About the Journal

The Rehabilitation Journal (TRJ) is the official publication of the Health Education Research Foundation (HERF), a nonprofit organization registered with the government of Pakistan under the society registration act 1860. The TRJ is an international multidisciplinary peer-review journal published Quarterly after December 2021 in English.

The Rehabilitation Journal (TRJ) publishes original articles that report on important trends and developments in the wider interdisciplinary field of Rehabilitation Sciences. TRJ accepts original articles, reviews, case reports, short communications, special reports, and letters to the editor for publishing, as also are editorials and book reviews.

I- PUBLICATION ETHICS

The purpose of ethical standards in the publication is to ensure that scientific publications are of high quality, to maintain public trust in scientific findings, and to ensure proper recognition of individuals for their work and ideas. TRJ strives to uphold its guidelines and fundamental principles to ensure compliance with ethical standards.

1. Authorship Of Articles

The Rehabilitation Journal follows the guidelines laid down by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) while receiving, processing, and publication of research manuscripts. The Rehabilitation Journal will consider a right to authorship ONLY when ALL four of the authorship criteria of ICJME are met. These criteria are as follows:

• Substantial participation in the research work with a contribution to all stages of research namely, the conception of the research work; the research design itself; or the data collection; data analysis following collection; or data interpretation following analysis; AND •
• Active contribution to the research manuscript during drafting or its critical revision with reference to the importance of the intellectual content; AND
• Active contribution/participation in the final approval final copy of the manuscript that is ready for publication; AND
• Willingness to share responsibility for the whole research work to allow for investigation and resolution of integrity and accuracy of research work.

Acknowledgment Criteria: The contribution/effort of all contributors whose participation in the research work doesn’t fulfill the above-mentioned conditions can be acknowledged in a separate section towards the end of the manuscript.

Addition To The List Of Authors: The TRJ doesn’t allow addition, alteration or deletion in the list of authors which was submitted to the journal at the time of initial submission.

Statement Of Contributions: The manuscript submission policy of TRJ requires that the original manuscript be accompanied by a description of individual contributions by each other at the time of initial submission. For this purpose, to facilitate the authors, an Author’s undertaking and contributions form has been made available for download on the journal’s web page.

Corresponding Author: The Rehabilitation Journal will communicate with the author designated as the corresponding author during the submission process that is expected to cooperate with the journal for data requests or any additional information that may be required during or after the publication of the manuscript. Therefore, the corresponding author should provide a working email address that he or she checks regularly to be able to answer any queries from the editorial board regarding the manuscript throughout the submission and the peer review process after the initial submission. Additionally, the corresponding author is expected to reply to all critiques and queries following the publication of a research manuscript.

2. Conflict Of Interest

A conflict of interest is anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, commissioning, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to TRJ. A conflict of interest exists if a person or institution has a relationship, personal or otherwise, which has the potential to compromise or in any way interfere with professional objectivity or judgment in issues related to the relationship. A conflict of interest is actual if a relationship exists, or apparent if the possibility for a relationship could be inferred. In either case, it is the responsibility of journal Editors, Associate Editors, Editorial Board members, authors, and reviewers to declare Conflicts of Interest, actual or apparent, in order that appropriate mitigating action is taken. As conflict of interest is common, it reaches the level of concern when an observer may wonder if the individual’s behavior or judgment was motivated by his or her competing interest. Having competing interests does not imply wrongdoing, however, it could undermine the credibility and trustworthiness of the journal. TRJ, through this policy, aims to protect the integrity of the journal.

Editors: TRJ has in place procedures by which potential conflict-of-interest information is obtained from all Editors and Associate Editors on a regular basis; annually, or upon appointment or re-appointment. Such information includes the identification of editorial services with related or competing journals, institutional affiliations, paid consultancies, etc. Editors, in consultation with TRJ, manage their own conflicts of interest as well as those of their Associate Editors, staff, authors, reviewers, and Editorial Board members. They maintain a summary of relevant interests (financial, academic, and other kinds) of all editorial staff and members of editorial boards (which is updated at least annually). Article submissions from the Editors, Editorial Board members, or employees are managed so that no details of the review process, other than the anonymous reviews and decisions, are accessible to the Editor or employee.

