Author Guidelines

PREPARATION SECTION

Authors intending to submit a manuscript should check whether the manuscript is consistent with the journal’s editorial strategy and scope. Manuscripts submitted to PakJET are welcomed in all areas of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical, Civil, Computer/Software Engineering and Electronic and Communications. The journal focuses on research rigour, modelling, data-driven innovations, interpretation of results and how the research results may be translated into practice. PakJET also publishes various other papers, including teaching modules, discussion papers, book reviews and editorial notes. 

Follow PakJET Journal Guidelines for writing your journal available on Paper Template. The abstract should be a single column.

 AUTHOR GUIDELINES 

Scope: Authors intending to submit a manuscript should check whether the manuscript is consistent with the journal’s editorial strategy and scope. Manuscripts submitted to PakJET are welcomed in all areas of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical, Civil, Computer/Software Engineering and Electronic and Communications. The journal focuses on research rigour, modelling, data-driven innovations, interpretation of results and how the research results may be translated into practice. PakJET also publishes various other papers, including teaching modules, discussion papers, book reviews and editorial notes. Follow PakJET Journal Guidelines for writing your Paper Template. The abstract should be a single column.

 Submission Preparation Checklist  

As part of the submission process, authors must check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

• The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor)
• The submission file is in Microsoft Word or PDF format (following the PakJET Template).
• Where available, URLs for the references have been provided.
• Authors should carefully list and order their names on the article's first page. An author's name will not be added or deleted after submission.
• The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author's Guidelines.

Submission: Manuscripts should be electronically submitted online through the PakJET website.

All correspondence, including notification of the Editor's decision and requests for revision, is sent using the online system. Following are the steps taken for each manuscript.

Before Submission

• Before submitting the article, the corresponding author should carefully read the Publication Ethics, Open Access policy and Plagiarism Policy of the Journal.
• Authors should ensure that the article has not been published previously and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• All authors of the paper must approve publication/Submission.
• Authors should carefully list and order their names on the article's first page.
• An author's name will not be added or deleted after article acceptance. 
• Submission
• Authors should submit the article through the journal's online submission system, which can be done using the Register On successful registration, the author can upload the article. 
• Authors should note that all submitted articles are refereed through a blind peer review process.
• Articles should be formatted according to the Journal Template, which can be found in Author guidelines.
• The abstract should be 200-250 words and 4-6 keywords.
• The number within square brackets should cite references in the text. At the end of the paper, they should be listed in the order in which they appear in the text. The Journal follows IEEE referencing style.
• After Submission
• The editor will completely screen the submitted paper (similarity index, paper quality, scope and paper completeness).
• Then the paper is assigned to the expert reviewers (2-3) for peer review.
• The reviewer reviews the paper within a month and provides the review reports to the editor.
• The editor then processes the review reports, and a decision of rejection/revision is made based on the report.
• For the revision, the review reports are forwarded to the author for a thorough reply within a month, and then the same process (starting from (A)) is carried out after the revision submission.
• After Acceptance
• Authors will be notified about the acceptance/rejection of the paper through email.
• The accepted manuscript will be sent to the corresponding author for proofreading. No editing or proofreading will be allowed after the publication of an article.

Language

Please write your manuscript in the English language. Either American or British usage is accepted, but a mixture of both is not acceptable.

File Type

The manuscript should be submitted as a single Microsoft Word file/PDF file, including all contents. The author owns full rights to the text provided, and the editors and publishers will not make the changes. In case of the reprinting of previously published or copyright-protected material, the author is solely responsible for obtaining permission in this regard.

Article Length/Word Limit

The minimum length of an article, including the title, author information, abstract, text, tables, figures, notes, references, and appendices, should be 4 pages.

Submission Checklist

You can use this list to carry out a final check of your submission before you send it to the journal for review. Ensure that the following items are present:

One author has been designated as the corresponding author with contact details:

• E-mail address
• Full postal address

All necessary files listed below have been included:

Manuscript

• Full author list with affiliation.
• Include keywords
• All figures (include relevant captions)
• All tables (including titles, descriptions, and footnotes)
• Ensure all figure and table citations in the text match the files provided
• Supplemental files (where applicable)

Please ensure the figures and tables included in the single file are placed either next to the relevant text in the article or on separate pages(s) at the end (not a mixture of both).

