Review Policy
To ensure the excellence of the publication of the article in the Al-Wifaq Research Journal, a complete, thorough, comprehensive, and confidential review is adopted. The review is made by independent and competent scholars who give their recommendations on the article being presented for publication.
Selection of Reviewers
A careful selection of national and international reviewers is made keeping in view their area of research. To get an unbiased review, the names of reviewers are kept confidential, All works submitted for publication are reviewed objectively without regard to authors’ race, gender, religious view, ethnicity, citizenship, political tendency, age end reputation.
Tasks of Editor
The decision for publication:
- To ensure Objectivity.
- To keep the process Confidential.
Declaration of opinion by Editor / Reviewers
Reviewers of Al-Wifaq Research Journal provide an explanatory short paragraph(s) reflecting their opinions proof of objectivity in the review process, Al-Wifaq Research Journal expects free declaration of opinion from authors, editor, and reviewers. Hence reviewers are expected to avoid any arrangements that might potentially influence their recommendations or decisions of agreement or disagreement.
Responsibilities of Reviewers
Reviewing process is expected to be academic, honest, courteous, precise and constructive. The basic characteristics of & a high-quality review are the followings:
The reviewers should outline weak and strong expectations of the work with respect to its organization end methodology and also comment on each of these. The reviewers should express their opinions on the work concerning whether it has unethical content or is below the standard for acceptance. The reviewers should give helpful suggestions for the improvement of the research work. The reviewers should have constructive and professional critiques addressed to the authors. The reviewers should provide a fair perspective to have a decision of acceptance {or revision). The reviewers are expected to identify the works that do not include citations or have not cited usage of other works end specify which parts are reproduced by the author without citation. The reviewers should also state the outstanding similarities between the work submitted to Al-Wifaq Research Journal and any other study published in another journal. The reviewers should not contact the author directly or indirectly If e referee is not able to review e work or complete the review with some delay, he/she should inform the editor in time, If the reviewers suspect a violation, they can inform the editor about this easily. and they should not share the issue with others unless they receive a directive concerning this.
Review Process
All manuscripts submitted are sent for a ‘double blind’ peer-review process in order to produce quality research. Referees do not know the name of the authors whose papers they review. Peer reviewers are asked to give their opinion about significant issues relating to the originality and quality of the article and to judge papers.
Al-Wifaq Research Journal follows a three-tier review process.
- In the first tier, each paper is run on the anti-plagiarism software and reviewed for relevance by the coordinators of the editorial committee.
- In the second stage, if the article is found to be relevant and plagiarism-free, the paper is sent to the reviewers: international and national. Suggestions by the reviewers are strictly implemented by sending the papers back to the authors.
- In the third and the final stage, the editorial team analyzes whether the recommended changes (where applicable) have been incorporated or not, and a decision about acceptance of the paper is made. Only papers of the highest research quality are accepted for publication.
Suggesting Reviewers
Following the HEC guidelines in letter and spirit, authors submitting their research papers to “Al-Wifaq” are not given an option to suggest potential reviewers for reviewing their research papers. While authors may indicate those scholars (due to any real or perceived conflict of interest) to whom they feel not suitable to serve as reviewers for their specific paper.
Criteria for Selection of Reviewers
Reviewers are selected carefully based on the following criteria:
- Must hold a Ph.D. degree or advanced professional qualification with extensive professional/academic experience, i.e. CFA, CMA etc.
- Recognized well-reputed expert in the field (having publications in reputable academic or professional research journals).
- Should have a good understanding of data analysis.
