1.            Peer Review Policy:

All submitted manuscripts and research proposals will undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure the quality and validity of the work. b. Reviewers will be selected based on their expertise in the relevant field and will provide unbiased and constructive feedback. c. Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the peer review process, and reviewers will be required to disclose any conflicts of interest.

2.            Ethical Approval of Research: 

All research involving human participants or animals must receive prior ethical approval from the appropriate institutional review board (IRB) or animal ethics committee. b. Researchers must submit proof of ethical approval along with their research manuscripts or proposals.
Funding Disclosure: a. Authors and researchers must disclose all sources of funding and financial support received for their research. b. The funding sources should be acknowledged in research publications and presentations.

3.            Ethical/Scientific Misconduct:

Gandhara University has a zero-tolerance policy towards ethical and scientific misconduct, including plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and other forms of research misconduct. b. Allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated, and appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken if misconduct is proven.

4.            Informed Consent Policy:

Researchers must obtain informed consent from human participants involved in their studies, ensuring that participants understand the purpose, risks, benefits, and confidentiality aspects of their participation. b. Informed consent forms or procedures should comply with ethical guidelines and be properly documented.

5.            Protection of Human and Animal Rights Policy:

Research involving human participants must prioritize the rights, welfare, and privacy of the individuals involved. b. Research involving animals must adhere to relevant ethical guidelines and ensure the humane treatment and care of animals. c. Researchers must follow ethical procedures for the acquisition, maintenance, and disposal of animals used in research.

6.            Clinical Trial Registration Policy:

All clinical trials conducted by Gandhara University researchers must be registered in a recognized clinical trial registry before the recruitment of participants. b. The trial registration number and relevant information should be included in research publications and presentations.

7.            Authorship and Contribution
All individuals who have made substantial intellectual contributions to a research project should be listed as authors. Authorship should not be granted solely based on professional status or administrative position.
The corresponding author should ensure that all co-authors have reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript and have agreed to its submission for publication.
Ghostwriting and guest authorship are strictly prohibited. All contributions, including technical, conceptual, and writing assistance, should be properly acknowledged.

8.            Plagiarism and Research Misconduct
All submitted manuscripts are scanned and compared with the Turnitin database. Gandhara University strictly follows the PMDC and HEC guidelines/criteria for all types of plagiarism. The duplicate publication can range from getting an identical paper published in multiple journals, to salami-slicing, where authors add small amounts of new data to a previous paper. If plagiarism is detected by Gandhara University, the editorial board member, reviewer, and editor will not accept the manuscript at any stage of the process. The similarity index should not be more than 17%.

9.            Journal Selection and Peer Review
Authors should select reputable journals that adhere to high ethical standards and are indexed in recognized databases.
Peer review is an integral part of the publication process. Authors should cooperate with the peer review process, respond to reviewers’ comments constructively, and address any concerns raised by the editors.
Reviewers should maintain confidentiality, provide unbiased and constructive feedback, and disclose any potential conflicts of interest that may compromise their objectivity.

10.         Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
Authors, reviewers, and editors should disclose any financial, personal, or professional conflicts of interest that may influence their objectivity, judgment, or decision-making during the publication process.
Conflicts of interest should be disclosed transparently, both in the manuscript and to the relevant parties involved in the publication process.

11.         Corrections, Retractions, and Errata
The editor will issue a correction when a manuscript has a minor flaw that does not significantly affect any findings and when a correction is more appropriate than a retraction for the benefit of the scientific community.
ERRATUM or CORRIGENDUM, will be issued depending on the source of the mistake.
Erratum will be issued if the mistake originated from the production process handled by the publisher, while a corrigendum will be issued if the mistake is due to an author’s miscalculation or oversight.
Retraction as per COPE Guidelines.

 12.        Implementation and Education
Gandhara University will provide education and training to researchers, authors, reviewers, and editors to ensure understanding and compliance with this publication ethics policy.
Violations of this policy will be thoroughly investigated, and appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken, which may include but are not limited to academic sanctions, loss of research privileges, or employment termination.

13.         Policy Review
This publication ethics policy will be reviewed periodically to ensure its effectiveness and alignment with evolving ethical standards and best practices in scholarly publishing. Any necessary revisions will be made in consultation with relevant stakeholders and in accordance with COPE and ICMJE guidelines.

14.          Repository Policy
Gandhara University permit Author(s) to self-archive and make their article publicly accessible immediately on their employer’s internal website; their institutional and/or funder repositories.
Gandhara University strongly encourage authors to deposit the Version of Record. Authors should also deposit the URL/DOI of their published article in any repository, in addition to the Version of Record.
This will guarantee that the definitive version is readily available to those accessing author’s article from such repositories and means that your article is more likely to be cited correctly.
As there are many ways you can share the different versions of your article as it moves through the stages towards publication a summary is provided as follows.

1. 1. Submitted version

Authors can share their submitted version (Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM)) via social media, on a scholarly collaboration network, Author’s own personal website, or on a preprint server intended for non-commercial use (for example arXiv, bioRxiv, SocArXiv, etc.). Posting on a preprint server is not considered to be duplicate publication. If author do decide to post his/her AOM anywhere, upon acceptance, Author acknowledges that the article has been accepted for publication by Gandhara University Journals as follows:
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1. 1. Accepted version (Author Accepted Manuscript)

Authors can post their accepted version of articles (Accepted Manuscript (AM)) at any point after acceptance (this includes posting to Facebook, Google groups, and LinkedIn, plus linking from Twitter). To encourage citation of their work, we recommend that they insert a link from their posted AM to the published article with the following text, including the DOI:

1. Published version (Version of Record):

On publication authors can link to the Published version of Articles (Version of Record (VOR)) using the DOI or they can post the article PDF on any non-commercial websites and repositories of their choice. Connecting the different versions of their article.