Further Considerations

• The manuscript has been 'spell checked' and 'grammar checked.'
• All references mentioned in the Reference List are cited in the text, and vice versa.
• Permission has been obtained for the use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Internet)
• A competing interests statement is provided, even if the authors have no competing interests to declare
• The full form of abbreviations for abstracting and indexing purposes should be presented in the manuscript.
• Journal policies detailed in this guide have been reviewed

Submission Declaration

It is PakJET's editorial policy to welcome submissions for consideration which are original and not under consideration for any other publication at the same time. All authors should be aware of the importance of presenting content based on their own research and expressed in their own words. Plagiarism is considered to be bad practice and unethical. As per the part of the HEC Plagiarism Policy, originality guidelines are designed to assist authors in understanding acceptable and unacceptable practices.

PakJET follows the HEC Plagiarism policy, allowing less than 19% similarity. And plagiarism from each source should not be more than 5%. In case your paper is extracted from your own previously done research work, then also place the following statement in the author’s note:

“I hereby declare that the given paper is extracted from my MPhil/Ph.D. thesis and/or is an extension of my previous research work.

Deadlines of all Processes

Duration of paper submission: PakJET provides a platform for researchers, academicians, professionals, practitioners, and students to impart and share knowledge in the form of high-quality empirical and theoretical research papers, case studies, review papers, analytical and simulation models, technical notes from researchers, academicians, professionals, practitioners and students from all over the world. The Journal accepts papers from authors throughout the year.

Review of Articles: Most manuscripts are reviewed within one month, but in some cases, the reviews can take more time.

Acceptance of Articles: After the review report and the Editor’s decision about the article, acceptance notification is sent to the authors within a week.

Publication of Articles: Publication of an accepted article is done within 15 days.

Timelines of Publication of Issues: The journal publishes 4 issues annually. The first issue is published in March, 2^nd is in June, 3^rd is in September, and 4^th is in December.

 PEER REVIEW POLICY

Authors are obliged to participate in the peer review process and cooperate fully by responding promptly to editors’ requests for raw data, clarifications, proof of ethics approval, patient consent and copyright permissions. In the case of the first decision of "revisions necessary," authors should respond to the reviewers’ comments systematically, point by point, and promptly, revising and re-submitting their manuscript to the journal by the deadline.

A submitted manuscript is first reviewed for completeness and only then sent to an Editor who will decide whether they are suitable for peer review. If an Editor is on the author list or has other competing interests regarding a specific manuscript, another member of the Editorial Board will be assigned to oversee the peer review. Editors will consider the peer-reviewed reports when deciding but are not bound by the opinions or recommendations. A concern raised by a single peer reviewer or the Editor may result in the manuscript being rejected. Authors receive peer review reports with the editorial decision on their manuscript.

 ORIGINALITY AND PLAGIARISM

Authors should ensure that they have written and submitted only entirely original works, and if they have used the work and/or words of others, that this has been appropriately cited. Publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the work reported in the manuscript should also be cited. Plagiarism takes many forms, from "passing off" another's paper as the author's own to copying or paraphrasing substantial parts of another's paper (without attribution) to claiming results from research conducted by others. Plagiarism in all its forms constitutes unethical publishing behaviour and is unacceptable.

Multiple, duplicate, redundant or concurrent submission/publication

Papers describing the same research should not be published in more than one journal or primary publication. Hence, authors should not submit for consideration a manuscript that has already been published in another journal. Submission of a manuscript concurrently to more than one journal is unethical publishing behaviour and unacceptable.

The publication of some kinds of articles (such as clinical guidelines and translations) in more than one journal is sometimes justifiable, provided that certain conditions are met. The authors and editors of the journals concerned must agree to the secondary publication, which must reflect the same data and interpretation of the primary document. The primary reference must be cited in the secondary publication.

CHARGES, ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES

PakJET journal publishes articles free of cost and does not charge any article processing charges (APC), submission charges, page charges, colour charges or any instance where money is required to complete the publication process for an author to process or publish a paper. 