Authors: The author has the obligation to reveal any personal interest or relationship that has the potential to be affected by the publication of the submitted manuscript. Sources of funding must be acknowledged in the manuscript. All authors must report any financial interest in corporate or commercial entities dealing with the subject matter of the manuscript. On behalf of all the authors, the corresponding author has the responsibility to advise the Editor of an actual or apparent conflict of interest at the time of submission of the manuscript. Such conflicts will be acknowledged in the Acknowledgement section of the published article. Authors must also submit corrections if conflicts of interest are revealed after publication.

Reviewers: A reviewer is entrusted to provide an unbiased assessment of the scientific merit of a manuscript under review. Any situation or relationship that could bias or be construed to bias this assessment must be reported to the Editor. These include personal relations to the authors, concurrent competitive research on the same subject in the manuscript, or professional or financial ties to an organization with interests in the subject under review. In such cases where an actual or apparent Conflict of Interest is disclosed, the use of a review provided or requested is at the discretion of the Editor.

3. Ethical Approval Of Research

When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the latest version of Helsinki Declaration. Do not use patients' names, initials, or hospital numbers, in text and illustrative material.

When reporting experiments on animals, authors should indicate whether institutional and national standards for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.

4. Funding Disclosure

All sources of grants received and their spending should be disclosed. Such statements should be declared on the undertaking form and at the end of the manuscript before the references. If there are no funding sources, the authors should state “none to declare”.

      5. Data Availability Statement

Data Availability Statements provide information about the accessibility of data supporting reported results. They include details such as the location of publicly archived datasets used or created during the study. Here are some suggested rephrased versions of Data Availability Statements:

• Data are accessible through a public repository: The data presented in this study can be openly accessed in a publicly available repository, namely [repository name, e.g., Fig Share], with the reference number [reference number]. The data can be found at [doi].
• Data available in a public repository without DOIs: This study involved the analysis of publicly available datasets, which can be found at [link/accession number]. The datasets used in this research are openly accessible.
• Data are available upon request due to restrictions: The data presented in this study can be obtained by contacting the corresponding author. Due to [insert reason here, such as privacy or ethical considerations] the data are not publicly available.
• Restrictions on third-party data: The data used in this study were obtained from a third party, specifically [third party]. Access to these data is subject to restrictions. However, the data can be accessed [from the authors/at URL] with the permission of the [third party].
• Irrelevant data sharing: This study did not involve the creation or analysis of new data. Therefore, data sharing is not applicable to this article.
• Data included in the article or supplementary material: The data presented in this study are available within the article or supplementary material. Please refer to [insert article or supplementary material] for accessing the data.
• The data citation should follow this format: [dataset] Authors. Year. Dataset title; Data repository or archive; Version (if any); Persistent identifier (e.g., DOI).

          6. Scientific Misconduct

TRJ follows the guidelines provided by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), the World Association of Medical Editors (WAME), the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), and the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (HEC) for dealing with scientific misconduct.

The following examples and forms of misconduct have been taken from WAME, originally with minor modifications from the ORI publication Analysis of Institutional Policies for Responding to Allegations of Scientific Misconduct:

