper in an HEC recognized journal is expected to be a reflection of quality work of the author (s) and the affiliating institution (if any). The Editor is expected to perform the responsibility towards the journal on its all aspects and at varied stages i.e. from receiving of an article to publishing it. Keeping this in view, it becomes prime responsibility of an editor to adapt the following guidelines while publishing papers in his/her research journal.

The Editor of a research journal should be responsible for:

  • Establishing and maintaining quality of the journal by publishing quality papers in his/her journal.
  • Promotion of freedom of expression within the cultural, constitutional/legal framework.
  • Providing integrity and credibility of the research contributions.
  • Meeting the needs of authors and readers.
  • Maintaining ethical standards of their journal.
  • Providing corrigendum for any correction, clarification and apologies where required.
  • Encourage new ideas and suggestions of authors, peer reviewers, members of editorial board and readers for improving quality of his/her journal.
  • Apply the process of blind peer review in true letter and spirit.
  • Promote innovative findings in respective field and publishing them on priority.
  • Promote anti plagiarism policy.
  • Educate contributors (authors) about ethical practices in research, and Implement the journal’s policy without institutional pressure and revise the policy from time to time.
  • The detailed Ethical Guidelines by HEC are available at the following link:
    https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/SSAH/Documents/JCR/HEC%20Approved%20Ethical%20Guidelines.pdf

Review Policy

Mishkāt-ul-‘ilm strictly enforces a Double-Blind Peer Review Policy across all submissions without exception to uphold academic integrity and quality standards.

Preliminary Screening & Language Audit: Upon submission, the Editorial Board and the Language Quality & Copyediting Committee (LQCC) conduct an initial in-house screening. Manuscripts are evaluated for thematic alignment, structural clarity, language precision, and plagiarism (Turnitin similarity index). Submissions failing to meet basic syntactic or scholarly requirements are returned for revision or desk-rejected.

External Peer Review: Manuscripts passing preliminary screening are assigned to two independent external subject specialists holding relevant PhD degree. Reviewers must complete a comprehensive Qualitative Peer Review Form providing detailed narrative feedback on research methodology, source verification (Takhrij/Isnad), logic, and academic contribution. Simple rubric tick-marks or generic remarks are strictly prohibited.

Reviewer Allocation Cap: To maintain absolute independence and peer-review integrity, no single reviewer is permitted to evaluate more than one (1) manuscript within the same issue.

Review Timeline & Decision: The initial double-blind review process typically takes 6–8 weeks, with author revisions requiring up to 4 additional weeks. In the event of a material disagreement between the two primary reviewers, the manuscript is referred to a third independent expert reviewer whose recommendation serves as the deciding factor.

Publication Schedule: Mishkāt-ul-‘ilm is published bi-annually. Accepted articles are queued for the forthcoming issue upon final editorial clearance and receipt of the Language Clearance Certificate.