Policies & Guidelines

IJEMD-CSAI is committed to maintaining the highest standards of publication ethics. The journal follows the ethical guidelines of COPE and HEC Pakistan to prevent any form of malpractice, including fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, duplicate submission, and unethical research practices. Editors, reviewers, and authors must uphold honesty, transparency, and integrity at all stages of the publication process. Suspected misconduct is investigated promptly, and appropriate actions are taken when necessary.

HEC Policies / Guidelines: https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/journals/Pages/default.aspx

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines

Guidelines for the Reviewers: https://publicationethics.org/authorship-discussion-document

Guidelines for the Editorial Office: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/ethics-toolkit-editors

Guidelines for Publisher: https://publicationethics.org/resources/guidelines/guidelines-managing-relationships-between-society-owned-journals-their-society

Guidelines for Authors: https://publicationethics.org/resources/flowcharts/complete-set-english

Authorship Policy

Authorship should reflect significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, or interpretation of the research. All listed authors must approve the final manuscript and agree to its submission. Ghost authorship, gift authorship, or misrepresentation of contributions is strictly prohibited.

Disclosure of Authorship: Each author should provide a statement that outlines their contribution to the research. This statement should be included in the article. In the article's acknowledgements, contributors who do not meet these criteria should be acknowledged. A statement outlining each author's contribution to the research project is required. During the submission process, this statement must be made available to the Journal's editorial team and included in the article.

Corresponding Author: The manuscript should identify the corresponding author and include their contact information. Throughout the submission, peer review, and publication phases, communication with the Journal is the corresponding author's responsibility.

Conflict of Interest: Any potential financial or other conflicts of interest that could affect how the research is interpreted must be disclosed by all authors. The article ought to detail any potential conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments: In the acknowledgements section, all contributors who do not meet the requirements for authorship should be acknowledged. This section should also mention technical assistance and funding sources.

Open Data and Reproducibility: Authors may be required to make their research data and findings public. Transparency and reproducibility in research may benefit from this.

Duplicate Submission: The authors are required to disclose whether the submitted research paper has been previously published or is currently being reviewed by another journal. The authors must provide the specifics of the previous publication or submission if the paper has been previously published or is currently being reviewed by another journal.

The Journal's editorial team will thoroughly examine the manuscript to see if it shares any similarities or overlaps with other works that have been published. The Journal might look for duplicate submissions by using software that detects plagiarism.

The Journal may reject the manuscript, notify the author's institution, and take disciplinary action against the authors, including a ban on future submissions, if it discovers a duplicate research paper submission.

The authors will be notified and allowed to respond if the Journal discovers a potential case of duplicate submission.

To resolve any concerns regarding duplicate submissions, authors must cooperate with the Journal's editorial team and provide all necessary information.

The Journal may take measures to prevent submissions of duplicate research papers, such as requiring authors to sign a statement stating that the paper has not been published before or is not being reviewed by another journal.

Citation Manipulation: Authors must adhere to ethical standards when citing previous work, such as avoiding excessive self-citation and citing only relevant and significant research.

The Journal's Editorial Board will keep an eye on how papers are cited and investigate any unusual spikes in citations. If it turns out that a paper used citation manipulation, the Journal may retract it.

Authors who manipulate citations may face penalties from the Journal, such as rejection, exclusion from future publications, and notification of the author's institution, among other things.

Corrections & Retraction Policy

IJEMD-CSAI allows corrections, clarifications, or retractions when necessary to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the scholarly record

Corrections: If an error is found in a distributed paper, the author(s) should inform the journal's editorial team. The editorial team will take corrective action after a thorough investigation. The Journal may publish a correction notice with the updated information and any necessary explanations if the error is minor. The Journal may consider retracting the paper if the error is more severe.

Retractions: Retractions are reserved for situations in which a paper contains serious errors or ethical concerns, such as plagiarism, data fabrication, and falsification, among others. The author(s) must inform the Journal in writing and explain the retraction if one is required. The Journal's Editorial Team will thoroughly examine the paper, which may involve outside experts if necessary. The Journal will issue a retraction notice with the reasons for the retraction, the title of the paper, the authors, and any other pertinent information if the investigation demonstrates the need for retraction. The withdrawal notice will be distributed in the Journal and mainly linked to the first paper.

Appeals: The author(s) may write an appeal to the Journal's Editorial Team if they disagree with the correction or retraction decision. The Editorial Team will provide a written response to the appeal.

Digital Archiving Policy

All published articles in IJEMD-CSAI are digitally preserved through secure archiving systems to ensure long-term accessibility.