• Falsification of data: ranges from fabrication to deceptive selective reporting of findings and omission of conflicting data, or willful suppression and/or distortion of data.
• Plagiarism: The appropriation of the language, ideas, or thoughts of another without crediting their true source, and representation of them as one's own original work.
• Improprieties of authorship: Improper assignment of credit, such as excluding others, misrepresentation of the same material as original in more than one publication, the inclusion of individuals as authors who have not made a definite contribution to the work published; or submission of multi-authored publications without the concurrence of all authors.
• Misappropriation of the ideas of others: an important aspect of scholarly activity is the exchange of ideas among colleagues. Scholars can acquire novel ideas from others during the process of reviewing grant applications and manuscripts. However, improper use of such information can constitute fraud. Wholesale appropriation of such material constitutes misconduct.
• Violation of generally accepted research practices: Serious deviation from accepted practices in proposing or carrying out research, improper manipulation of experiments to obtain biased results, deceptive statistical or analytical manipulations, or improper reporting of results.
• Material failure to comply with legislative and regulatory requirements affecting research: Including but not limited to serious or substantial, repeated, willful violations of applicable local regulations and law involving the use of funds, care of human subjects, investigational therapies/drugs, recombinant products, new devices, or radioactive, biologic, or chemical materials.
• Inappropriate behavior in relation to misconduct: this includes unfounded or knowingly false accusations of misconduct, failure to report known or suspected misconduct, withholding or destruction of information relevant to a claim of misconduct, and retaliation against persons involved in the allegation or investigation.
• TRJ also includes redundant publication and duplicate publication, lack of declaration of competing interests and of funding/sponsorship, and other failures of transparency to be forms of misconduct.

          7. Handling of Ethical Misconduct

Identification and investigation: It is possible for anyone to report misconduct and unethical behavior to the editor and publisher at any given time. The person who provides the information must also provide adequate evidence or documentation to initiate an investigation. The responsibility of conducting investigations into misconduct lies primarily with journal editors, who should seek advice from the publisher if necessary. To avoid spreading rumors or allegations, investigations should be carried out discreetly and only among those who require the information.

Research misconduct and potential consequences: The editor, in collaboration with the publisher and society, is responsible for making the final decision on how to handle any identified misconduct. This may involve notifying the employer of the accused of the breach. The following outcomes are listed in order of increasing severity:

• Educating the author or reviewer if there is a misunderstanding or misapplication of standards.
• Issuing a strongly worded written warning to the author or reviewer to deter future behavior.
• Publishing a formal notice or editorial that outlines the misconduct.
• Sending a formal letter to the head of the author's or reviewer's department or funding agency.
• Formally retracting a publication from the journal, while informing relevant department heads, indexing services, and readers of the publication.
• Imposing a formal embargo on contributions from an individual for a defined period.
• Reporting the case and outcome to a professional organization or higher authority for further investigation and action.

II- PLAGIARISM POLICY

The Rehabilitation Journal is committed to upholding the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines to prevent plagiarism and employs the 'Turnitin software to detect similarities. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that their work is free of plagiarism, including self-plagiarism, paraphrasing, and salami slicing.

Any article submitted with an overall similarity index >19% or ≥5% from a single source will be rejected and returned to the authors. The disciplinary committee, consisting of TRJ staff, editors, and the Chief Editor or a representative, will manage cases of plagiarism. If an act of plagiarism is discovered in a submitted article, it will be removed from further processing and the author will be required to provide an explanation. If the explanation is unsatisfactory, the disciplinary committee will determine the appropriate course of action.

If plagiarism is suspected in a published article, it will be temporarily retracted from publication, and a notice will be issued in TRJ. The author will be given an opportunity to respond and provide an explanation. If the response is not satisfactory or no response is received within the given time frame, the article will be permanently retracted, and the author will be monitored. If an author submits the same article to multiple journals, the other editors will be notified, and the author must provide documentary evidence of retraction from publication. Any claims of intellectual, data, or idea theft must be supported by documentary evidence.

III- OPEN ACCESS/COPYRIGHT POLICY

The Rehabilitation Journal (TRJ) is an open-access journal.  It's all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. The users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.

The copyright on any research article in TRJ is retained by the author(s). All articles published by The Rehabilitation Journal (TRJ) are licensed under the Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0. This permits anyone to copy, redistribute, remix, transmit, and adapt the work provided the original work and source are appropriately cited.

