Policy Document

  1. Frequency of Journal & Publication Timeline

Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies is a peer-reviewed quarterly research journal (4 issues per year).

Publication History & Schedule:

  • January 2020 – June 2023: Published Biannually (2 issues per year).
  • July 2023 – Present: Published Quarterly (4 issues per year).

The quarterly issues are released regularly on:

  • 1st Issue (Jan–Mar): March 31st
  • 2nd Issue (Apr–Jun): June 30th
  • 3rd Issue (Jul–Sep): September 30th
  • 4th Issue (Oct–Dec): December 31st

Editorial Timeline:

The overall manuscript lifecycle (from initial submission to final online publication) typically spans 6 to 8 weeks. However, to facilitate academic urgency, the journal ensures an expedited Fast-Track Desk Screening, where authors are formally notified about their initial internal review and plagiarism screening status within 3 to 5 days of submission. In the event of an unforeseen administrative or technical delay extending beyond the publication timeline, a formal update will be publicly posted on the journal’s announcements dashboard.

  1. Guidelines for Submission of Research Articles

Authors must adhere strictly to international standards for publication ethics developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

  • Ethical Compliance: The reported research must be conducted responsibly, ethically, and in full compliance with all relevant institutional and national legislation.
  • Double-Blind Integrity: Authors must upload a completely anonymized manuscript file. No author names, institutional affiliations, or identity-revealing acknowledgements should appear in the main text.
  • Metadata & ORCID Requirement: A separate Title Page containing full author details (names, institutional affiliations, official email addresses), acknowledgements, disclosures, funding details, and conflict of interest statements must be uploaded separately. Providing a valid ORCID iD for all contributing authors is mandatory at the time of submission.
  • Author Agreement: A signed Author Agreement Form must accompany every submission.
  • Originality: Submission implies that the work is original, has not been published previously, and is not under concurrent consideration elsewhere.
  • Citation Style: The journal mandates Footnote Referencing strictly formatted in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style.
  • Online Submission Portal: Manuscripts must be submitted electronically via the Open Journal System (OJS) portal at: [https://alamir.com.pk/index.php/ojs/about/submissions](https://alamir.com.pk/index.php/ojs/about/submissions)
  • Co-Authorship Limit: A maximum of three (3) contributors is permitted per research paper.
  • Graphics & Tables: Illustrations and figures must be clear, high-resolution, and camera-ready. Tables must be editable (not images), sequentially numbered, and clearly captioned with original data sources provided at the bottom.
  • Linguistic Standards: Technical terms and loanwords should follow standard academic dictionary spellings. Manuscripts are accepted in English, Urdu, and Arabic.
  • Word Count & Limits: Manuscripts must be provided in editable MS-Word format, with an overall length restricted between 3,000 to 12,000 words (including footnotes and references).

Typographical Formatting Standards

  • English Text: Font Style: Times New Roman | Font Size: Headings 14 (Bold), Body Text 12.
  • Urdu Text: Font Style: Jameel Noori Nastaleeq | Font Size: Headings 16 (Bold), Body Text 14.
  • Arabic Text: Font Style: Trade Arabic Bold | Font Size: Headings 16 (Bold), Body Text 14.
  • Document Layout: Standard A4 page layout with 1.5-inch (4 cm) margins (Left margin for English; Right margin for Urdu/Arabic).
  • Structure: The manuscript must be structured sequentially: Title, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results/Findings, Discussion, Conclusion, and References. Page numbers must be placed in the upper right-hand corner for English and the upper left-hand corner for Urdu/Arabic.

Abstract and Keywords

Every article must include an abstract of 150–200 words summarizing the research objective, methodology, core findings, and primary conclusion. Avoid abbreviations and do not cite references within the abstract. Authors must provide 5 to 10 precise keywords directly reflecting the paper's core subject matter.

