International Journal of Sikh Studies – Editorial Policy

The International Journal of Sikh Studies is published by the Sikh Education Council. The Journal welcomes academic articles as well as research papers and book reviews. The journal is compiled under the supervision of the Editor in Chief (Dr Pargat Singh) with the support of an international Editorial Board and Admin Team (Managing Editor – Dr Jaskiran Kaur).

The International Journal of Sikh Studies publishes work pertaining to the academic field of Sikh Studies, the Sikh way of life, and general subjects as perceived from a Sikh lens. The area of expertise of our editorial board reflects the wide range of topics that we will consider publishing work on.

The following document includes the IJSS Policies on Publication Ethics and Disclosure, Peer Review, Plagiarism, Open Access, Manuscript Preparation, Submission and Citation, and Retractions and Corrections.

Publication Ethics and Disclosure Policy

The International Journal of Sikh Studies ethics statement is based on the “Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors” document developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and published in 2011.

During the review process, editors must not disclose information about a submitted manuscript to anyone other than the corresponding author, reviewers, potential reviewers, and other editorial advisers. Unpublished materials disclosed in a submitted manuscript must not be used in an editor’s, reviewer’s, or any other reader’s own research without the express written consent of the author. Readers should be informed about who has funded the research or other scholarly work and whether the funders had any role in the research and its publication and, if so, what this was.

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.

All authors mentioned in the paper must have significantly contributed to the research. The author submitting the manuscript to the journal ensures that all contributing co- authors and no uninvolved person(s) are included in the author list. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate co-authors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all co-authors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

Authors should certify that the manuscript is now not presently being viewed for booklet elsewhere. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Submitting the identical paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behaviour.

Peer Review Policy

At least two expert referees as well as an editor will review each submitted article. The refereeing process takes up to a month from the date of receipt of the article from the author. The final decision regarding acceptance of the paper remains with the editorial board of the journal.

IJSS encourages reviewers to comment on ethical questions and possible misconduct raised by submissions (e.g., unethical research design, insufficient detail on patient consent, inappropriate data manipulation), and to be alert to redundant publication and plagiarism. Reviewers’ comments should be sent to authors in their entirety unless they contain offensive or libellous remarks. Contributions of reviewers to the journal are regularly acknowledged, and IJSS ceases to use reviewers who consistently produce discourteous, poor quality, or late reviews.

Plagiarism Policy

Authors should ensure their work is entirely original and that any work and/or words of others have been appropriately acknowledged. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable. Submitting essentially the same manuscript to more than one journal concurrently constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Open Access Policy

All articles published by IJSS are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. This means that everyone has free and unlimited access to the full-text of all articles published in IJSS and everyone is free to re-use the published material if proper accreditation/citation of the original publication is given. The author retains the copyright in their articles meaning the author can also add a licence to their work. If the author assigns copyright to the publisher, they cannot add a licence to the work unless they seek permission from the publisher.

All articles will be published in a soft copy format so that authors can upload the article where they choose. Articles will contain keys on the PDF file so that they are trackable for citation and download data collection. Articles will initially be located on the IJSS website.

Manuscript Preparation, Submission and Citation Policy

All manuscripts and editorial communications should be sent to the journal’s Managing Editor via the form below. Manuscripts should be in a digital, Microsoft Office word-processor file, double spaced using font ‘Perpetua’ in size 11. A word document and PDF copy of the paper must be sent at the time of submission. A full title of the article must be immediately followed by an abstract of no more than 300 words; the paper should follow this structure: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Main Body (may include methodology and findings etc), Conclusion; the author names and their academic credentials are to be placed at the foot of the article, as well as contact information for correspondence. A brief biography of the author may be requested following submission.

Main headings should be typed in capitals and subheading in lower case – both underlined for clarity. Footnotes should be avoided, although notes can be included where necessary to be published at the end of the article. Numbering should use roman numbers. Page numbers should be at the bottom of each page and should include the total number of pages i.e., page 2 of 8. Referencing should follow Harvard referencing guidelines: when an author’s name appears in the text, the date should follow in brackets, e.g., Ahmad (2000), or where there is reference to a particular page or quotation, e.g., Ahmad (2000: 37). References should be placed in alphabetical order at the end of the article.

Retraction and Corrections Policy

When authors find out significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, it is their obligation to promptly notify the journal’s editors or publisher and cooperate with them to either correct the paper in the form of an erratum or to retract the paper. If the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy, then it is the authors’ obligation to promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper.

Should you have any questions or queries, please contact the Managing Editor, Dr Jaskiran Kaur.