IV- ARTICLE PROCESSING CHARGES (APC)

All articles published in The Rehabilitation Journal are published in full open access. An article processing and publication charge (APPC) applies to papers submitted and accepted papers after peer review respectively. The processing fee submission does not guarantee the acceptance of the article. These charges are to cover the costs of peer review, copyediting, typesetting, long-term archiving, and journal management.

Processing Fee: The Processing fee of Rs 5,000/-  While for International Authors the processing TRJ does not charge any fees.

Publication Fee: The publication fee will be Rs 15,000/-if accepted

V- SUPPLEMENTS

TRJ is willing to accept supplement publishing requests made by external organizations based on different topics, abstracts, or meetings. The cost of publishing the supplement will be paid by the requesting body after discussion with the journal management.

It is vital to note that all the articles published represent the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the official policy of the journal. For more details regarding supplements, please get in touch with the Journal at ce@trjournal.org.

VI- WITHDRAWAL POLICY

It is considered unethical to submit the same manuscript to more than one journal at the same time. If the authors want to withdraw the manuscript during its processing, an email has to be sent notifying them as to their intention, to the effect that the manuscript withdrawal form will be emailed for the signatures of all the authors. This needs to be completed, scanned, and sent back. A final letter from the editorial office for the withdrawal of the manuscript will then be dispatched. Electronic signatures will not be accepted.

Please note that without a formal letter of withdrawal, a manuscript is not considered withdrawn and the use of such a manuscript elsewhere will be construed as ethical misconduct.

VII- ARCHIVING AND REPOSITORY POLICY

The Rehabilitation Journal (TRJ) has data depositing function installed via PKP Preservation Network (PKP PN) that digitally preserves the Journals regulated under Open Journal System (OJS). We support digital archiving to ensure the security and accessibility of the data. TRJ maintains its archives through LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) and CLOCKSS (Controlled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe) systems.

TRJ's repository Policy encourages authors to post their pre-publication manuscript in institutional repositories or on their websites prior to and during the submission process and to post the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version after publication without embargo. These practices benefit authors with productive exchanges as well as earlier and greater citations of published work.   

VIII- REPRODUCTION OF PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED ARTICLES

Reproducing material from other sources: It is the author's responsibility to secure all permissions prior to submission of the manuscript. Any part of the article accessed from another source should be accompanied by a signed letter of consent from the copyright holder, which may be the author, journal, or publisher.

Reproducing material published by TRJ: No part of the Journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any other means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission, in writing, of The Rehabilitation Journal. This includes material previously published by the requesting author.

Responses to published work: Comments on previously published articles in TRJ will be reviewed by the editor-in-chief and forwarded to the authors of the published manuscript for a reply. Appropriate time will be given for the response. Both will be published simultaneously in one of the forthcoming issues. In case the author of the published article does not reply, the comments will be published on their own. This process will only be undertaken if the comments are appropriate.

IX- PEER REVIEW POLICY

The decision to publish a paper in TRJ is based on an editorial assessment and peer review. Initially, all papers are assessed by an editorial committee consisting of two or more members of the editorial team. The prime purpose is to decide whether to send a paper for peer review and to give a rapid decision on those that are not.

Editorials and Letters may be accepted at this stage but in all other cases, the decision is to reject the paper or to send it for peer review. The Papers which do not meet basic standards or are unlikely to be published irrespective of a positive peer review, for example, because their novel contribution is insufficient or the relevance to the discipline is unclear, may be rejected at this point to avoid delays to authors who may wish to seek publication elsewhere. Occasionally a paper will be returned to the author with requests for revisions to assist the editors in deciding whether send it out for review or not. Authors can expect a decision from this stage of the review process within 1–2 weeks of submission.

Manuscripts going forward to the review process undergo a double-blind peer review by two or more reviewers, under the supervision of the journal editor and also the editor-in-chief. We aim to complete the review process within 4-8 weeks of the decision to review although occasionally delays do happen, and authors should allow at least 6 weeks from submissions before contacting the journal. The Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to the final decision regarding acceptance. You may find the journal’s article reviewing procedure, here.