Ethics Statement

The Lahore Journal of Economics follows a strict code of conduct which is to be followed by all the parties associated with the publication process, including the authors, the editors, the editorial board, the peer reviewers, the publisher and the readers. This code of conduct is derived from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Code of Conduct guidelines which can be found at www.publicationethics.org. The principal responsibilities lie with the editors, the authors and the reviewers and are laid out below:

I. Responsibilities of the Editors

A. Publication Decisions & Accountability
The editors of the Lahore Journal of Economics are responsible and accountable for all decisions regarding the publication of articles. These decisions are taken in light of the objectives of the journal and the policies and guidelines of the editorial board. During the publication process, the integrity and the intellectual and ethical standards of the journal should not be compromised at any point. The editors should at all times be willing and able to publish clarifications, corrections, apologies, retractions and negations as needed.
B. Fairness
All papers, articles, manuscripts submitted to the Lahore Journal must be evaluated for original content regardless of the gender, race, orientation, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, political philosophy, or citizenship of the author(s).
C. Confidentiality
The editors and the editorial staff cannot disclose any information regarding a submitted paper, article or manuscript other than to the corresponding author, the potential reviewers, the reviewers, the editorial staff, the editorial board and to the publisher.
D. Full Disclosure, conflicts of interest, and other issues
When considering retracting, issuing corrections or issuing expressions of concern regarding papers, manuscripts or articles, the editors of the Lahore Journal of Economics will base their decisions on the journal’s publication guidelines and COPE’s Guidelines for Retracting Articles.
None of the unpublished work and the accompanying information (including data and programs) can be used by the editors or anyone related to the journal without the explicit written approval of the author(s). Any ideas, information or knowledge that is obtained from the review process should be kept confidential and cannot be used by the editors or the staff for personal or professional benefit. The editors must ensure that advertising, commercial revenues, or reprints have no impact on the editorial decisions taken regarding submissions.
A fair, transparent and suitable peer review process must be ensured by the editors. If any conflicts of interest exist or arise during the review process, the editor(s) must refrain from handling the relevant manuscripts.

II. Responsibilities of the Author

A. Originality and Plagiarism
The author(s) must ensure that papers, manuscripts, articles that are submitted to the Lahore Journal of Economics are entirely original works, and if the author(s) have used any work, words or and/or ideas from any other sources the authors must ensure that this work has been properly cited and/or quoted.
B. Acknowledging of Sources
Complete and proper acknowledgement of the work of others should be given. Any author(s) whose reported work has been influenced by publications, authors, ideas should cite these clearly.
C. Authorship of the Paper
The authorship of any submitted manuscripts, paper, and articles must be limited to those individuals who have made significant contributions to the design, conception, execution, and/or interpretation of the submitted work. All of those that significantly contributed to the work submitted to the journal should be given authorship.
D. Reporting standards
Any original research which is submitted to the Lahore Journal of Economics must present an accurate description of the work undertaken for the paper, and an objective discussion of the significance of the undertaken work. Any of the underlying data or facts that have been used in the work should be accurately and completely represented in the paper. The work should contain sufficient details of sources and references in order for others to replicate the findings of the paper. Any fraudulent or inaccurate statements as well as misrepresentations of the data and/or facts constitute unethical behavior and are unacceptable.
E. Data Access and Retention
When submitting original works for consideration, the authors are also required to provide the raw data which may have been used in connection with the paper for editorial review. The authors should also be prepared to give public access to this data, if possible, and should be prepared to retain this data for a reasonable period of time after publication in the Lahore Journal of Economics.
F. Redundant, Multiple or Concurrent Publications
In general, any author should not publish papers, manuscripts, articles that essentially describe the same research work in more than one primary publication or journal. The concurrent submission of the same article, manuscript, or paper to more than one journal will be considered unethical behavior and is not acceptable.
G. Fundamental errors in publications
If any author finds any significant errors or inaccuracies in his/her own published work, the author is obliged to immediately inform the journal editors or publisher and to work with the editors and the publisher to correct or retract the paper in the form of an erratum.

III. Responsibilities of the Reviewer

A. Contributing to editorial decisions
The review process of the Lahore Journal of Economics is a double blind process. The purpose of the blind peer review is to guide the editor in making editorial decisions about submitted articles, manuscripts and papers and, potentially provide guidance to the author(s) in improving the submission.
B. Promptness
The editors should be promptly notified if the selected reviewer is unable or unqualified to review the research stated in the paper, article, or manuscript.
C. Confidentiality
During the review process, strict confidentiality should be maintained at all times. The unpublished work and the accompanying information (including data and any other accompanying information) can only be used by the reviewer during the review process and cannot be shared with others.
D. Standards of objectivity
During the review process, the reviewer must remain objective. The Lahore Journal of Economics will not accept personal criticism of the author(s). All the comments by the reviewer’s comments and views must be clearly supported by facts and arguments grounded in academic research.
E. Acknowledgement of Sources
One of the key roles of the reviewer should to identify relevant published research work that has not been cited in the submitted research. In the reviews, any observations, derivations, or argument made by the reviewer that have been previously stated must be accompanied by all of the relevant citations. The reviewer must also point out any significant overlap and/or similarity between the manuscript that is being reviewed and any other previously published research to the editor and the author(s).