Editorial Policies

Focus and Scope

Journal of South Asian Studies is an open-access peer-reviewed international scholarly journal covering the study area of modern South Asia pertaining to its politics, history, literature, arts, cultural and social studies, economy and security matters, and international affairs with the linkage of immediate Asian regions with a special emphasis on Pakistan. Articles on theoretical, comparative studies and case studies, empirical analyses, commentaries, and reviews concerning the growing strategic significance of the modern South Asian region and its relevance with other Asian regions (Central Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, and the Middle East) are accepted for publication.

A special issue of the journal is published in the background of important events or developments or happenings in the South Asian region or with the collaboration of any world region/country according to its respective countries’ contexts.

Journal is aimed to provide in-depth analysis, to promote understanding of South Asian countries and their geographical link with other Asian regions internationally with reference to political and economic issues, dynamics of security in the world politics, conflict resolution, proliferation and non-proliferation, humanitarian issues, armaments, and disarmament as well as information on their cooperation through regional organizations and their foreign relations and diplomacy with great powers such as the United States, European countries, Russia, China. It deeply informs with local knowledge and views of South Asian culture, history, societies, art literature, and social sciences alongside the exchange of its trends and traditions to other areas of the world. It also highlights the most critical challenges of the region and places recommendations for resolving these problems from local and international deeper debate and dialogue;

Journal is intended to promote innovative ideas and outlooks through scholarly debates about South Asian countries’ affairs and their role in the world and entrenching standardized scientific research of international relations, on the higher ends and Asian politics and security dynamics of the modern world on the lower ends.

 

Section Policies

Articles

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Book Reviews

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed

Case Studies

Checked Open Submissions Checked Indexed Checked Peer Reviewed
 

Peer Review Process

Journal of South Asian Studies is using online article submission, review and tracking system for quality and quick review processing. JSAS provides rapid review process of approx. 06-10 weeks followed by the publication of research article.

Editorial board members of Journal of South Asian Studies in connection with Editor-In-Chief are bound with ethical and honest accountability to support the researchers and interested individuals. Journal provides a wide platform with humane support to newer researchers and creative individuals working in the field of South Asian domain.

Manuscripts submitted to Journal of South Asian Studies will be subjected to peer-review and are therefore expected to be of high quality. Manuscripts submitted for publication consideration must have the ability to make a contribution to the field of South Asian Studies. This contribution may be small but meaningful and forms the rubric of what our reviewers and editors look for during the review process. Journal applies a very vigorous review process in determining which articles are accepted and eventually being published. We strive for a rapid review and subsequent publication of high-quality manuscripts.

Submitted article is given up to the Editor-In-Chief after final checking, who examines the manuscript and decides its acceptance followed by a peer review by at least two subject experts. The corresponding author is informed through e-mail as early as possible about the editorial decision. The rejected article is always supported for a newer submission.

The revision should also be accompanied by a point-by-point response to referees explaining how the manuscript has been changed. The manuscript may then be sent back to the original referees or to new referees, at the Editorial Board Member's discretion.

When all editorial issues are resolved, the manuscript is formally accepted for publication. After acceptance, authors are sent proofs of their manuscript but only typo mistakes or scientific errors are permitted. All corrections are approved by the production team. Journal reserves the right to make the final decision about matters of style and the size of figures.

 

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

 

Archiving

This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. More...

 

Editorial Policy

Material submitted to Journal of South Asian Studies must be original and not published or submitted for publication elsewhere. This rule applies to material submitted elsewhere while the Journal of South Asian Studies contribution is under consideration.

Journal of South Asian Studies does not require authors to assign copyright of their published original research papers to the journal. Authors publishing with Journal of South Asian Studies retain the copyright to their work allowing the articles to be re-used and re-distributed without restriction, as long as the original work is correctly cited. The responsibility to the contents and its authenticity rests solely with the authors and they will solely be responsible for originality of published work.