Must Read Before Paper Submission

By submitting a manuscript to Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies, the authors formally agree to the following terms:

  1. The authors grant the journal first publication rights and authorize it to identify itself as the original publisher.
  2. The authors grant any third party the right to freely share, copy, and redistribute the material for non-commercial purposes, provided the work's integrity is maintained and the original authors and journal are properly cited.
  3. All registered co-authors have reviewed and explicitly approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
  4. The submission automatically implies adherence to all structural policies, ethical parameters, and financial terms of the journal.
  1. Peer Review Policy

The journal operates a rigorous Double-Blind Peer Review Policy to ensure academic excellence and objectivity. Editorial and review processes are managed strictly via the Open Journal System (OJS) portal.

Internal Review (Desk Screening)

Upon submission, each manuscript undergoes an initial desk screening by the Editorial Board. This assessment filters manuscripts for thematic alignment within the journal's scope, structural formatting adherence, linguistic quality, and initial ethical appraisal. Manuscripts with fundamental methodological flaws or severe formatting deviations are issued a Desk Rejection within 3 to 5 days and are not advanced to peer review.

External Peer Review Process

Manuscripts passing desk screening are completely anonymized and assigned to a minimum of two (2) independent external reviewers who are recognized domain specialists. Reviewers evaluate manuscripts based on structural originality, methodological soundness, empirical validity, clarity of presentation, and contribution to the field. If deep structural discrepancies or unresolvable flaws are detected, external reviewers may recommend a definitive rejection.

Suggesting Reviewers (HEC Compliance)

In strict accordance with HEC regulations, authors are not permitted to suggest or nominate potential peer reviewers for their submissions. However, authors may specify individual scholars to be excluded from the review assignment due to explicit, documented conflicts of interest.

Selection Criteria for Peer Reviewers

Peer reviewers are appointed based on the following professional benchmarks:

  • Must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent advanced terminal academic qualification within the relevant field.
  • Must possess a verified track record of active research and recent publications in high-impact, indexed peer-reviewed journals.
  • Must have zero institutional or personal affiliation with the author(s).
  • Must have never co-authored academic research or projects with the author(s).

Reviewer Recognition Policy

To acknowledge the invaluable contribution of our peer reviewers, Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies provides formal Reviewer Certificates upon request. Additionally, reviewers can claim credit for their evaluations on international platforms such as the Web of Science Reviewer Recognition Service.

Procedural Timeline of the Peer Review Lifecycle

  • Step 1 (Day 1): Initial Manuscript Submission – Author uploads the fully anonymized manuscript, title page, and author agreement via the OJS dashboard.
  • Step 2 (3–5 Days): Desk Review & Plagiarism Screening – The internal editorial team screens the manuscript for scope, formatting, and runs text-matching software (Turnitin).
  • Step 3 (1–2 Weeks): External Double-Blind Peer Review – The manuscript is evaluated independently by two external subject experts.
  • Step 4 (1 Week): Editorial Decision Communication – Reviewers' evaluation reports and formal editorial decisions (Accept, Minor/Major Revisions, or Reject) are transmitted to the author.
  • Step 5 (1–2 Weeks): Author Manuscript Revision – The author addresses all specific reviewer comments, submitting a modified draft alongside a point-by-point response matrix.
  • Step 6 (1 Week): Post-Revision Evaluation & Acceptance – The editorial team evaluates the revised text against the original review requirements. Upon satisfaction, a formal Acceptance Letter is issued.
  • Step 7 (1 Week): Copyediting & Layout Formatting – The paper undergoes technical proofreading, copyediting, structural layout typesetting, and DOI assignment.
  • Step 8 (1 Week): Production and Final Publication – The final formatted PDF layout is generated and officially published online on the Open Journal System (OJS) dashboard.

Post-Review Resubmission Guidelines

A request for manuscript revision does not guarantee final publication. Authors must thoroughly incorporate all specific criticisms, corrections, and modifications outlined in the peer review reports. Each individual point must either be visibly integrated into the revised text or countered with a rigorous, evidence-based academic justification. Insufficiently revised drafts or delayed resubmissions without formal extension requests will face immediate rejection.

  1. Originality and Plagiarism Policy

Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies maintains a strict Zero-Tolerance Policy regarding plagiarism, data fabrication, and scholarly misconduct. All submissions are rigorously scanned using the HEC-approved text-matching software (Turnitin).

HEC Plagiarism Standards: The overall similarity index must register strictly below 19%. Furthermore, text-matching from any single isolated source must not exceed 5%.

