About the Journal

Pakistan Journal of Media Sciences (PJMS) is an annual, peer-reviewed publication publishing original research in communication studies, media studies, and related fields. Scholars are invited to submit manuscripts addressing any area of communication and media studies, including, but not limited to mass communication, international communication, educational technology, rhetorical approaches to media, critical cultural studies, computer-mediated communication, political media, health communication, and organizational/corporate communication.  

All articles will undergo peer review by at least two anonymous referees. Submissions are evaluated according to the following criteria: quality of theoretical application, methodology/design, data, clarity of writing, strength of analysis, originality, and overall contribution/relevance to the field. 

 

Frequency of journal
Pakistan Journal of Media Sciences is a Bi-Annual Research Journal. It publishes two issues per year.

Peer-review policy
Pakistan Journal of Media Sciences is a Double-Blind Peer-Reviewed Research Journal. All articles submitted to journals are sent to reviewers without the details of authors and their institutions.

Originality and plagiarism policy
Pakistan Journal of Media Sciences Publishes only original research conducted by authors as mentioned in the author guideline. The journal allows a similarity index of less than 19% as per the policy of HEC Pakistan.

Subscription Details
The Pakistan Journal of Media Sciences can be subscribed for Print Copy by sending an email to the editor beside this the online copy of the journal is freely available for open access.

Ethical guidelines
Authorship
Authorship credit should be based on meeting the following criteria:

1. Substantial contribution to paper concept or design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;
2. drafting the article or reviewing and introducing fundamental changes to it;
3. final approval of the version to be published.
All persons designated as authors and co-authors should meet these criteria. As co-authors of a paper, there should be identified all persons who have made significant scientific contributions to the work reported, and who therefore share responsibility for its content and results. Authors should also appropriately recognize the contributions of technical staff and data professionals. All contributors who do not meet the criteria for authorship (e.g., financial support) should be listed in the section “Acknowledgements” (financial disclosure). Editors retain the right to request information about the contributions of each person in writing the article.

Authors should also be aware that the following phenomena are examples of scientific misconduct and must be avoided: ghostwriting and guest writing authorship.

A group of co-authors should jointly make the decision about the order in which their names are given. During manuscript submission, the submitting author must provide contact information (full name, email address, institutional affiliation, and mailing address) for all of the co-authors. The author who submits the manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of notifying all co-authors of the manuscript being submitted. The author must submit the Author Agreement Form duly signed by each author, which should be submitted together with the manuscript.

All detected cases of scientific misconduct will be documented and the appropriate institutions and entities will be notified.

Sources of data and ideas
Authors are required to faithfully acknowledge and identify contributions of other persons to their reported work as well as clearly identify sources of both data and ideas. Authors should cite all publications that have been important in the development of the submitted study and that will guide the reader to the earlier researchers that are essential for understanding the present analysis.

Authors are required to make reasonable and diligent efforts to find, and then accurately cite original sources and publications. Authors should only present as reliable either personally verified or peer-reviewed sources of scientific data and literature.

Authors must not engage in plagiarism or self-plagiarism. Plagiarism is verbatim or near-verbatim copying, or paraphrasing without due modification, of text, data, or other material containing results of another person’s work, without explicit identification of the source of such material. Similarly, self-plagiarism is replicating the author’s own previously published text or results without acknowledgment of the source. Exercising care for publishing only original research, editors of PJMS are committed to deterring plagiarism and self-plagiarism and may use special software to screen submitted manuscripts for similarity to previously published material. The manuscripts may be screened during the whole editorial cycle, including the submission process, and until the final publication in online or print form.

Duplicate publications
It is prohibited for an author to submit manuscripts describing essentially the same research to more than one journal of primary publication unless it is a resubmission of a manuscript rejected for or withdrawn from publication. An author is required to organize his or her paper so that it provides a well-rounded description of the examined issue. Fragmentation of research reports excessively consumes journal space and unduly complicates literature research; therefore, authors are expected to avoid it whenever possible.