Journal of South Asian Studies supports the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing.

Articles are published under a CC-BY license (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The CC-BY license allows for maximum dissemination and re-use of open access materials and is preferred by many research funding bodies. Under this license, users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) the contribution including for commercial purposes, providing they attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor

Manuscripts submitted for publication in Journal of South Asian Studies are peer reviewed by at least two subject reviewers. A decision of the editorial board member on the choice of reviewers is final.

Journal of South Asian Studies shall be published three times in a year. However, being an Online Journal, it allows for the publication of articles of urgency and critical importance to the researchers. Such articles of 'Current Interest' and relevant editorials may be published more frequently as 'Supplements', on the basis of the needs felt by the editorial board or on the requests/ suggestions of the readers of the journal.

Journal of South Asian Studies shall not take any responsibility for the contents of articles published and all such responsibility shall lie with the author/s. The opinions expressed in the articles are solely of the author/s and Journal of South Asian Studies may not agree with such opinions in part or in full.

 

Publication Ethics

PUBLICATION ETHICS AND PUBLICATION MALPRACTICE STATEMENT

It is necessary to agree upon standards of expected ethical behaviour for all parties involved in the act of publishing: the author, the journal editor, the peer reviewer and the publisher.

 

Publication decisions

The responsibility of determining which articles will be published in Journal of South Asian Studies rests with its editor. The editor may consider the guidelines of the journal's editorial board and must adhere to any legal obligations related to copyright infringement and plagiarism. The editor may also consult with other editors or reviewers during the decision-making process.

 

Fair play

Editor will evaluate manuscripts for their intellectual content without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, ethnic origin, citizenship, or political philosophy of the authors.

 

Confidentiality

Information pertaining to a submitted manuscript in Journal of South Asian Studies will be kept confidential by the editor and editorial staff, and will only be disclosed to the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, other editorial advisers, and the publisher, as appropriate.

 

Duplicate Publication

The Journal of South Asian Studies discourages substantial overlap between publications without approval and citation from the original source. Suspicions of duplicate publication should be reported to the editor or emailed to jsas@esciencepress.net. Manuscripts should not be under consideration or accepted by other entities, except if the journal does not have an exclusive submission policy. Preprints can be deposited on personal websites or preprint archives, and authors should adhere to the Preprint Policy. Authors should rework thesis material to meet the journal's guidelines and avoid self-plagiarism when reusing figures. Permission may be required from the thesis publisher if it was publicly accessible.

 

Research with Humans or Animals

Authors must comply with international ethical and legal standards for research involving humans or animals, and gain necessary consent for publication. Privacy of human participants must be respected. Authors should refer to submission guidelines or contact editors for further information on required evidence.

 

For studies involving human subjects, institutional review board or ethics committee approval is required and informed consent must be obtained from participants and their guardians if under 16. The Helsinki Declaration should be followed if no ethics committee is available. Documentation of these steps is necessary in the manuscript.


Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript will not be used in an editorial board or editor’s own research without the written consent of the author.

 

Duties of Reviewers

Contribution to Editorial Decisions

The process of peer review aids the editor in making informed editorial decisions. Additionally, it provides a means for editorial correspondence with the author, which can potentially assist in improving the quality of the paper.

 

Promptness

If a chosen referee feels inadequate to review the research presented in a manuscript, or is aware that a timely review is not feasible, they should inform the editor and withdraw themselves from the review process.

 

Confidentiality
 All manuscripts received for review must be regarded as confidential documents and should not be shared or discussed with anyone, except as authorized by the editor.

 

Standards of Objectivity

During the review process, referees must maintain objectivity and avoid personal criticism of the author. Referees are expected to provide their opinions clearly, along with supporting arguments.

 

Acknowledgement of Sources
 Reviewers are expected to highlight any pertinent published works that have not been referenced by the authors. If a reviewer notes that an observation, derivation, or argument has been previously reported, they must provide the appropriate citation. Additionally, if a reviewer becomes aware of any substantial similarity or overlap between the manuscript under review and another published paper, they should bring this to the attention of the editor.