Special Exclusion Provision for Islamic Studies: In accordance with national academic frameworks for religious scholarship, direct textual citations of the Holy Qur'an, verbatim Prophetic Hadith (Traditions), standard Arabic jurisprudence maxims, and bibliographical references are formally excluded from the similarity index calculations during the technical filtering process, provided they are correctly referenced in footnotes.

Submissions displaying text-matching metrics exceeding these strict limits will be automatically returned to the corresponding author for extensive modification, refinement, or face absolute rejection based on the gravity of the overlap.

  1. Publication Ethics & Anti-Misconduct Guidelines

5.1. Authorship Criteria & Misconduct Prevention

Authorship credit must reflect substantial intellectual input. The journal adheres to the standard international criteria for authorship; every listed contributor must have:

  1. Contributed significantly to the conceptual design, framework, data acquisition, or analytical interpretation of the study.
  2. Participated actively in drafting the manuscript or critically revising its core intellectual content.
  3. Read, verified, and granted final explicit approval for the version scheduled for publication.

Scholarly malpractices such as Ghost Authorship (excluding an eligible contributor) or Guest/Gift Authorship (including individuals who do not meet the intellectual criteria) are strictly prohibited. The corresponding author maintains full responsibility for executing all communication, managing co-author consents, and submitting the signed Author Agreement Form.

5.2. Ethical Data Utilization and Sourcing

Authors are required to accurately cite and acknowledge all external ideas, concepts, datasets, frameworks, and text sources. Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and text-recycling (re-publishing substantial portions of one's own previously printed research without explicit reference) violate publication ethics and will result in disciplinary editorial actions. Only verified, peer-reviewed, and reputable scientific literature should be utilized as baseline data references.

5.3. Redundant or Duplicate Publication

Authors are strictly prohibited from submitting manuscripts describing essentially the same core research or empirical findings to more than one journal simultaneously. Salami Slicing—the artificial fragmentation of a single comprehensive research project into multiple thin, overlapping papers—is ethically unacceptable.

5.4. Open Access Policy

Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies is a fully Open Access journal. All published articles are made accessible over the internet to all users worldwide immediately upon publication.

Users are permitted to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful non-commercial purpose, without asking for prior permission from the publisher or the author, and with no delay or embargo period. Access to online content is completely free of charge, with no registration or subscription boundaries.

5.5. Privacy & Data Protection Statement

All names, email addresses, affiliations, and phone numbers entered into the OJS platform will be utilized exclusively for the operational and administrative processing of this journal. They will not be made accessible, sold, or distributed to any external entities or third parties for any secondary purpose.

5.6. Content Licensing & Copyright Retention

  • Content Licensing: All research published by the journal is licensed internationally under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license empowers external parties to share, copy, distribute, remix, and structurally adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided appropriate attribution and credit are explicitly directed to the original author(s) and the journal.
  • Copyright Retention: In full compliance with DOAJ standards, authors retain the full, unrestricted copyright and publishing rights of their work without any limitations or constraints. Authors are permitted to reuse, distribute, and post their published papers anywhere without requiring permission from the journal.

5.7. Self-Archiving & Repository Policy

The journal fully supports author self-archiving. Authors are permitted, encouraged, and enabled to deposit all versions of their paper—including the Submitted Version (Preprint), Accepted Version (Postprint), or the final Published Version (Version of Record)— in public, institutional, or corporate repositories (such as ResearchGate, university archives, personal websites, or digital libraries) immediately upon publication, with no embargo restrictions.

5.8. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Policy

  • For Authors: Authors must explicitly disclose the utilization of generative AI tools, large language models (LLMs), or AI-assisted software (e.g., ChatGPT) in the preparation or structural generation of their manuscript. AI tools cannot satisfy authorship requirements and cannot be listed or cited as authors/co-authors. Authors hold absolute personal accountability for the empirical integrity, accuracy, and originality of content generated with AI assistance.
  • For Editors & Reviewers: Peer reviewers and editorial board members are strictly prohibited from uploading manuscripts into generative AI platforms or utilizing AI tools to draft evaluation reports, decision letters, or review responses, ensuring strict data confidentiality and systemic integrity.
  1. Author Agreement Form

Every submission must include a completed, signed Author Agreement Form. This document certifies that the work is original, has not been published elsewhere, contains no plagiarized material, lists only valid intellectual contributors, and formally declares the nomination of the corresponding author to manage the peer review process.

