Policy Guidelines

1. Scope
2. Peer Review Policy
2.1. Principles of Peer Review
2.2. Double-Blind Peer Review Process
3. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
4. Plagiarism Policy
5. Authorship and Contributions Policy
6. Citation Guidelines
7. Affiliation Policy
8. Policy for Research Misconduct
8.1. Handling Allegations of Research Misconduct
8.2. Investigation Process
8.3. Outcome of Investigation
8.4. Transparency and Reporting
8.5. Prevention and Education
9. Retraction, Deletion, and Withdrawal Policy
9.1. Retraction Policy
9.2. Retraction Process
9.3. Retraction
9.4. Deletion Policy
9.5. Withdrawal
10. Publication Fee and Waiver Policy
10.1. Page Charges
11.Copyright, OpenAccess, and User License Policy
12. Privacy Statement

1. Scope

RADS Journal of Business Management is an official publication of “Jinnah University for Women, Karachi”. It is open access, double-blind peer-reviewed research journal. It is bi-annual research journal and follows the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), and Academy of Management guidelines in true letter and spirit.   

The mission of RADS Journal of Business Management is to publish empirical research that tests, extends, or builds management theory and contributes to management practice. All empirical methods including, but not limited to, qualitative, quantitative, field, meta-analytic, and mixed methods are welcome. To be published in RADS Journal of Business Management, the research must make strong empirical and theoretical contributions and the manuscript should highlight the relevance of those contributions to management practice. Authors should strive to produce original, insightful, interesting, important, and theoretically bold research that demonstrates a significant "value-added" contribution to the field's understanding of an issue or topic.

2. Peer Review Policy

RADS Journal of Business Management follows a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure the quality, originality, and relevance of the manuscripts it publishes. This policy outlines the principles and procedures followed by the journal in conducting peer review.

2.1. Principles of Peer Review

Confidentiality: Reviewers and authors are expected to maintain confidentiality throughout the peer review process. Reviewers should not disclose any information about the manuscript to anyone other than the editorial team.
Impartiality: Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the subject matter of the manuscript. They are expected to evaluate the submission objectively, without any bias towards the author(s) or their affiliations.
Constructive Feedback: Reviewers are encouraged to provide constructive feedback to help authors improve their work. It is ensured that criticism must be professional, respectful, and aimed at enhancing the quality and clarity of the manuscript.
Timeliness: Reviewers are requested to complete their evaluations within the stipulated timeframe to expedite the publication process. Prompt feedback enables authors to revise their manuscripts efficiently.

2.2. Double-Blind Peer Review Process

Initial Evaluation: Upon submission, manuscripts undergo an initial screening by the editorial team to assess their suitability for the journal and adherence to submission guidelines. Submissions that meet the journal's standards are assigned to appropriate reviewers.
Reviewer Assignment: Reviewers are selected based on their expertise in the relevant field. The identities of both the authors and the reviewers are kept confidential throughout the review process.
Review Process: Reviewers evaluate the manuscript based on criteria such as originality, significance, methodology, clarity, and adherence to ethical standards. They provide detailed comments and recommendations for improvement.
Editorial Decision: After receiving feedback from the reviewers, the editorial team makes a decision regarding the manuscript. This decision may include acceptance, revision, or rejection. Authors are notified of the decision along with the reviewers' comments.
Revision and Resubmission: If revisions are requested, authors are given an opportunity to address the reviewers' concerns and revise their manuscript accordingly. Revised submissions undergo further evaluation to ensure that all issues have been adequately addressed.
Final Decision: The final decision regarding acceptance for publication rests with the editorial team, based on the revised manuscript and reviewers' recommendations.

3. Disclosure and Conflict of Interest

All authors should disclose in their manuscript any financial or other substantive conflict of interest that might be construed to influence the results or interpretation of their manuscript. All sources of financial support for the project should be disclosed.

The following relationships between editors and authors are considered conflicts and are avoided: Current colleagues, recent colleagues, recent co-authors, and doctoral students for which editor served as committee chair. After papers are assigned, individual editors are required to inform the managing chief editor of any conflicts not included in the list above. In the event that none of the editors satisfy all of the conflict screens, co-editors who are least conflicted will be assigned to the manuscript. In addition, co-editors who are least conflicted are assigned for all paper submissions by sitting editors. Journal submissions are also assigned to referees to minimize conflicts of interest. After papers are assigned, referees are asked to inform the editor of any conflicts that may exist.

Further Readings:

Disclosure of Financial and Non-Financial Relationships and Activities, and Conflicts of Interest

4. Plagiarism Policy

The RADS Journal of Business Management actively checks for plagiarism in all manuscript submissions. The journal strictly follows the Higher Education Commission (HEC) plagiarism policy and use “Turnitin” software to detect instances of overlapping or similar text in all manuscripts submissions.     