 

Disclosure and Conflict of Interest
 Information or ideas obtained through the peer review process are privileged and must be kept confidential by the reviewers. Reviewers are prohibited from using this information for personal gain. Furthermore, reviewers must recuse themselves from considering any manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest due to competitive, collaborative, or other relationships or connections with any of the authors, companies, or institutions associated with the papers.


AUTHOR’S LIABILITIES
Corresponding Author’s Responsibilities
 The submitting author is responsible for all communication with Journal of South Asian Studies and managing communication between co-authors. Prior to submission, the submitting author must ensure that all authors are listed in the proper order, included in the author list, and aware that the manuscript is being submitted.
After acceptance, the corresponding author will receive the proof and will work with Journal of South Asian Studies on behalf of all co-authors. If errors in the published article result from mistakes that were present on an unchecked proof, Journal of South Asian Studies may not correct them after publication. The corresponding author is responsible for ensuring the accuracy of all content in the proof, including correct spelling of co-authors' names and up-to-date addresses and affiliations.

 

Confidential Process

Journal of South Asian Studies considers all communication with authors and referees, as well as the submitted manuscript, to be confidential. The authors are also required to maintain the confidentiality of all communication with the journal. This includes correspondence with the journal, referee reports, and any other confidential material, which must not be shared publicly or posted on any website without prior permission from the editorial office, regardless of whether or not the submission is eventually published.


Reporting Standards
 Research papers should provide an accurate and objective description of the work conducted and analyze its significance appropriately. The presentation of data in the article should be truthful and appropriate. Sufficient details and references should be included in the document to allow others to replicate the study. It is unethical and unprofessional to make false or incorrect claims, and such practices are not acceptable.

 

Data Access and Retention
 Authors should submit raw data related to their manuscript for editorial evaluation and should be prepared to make such data publicly available, to the extent possible, in compliance with the ALPSP-STM Statement on Data and Databases.


Originality and Plagiarism
 It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that their work is completely original, and that any material or language borrowed from others is appropriately acknowledged or cited.

 

Multiple, Redundant or Concurrent Publication
 It is considered unethical and unacceptable for authors to submit the same findings more than once in either Journal of South Asian Studies or any other journal. Similarly, submitting the same manuscript to multiple journals simultaneously is also prohibited.


Acknowledgment of Sources
 When submitting to Journal of South Asian Studies, authors must ensure that they appropriately acknowledge the work of others. This includes citing the relevant publications that have influenced the nature of their own research.


Authorship of the Paper
 Only individuals who have made significant contributions to a study's conception, design, execution, or interpretation should be credited as authors. Such individuals should be identified as co-authors, while those who have made other contributions to the research should be acknowledged or identified as contributors.
Before submitting a manuscript for publication, the corresponding author should confirm that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the work.

 

Human or animal subjects

The author is required to clearly disclose any significant hazards related to the utilization of substances, procedures, or equipment described in the paper.


Disclosure and Conflicts of Interest
 Every author is obliged to disclose any significant conflicts of interest, whether financial or otherwise, that could potentially affect the outcome or interpretation of their work. Additionally, all sources of funding for the project must be explicitly stated.


Fundamental Errors in Published Works
 In the event that an author detects a critical mistake or inexactitude in their previously published work, it is their obligation to promptly inform the journal editor or publisher and cooperate with them to retract or amend the manuscript as necessary.


Referee suggestions
 While authors submitting to Journal of South Asian Studies are welcome to propose independent reviewers, it is at the discretion of the editorial office to accept or reject these suggestions. Additionally, authors may indicate a preference for a small number of individuals or laboratories to not be considered for review, usually no more than two. Such exclusion requests are evaluated by the editorial office with understanding and are generally respected. However, the ultimate decision on referee selection rests with the Editorial Board Member.