The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences

About the journal

Aims and Scope

The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences is a bi-annual multidisciplinary research journal that aims at publishing theoretical, analytical, and applied research in all areas of social sciences. The journal provides a forum where the researchers and scholars can disseminate, archive, and share their research work. In order to ensure the claims of the author and to provide a strong base of acceptance to the public across the globe, the journal offers a rigorous editorial and peer-review process. The journal seeks to provide a forum for interdisciplinary approaches and research traditions to scholars not only in Pakistan but also in all regions of the world.

Access

The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences is a print as well as an electronic research journal. Authors have the option to pay a publication fee (article publication charge APC) to publish their research article on a Gold Open Access (OA) basis under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Papers published on a Gold OA basis are freely available to everyone to read and re-use immediately upon publication, provided the terms and conditions of the license are followed and clear attribution to the author is given.

Publication Charges

Authors can pay the article publication charge (APC) at the following rates to have their work published on a Gold OA under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. There is no submission fee; therefore, APCs only applies to papers that are accepted for publication. Subscription article is free of cost. Other than that, there are no additional charges associated with the publication in the Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences. Furthermore, the first three issues are free of cost for authors.

Contact

Research Wing of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Higher Education Academy of Research & Training (HEART), Peshawar

Phone: 091-5863654, 091-7257776

Email: ljss@kpheart.edu.pk

Why you should publish your research in LJSS.

 High Standard: Connecting cutting-edge multidisciplinary research across all the fields of social sciences.

Faster Publication: The members of the editorial board are committed to ensuring you quick service. Your article will be available to readers within 3 working days after being published and will include a citable Digital Object Identifier (DOI).

Professional Editorial Board: Our editorial board is made up of prominent specialists including both national and international experts.

Peer Review Process

The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences has a rigorous peer review system. It ensures the quality of the research papers. The peer reviewer is responsible for critically reading and evaluating a manuscript in their specialized field, and then providing feedback to authors about their submission. All papers undergo a Blind Peer Review process, which ensures that the reviewers and authors both remain anonymous to each other throughout the process. It enables authors to improve their manuscripts and help editors in making a decision on manuscripts. The Associate Editor, based on the reviewers’ recommendations, makes one of the following decisions:

Accepted in its current state

Accepted after Minor revisions

Accepted after major revision

Reject

 Authors who receive suggestions for major or minor changes are required to follow the advice of the reviewers and editors. All re-submissions must include a clear account of how the authors responded to the reviewers’ remarks and incorporated the same into the revised paper.

The responsibilities of all the three main stakeholders of the journals i.e., the editors, the reviewers, and the authors are given below:

1. Editors’ responsibilities

•   The editorial board is responsible for deciding which of the papers submitted to the journal will be published. The decision will be based on the paper’s novelty, originality, clarity, validity, and relevance to the journal’s scope.
• The editorial board must not disclose any information about a submitted manuscript to anyone till it gets published.
• The Chief Editor is responsible for deciding which of the submitted articles should be published. He/she may be guided by the policies of the journal’s Editorial Board and may consult with other editors in making this decision.

       2. Reviewers’ responsibilities

When reviewing papers for the The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences, reviewers are asked to consider the following points:

• The peer-reviewing process assists the editor and the editorial board in making editorial decisions and may also serve the author in improving the paper.
• Any manuscripts received for review must be treated as confidential documents.
• Reviews should be conducted objectively. Personal criticism of the author is inappropriate.

• Reviewers should identify cases in which relevant published work referred to in the paper has not been cited in the reference section.

       3. Authors’ Responsibilities

• Authors of original research reports should present an accurate account of the work performed as well as an objective discussion of its significance.
• Authors could be asked to provide the data of their study together with the paper for editorial review and should be prepared to make the data publicly available if practicable.
• Authors will submit only original works.

• Papers describing essentially the same research should not be published in more than one journal. Submitting the same paper to more than one journal constitutes unethical publishing behavior and is unacceptable.