  • Similarity Index by Turnitin must be <19%, and from a single source, it must be <5%.
  • Plagiarism, data fabrication, and image/figure/table manipulation is not acceptable.
  • Plagiarism includes copying text, ideas, images/figures/graphs/tables, or data from another source, even from your own publications, without giving any credit to the original source.
  • Reuse of text that is copied from another source must be between quotes and the original source must be cited. If a study's design or the manuscript's structure or language has been inspired by previous works, these works must be explicitly cited.
  • If plagiarism is detected during the peer review process, the manuscript may be rejected. If plagiarism is detected after publication, we may publish a correction or retract the paper.
  • Image/Figures/Graphs files must not be manipulated or adjusted in any way that could lead to misinterpretation of the information provided by the original image/figure/table.
  • Irregular manipulation includes: 1) introduction, enhancement, moving, or removing features from the original image/figure/graphs/tables; 2) grouping of images/figures/graphs/tables that should obviously be presented separately (e.g., from different parts of the same image/figure/graph/table, or from different image/figure/graph/table); or 3) modifying the contrast, brightness or color balance to obscure, eliminate or enhance some information.
  • If irregular image/figure/graph/table manipulation is identified and confirmed during the peer review process, we may reject the manuscript. If irregular image/figure/graph/table manipulation is identified and confirmed after publication, we may correct or retract the paper.
  • Any allegations of publication misconduct will be investigated by RADS Journal of Business Management Editorial Staff who may contact the authors' institutions, funders, appropriate bodies if necessary. If evidence of misconduct is found, appropriate action will be taken to correct or retract the publication.

5. Authorship and Contribution Policy

  1. Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to each of the components mentioned below: 
  1. Concept and design of study or acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data.
  2. Drafting the paper or revising it critically for important intellectual content.
  3. Final approval of the version to be published.
  4. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
    • Participation solely in the acquisition of funding or collection of data, or general supervision does not justify authorship.
    • Each contributor should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content of the manuscript.
    • The order of names of the authors be based on the relative contribution of the contributor towards the study and writing the manuscript.
  1. Once manuscript submitted neither order nor an author be added/deleted or replaced. The name of MS/M.Phil scholar must be written first followed by his/her supervisor and co-supervisor, if manuscript extracted from the thesis/dissertation of scholar. The number of authors for manuscripts depending upon the type of manuscript, its scope and number of institutions involved (vide infra).
  2. To encourage transparency and to ensure genuine research work, the journal may ask the correspondence author to produce a certificate from respective university (Controller of Examinations) to validate the authorship of Theses and dissertations from which the paper extracted.
  3. All authors of a research paper are require to sign the letter of submission to ensure that the listed authors have agreed all of the contents, including author list and author contribution statements, and have approved the manuscript submission to the journal.
  4. The correspondence author should not neglect their responsibility to a journal or their co-authors will be responsible for the following with respect to data, code and materials:
  • ensuring that data, materials, and code comply with transparency and reproducibility standards of the field and journal;
  • ensuring that original data/materials/code upon which the submission is based are preserved following best practices in the field so that they are retrievable for reanalysis;
  • confirming that data/materials/code presentation accurately reflects the original;
  • foreseeing and minimizing obstacles to the sharing of data/materials/code described in the work.
  1. The primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done. After publication the correspondence author will be responsible for accuracy of contents published and the journal will immediately be informed if they become aware of any aspects that requires correction within one week time of publication.

Details on role of authors are available athttps://publicationethics.org/authorship

6. Citation Guidelines

RADS Journal of Business Management adheres to the principles of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and transparency of scholarly citations. Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal are expected to follow the citation guidelines outlined below:

Accuracy and Integrity

  • Authors must ensure that all citations accurately reflect the sources from which the information was obtained.
  • Citations should be verifiable and include complete bibliographic details to enable readers to locate the original sources.

Consistency

  • Authors should maintain consistency in citation style throughout the manuscript. RADS Journal of Business Management follows the APA citation style.
  • In-text citations and the corresponding entries in the reference list should follow the APA Citation style consistently.

Attribution

  • Authors must appropriately attribute all ideas, concepts, data, and findings that are not their own.
  • Direct quotations must be enclosed in quotation marks and accompanied by a citation indicating the source.

Plagiarism

  • Authors are prohibited from engaging in plagiarism, which includes both verbatim copying and paraphrasing of another author's work without proper attribution.
  • Proper citation must be provided for all sources consulted, including paraphrased or summarized content.

Self-Citation

  • Authors may include self-citations when relevant and necessary to support their arguments or provide context.
  • Excessive self-citation to inflate one's own scholarly reputation or to manipulate citation metrics is discouraged.

