Publishing Ethics

Ethical Statement

Journal of International Law establishes and maintains the highest quality of research work. It promotes freedom of expression within the cultural, constitutional, and legal framework. Journal of International Law maintains impartiality, novelty, diversity of opinion, and avoidance of fallacies. It encourages new ideas and suggestions from readers, authors, peer reviewers, and members of editorial and advisory boards.

Journal of International Law  supports and uses Higher Education of Pakistan (HEC) Guidelines, Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Guidelines on Good Publication Practice and Core Practices.

Journal of International Law is committed to publishing original material only, i.e., material that has neither been published nor is under review elsewhere. Journal of International Law uses Turnitin software helps to detect overlapping/ similar text in submitted manuscripts. Duplicate Submission, Citation Manipulation, Data Fabrication/ Falsification, Improper Author Contribution or Attribution and Redundant Publications are strictly prohibited and discouraged. In case of any such violations, it will lead to the rejection of the manuscript submitted.

Obligations of Editor(s)

  • No self-publication as per the HEC policy.
  • Neutrality:   The submitted manuscripts are evaluated regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, ethnicity, and political philosophy of the authors.
  • Confidentiality:   All manuscripts are confidential documents and not be shared/ shown to anyone except the editorial team and potential reviewer(s). 
  • Disclosure of Information and Conflicts of Interest:   Unpublished data in the submitted manuscript will not be used by the editor(s) or reviewer(s) in their research without the author(s) explicit consent.
  • Decision on Publication:   Editorial Team decides on the publication of submitted research papers after due consideration of legal and professional obligations. In the event of any rejection of any research paper by the reviewer(s), the editor(s) may solicit a new reviewer.
  • COPE Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editor(s) to follow.

Obligations of Reviewer(s)

  • Editorial Decisions:  Reviewer(s) assists editorial staff in making decisions and may also assist the author(s) in improving the quality of the manuscript.
  • Delays and Deadlines:  When a reviewer does not feel competent enough to evaluate the research presented in the manuscript, or if he/ she finds himself/ herself unable to provide his/ her report in time, he/ she must inform the editor(s) without delay to give time to contact other reviewers.
  • Standards of Objectivity, Civility and Respect:   Review reports must be objective. Personal remarks and criticisms directed at the author(s) or hurtful remarks about the contents must be avoided. Reviewer's opinion must be clear, well-argued and respectful of the author(s).
  • Indication of Sources:   A reviewer must identify appropriate publications not cited by the author(s). An appropriate comment must accompany any such indication. A reviewer should draw the editor(s) attention to any similarity or overlap between the manuscript and previously published data.
  • Disclosure of Information and Conflicts of Interest:   Information and ideas obtained through anonymous replay are confidential and should not be used for the reviewer(s) personal benefit. Reviewer(s) should not accept reviewing manuscripts where this may result in a conflict of interest arising with the author(s).
  • COPE Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewer(s) to follow.

Obligations of Author(s)

  • Information Validity: The information contained in the manuscript submitted for publication must present the results of the author(s) research as well as an objective discussion of such results and their importance. The underlying data must be presented correctly. Fraudulent and consciously inaccurate information is considered unethical and unacceptable.
  • Originality and Plagiarism: Author(s) must ensure that his/ her study is completely original, and if he/ she has used other persons' books or content/ material, that must be cited appropriately. The similarity index must be less than 19%, and the single-source similarity index must not exceed 5%.
  • Multiple Publications: Author(s) should not submit manuscripts representing the same study to multiple journals (or books). In the case of multiple publications, the author(s) must give the reference of the first publication and be free from the copyright of the original publisher.
  • Paternity of the Manuscript: Only the person(s) who contributed significantly to the study in question should be the author(s). If other people have been involved in some aspects of the research project, they should be mentioned in the acknowledgments. The principal author must ensure that all co-authors are included in the list of authors of the manuscript and that they have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to the submission of the manuscript.
  • Number of Authors: A Research Paper should not exceed 3 Authors, and the Principal/ Lead Author should provide each author's research contribution.
  • Disclosure of Information and Conflicts of Interest:  All authors must indicate, because of their biographical presentation, any conflicts of interest that may affect their proposed publication. Funding for research projects (if any) that made the study possible must be indicated. No conflict of interest among authors regarding the paper submitted.
  • Errors in Publishing: If the author(s) discovers a critical error or inaccuracy in its publication, his/ her obligation is to inform the editor(s) quickly and to consider, in agreement with the person in charge, the withdrawal of the article or the publication of the information about the error.
  • Authors to ensure that the manuscript contains nothing abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, fraudulent, or illegal and is not against any institution/ university, armed forces, or federal/ provincial governments.
  • Authorship and Use of AI Tools: According to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Position Statement "AI tools cannot meet the requirements for authorship as they cannot take responsibility for the submitted work... Authors who use AI tools in the writing of a manuscript, production of images or graphical elements of the paper, or in the collection and analysis of data, must be transparent in disclosing in the Materials and Methods (or similar section) of the paper how the AI tool was used and which tool was used. Authors are fully responsible for the content of their manuscript, even those parts produced by an AI tool, and are thus liable for any breach of publication ethics."