AUTHORSHIP OF THE MANUSCRIPT

Only persons who meet these authorship criteria should be listed as authors in the manuscript as they must be able to take public responsibility for the content: (i) made significant contributions to the conception, design, execution, data acquisition, or analysis/interpretation of the study; and (ii) drafted the manuscript or revised it critically for important intellectual content; and (iii) have seen and approved the final version of the paper and agreed to its submission for publication. All persons who made substantial contributions to the work reported in the manuscript (such as technical help, writing and editing assistance, and general support) but who do not meet the criteria for authorship must not be listed as an author but should be acknowledged in the "Acknowledgements" section after their written permission to be named as been obtained. The corresponding author should ensure that all appropriate coauthors (according to the above definition) and no inappropriate co-authors are included in the author list and verify that all coauthors have seen and approved the final version of the manuscript and agreed to its submission for publication.

DISCLOSURE AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Authors should—at the earliest stage possible (generally by submitting a disclosure form at the time of submission and including a statement in the manuscript)—disclose any conflicts of interest that might be construed to influence the results or their interpretation in the manuscript. Examples of potential conflicts of interest that should be disclosed include financial ones such as honoraria, educational grants or other funding, participation in speakers’ bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and paid expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements, as well as non-financial ones such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs in the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. All sources of financial support for the work should be disclosed (including the grant number or other reference number, if any).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SOURCES

Authors should ensure that they have properly acknowledged the work of others and should also cite publications that have been influential in determining the nature of the reported work. Information obtained privately (from the conversation, correspondence or discussion with third parties) must not be used or reported without explicit permission from the source. Authors should not use information obtained when providing confidential services, such as refereeing manuscripts or grant applications unless they have obtained the explicit written permission of the author(s) of the work involved in these services.

HAZARDS AND HUMAN OR ANIMAL SUBJECTS

If the work involves chemicals, procedures or equipment that have any unusual hazards inherent in their use, the authors must identify these in the manuscript. Suppose the work involves using animals or human participants. In that case, the authors should ensure that all procedures comply with relevant laws and institutional guidelines and that the appropriate institutional committee(s) has approved them; the manuscript should contain a statement to this effect. Authors should also include a statement in the manuscript that informed consent was obtained for experimentation with human participants. The privacy rights of human participants must always be observed.

FUNDAMENTAL ERRORS IN PUBLISHED WORKS

When authors discover significant errors or inaccuracies in their own published work, they must promptly notify the journal’s editors or publisher and cooperate with them to correct the paper in the form of an erratum or retract the paper. Suppose the editors or publisher learns from a third party that a published work contains a significant error or inaccuracy. In that case, the author must promptly correct or retract the paper or provide evidence to the journal editors of the correctness of the paper. 

CORRECTION AND RETRACTION POLICY

After the publication of a paper, normally, no change is allowed. However, in exceptional cases, the editorial board may correct, retract or remove a paper.  This decision is made when there is clear evidence of fraudulent data, plagiarism, unethical research or duplicate publication.  Sometimes, correction may be allowed when serious errors are detected due to miscalculation, experimental numerical or other human or system-generated errors. 

 The decision of correction or retraction depends on the level of the allegation and may be decided on a case-to-case basis. The journal follows the guidelines derived from COPE Retraction Guidelines.

• If errors are introduced during the production process, an erratum may be published both online and next available issue of the printed version of the journal.
• If some serious errors are made by the author who was not corrected or detected at the proofreading stage, a corrigendum may be published in place of erratum at the request of the authors.
• Suppose plagiarism, fraud or unethical research is evident. In that case, the original paper may be retained, and a retraction note may be added to the paper indicating the retraction date and a brief explanation. The same note may also be published in the print version of the next issue.
• In case of duplicate publication following actions may be taken:
1. If the article does not violate the copyright of another publisher, the original paper is retained, and the retraction note is attached to it, explaining the reasons. The same will be published in the next available print issue.
2. Suppose the article violates the copyright of another publisher. In that case, the editorial board may remove the article from the online archive to avoid any legal consequences, court order, etc. In such a case, the bibliographic information will be retained with a note explaining the reason for the removal of the paper. The same removal note shall also be published in the next available print issue of the journal.

The editorial board is authorized to make any other appropriate decision not listed above, if necessary.