Open Access Policy
PJMS provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Copyright for articles published in the PJMS journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. PJMS is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author’s responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author. All articles published in JJSMCA can be deposited in public and institutional repositories such as research gate, university libraries, personal websites etc.

Privacy Statement
The names and email addresses entered on our site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of our journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

Content license
PJMS applies for the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use.

Author Agreement Form
Authors of the research article are required to submit an Author Agreement Form that declares originality, not accepted for publication anywhere, consent of Authors for paper publication in the journal, and nomination of corresponding authors. The Author Agreement Form must be signed by all the authors of a research paper.

Deadlines of all processes
The authors can submit their research papers throughout the year. There is no submission deadline.

Reviewing and Editing
PJMS is a double-blind peer-reviewed journal. Submitted papers and short communication are evaluated by independent referees/reviewers and Editorial Board members specialized in the article field. Two independent Reviewers evaluate the submitted material’s scientific significance and novelty, define its accordance with the general journal profile, and scrutinize its content for compliance with the journal’s publication ethics. After the refereeing process is complete, the paper may be rejected, returned to the author for revisions, or accepted for publication.

The authors are responsible for the contents of their paper or short communication. Editors may request an author, when considered necessary, to elaborate on the content or technical details of the paper. Scientific editing might change the format and correct the writing to render it compliant with the editorial policy of the journal.

Pictures and graphs are special subjects for editorial consideration, as their quantity should be optimal and only necessary in the content of papers. Pictures, graphs and textual content alike are subject to ethical standards concerning authorship and integrity. Additionally, whenever images are included in accounts of the research process or results, or in data collections, the author must provide an accurate description of how the images originated.

Acceptance of articles and publication of articles
The acceptance and publication of the article are based on the decision of the Editor of the journal. The Editor takes a decision in light of the review report received from the reviewer.

Timelines of publication of issues
The Journal released two issues per year. The first issue is released on 30th June of every year and the Second issue is released on 31st of every December. The Journal takes at least one month/ 4 weeks to complete the review process after the date of submission. The Journal publishes all research articles in the next issue which are being received less than the 4-week time before the release of the current issue.

Disclosure and Conflicts of interest
Conflict of interest is a situation in which the process of research and publication may be corrupted or its results may be biased because of some other interests of its participants. It may concern any one or more of the participants of the research and publication process – the author, the reviewer, or the editor. Conflicts of interest may occur for financial (e.g. Employment opportunities, fees or other compensation arrangements, beneficial ownership of stock) or other reasons (e.g., personal relationships, the pursuit of academic career, intellectual passion, political involvement etc.) that can reasonably be expected to influence motivations or results of actions of participants of the publication process.

Conflicts of interest constitute a serious threat to the integrity and objectivity of both scientific research and publishing. Therefore, the best practice for authors, reviewers and editors alike, is to avoid conflicts of interest situations whenever possible.

All participants in the publication process who are in the situation of a conflict of interest must disclose this fact. Of special importance is that if the original research study reported in the manuscript or the preparation of the manuscript was supported by one or more grants, the title and number of the grant(s) and the name of the institution(s) that provided the grants or financial support to conduct, analyze or write-up the study, must be specified in the manuscript.

Editors of PJMS may use information disclosed in conflict-of-interest and financial-support statements as a basis for editorial decisions. The corresponding author must either notify the editor at the time of submission that there is no conflict of interest to declare, or fairly and effectively communicate all conflicts of interest, which will then be acknowledged in the published article.

Correction and retraction of research articles
The Editor of the Journal sent an email to the authors of the article for revision/correction proposed by Editorial board members and reviewers after the initial screening and the final review respectively.

Contribution and consent of each author and any other information
Authors are required to submit details of the contribution of each author on the title page that is uploaded separately and submit the consent of each author in the Author Agreement Form.