All papers submitted for publication are given equal attention regardless of the writers’ color, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, citizenship, age, political philosophy, or status.

• It is the responsibility of the author to send original papers and to ensure that the manuscript is not currently being considered by another journal at the time of submission.
• Any attempt to impersonate another individual/identity fraud is considered a significant breach of conduct by the HEART publishing team. Further, authors should not give out their login information for any journal’s submission system, nor should they ask or enable anyone else to submit on their behalf.

• It is important for the authors to think about the subject matter as well as the origin of the photographs they use. HEART Publishing has the right to suggest that authors find alternate photos or other ways to represent the same results before the final edition is published if the submitted photographs are potentially insulting to the journal’s readership or breach copyright.

• Data or outcomes must not be fabricated, falsified, or misrepresented by authors. In all parts of their work, they should aim to be impartial, unbiased, and truthful.
• To enable readers to fully understand and evaluate the work, HEART Publishing demands complete and accurate reporting of research.
• Without explicit approval from the subject, researchers should not publish or disclose identifiable individual data gathered during research

• All authors must declare any financial support/fund they receive for their research to HEART Publishing.
• Authors must properly acknowledge the work of others (whether published or unpublished).

• References must be current, relevant, and easy to find.
• Authors should make sure that citations provide value and aren’t biased in favor of a specific person, group, or organization. Only sources used in the text should be cited, and the citations should back up the points they relate to.
• Plagiarism should be avoided and will lead to the rejection of the submitted manuscript.

• When authors publish chunks of the same work in many journals, this is known as text recycling. Authors should always be clear and cite any re-used text in the paper, adhering to all applicable copyright and licensing requirements.

Patron-in-Chief

Prof. Tasbih Ullah, Director HEART, Peshawar

Chief Editor

Ms. Seema Rehman, Deputy Directress Academics, HEART

Editor

Dr. Ghulam Qasim Khan Marwat, Professor of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-E-Azam University, Islamabad

Managing Editor

Ms. Zarfishan Khan Sikanderi, Training Officer, HEART

Associate Editors

1. Dr. Safia Gul, Professor of Economics, Government Girls Degree College Hayatabad, Peshawar
2. Dr. Israr Ahmad, Assistant Professor of History, Government Degree College, Wadpaga, Peshawar

The Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences is a multidisciplinary bi-annual research journal, published every year as:

Paper Submission Deadline:                                            October 15, 2022

Paper Submission Deadline Extended to:        October 31, 2022

Publication:                                                                         December 31, 2022

All the authors will provide a certificate showing the originality of the work and their consent to publish their work in the Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences. A declaration format is as under:

 

