Complaints and Appeals Policy

Purpose

The Dyal Singh Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (DSJHSS) welcomes legitimate complaints and permits authors to appeal editorial decisions where there is a reasonable basis to believe that a significant procedural error, unmanaged conflict of interest, or material misunderstanding affected the decision.

The complaints and appeals process is not intended to guarantee reversal of an editorial decision or to replace normal scholarly disagreement with reviewer comments.

Complaints

A complaint may concern matters such as editorial conduct, unreasonable delay, confidentiality, publication ethics, conflicts of interest, website or publication errors, or failure to follow a stated journal procedure.

Complaints should be sent to editor@dsjhss.gdscl.com.pk with enough information to identify the manuscript, article or matter concerned and to explain the basis of the complaint.

A complaint about the Managing Editor should, where practicable, be referred to the Editor-in-Chief/Patron-in-Chief or the College Research Committee rather than handled solely by the person complained about.

Appeals Against Editorial Decisions

An author may appeal a rejection or other substantive editorial decision where the appeal identifies a specific procedural or scholarly issue that the author believes materially affected the decision.

An appeal should:

·        identify the manuscript;

·        state the decision being appealed;

·        explain the specific grounds for appeal;

·        address relevant reviewer or editorial comments; and

·        provide any supporting information necessary for reconsideration.

A simple disagreement with the reviewers' academic judgment, without evidence of error or procedural unfairness, may not be sufficient for a formal appeal.

Review of Appeals

Appeals are referred to the College Research Committee. The Committee may review the editorial file, seek an explanation from the responsible editor, obtain independent scholarly advice, or request additional information from the author where necessary.

Under normal circumstances, the final institutional decision on an appeal is made collectively through the College Research Committee and the Principal, who serves as Editor-in-Chief and Patron-in-Chief.

If an appeal specifically concerns a decision personally made by the Principal/Editor-in-Chief, or if he otherwise has a material conflict of interest, he will recuse himself from consideration of that appeal. In such a case, the College Research Committee will consider and determine the appeal through an independent process.

The outcome should be communicated to the appellant with an appropriate explanation.

Good Faith and Confidentiality

Complaints and appeals should be made in good faith. The journal will treat information as confidential to the extent reasonably possible while allowing a fair review.

No author will be disadvantaged merely for raising a legitimate complaint or appeal.