Since 2017, AJSS, is being published by the Lahore Garrison University, is an interdisciplinary journal with a strong basis in the areas of social sciences. The principal purpose of the journal is to publish scholarly work in the field of social sciences predominantly in management studies, economics, international relations, mass communication, and psychology. The journal is published quarterly in March, June, September, and December both electronically and in print form.

1. Frequency of Journal

• Academic Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS) is a quarterly journal, published every, March, June, September, and December, both electronically (eISSN 2519 -7983) and in print form (ISSN 2521-0149).

2. Subscription details

• Subscription fee per issue of LGU Research Journal is Rs. 2500/- and annual subscription fee for 4 issues is Rs. 8000/-
• International subscription fee per issue of LGU Research Journal is USD 20 and the annual subscription fee for 4 issues is USD 70.

3. Processing / Publication Fee

• According to the new policy effective from January 1^st 2023 AJSS will charge Rs. 10,000/- (or equivalent USD for International authors) publication fee per article, which is required to be paid after the final acceptance of an article by the editorial board.
• Article publication charges (APC) will be submitted in Lahore Garrison University Bank Account. MCB0633853231000004, IBAN: PK56MUCB0633853231000004. Payment can be submitted through online transfer/bank deposit.

4. Publication of Articles

• Only those research papers will be shortlisted which have relevancy within the scope of the journal based on the editor’s judgment, but without any prejudice.
• After completion of the reviewing process, submission of the revised manuscript, and assessing the quality and validity, the editor has a right to accept or reject a research paper.
• The reasons for rejecting a research paper will be justified by the editor to the author(s). This may include:
• Failure to fit in with the scope of the journal
• Insufficient depth of content
• Major errors related to design, analysis, write-up, and format
• Any misconduct or conflicting factors (e.g. plagiarism, copyright infringement, legal issues, fake data, authorship issues).

5. Review and Acceptance of Articles

• Once a manuscript is submitted, the authors receive an acknowledgment from the Journal.
• Initially, the manuscript is desk reviewed and then the manuscript is sent for a national and international review.
• The whole review process period can last between 1-2 months or longer and during this period, the author has reserved a right to contact the editor to ask about the status of the review.
• Once the review process has been completed, the author will be informed about the status of the manuscript which could either be  
  • Reject Outright or
  • Revise and Resubmit or
  • Accept as it is for Further Review
• In the event of rejection, the Author reserves the right to publish the article elsewhere.
• In case of revision and resubmission, the author must provide an exposition of all corrections made in the manuscript and the revised manuscript in Rebuttal format.
• In case of dissatisfaction over the decision of rejection, the author can appeal the decision by contacting the editor.

6. Originality and Plagiarism Policy

• All authors submitting their works to the Academic Journal of Social Sciences (AJSS) of LGU for publication as original articles attest that the submitted works represent their authors’ contributions and have not been copied or plagiarized in whole or in part from other works.
• As per HEC policy, AJSS will allow less than 19% similarity index for a paper to be published.

7. Disclosure and conflict of interest

• The authors will acknowledge that they have disclosed all and any actual or potential conflicts of interest with their work or partial benefits associated with it.
• AJSS is committed to objective and fair double-blind peer-review of the submitted for publication works and to prevent any actual or potential conflict of interests between the editorial and review personnel and the reviewed material. Any departures from the above-defined rules should be reported directly to the Editors-in-Chief, who is unequivocally committed to providing swift resolutions to any of such type of problems.

8. Peer review policy of AJSS

• AJSS maintains the highest standards of peer review to strengthen the process flow. All manuscripts published in our journal undergo double-blind peer review, whereby Authors will not disclose the identity of reviewers and vice versa. Key points are listed below:
• All research articles are reviewed by at least two relevant experts in a similar domain.
• The acceptance decision is made by the AJSS Editor-in-Chief based on the reviews provided.
• Editorial Assistants provide the administrative support that allows AJSS to maintain the integrity of peer review and increases the efficiency of the process flow.

9. Privacy Statement

• The names and 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.

10. Corrections and retractions

• Corrections
• We try hard not to make mistakes, but errors (both by editors and by authors) may occur in the journal. We publish corrections when necessary. We set no time limit for notifying errors or publishing corrections. We always try to contact the author of the original article unless the error is obvious, and we publish all corrections as soon as we can.

• Retractions
• Retractions are considered by AJSS editors in cases of evidence of unreliable data or findings, plagiarism, duplicate publication, and unethical research. We may consider an expression of concern notice if an article is under investigation.
• The PDF may be removed or replaced with a version watermarked with “Retracted.” A retraction notice is also published on the journal website.

11. Author agreement form

• Cover Letter
• The research has not been published nor being considered for publication elsewhere. It is solely submitted in AJSS. The resources of the material are cited with proper references according to APA-7. All authors have reviewed, approved, and consented to the submission with no conflict of interest and the submitting author takes responsibility for the submission on behalf of all authors as the corresponding author.Cover Letter.
• The research has not been published nor being considered for publication elsewhere. It is solely submitted in AJSS. The resources of the material are cited with proper references according to APA-7. All authors have reviewed, approved, and consented to the submission with no conflict of interest and the submitting author takes responsibility for the submission on behalf of all authors as the corresponding author.

The title of the current research paper …………………….is in line with AJSS aims and scope. Kindly consider it for publication.

 

Thanks

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