The Journal will give open access to it's archived files, permitting readers to look, view, and download papers without limitations. Using standard indexing and metadata services, the Journal will also ensure that the digital archives are easy to find.

The Journal will deposit papers in a format suitable for long-term accessibility and preservation. The Journal will also provide authors with guidelines regarding the preferred submission formats to guarantee that papers are deposited in the appropriate format.

The Journal will provide accurate and comprehensive metadata for each paper uploaded to the digital repository. The title, authors, abstract, keywords, and publication date will all be included in the metadata.

Plagiarism & Similarity Policy

All submitted manuscripts may be screened using plagiarism-detection software before or during the peer-review process.

The journal does not accept plagiarism, duplicate publication, self-plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, or other forms of research misconduct.

A similarity score is used as an initial screening indicator and is not, by itself, considered evidence of plagiarism. Editors assess the nature and source of matched text before making a decision.

Manuscripts containing unacceptable levels of inappropriate similarity may be rejected or returned to authors for clarification and correction.

The journal follows COPE and HEC guidelines in handling plagiarism and unethical citation practices.

For details, please visit:

HEC Plagiarism guidelines at https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/faculty/journals/Pages/default.aspx 

COPE Plagiarism Flow Chart at
https://publicationethics.org/sites/default/files/plagiarism-published-article-cope-flowchart.pdf.

Repository Policy

Authors are permitted to deposit their preprint, postprint, or published version (PDF) in institutional or subject repositories with proper citation to the journal. Self-archiving is allowed after publication, and deposited versions must include a link to the journal’s official website or DOI.

The journal's policy outlines the open-access options available for each version of the article as follows:

Published Version (VoR):

License: CC BY 4.0
Copyright Owner: Authors
Location: Any repository, author’s homepage, journal website
Conditions: Users can copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the work—even commercially—as long as the original source is credited.

Accepted Version (AAM):

License: CC BY 4.0
Copyright Owner: Authors
Location: Any repository, author’s homepage, journal website
Conditions: Same as above; proper attribution required.

Submitted Version (Preprint / AOM):

License: CC BY 4.0
Copyright Owner: Authors
Location: Any repository, author’s homepage, journal website
Conditions: Same as above; original source must be credited.

Notes:

• Preprint (Submitted Version / AOM): Authors may share their original manuscript before peer review. Upon publication, authors should update the preprint with a citation and link to the final published version.

• Accepted Version (AAM): Authors may deposit the peer-reviewed, pre-copyedited manuscript immediately upon acceptance. A citation and link to the published version must be included.

• Published Version (VoR): Authors may share the final, typeset article freely without embargo on any repository, personal/professional websites, or journal platforms.

Accessibility & Open Access Statement

IJEMD-CSAI is a fully open access journal. All published articles are freely and immediately accessible online without subscription, registration, embargo, or access fees.

Readers may read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, and link to the full text of published articles in accordance with the applicable Creative Commons licence.

Peer-Review Policy

All research manuscripts submitted to IJEMD-CSAI undergo a rigorous double-anonymous peer-review process.

Upon submission, manuscripts are initially screened by the editorial office for scope, originality, plagiarism, ethical compliance, and basic methodological and formatting requirements.

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are assigned to at least two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise in the subject area.
Upon submission, manuscripts are initially screened by the editorial office for scope, originality, plagiarism, ethical compliance, and basic methodological and formatting requirements.

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial screening are assigned to at least two independent external reviewers with relevant expertise in the subject area.

The identities of authors and reviewers are concealed from each other throughout the review process.

Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on originality, methodological rigor, theoretical contribution, clarity, relevance, validity of results, and overall scientific quality.

The possible editorial decisions are:
Accept
Accept subject to minor revisions
Major revisions and resubmission
Reject

The Editor-in-Chief or designated handling editor makes the final publication decision based on the reviewers' reports and the journal's editorial standards.

Editors and reviewers must declare any potential conflicts of interest and must not participate in the review or editorial decision-making process for manuscripts in which they have a conflict of interest.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

Authors must disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence and AI-assisted technologies in the preparation of their manuscripts where such tools have materially contributed to the work.

AI tools must not be listed as authors or co-authors because authorship requires human responsibility and accountability.

Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, integrity, and ethical compliance of their manuscripts, including any content generated or assisted by AI tools.

Reviewers and editors must not upload confidential manuscripts, unpublished data, or other confidential materials to generative AI systems or other third-party AI tools that may compromise confidentiality.

The use of AI tools for basic language improvement, grammar correction, or formatting assistance should not replace the authors' responsibility for the final content.