Authors Declaration Form   I/We author(s) of the manuscript titled: ________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ hereby declare that the aforementioned manuscript has been submitted to the Lighthouse Journal of Social Sciences (LJSS) for publication with the following submission: 1. The paper has not been published in any journal or magazine for private or public circulation in any part or whole (except as an abstract). We have read the contributors’ instructions and are quite aware of what plagiarism is. No part of this manuscript (whether referred or not), has been taken verbatim from any other source. Permission to reproduce tables no. ___ and figures no. ____ has been requested and submitted. 2. I/We give our consent for publication in the LJSS in any media (electronic, print, or otherwise) if it is published in the LJSS. 3. Other than those declared, I/We have no financial or other conflicts of interest. 4. I/We have reviewed the final version of the paper and am/are responsible for the information included therein. 5. The work detailed in the manuscript is mine/ours, and our individual contributions to it are significant enough to warrant authorship. 6. No one who has made a substantial contribution to the work has been denied authorship, and others who assisted have been properly acknowledged. 7. Name and address of the funding organization (it is compulsory to include for research article): __________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________   I/We also agree to the following order of authorship for the article. Not more than 04 authors be included per paper.   Authors Names Signature email 1. _______________ _________________ _________________ 2. _______________ _________________ _________________ 3. _______________ _________________ _________________ 4. _______________ _________________ _________________
Dated: ___________ Corresponding Author Name: _____________________________ Address: ___________________________ Email: _____________________________	Name, Signature and stamp Stamp of Head of the Institute
NOTE: PLEASE PRINT AND SIGN THIS FORM; DO NOT CHANGE THE FORMAT OF THE FORM. · This form must be signed by all of the main contributors. The use of a scan signature in a document is not permitted. · After submission, we do not allow any changes to the authorship. We are unable to allow any additions, deletions, or sequence changes in the authors’ names. We have a policy in place to avoid fraud. · If the authorship of a manuscript is disputed before it is published, it will either be returned or put on hold until the dispute is settled. · This document can be photocopied and used as needed. · The form must be scanned and uploaded to our submission site. RESPONSIBILITIES AND AUTHORSHIP · Anyone who makes a substantial intellectual contribution deserves to be recognized as an author. · Every author must be involved in the research study’s organization, execution, and analysis, as well as its presentation in the form of a publication. They should be available to respond to the questions if they are asked for clarification. · Authors must be willing to accept public accountability for the paper’s content. The technical information conveyed is the responsibility of all authors in the document. As a result, before signing the deceleration and permission form, all of the writers must read and approve the final version of the text. Please visit the website of the Journal for further information, directions, and ethics for contributors.

Publication Type

Full-length submissions are considered for publication that considerably improves understanding in social Sciences and closely related disciplines and is likely to have a notable impact on the relevant scientific communities.

Formatting

 It is the responsibility of the authors to ensure that the submitted manuscript follows the language standards required by the publication of the scientific journal. Authors are invited to use the language editing services. If the manuscript is written in a second or third language, it is recommended to first contact a language reviewing service to avoid grammar and style mistakes. When abbreviations and acronyms first appear in the text, they should be explained. Introduce any ideas that readers may be unfamiliar with early in the paper so that the results are clear.

Templates and article formats

The manuscripts should be in MS word format. Use an appropriate font size (12 points with Times New Roman format) and line spacing (about 1.5).

Paper length

The manuscripts submitted should have a minimum of 3000 and a maximum of 6000 words, including abstract, notes, references, and annexures.

Structure of the article

The manuscripts have to follow the APA style of formatting (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition). The article should follow the Introduction, Methodology, Results, and Discussion and Analysis, with the following sections, often included:

Title Page

A separate document will be added with the name of the authors, their affiliation, and email address. Please indicate the corresponding author as well.

Title

The title should be brief, informative, and relevant to the journal’s entire readership.

Abstract and Keywords

The abstract of all manuscripts should be between 150 and 200 words explaining the title, aims and objectives of the manuscript, the methodology used and the main results and findings, analysis is drawn, and conclusions. It is also necessary to include between three and five keywords that defined the article and serve to identify the content of the work.

Introduction

This should be brief and describe the nature of the topic being investigated as well as its context.

Method and Material

This section should include enough information about the experiment, simulation, statistical test, or analysis used to create the results so that the method/material and results can be replicated by another researcher.

Results

The key findings and outcomes of the study should be included in the results section.

Discussion

This section should explain the relevance of the findings and compare them to past research using appropriate references.

Tables and figures

Diagrams, charts, graphs, and tables will have a brief title and explanation. . In the case of images, it is necessary to send them in jpeg format. Figures should be numbered sequentially in the order in which they are mentioned in the text (e.g., figure 1, figure 2, etc.). If a figure has many parts (e.g., figure 1(a), 1(b), etc.), the components should be indicated by a lower-case letter in parenthesis near or inside the figure’s area.

Conclusion

This section should be used to emphasize the work’s novelty and significance, as well as any future intentions for relevant work, and what the author learned from the whole research and its practical implication.

References

This section should be used to compile a comprehensive list of all related work. More information on referencing can be in the template.

Submission via email: ljss@kpheart.edu.pk