  1. Article Processing (APC) & Publication Fees

To maintain its open-access model, web hosting infrastructure, digital preservation systems, copyediting services, and DOI registry, the journal charges transparent Article Processing Charges (APCs) processed in two clear procedural steps:

Contributor Category

Peer Review Fee(Non-Refundable / Step 1)

Publication Fee(Post-Acceptance / Step 2)

Total Fee

National Contributors

10,000 PKR

15,000 PKR

25,000 PKR

International Contributors

$50 USD

$150 USD

$200 USD

There are no manuscript submission fees or additional charges based on page count or graphic insertions.

Fee Waiver and Discount Policy

In full compliance with DOAJ guidelines, the journal provides a comprehensive fee waiver or discount policy for authors hailing from low-income economies, independent researchers, or scholars demonstrating clear financial hardships. Waiver applications must be directed to the Editor-in-Chief prior to manuscript submission and are handled entirely separate from the editorial review process to ensure zero bias.

Official Institutional Banking Infrastructure

  • Account Title: MALIK YAR MUHAMMAD RESEARCH CENTER SMC PRIVATE LIMITED
  • Account Number: 0010097713470018
  • Bank Name: Allied Bank Ltd
  • Branch Name & City: Welcome Chowk Branch, Bahawalpur, Pakistan
  • Official Operational Email: editor@alamir.com.pk
  1. Measures to Minimize Endogeny (Editorial Objectivity)

To guarantee strict editorial neutrality, objectivity, and transparency, Al-Amīr Research Journal for Islamic Studies ensures that the cumulative percentage of published articles where at least one author is an editor, internal board member, or reviewer never exceeds 25% within any single issue.

Any manuscript submitted by an editorial board member is immediately isolated from their field of access, handled entirely independently by a non-conflicted external handling editor, and subjected to identical double-blind external peer review pipelines as external entries.

  1. Digital Preservation and Archiving Policy

To ensure long-term digital preservation and uninterrupted public access to the journal's scientific output, all published materials are digitally archived across multiple institutional networks. The journal utilizes PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) for automated archiving, and content is actively deposited into external digital repositories including university libraries and personal archiving networks.

  1. Grievances, Administrative Appeals, and Research Misconduct

Formal Appeal Process

Authors retain the right to appeal editorial rejections. A formal appeal letter outlining detailed, factual arguments and solid academic justifications must be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. The appeal is transferred to an independent, non-conflicted two-member Editorial Review Committee for final resolution.

Complaints Management Process

Complaints regarding administrative processing, editorial delays, or staff conduct may be sent directly to the official operational email: editor@alamir.com.pk. Investigations are managed by a dedicated Grievance Committee consisting of the Managing Editor and two senior executive members of the management committee. All complaints are adjudicated impartially based on documented evidence within 30 days.

Identification and Management of Allegations of Misconduct

The journal acts decisively upon receiving clear allegations of research misconduct (fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or citation manipulation). The Editor follows COPE guidelines to address systemic complaints.

Depending on the severity of the verified misconduct, the journal reserves the right to execute the following measures:

  • Publication of an official erratum, expression of concern, or formal notice detailing the misconduct.
  • Issuance of a formal notification letter to the author's institutional head, vice-chancellor, or funding agency.
  • Execution of a definitive, public manuscript retraction from the online database.
  • Imposition of a formal publication embargo restricting the individual from contributing to the journal for a designated period.

Correction and Retraction Guidelines

  • Corrections (Erratum/Corrigendum): If honest errors are detected post-publication that do not invalidate the scientific integrity of the research, a formal Correction notice is linked directly to the original article.
  • Retractions: Retractions are executed in cases of severe plagiarism, unethical research practices, data fabrication, or invalid findings. Retraction notices are published transparently, explaining the explicit reasons for the action, in accordance with COPE Retraction Guidelines.