Citation Format

  • Authors should follow citation guidelines provided in the Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.; APA).
  • In-text citations should be included whenever ideas, data, or findings from external sources are referenced within the manuscript.
  • The reference list should be alphabetized and include complete bibliographic details for all cited sources, including authors' names, publication titles, journal names (if applicable), publication dates, and page numbers (if relevant).

Peer Review

  • The peer review process ensures that citations are relevant, accurate, and appropriately used to support the arguments presented in the manuscript.
  • Reviewers may provide feedback on the accuracy and appropriateness of citations during the peer review process.

Corrections and Retractions

  • If errors or inaccuracies are identified in citations after publication, authors should promptly notify the journal's editorial team and provide corrections or retractions as necessary.

Authors are encouraged to consult the journal's specific citation guidelines and refer to established citation style manual for detailed instructions on formatting citations according to the chosen citation style. Adherence to these guidelines promotes transparency, scholarly integrity, and the dissemination of accurate information within the academic community.

7. Affiliation Policy

The journal's affiliation policy aims to ensure the accuracy, credibility, and transparency of author affiliations in published manuscripts. Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal are expected to adhere to the following guidelines:

Author Affiliation

  • Authors should accurately represent their affiliations at the time of manuscript submission, including their institutional or organizational affiliations, departmental affiliations (if applicable), and any relevant research units or centers.
  • Affiliations should reflect the authors' primary affiliations where the research was conducted and should not include honorary affiliations or affiliations obtained after the completion of the research.

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

  • Authors must disclose any potential conflicts of interest related to their affiliations, including financial interests, institutional affiliations that may influence the research or its interpretation, or any other competing interests that could potentially bias the findings.
  • Conflicts of interest disclosures should be provided in a dedicated section of the manuscript, following the guidelines outlined by the journal.

Changes in Affiliation

  • If authors change their affiliations after submitting the manuscript but before publication, they should promptly inform the journal's editorial team of any updates to their affiliations.
  • Changes in affiliation should be accurately reflected in the published manuscript, including updates to author contact information and institutional affiliations.

Authorship and Contributions

  • Authors should clearly delineate the contributions of each author to the research, ensuring that individuals who have made substantial contributions are appropriately credited as authors.
  • Affiliations should accurately reflect the contributions of each author and their affiliation(s) at the time the research was conducted.

Verification of Affiliations

  • The journal reserves the right to verify the affiliations of authors through independent means to ensure the accuracy and validity of the information provided.
  • Authors may be required to provide documentation or verification of their affiliations upon request by the editorial team.

Corrections and Retractions

  • In the event that errors or inaccuracies are identified in author affiliations after publication, authors should promptly notify the journal's editorial team and provide corrections as necessary.
  • Corrections to author affiliations should be transparently communicated to readers through published corrections or retractions, as appropriate.

By adhering to these affiliation guidelines, RADS Journal of Business Management aims to promote transparency, accountability, and integrity in scholarly publishing, thereby fostering trust and credibility within the academic community.

8. Policy for Research Misconduct

This policy outlines the journal's approach to addressing research misconduct and unethical behavior in the context of manuscript submission and publication. Research misconduct encompasses a range of unethical behaviors that undermine the integrity of the scholarly record, including but not limited to:

Fabrication: Creating or reporting false data or results.
Falsification: Manipulating research materials, images, or data to alter the results.
Plagiarism: Appropriating another person's ideas, words, or work without proper attribution.
Duplicate Submission: Submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously without disclosure.
Authorship Misrepresentation: Falsely claiming authorship or omitting individuals who have made significant contributions to the research.
Ethical Violations: Breaching ethical standards related to human or animal subjects, data management, or conflicts of interest.

8.1. Handling Allegations of Research Misconduct

  • Any allegations of research misconduct related to manuscripts submitted to RADS Journal of Business Management will be taken seriously and investigated promptly and impartially by the journal's editorial team.
  • Allegations may be brought to the attention of the editorial team by authors, reviewers, readers, or other stakeholders.
  • The confidentiality of all parties involved in the investigation will be maintained to the extent possible, while ensuring a thorough and fair process.

8.2. Investigation Process

  • Upon receiving an allegation of research misconduct, the editorial team will initiate an investigation to gather relevant evidence and assess the validity of the claim.
  • Authors will be given an opportunity to respond to the allegations and provide an explanation or evidence to support their case.
  • If necessary, the editorial team may seek input from independent experts or institutions to assist in the investigation.

8.3. Outcome of Investigation

  • If the investigation confirms research misconduct, appropriate actions will be taken, which may include:
  • Rejection of the manuscript under consideration.
  • Retraction of published articles found to contain fraudulent or unethical content.
  • Notification of the authors' institutions, funding agencies, or relevant authorities.
  • Imposition of sanctions, such as banning authors from future submissions to the journal.

8.4. Transparency and Reporting

  • The outcome of any investigation into research misconduct will be communicated transparently to all relevant parties, including authors, reviewers, readers, and the broader academic community.
  • Corrections, retractions, or other editorial actions resulting from research misconduct will be published promptly and prominently in the journal.

8.5. Prevention and Education

  • RADS Journal of Business Management is committed to fostering a culture of research integrity and ethical conduct among authors, reviewers, and editors.
  • Educational resources and guidelines on responsible conduct of research will be provided to authors to promote awareness and adherence to ethical standards.

9. Retraction, Deletion, and Withdrawal Policy

9.1. Retraction Policy

RADS Journal of Business Management recognize the importance of post-publication commentary on published research as necessary to advancing scientific discourse Published articles may be retracted if:

  1. The paper has major scientific error invalidating the conclusions of the article, for example if evidently findings are unreliable, due to misconduct (e.g. data fabrication) or unintentional error (e.g. miscalculation or experimental error).
  2. Where the findings have previously been published elsewhere without proper cross-referencing, permission or justification (i.e. cases of redundant publication).
  3. Plagiarism (appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit including those obtained through confidential review of others' manuscripts).
  4. Inappropriate authorship (e.g., "guest" authorship; see COPE discussion document 'What constitutes authorship?').
  5. Unethical research has been reported.

9.2. Retraction Process

In accordance with COPE guidelines, the journal adopts the following retraction process:

  1. All matters regarding a potential retraction are considered by the journal editor.
  2. The journal editor should follow the step-by-step guidelines according to the COPE flowcharts (including evaluating a response from the author of the article in question).
  3. The editor's findings are sent to Ethical Review Committee (ERC) for review.
  4. ERC consists of a Chairperson and three members out of senior members of journal editorial team.
  5. The final decision is communicated to the author and, if so decided by the ERC, to any other relevant bodies, such as the author's institution and HEC.
  6. The retraction statement is then posted online and published in the next available issue of the journal (see below for more details of this step).
  7. ERC decisions are considered final and cannot be challenged in a court of law. Any complaint against the decision will be addressed to ERC for reconsideration.

9.3. Retraction

  1. If the paper has been published in early issue of the journal, we shall issue a retraction statement which should be published separately but should be linked to the article being retracted. The article should be retained online in order to maintain the scientific record.
  2. Retraction announcement and the title of the original article included will be published in the next possible issue, with pagination in the contents list.
  3. The text of the retraction should explain why the article is being retracted in print as well as in the link to the online paper.

9.4. Deletion Policy

Journal follows International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers guidelines on retractions and preservation of the objective record of science. Deletion of the online version of the paper will only be allowed:

  1. In case of a violation of the privacy of a research subject.
  2. The paper has errors to which a member of the general public might be exposed and if followed or adopted, would pose a significant risk to Policy & Law/Industry; or
  3. If a defamatory comment has been made about others in the relevant field or about their work.
  4. If an accepted article is to be retracted, because of gross errors, has been accidentally submitted twice or violates professional ethical code.

However, a bibliographic information about the deleted article should be retained for the scientific record, and an explanation given for deletion.

Details on role of authors are available at https://www.stm-assoc.org/

9.5. Withdrawal

An accepted article may be withdrawn, if it is the uncorrected, unedited, non-typeset version before publication. If an accepted article is to be retracted because, for example, it contains errors, has been accidentally submitted twice or infringes a professional ethical code of some type, it may be deleted and replaced with a withdrawal statement.

  • Where there has been a violation of the privacy of a research subject;
  • Where there are errors to which a member of the general public might be exposed and if followed or adopted, would pose a significant risk to Policy & Law/Industry; or
  • Where a clearly defamatory comment has been made about others in the relevant field or about their work.

10. Publication Fee and Waiver Policy

RADS Journal of Business Management does not charge articles processing/publication cost, therefore fee waiver policy is not applicable.

10.1. Page Charges

There is no article processing/publication fee or any hidden charges asked from the author at the time of submission or after the publication of the manuscript.

11. Copyright, OpenAccess, and UserLicensePolicy

Submission of a manuscript implies that the work described has not been published before (except in the form of thesis) and that it is not under consideration for publication in any form elsewhere. The copyright will be automatically transferred to “RADS Journal of Business Management” one manuscript submitted with signed declaration of copyright. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work.

This journal offers authors an open access option which means their article immediately freely available to everyone, including those who don’t subscribe. All works published by RADS Journal of Business Management are under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This permits anyone to copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work provided the original work and source is appropriately cited.

Visit Creativecommons.org to read what to consider before agreeing to the “RADS Journal of Business Management” user license.

12. Privacy Statement

The name, email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.